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First, I have no real quarrel with those whom identify themselves as members of the Tea Party. I think they will obviously affect the off-year elections although they will, in all probability, cease to be an effective political force by 2012 (based upon my memory of other like political movements that have arisen, and gone, since the late 1960s). Indeed, if Ross Perot (senior) was still politically active, I am sure that he would be helping to lead the Tea Party charge.
I happen to have two close relatives that declare themselves members of the Tea Party. Let me describe my brother-in-law.
He is low-50s in age. He has not worked for close to twenty years and will, in all probability, never work again. I firmly believe he is capable of work, but he has chronic laziness.
He filed for disability insurance benefits some 15 years ago, claiming back pain. The Administrative Law Judge found no evidence of back problems, but did find that my BIL was ‘depressed’, and so paid him on that basis. Mind, he can certainly work on his house when he wants (he is a rather good carpenter and electrician), as well as engage in other activities of a more sedentary nature.
When he filed for disability he was ‘insured’ (i.e., he had enough quarters of coverage). He had paid in enough so that his monthly disability check is around $900.00 (or so he told me several years ago). After a year or two, at most, he had been paid the equivalent of what he had paid into the system, and so for some 13 years he has been living off the taxpayers. Only once in all these years has his case been reviewed for medical improvement: he was quite anxious about it, and even had to appear in front of an Administrative Law Judge again. His disability was continued.
As a Tea Partier he is utterly against, he says, welfare and other programs designed to help the poor and unfortunate, and will constantly talk about freeloaders. However, he is decidedly against Congress interfering in any way with his continuing disability benefits, including his Medicare coverage (he is utterly against Obama Care, of course). He was concerned when I told him once that President Reagan, after winning re-election, ordered a wholesale review of those on disability so as to trim the roles, which resulted in a huge number of people’s disability being ceased (such a wholesale review has never again happened). Nevertheless, he suspects that President Obama will order such a review, in order to get formerly hard-working people like him off the disability role.
My brother-in-law had been in the Army back in the late 1970s (non-combat related). Hence he could, if he desires, seek medical treatment at any VA clinic here in the Dallas area. He refuses, saying that the VA hospital and clinics are a disgrace. He is, of course, against funding to improve care for Veterans.
I realize that the vast majority of Tea Partiers are probably not racist. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law is an avowed racist. I have known him for 20+ years, and he had never hid his contempt for Mexicans, Mexican-Americans or African-Americans, although he tends to use other names for them. He was appalled that during the last election I voted for President Obama; he would have voted for Senator McCain, but he did not feel like going out that day. Nowadays when he talks about his disgust of President Obama he utterly denies that his feelings are based on race, but on political factors alone. I do know for a fact that he does not hate all African-Americans: he has quite warm feelings for those that dress up in a football uniform and play for his favorite NFL team.
My brother-in-law occasionally berates me for reading Time magazine; The Christian Science Monitor; The New York Times; the Wall Street Journal; The New Yorker Magazine; the local newspapers (Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram); and other sources of news (having a Kindle, I can easily read a wide variety of newspapers, blogs and magazines). He tells me, in all seriousness, that I am not as well informed as he, since all he ever watches is Mr. Glenn Beck on Fox (he has not read a magazine or newspaper within my memory).
My other tea party relative is my sister. She is in her late 50s, and she began on disability 20 years ago. She actually worked just long enough to become insured (five years). She also sees no contradiction in accepting taxpayer money and her views on taxation, etc. She also has informed me that Mr. Beck is the only news source I will ever need. I do love my sister, but her increasingly strident viewpoints have been painful (she, like my brother-in-law, do not believe that President Obama was born in Hawaii). She literally was in tears when President Obama took office.
Anyway, I know that my view of Tea Parties have been colored, in some part, by my own personal experience with my two relatives. If anyone else has a similar tale, I would be interested to read it.
I'm sure there are ten of thousand of tea baggers that perform these mental gymnastics as well. They deserve the benefits but "those people" don't. They can rail against government benefit spending, while the threat of those benefits being cut is minimal. I just hope they get a dose of what they ask for one day that would be justice.
This isn't uncommon and the most die hard, republican to the bone people i know are all either unemployed, working remedial jobs or also like in your case taking public funding, yet slamming those who also take it. The hypocrisy is beyond me and i've never got the connection why these types of people are so incredibly far to the right.
This isn't uncommon and the most die hard, republican to the bone people i know are all either unemployed, working remedial jobs or also like in your case taking public funding, yet slamming those who also take it. The hypocrisy is beyond me and i've never got the connection why these types of people are so incredibly far to the right.
If you have a low IQ you are more susceptible charlatans and their propaganda.
That's just a plain and simple fact.
I always go back to this video because it illustrates how these right wing myths are spread. Notice what these pour souls say when they are asked how did the learn their "information".
i'll throw in as well.
My teabagger relative is a former union electrician and vet. He doesn't work anymore - he is quite proud of that fact that all he has to do is show up once or twice a year to a clinic, claim he is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and they send him a nice check every month.
Hates obamacare, and anything 'liberal'.
All the Tea Partiers that I know are quite the opposite. Hard working people that are scraping to get by. I don't know many people who love to work. They do it because they have to. Trust me, I know that there are some leeches of society as well. I hate lazy people. My father and sister being the king and queen of being lazy and living off of others. And they do not belong to the Tea Party. My sister voted for Obama, and I'm sure that my father didn't even bother to vote. So what do you have to say about them? So are they stupid too? Eventhough they are not Tea Party or even on the right??? I would have to at least lump my sister in the liberal catagory.
What happened was that big money discovered that there was an audience for rhetoric that blames other Americans for ones problems. It started back in the 70's. AM talk radio was almost completely non partisan back then. This was how poor simple people who didn't read much got their news. Then Rush Limbaugh came along. ...Fox cable took it to a whole new level. These simpletons just believe what they are told.
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