Why I Dismiss the Tea Party Movement

The reason that I dismiss the Tea Party movement is because the same people that attended the tea parties on April 15 seemingly didn't give a damn about out-of-control government spending or civil liberties prior to January 20, 2009.

There is no doubt that Obama is rushing headlong to fascism through the door that Bush opened (see here the Bush deficit vs. the projected Obama deficit), but the mess that we find ourselves in did not happen overnight, and both factions (R and D) of the Government Party share plenty of blame.

To put the tea parties in perspective, estimates of nationwide tea party turnout are between 550,000 and 1 million people at 858 events. By comparison, Major League Baseball had ~358,000 people in attendance in 14 cities. That is hardly what I would describe as awakening "a sleeping giant."

Privatize Profit, Socialize Loss

My edition of Webster's defines obscene as, "offensive to accepted standards of decency." The AIG corporate logo should be next to the definition (IMHO). AIG has received $170 billion of US taxpayer money (yea -that's right, billion with a "B" - $170,000,000,000). AIG lost $61 billion during the 4th quarter 2008, the largest quarterly loss in US corporate history. AIG stock was $41.18/share on March 14, 2008. The stock price closed on March 13, 2009 at $0.50 (up 9¢ on the day).

Now here's the kicker - AIG is paying out $165 million in bonuses for 2008. According to the New York Times, "The bonuses will be paid to executives at A.I.G.’s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by subprime mortgages.The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses." Apparently bonuses at AIG are not based on performance.

Even the kleptocrats running the US government should find this offensive.

As the Italian anti-fascist Gaetano Salvemini said about fascist economies, "Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social." So Obama is not a socialist (as the Republicans are so fond of parroting), he is more of a quasi-fascist (just like his predecessor).

(HT: libertystickers.com)

Update: To keep things in perspective, the $165 million in bonuses is less than 0.1% of the $170 billion bailout of AIG.

Socialism or Fascism - It's Not Much of a Choice

Everyone knows that Barack Obama, like most Democrat politicians, is a socialist. Unfortunately, most of the American sheeple have turned a blind eye to the fact that the GOP (especially the party's standard bearer, John McCain) are, by definition, fascists. My copy of Webster's defines fascism as, "A philosophy of governmental system marked by stringent socioeconomic control, a strong central government usu. headed by a dictator, and often a belligerently nationalistic policy." This definition includes the four fascist characteristics in the Republican party that stand out today: corporatism, nationalism, totalitarianism and militarism.

• Corporatism - John T. Flynn, in his 1944 book As We Go Marching, said about fascism, "Thus we may now say that fascism is a system of social organization that recognizes and proposes to protect the capitalist system and uses the device of public spending and debt as a means of creating national income..." As we have recently witnessed, state intervention in the economy, when it is in the interest of the state and the wealthy elites who support the political machine, is wholly supported by the Republican party (with a few exceptions - thank you Ted Poe). According to Roderick T. Long, "Fascism seeks to incorporate... private ownership into the state apparatus through public-private partnership." The result is an economic system that is somewhere between capitalism and socialism. The camels nose was already under the tent; now the camel (thanks to the Bush administration, aided and abetted by McCain and the Republican Congress) is not only in the tent, but is in your bed snuggling with your wife.

• Nationalism - Whereas communism stresses class struggle, fascism emphasizes the struggle of the nation. The nation is the unifying force of the people. The nation is depicted as facing some never ending crisis (e.g., "The War on Terror") and must rally against the common enemy (e.g., Islamofascists, Ahmadinejad, bogeyman, etc.).

Dissent is grounds to question a person's patriotism. A perfect example is Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Bachmann asking about her political opponents, "Are they pro-America or anti-America?" The incessant flag waving, chants of "USA" and "Country First" banners at the Republican convention are indicative of a brand of nationalism that, as a Christian, I believe to be idolatry (and according to Rep. Bachmann, my opinion, of course, is indicative that I am anti-American ).

• Collectivism - Republican conservatism was traditionally associated with rugged individualism, so McCain's slogan "Serving a cause greater than self-interest" does not pass the smell test for me. I'm not for Ayn Rand-style selfishness, but if the state is the cause that McCain refers to, then "no thanks." McCain's belief in the state over the individual (my interpretation) is common to both fascism and socialism/communism.

• Totalitarianism - According to the definition, fascism has a strong central government usually head by dictator. The United States is not ruled by a dictator as commonly perceived (i.e. one man), rather we have a single party government (with Republican and Democrat factions) and a newly installed economic dictator. The government does not serve the people, but vice versa. This is not what the Founders envisioned.

• Militarism - Militarism is common to all fascist states. The worship of all things military is prevalent in the Republican party. Even while our country wages an unjust, unprovoked war against a country that posed no threat to us; a war that has resulted in the deaths of scores of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians and 4,000+ dead American soldiers and marines - the overwhelming majority of otherwise decent, God-fearing people that I worship with every Sunday morning still support the President and his abhorrent policies because we must "support the troops". McCain has surrounded himself with neocon advisors so one can only expect the everlasting war to continue, with potential new fronts in Iran and the former Soviet republics.

Because the lesser of two evils is still evil (and it is difficult to determine in this election which is the lesser evil), I have followed the advice of John Quincy Adams and voted for Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party candidate for President.

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." John Quincy Adams