Posted on 04/04/2010 6:18:09 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Easter’s message is a simple one. It is about love and redemption. I didn’t see much love of fellow men in Searchlight last week. I heard a lot of hate, though. Do the folks who have claimed the Tea Party as their express ride to better government really believe they are more patriotic than the thousands of people who show up every day to work for the government — local, state and national — on their behalf?
There are people everywhere who don’t carry their own weight. Those aside, does anyone really believe the people who have been attracted to public service — as opposed to the rest of us who just don’t have the desire, the time or the inclination to work for the benefit of others — are less American than the folks who braved the winds and Porta Potties in Searchlight?
I don’t see the protesters and naysayers taking oaths of office, government salaries and citizen ridicule to work on behalf of their fellow citizens. All I hear are anger-laden complaints.
Easter brings with it a message of love, redemption and hope. I am not asking people to believe me when I say that most elected officials and government workers are good and decent people who work hard and try to do what is right.
On this Easter, ask yourselves, “What would Jesus do? How would Jesus act? Who would Jesus blame?”
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
First of all, there are plenty of government employees that consider themselves Tea Party members (although there is nothing to join, so how can you be a member?).
Hopefully conservatives will not make the same mistake that Democrats are making.
Democrats have painted Tea Party members as radical right wing racists assuming that all government employees back them, as well as all minorities and all Democrats. There are plenty of all of these in the Tea Party. When you look at the tea party movement and compare it to the US as far as %’s you will find that it is quite American.
What is omnipresent in every article I read about Tea Partiers written by a lib is that they fail to understand the basic motivations of the TP’s. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so irritating. Somehow these morons believe the TP’s are angry over government for “no good reason” whatsoever. Like the TP’s just concocted their complaints about of thin air. Yes, Mr. Greenspun is delusional.. and disingenous. Once again libs prove they’re completely at a loss when they try to understand basic conservatism.
Because there's nothing DEMOCRATIC about it!
You: “Happy Easter.”
Me: Why thank you!
You: “Christians all over the world celebrate Easter today. It is a time for rejoicing, a time for counting blessings and a time to be thinking about matters much greater than our own.”
Me: I think most Christians would agree with this – and probably a lot who are not Christians.
You: “Easter’s message, though, should not be reserved just for Christians or just for the faithful because it is a message of hope and of all that is good in our fellow men.”
Me: Agree.
You: “I think about Easter as I have been considering what has been taking place in our country, our state and here at home. And I am having trouble understanding how we square the message of Easter with the messages that are being sent almost hourly by people across the country.”
Me: Well, let me help you understand then. What has been taking place in our country and your state is “We the People” exercising our God-given rights and expressing our sincere and justifiable displeasure with a government that seems to be completely detached from the will of the people. We are blessed in this country to have these God-given rights enumerated in our Constitution. Among these is the First Amendment which, in addition to giving you the freedom to condescendingly lecture a huge majority of the country on the merits of peace, love and harmony, also protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That, sir, is exactly what happened in Searchlight – people peacefully assembling to petition our Government for redress of very real, very legitimate grievances. It was a peaceful assembly except for the Harry Reid supporters who were making threats and throwing eggs at Tea Party vehicles. I don’t think the Easter message implies that people should sit by and watch their leaders engage in what many think is tyranny and not exercise these wonderful God-given rights that our Founders had the wisdom to enumerate.
You: “We are all surrounded by fear, by anger and by frustration. It is palpable and it grips us throughout our days and nights. Some of it — much of it — is justified as the economic meltdown and its consequences have caused difficulties for everyone, most of whom had little or nothing to do with the causes of the financial disaster.”
Me: Right – much of it (most of it actually) is justifiable and is being caused by a Democrat majority in both houses of Congress and in the White House that has embarked upon an agenda that the majority of people do not support and do not want to see happen. So if you get this basic fact – that much of the frustration is justifiable - then I’m not sure why you have such a hard time understanding so many average, normal, hard-working American people expressing their displeasure with this cabal of left-wing radicals who are hell-bent on shoving their agenda down our throats. Could it be that it is because you are on their side of these issues and thus really don’t want to understand, not that you can’t understand? Could that be the answer? I suspect if you were to be honest about it, the answer would be yes.
