To the Editor:
Leo Sandy’s column titled: “What is the tea party?” in Tuesday’s Laconia Daily Sun shows how difficult it is for him to write about opponents without slandering people he doesn’t know, revealing his ignorance or dishonesty or both, and his ability to draw conclusions based on his wishes rather than evidence. One expects better from someone entrusted with the education and well being of our young men and women. His article helps explain why our education system does such a poor job (even though at great cost).
Tea party members are united by concern for our country and that the opportunity for quality lives is being stolen from future generations. My experience is that every group of Americans is represented. But we don‘t count people by race, age, sex, etc., we only see concerned Americans. Only liberals are obsessed with demographics which they try to use to deflect attention from their failing policies.
Sandy says “tea party members tending toward authoritarianism, libertarianism, and fear of change.” Apparently tea party members can be both for and against the concept of personal freedom simultaneously, it’s a miracle! To be clear, tea party members are for positive change, i.e., to responsible government. We oppose President Obama’s changes which destroy jobs, people’s lives, and creates trillions of new national debt for which our country received NO VALUE.
Tea party members are for responsible legal immigration. They oppose illegal immigration because it harms Americans, especially the least skilled Americans.
Sandy repeats the tired and false charge that tea party members are racist. Black tea party members laugh at this fantasy that has been made up because President Obama’s policies, which are what tea party members oppose, are indefensible. (Have you noticed how it is only racist to criticize a black who is liberal? Did Sandy ever charge racism when Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas, or Colin Powell were slandered?) If Sandy attended a tea party meeting, he would hear plenty of criticism and anger directed at republican politicians, including the white ones.
Tea party members are tired of politicians lying to the American people, establishing programs that are not fully funded, and trying to shift onto others the blame for the consequences of their actions. In general, we oppose all subsidies, bail outs, wasteful spending (including in defense), Federal directives and enticements that drive up expenses for the states, local governments and school systems, excessive regulations which drives jobs out of our country, federal employees being paid twice that of the private sector employees, hiring nearly 200,000 new Federal employees when the private sector is struggling with painful unemployment and underemployment, policies that shut down businesses with near perfect, but not perfect, emissions and drives jobs overseas (where there are no emission controls), rewarding behavior which is bad for society and individuals and punishing behavior which is good for society and individuals, politicians using tax money to buy support from special interest groups, and taxing people to continue funding wasteful, redundant, ineffective, valueless, and counter-productive programs that politicians are too lazy or too timid to eliminate.
Tea party people are for individual liberty, personal responsibility, caring for the helpless, and for small, limited, Constitutionally based, fiscally responsible government that provides security and opportunity for all citizens. They demand that government live within its means. They believe that passing the cost of today’s comforts to the next and subsequent generations is immoral and shameful.
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(I have added Prof. Leo’s Letter below (P 6,7). His home page, with UN Flag prominently displayed, is here -Skip)
What is the tea party?
Leo R. Sandy
The tea party describes itself as “a grassroots movement of millions of like-minded Americans from all backgrounds and political parties. Tea Party members share similar core principles supporting the United States Constitution as the Founders intended, such as limited federal government, individual freedoms, personal responsibility, free markets and returning political power to the states and the people” (The Tea Party.net).
On the surface, this appears to be a motherhood, apple pie issue that no one should be against. However, on deeper analysis, it suggests something quite different. Critics have have referred to tea party members as “brownshirts”, “mad hobbits”, “white, older and angry” and “toothless hillbillies “. A more benign term is far right conservative Republicans. Some people are attracted to the Tea Party because they are influenced by slogans, fear and quick fixes to complex problems. Thus, it is no surprise that surveys show tea party members tending toward authoritarianism, libertarianism and fear of change. They also are like to hold antiimmigrant views (Vanderbilt University Research). Only 5-percent of tea party members are Democrats. The majority are white males over 45 years old. Most of its members are from the south, are Protestant, are gun owners, make over 50K per year, but have more formal education than the general population. They also are a pessimistic group believing that things will get worse.
