Teabag This!

Forgive me while I shed this blog’s non-political stance for one time and make a semi-political statement. If you come here for sports, TV information, and other related entertainment, know that this is a one time thing and I will return with more of my ramblings in the near future.

On this Tax Day, I would feel remiss if I did not mention that yesterday in Boston the Tea Party and Sarah Palin made an appearance. Thousands attended the rally and it spoke to a large cross-section of the community. You would be hard pressed to find any right-thinking American who did not believe we were over-taxed and that the Government is being reckless with our tax dollars. As a good idea spirals into a movement, we are slowly becoming aware of the fact that vitriol and hate will be used to dismiss and diminish any enemy of Big Government.

I’m going to lay off the media and focus on the liberal on the street. The one who reads Daily Kos, sees MSNBC as “middle of the road”, and refers to Pat Leahy as “my personal hero”. I’ve come to expect a certain level of intolerance from this person. I know that all arguments will begin with insults that hit below the belt and just keep going from there. It’s probably the reason I say out of political discussions, the fact that you cannot reason with the unreasonable. The one insult I heard multiple times yesterday is the one I cannot stand – “tea-bagger”.

This insult just irks me. I see two main problems with it. One, if you are a liberal using this term, you are already starting out with an insult. The only people who will listen to you at this point are the people who already agree with you. Conservatives and independents are going to be turned off to your message as you cannot form a cohesive message without descending into vulgarity. You need to swing people to your point of view, not cackle to a bunch of like-minded individuals.

Two, by using the term, you are also degrading one of the seminal moments in our nation’s history. Are the men who boarded those three ships in Boston Harbor in 1773 also “tea-baggers”? How about Mohandas Gandhi who invoked the Boston Tea Party in his fight against salt tax? Is he a “tea-bagger”?

If the Tea Party is so disagreeable to you, why not agree against the main points of the Tea Party movement? Argue against lower taxes, smaller government, and less government spending. The name calling only makes you sound bitter and angry.