Me: Some of us understand that what is going on in Washington DC is going to change our country forever and we happen to like the country the Founding Fathers envisioned – one of LIMITED government, NOT the country that President Obama, who in his book Dreams From My Father admits that he sought out Marxist professors at college, envisions. If that doesn’t disturb you, then that fact alone would help explain why you don’t understand us in the Tea Party movement. The bottom line is, we don’t WANT a socialist, or Marxist government, nor a government that controls as much of the economy as possible. We want a free-market country with a government limited in scope to those things spelled out in the Constitution. If that is hard for you to understand, then there probably isn’t any real hope that you will ever understand.
You: “Somehow, though, we have allowed our fear to consume us to the extent that we can no longer see the difference between what is real and what is not and what is fact and what is fiction. And that fear has turned to anger in many cases and frustration in most.”
Me: Fact: Harry Reid supporters were the only one’s expressing real anger. They were cussing and throwing eggs and just being as nasty as you can imagine.
Fact: I was there in Searchlight and I heard a lot of cheering and expressions of support for the many patriotic speakers. I did not witness the kind of real anger that I’ve so often seen on the left when they were burning George Bush in effigy and hanging Sarah Palin in effigy and expressing real, vile hatred towards our then-President.
Fact: The mainstream media has been intentionally mischaracterizing the Tea Party movement as a bunch of racist bigots shouting racial invectives at every passing black man.
Fiction: There were black Congressmen who claimed bad things happened to them at the recent DC protests against the Health Care bill. In one case a Congressman claimed people were spitting at him. When video showed that no such thing had happened, he backed off his claim and now will not discuss it. In another case, it was claimed that people were shouting racial epithets as the black congressmen. However, despite hundreds of videos on the scene, not one single video has surfaced with evidence that this actually happened. In fact, I heard that Andrew Brietbart has offered a reward of $100,000 for any video that shows Tea Partiers shouting racial slurs at anyone in DC. Comedian Jackie Mason has offered $250,000 for the same evidence.
Fact: But despite the fact that ZERO evidence exists, that hasn’t stopped the mainstream media – both electronic and print – from continuing the totally false, unfair and despicable charge that the Tea Parties are driven in large part by racism. That is simply a lie – pure and simple. But as Dan Rather proved with his bogus National Guard memos, truth doesn’t matter when the left is pushing an agenda to malign people who disagree with them. No one that I know associated with the Tea Party movement would condone such behavior and in fact, I suspect that if someone at a Tea Party did start shouting racial comments, the rest of the Tea Partiers would turn on them and drum them out of the event! In Searchlight, there were presenters who were themselves black, yet the crowd did not don sheets and pitchforks! You can imagine how the characterization of my fellow Americans as angry, racist bigots frustrates those of us who know – know beyond any doubt – that their narrative is based on a complete lie and designed with a specific corrosive agenda in mind.
You: “I suppose the obvious example of what I am talking about is last week’s gathering in Searchlight. I am happy for the merchants in that small town — I assume they did a year’s worth of business that day. But I am also saddened that so many people felt so aggrieved that they had to drive their campers, trucks, cars and buses to a place that most people need go to only once to realize they don’t want to go there again. With apologies to our good senator, Harry Reid.”
Me: You should be saddened alright; saddened that we have a government with leaders who would drive ordinary citizens, not political zealots, to take such drastic action. Instead of focusing your “searchlight” on those of use who were willing to take leave from work and drive (in my case 10 hours) to express our legitimate concerns, perhaps you should examine the members of Congress and this Administration who seem to be completely shut off from the electorate and the people they are supposed to serve. They should be the focus of your examination, not us normal average citizens who are simply trying desperately to get our elected officials’ attention. They are the ones who are abusing their power with back-room deals and parliamentary shenanigans to push legislation that We the People overwhelmingly do not want! Do not want!