Eighty percent of tea party members disapprove of President Obama’s job performance but 7-percent say he’s doing a good job. Most of their criticism of the president is based on just not liking him personally which suggests the possibility of racist leanings. The majority of tea party members believe that Obama’s policies favor the poor which is not fashionable to do. Despite the fact that the Obama administration provided tax cuts to all Americans, most Tea Party members believe he has raised taxes on most Americans. Only one in five Tea Party members believes that the president shares the values of most Americans. About one fourth of all Tea Party members justify taking violence against the government. Sixty three percent of Tea Party members get their news exclusively from Fox News. In terms of notable figures, Sarah Palin is a strong favorite among Tea Party members. Glenn Beck is second. Most are also against the Roe vs Wade decision. Most Tea Party members do not believe that “white privilege” exists and they assert that minorities have equal opportunities. They also believe that too much is made out of problems facing people of color.
The main principles of the Tea Party also need to be critically analyzed. The first is a vague statement about upholding of the Constitution. When I read the Constitution, two things jump out at me. These are the phrases, “insure domestic tranquility” and “promote the general welfare”. Thus, these two aims are the government’s responsibility and you can’t have tranquility and welfare unless people’s basic needs are met. Cutting social programs both disturbs the peace and undermines the general welfare.
The second is the idea that the federal government should be limited. Here it is important to look not just what the government spends but how it spends. Tea Party members see military spending as a sacred cow and there is no amount that is too much. How many times has the Pentagon said that it didn’t need a weapons system that Congress went ahead and approved of anyway? On the left and far away from Tea Party principles priority is given to spending for social programs that help the most vulnerable citizens such as poor people, people with disabilities, veterans with PSTD and other debilitating disorders, the frail elderly and children. These programs
involve assistance in areas of health, education, transportation, housing and food. If the federal government spends mainly on “defense” but not on the welfare of its most needy citizens, that seems okay with Tea Party members. Thus, they only want federal spending cut and federal influence limited in selective and exclusive ways. States are struggling to survive and to add the burden of welfare to states, defense spending could actually increase to even more obscene levels with more wars of choice on the horizon. Tea Party members would probably have little problem with this.
The third issue is another smokescreen – individual freedom. After 9-11, many freedoms were compromised by invasions of privacy by the government and by assaults on free speech by conservative groups such as the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. It seems that only freedoms by one side are to be protected like carrying a handgun without a permit, not contributing to the health care of our fellow citizens or the freedom to pollute at will with no regulations. Thus, the individual freedom that the tea party members talk about is again quite selective and exclusive.
The fourth principle is personal responsibility and this is usually directed at poor people and others who are not able to work for various reasons such as not being able to pay the cost of child care that other countries less prosperous than ours provide free so that mothers can work. This also assumes that all problems are reduced to free will including PTSD, schizophrenia, hidden injuries of class, internalized oppression, etc. When it comes right down to it, the only people who have free will are those who are free from internal demons and external conditions that place people in a survival mode. What about some of our wealthiest citizens who take advantage of every loophole they created in the first place so that they don’t have to pay their burden of taxes. Are not these people irresponsible? Just because loopholes exist doesn’t give people the moral authority to use them. What is legal can sometimes be immoral.
Free markets, the fifth principle, also sound pleasing to the ear except when you look at the dark side of them such as exploitation of people and resources not to mention pollution. Toxic waste dumps, moving jobs overseas where there is cheap labor and no human rights are examples of free or unregulated markets. Free trade is not free. There is a terrible human and environmental cost to it.
Finally, there is the idea of returning power to the states and the people. Unless we have campaign reform and a shift from representative democracy to participatory democracy, political power will remain in the hands of the wealthiest among us who make the rules that only benefi t them. I don’t remember hearing that these are on the radar of Tea Party members who get much financial support from people like the Koch brothers who know full well where their bread is buttered. The tea party will go away just like the Straight Arrows in Laconia did several years ago. It will become extinct because it does not stand for what is right and just but for only what is popular and feared.
(Leo R. Sandy is professor of counselor education at Plymouth State University and a consulting school psychologist.)
