So am I to understand that the only objection you have to the GB rally is that it ‘lacks’ credibility’ because it doesn’t ‘reflect America’? Wow! I tend to base my political opinions based on what people actually say and then actually do. Of course, I guess you realize that if minorities are under represented when it comes to supporting Glen Beck rallies, then they must be over represented in opposing Glenn Beck rallies. This leads us to the horrifying realization that when we divide the population into two opposing groups either both groups ‘reflect America’ or neither group ‘reflects America’. So how can we choose based on ‘reflecting America’? Perhaps this is why I never base my support or opposition to something based on racial composition. But hey, to each his own.
But you are still dancing around my main question, and you are dancing harder and harder. Let me try again, one last time. This is the only real question I want an answer to: what was said at the Glenn Beck rally that you find objectionable?
Now I am glad you think that such virtues as strong work ethic, family values and the like are conservative. I hope and pray that lots of liberals have those same values as well.
The Tea Party has been getting lots of favorable coverage from Fox. I guess you must watch Fox all the time so that you may not be aware that most of the mainstream media outlets have been giving the Tea Party somewhat less than enthusiastic coverage – you know, reporting all the bogus racism and hate and potential violence at Tea Party events; the spitting and racial epithets in Washington and all. You’re also probably not aware that while Fox may dominate cable news, it has only a fraction of the viewership of network news. In spite of this, as I am sure you are aware, the Tea Party still manages to poll more favorably than either the Democrats or the Republicans. Maybe that is why I think that more and more Americans, including minorities, will support the basic Tea Party objectives.
I have been to multiple local Tea Party events here in Colorado and whereas I will readily concede that we don’t have minority representation to make us ‘look like America’, but it sure is a lot more than 1-2%. I think it will grow, you presumably do not. We’ll see.
If you want to argue that minorities are generally conservative rather than liberal, by all means go right ahead. I wish they were. Well, some probably are: Asians, for instance. I’ll base my view of the main minority groups (Blacks and Hispanics) on the way they vote. It has been years since Blacks voted less than 80% for Democrats and Hispanics less than 60% (I’m limiting myself to Presidential elections for simplicity). I personally know minorities who have a strong work ethic and strong family and religious values, and they vote Democratic. Now I ask (and I’m not being flippant) would you consider them to be more liberal or more conservative? And would you consider them to be people that might respond to the Tea Party message, which includes quite a bit about standing on your own two feet, taking responsibility for you own actions, and not being dependent on others?
I’m glad you examined the pictures of the rally so closely that you could conclude that there are only 1-2% minorities. Try as I might, I could not reach the same conclusion. There were just too many that I simply could not identify – they could have been White, they could have been Asian, they could have been Hispanic. I you asked me for an estimate, I would have said 1-2% Black, a similar number that I am pretty sure were Asian, some Hispanics (less than 1%) that I could identify as such, 70% White and the balance I could not tell, though I am sure that a majority of that balance were White. So I am pretty sure that it was at least 90% White, but beyond that I suppose I am just not smart enough to figure out, in spite of having a graduate degree in statistics and knowing a bit about estimation and the like. I guess my eyes aren’t keen enough. But you see, they key point is I do not care what the racial composition of the crowd was, and you obviously do. I do understand why now, at least – it doesn’t ‘reflect America’ – though I still don’t understand why that is important. I think that perhaps a more reliable way to determine whether something reflects America is to see if that something can get a majority of votes in a national election. The election of 2010 is not going to be a referendum on the GB rally, but I’m willing to bet that people that supported that rally are going to be a lot happier with the election results than those who objected to it.
I will give you the Tea Party in a nutshell, since you demand it. Obviously I’ll not get into details. Of course there is the above about people being self-reliant. We don’t want a government that rewards bad behavior and punishes good behavior. The Tea Party also wants us to return to the type of government our founders envisioned: limited government based on the Constitution. We believe that the Constitution limits the powers of the federal government and we wish to see the feds operate under those restrictions. We believe in American ‘exceptional-ism’. America is not like others (Europe, for example) and we should not try to become like them. Finally, most Tea Party people I have met are also social conservatives more than libertarian (I personally am a bit more libertarian), but consider that under current circumstances, social conservative issues should take a back seat to more pressing issues like getting our debt under control and putting some restraints on federal power.
Now I really do want to know what you find objectionable about what was said at the GB rally, but I simply can’t go on meeting like this. I have too many other things to do and will be happy to call a truce if you so desire.