You: It doesn’t matter whether it was 1,000 or 10,000 people who showed up to give support to the Tea Party movement. What matters is the reason so many people felt obligated to go: They are, to quote the movie “Network,” fed up and they are not going to take it anymore.
Me: Well, yes, it does matter! We have a media intentionally and repeatedly trying to downplay the numbers involved in this movement and doing so for their own ideological reasons. If you are a legitimate, objective journalist (and I don’t know you so I honestly have no idea if you’re an objective journalist or just another left-wing ideologue), then that should concern even you. A CNN reporter stated there were maybe “dozens” of people at the Searchlight event. Why would she say such a ridiculous thing? There were clearly thousands (I’ve seen different estimates from 7,000 to 10,000). While I can’t say with certainly how many thousands were there, I can say with certainly that it was a whole lot more than “dozens.” Our media these days seems to carry water for only one side of the debate and that approach to news, in a free society, is a dangerous thing. At what point does it cease being news and become propaganda? Seriously, think about that for about two minutes!
You: The question that looms large, though, is fed up with what? With whom?
Me: This statement makes it clear that you simply are not listening to the Tea Party members. If you were paying event a modicum of attention to what is actually being said in this movement, you would not need to ask this question. But your deafness to what is being said is the same deafness our elected officials are demonstrating that is at the root of the movement in the first place. Of you don’t get it, then it can only be because you don’t want to get it, not that you’re incapable of getting it.
You: And that is where the “F” words — fear and frustration — come into play.
You: As best I can tell, some people believe that someone, anyone, else is responsible for whatever our problems are. To some extent, I agree with them. After all, in my mind I did nothing wrong over the past 15 years. In fact, I tried to do everything right. And, yet, when the economic tsunami hit, my family’s faith and investment in Las Vegas were rewarded with a meltdown the likes of which no one could have predicted. That has caused a great deal of fear and frustration. And, in some cases, anger.
You: “But we know with whom to be angry. We have to look inward for much of the blame. We had too much faith in the unimpeded growth of Las Vegas , too much faith in the belief that things would only go up and never come down so precipitously. But, having faith in your community, your friends and your dreams is not a bad thing.”
Me: You have to look inward for much of the blame? So it was you, not the government who was encouraging and in some cases requiring banks and other lenders to make unsafe, unsound loans? It was you encouraging unsound loans so that everyone could own a home – even those who could not afford it? That was you? Darn, and here I thought it was people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and many other Democrats in Congress who refused to listen to Republicans and even to their own auditor regarding the obvious need to place stricter oversight on the lenders like Fannie and Freddy. It was this refusal to provide stricter oversight that ultimately led to the melt-down of the mortgage markets! If it had not been for the government’s insistence that backs make loans that were extremely risky, this meltdown either would not have happened, or it would have been a minor correction, not a major collapse. The free market is always going to have ups and downs and there will always be winners and losers, but the Democrats insistence on continuing down there reckless path certainly exasperated the problem in a major way. This is fact.
You: “Losing faith, though, can be serious.”
You: Easter’s message is a simple one. It is about love and redemption. I didn’t see much love of fellow men in Searchlight last week. I heard a lot of hate, though. Do the folks who have claimed the Tea Party as their express ride to better government really believe they are more patriotic than the thousands of people who show up every day to work for the government — local, state and national — on their behalf? While the rest of us are tending to our own businesses, our own families and our own challenges, is it fair to believe that those who earn government paychecks are working overtime to do us harm?
Me: Ah ha! I knew eventually you would get to the “H” word. Hate! Well, if you were in fact there, then you did not hear hate, you heard anger and frustration regarding our government and a lot of enthusiastic support for those who want to fix what DC is breaking! I don’t know if you bothered to attend or if you simply got your low-down from MSNBC, but I was there in the flesh and did not hear any hate. If I had, I would have left. There was a good deal of passionate speech against much of what is going on in our government, but there was not hate (not counting the Harry Reid supporters threatening people and throwing eggs of course). You probably don’t want to hear this, but for you to accuse an entire group of normal, ordinary, hard working fellow Americans of “hate” where none exists, is itself an act of hate. If anyone in this conversation is being hateful, it is you, sir. You are assigning that corrosive charge to thousands of good people who are simply expressing their opinions and peacefully assembling. You, sir, should be ashamed of yourself, if shame is something that you are capable of. But your off-handed charge of “hate’ is in keeping with the overall untruthful narrative of the media at large. It isn’t true and I suspect you know it (if you really were at the Searchlight event then you know for a fact it’s a lie). Were you equally concerned when Bush was President and we had protests all over this country expressing genuine hatred for the man who kept them safe for 8 years? There were no incidents of the President being burned in effigy at the Searchlight event like there were all over the country during the Bush administration. No one can hold a candle to the far-left in this country when it comes to genuine expressions of hate.
Me: And I have not heard anyone in the Tea Party malign people who serve honorably in government. I have gone back and looked at the many pictures I took of posters at the Tea Party and didn’t see any signs that expressed this made-up sentiment. Your complaint that somehow those of us in the Tea Party movement believe we are “more patriotic” than people employed by government is pure fiction – nonsense! This isn’t about individuals who happened to be employed by the government – heck, I was a government employee for 24 years. No sir, this is about “the government” and our elected officials turning a deaf ear to the will of the people! When you have a government that ignores completely the will of the people, then how far can we be from true totalitarianism? Sean Penn may like the government of Venezuela , but most of us who call ourselves Americans really don’t want to live under such rule.
You: “There are people everywhere who don’t carry their own weight. Those aside, does anyone really believe the people who have been attracted to public service — as opposed to the rest of us who just don’t have the desire, the time or the inclination to work for the benefit of others — are less American than the folks who braved the winds and Porta Potties in Searchlight?”
Me: No, no one does really think that. This sentiment is a figment of your wild imagination. I neither saw nor heard anything at the Searchlight event (nor ant any of the several other Tea Parties I’ve attended) to substantiate your claim. You are just making stuff up – and if there is some antidotal evidence of people who feel that way, it is just that – antidotal and not by any stretch what the Tea Parties are all about. But again, throwing these kinds of charges out there is a favorite tactic of the left. Whether the charges are grounded in truth makes no difference, and that’s really sad.
You: “Isn’t there enough hate in the world directed at us because of who we are, how we live and what we believe? Why do we have to manufacture our own and aim it at people who, for the most part, are just trying to do the right thing the best way they can?”
Me: Yes sir, there is enough (too much) hate already, so why don’t you stop making these hateful claims that are not founded in truth in order to malign your fellow Americans. You have to know that much of what you are ascribing to the Tea Partiers is total bunk – either that or you are listening to MSNBC and really believe their propaganda.
You: “I don’t see the protesters and naysayers taking oaths of office, government salaries and citizen ridicule to work on behalf of their fellow citizens. All I hear are anger-laden complaints.”
Me: Again, this is untrue. I took an oath of office myself as a commissioned officer and served my country proudly for 24 years. A large portion of those attending the Tea Party in Searchlight were veterans who all served in our government. (Or doesn't that count in your world?) There are several people around the country who are stepping up to the challenge of government service as a direct result of the Tea Party movement. If you don’t see it it’s because you don’t want to see it.
You: “And what about redemption? Isn’t that what Easter is all about? Didn’t Jesus make the ultimate sacrifice to redeem the rest of the world from its sins? Where does it say the Tea Party or any other aggrieved group of citizens needs to take that one on, too?”
You: “I know it is every citizen’s right to complain, and I have done my share over the years. But mine has never been filled with hate. I don’t believe all politicians lie. And I don’t believe I have a corner on the truth. And, for certain, I am careful about what I choose to believe of what comes over the Internet — a medium filled with junk that is designed to inflame our passions, play with our emotions and lead us down the path of falsity and away from truth.”
Me: If you know it’s every citizen’s right to complain, then why on Earth are you complaining so much about our complaining? Good grief! And there’s that “H” word again…for goodness sake, stop ascribing that corrosive motivation to those of us who are good hard working citizens just because you don’t like what we’re doing. That’s; really what is behind your so-called concern – it’s that you disagree with our views. Fair enough, but stop with the hate word, ok?
You: “That doesn’t make me better, just better informed.”
Me: Better informed than who? I will assure you that a large percentage of the Tea Party goers are as well informed as anyone out there! We are not all knuckle dragging illiterate rubes with 3rd grade educations! Your statement sounds extremely self-serving and not just a little condescending. You only think you’re “better informed.” Keep living the dream my friend!
You: I’m not complaining about people who are frustrated, angry and scared. That’s most folks today. But, I am concerned about those who hear the truth — that jobs are starting to come back, that the economy is beginning to rebound ever so slightly and that major financial disaster was averted last year — and refuse to believe it, choosing instead to see socialists, communists and anti-American sleepers under every bed. We have been there and done that — 60 years ago it almost destroyed this nation.
Me: Jobs are starting to come back? Really? Well, there will be those census workers that will cause the unemployment rate to temporarily tick up, and there are a lot more government jobs. But where are the real, private sector jobs that are the engine of an economy? Those have not started to come back. If you want truth, then how about the fact that President Obama promised that if they enacted these draconian government takeovers and bailouts that unemployment would not go above 8 percent? Well, it blasted through that figure in pretty short order and has been hovering at near 10 percent ever since. And the economy is rebounding? And as for avoiding a major financial disaster - really? It was liberal policies in the mortgage markets that got us into the mess in the first place, that’s number one. Number two, have you not been reading the reports that, because of the massive debt this administration is saddling us with, we are on the verge of loosing our AAA Credit rating? This administration is placing a $12 Trillion debt on the heads of our children and their children and their children’s’ children, probably forever. Since you are a columnist, mathematics may not me your cup of tea. I’m an Engineer (with a masters degree), so let me see if I can put this in perspective for you. Let’s just talk about $1 Trillion – never mind twelve! Let’s say you were alive when Christ was born, and you began at that time spending $1 million every single day up till today. You would need to continue your spending spree for nearly another 700 years from today to have spent just $1 Trillion. Now multiply that by 12. See the problem? If you don’t then there probably is no hope of convincing you that there is a damn good reason for people to be frustrated and angry.
You: “Easter brings with it a message of love, redemption and hope. I am not asking people to believe me when I say that most elected officials and government workers are good and decent people who work hard and try to do what is right.”
Me: You mean like the message of love and redemption you reflected when, in a April 2009 column, you compared the Tea Party goers to a child throwing a tantrum? Do you have any idea how much that makes you sound like an elitist, toffee-nosed twit? Well it does. Frankly, sir, who the heck are you to lecture us about, well about anything, especially about redemption? You really are quite full of yourself, aren’t you?
You: “What I am asking of those individuals, who are so angry that they point fingers of blame in so many of the wrong places, is to step back and ask themselves a question that is on so many car bumpers in cities across this country.”
Me: Are you talking about us in the Tea Party, fighting to save our country from a path that is going to lead to massive debt and Lord knows what else, or are you talking about President Obama who continues to this day to “point the finger of blame” on the previous administration? I’ve yet to hear the man speak without some reference to the horrible things the previous administration caused – which he must now save us all from. I've yet to hear him take responsibility for anything! This is a man who bristles at the slightest criticism. He continually maligns his opponents while constantly complaining about those who oppose his policies. Not very Presidential if you ask me. The term narcissist comes to mind.
You: On this Easter, ask yourselves, “What would Jesus do? How would Jesus act? Who would Jesus blame?”
Me: Please, sir, get off your high horse and stop lecturing the rest of us about the spirit of Easter…you have demonstrated in your past articles that you live in a glass house.
Happy Easter.
Indeed
Note: There was no hate expressed in this response, only frustration at the unfair and untrue characterization by this author regarding those of us who are genuinely and legitimately concerned for your country. I will pray for his poor, lost soul on this Easter Sunday.
Bravo!!
I suggest, Brian, you check out what Jesus DID when He found the moneychangers in the temple, full description available of how He acted and whom He blamed.
As Sen. Phil Gramm used to say during the days when he was almost the lone voice against Hillary-care: "It's time for people who are riding in the wagon to get out and help push it."
Oh, brother. Here is a perfect example of Alinsky’s advice to “make them live up to their own standards,” and nothing more than that - shameless, hypocritical, and manipulative. I wouldn’t give Greenspun another thought. He isn’t even a very good propagandist.
It doesn't, does it? But it is: partyer
If you click the "Also: partier" link, you are brought right back to seeing that partyer is a proper spelling ... it's that y/i problem, I had to make sure my own self.
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If you don’t love tyranny, then you’re full of hate?
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“A journalist telling us WWJD?”
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We know what Jesus would do; he’d go to DC and do the same thing he did to the pimps and conmen in the temple. He would make a bull whip, and thrash them as he turned over their desks, and scattered them to the wind.
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Well lookie there, I guess we really DO learn something new everyday. I’ll be darned.
Yep the typical government worker is a child in adult clothing...getting an allowance from a nanny state ...never accountable...can't be fired...doesn't have to perform...insulated from the economy...and taken care of for life. Kind of like living at home with mommy and daddy again....
People like this are completely delusional. They love to talk about God, but it's always the same old single-faceted "God is love" caricature that makes it clear that they know not God at all. They want to paint the Creator of the universe (not that they admit that He's the Creator!) as essentially a simpleton, a good-natured uncle who dismisses everything with a wink and a nod. They ask what Jesus would do, but don't want to talk about Jesus clearing out the corrupt moneychangers. They latch onto the notion that God is love, while ignoring the fact that He is HOLY and repulsed by sin, while ignoring the fact that He is by his own direct admission a jealous God. They're delusional and bitter people and they only become more so as they age. That's been my observation.
The issue is not who has hatred — that is a big straw man argument.
The valid issue is the law versus the change that has been dealt to us. That “change” is unconstitutional.
Start from that point. We’ll have some better arguments.
I’m guessing in both instances the town’s name is Wausau??? Interesting... Seems like Greenspun has continued in the “family business” of biased journalism.
The last time someone chided me saying I wasn’t very “Christ-like” I brought up the moneychangers in the temple. Their response to me was that they didn’t believe in any “false prophets like Buddha or Christ”. The point being they had no real understanding of what they were saying, they were just trying to shame me into “piping down” or “shutting up”. And THAT is just NOT going to happen. God made my temperament the way it is for a reason, and I’ll (literally) be damned if I don’t honor the truth and stand up for what I believe to be right...
It is not a sin to have anger, we just have to be careful not to sin as a result of that anger.
See my post at #57 — EXACTLY the experience I had the other day with someone who accused me of not being “Christ-like”. They too said they believe in a singular God who is “love” when I brought up the moneychangers. Unbelievable (almost). I wonder if we were talking to the same person? LOL
I believe its logical to protest when your country is being taken over by a tyrannical usurper thats being supported by an enemy of the state.
And to adamantly try to convince the rest of the nation to wake up to reality and show them the facts that they are living in a Stockholm Syndrome. They have been lied to and conned into surrendering just as if an armed country has invaded America.
Except this was strategically planned years ago and was enacted due to just plain stupid people being conned by a false Messiah. They are still in a stupor and coffee or cold water still isn’t exactly waking them up.
Of course a percentage know it and they welcome it and will fight to live in a socialized lifestyle, those may be a total lost cause.
I was talking about the goomer who authored the article at the top of this thread, but all these poor souls are alike. Whenever we hear "God is love," our antennae need to extend to pick up what comes next.
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