Teabaggers

The right-wing propoganda machine has it's rank and file all hot and bothered over the deficit spending of the current administration. Certainly it is fair to be concerned over such spending, even though Obama inherited this mess and federal spending is needed to avoid a collapsing economy, at least according to Keynesian economists. However one has to ask the question of where were these protesters thirty years ago, or even eight years ago for that matter?

If you subtract military expenditures and the money spent on homeland security, the Bush Administration was still the biggest spenders since the New Deal. They ran record-setting deficits while cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans. The Reagan Administration incurred massive amounts of federal debt and placed that burden of the backs of future generations, yet where were the protesters then? Under both of these administration the size of government grew substantially along with our national debt. Now three months into a democratic presidency and suddenly it is time to be concerned and to place blame?

I watch ignorant mouthpieces of the right like Glenn Beck misrepresent and outright lie about the beliefs and attitudes of our founding fathers for political gain. Mr Beck, Thomas Paine was not an anti-taxation conservative minded hero as you claim. He actually advocated estate taxes on the rich to finance a public education system, which is entirely contrary to your portrayal and betrayal of the man. I mean if Beck could be bothered to do the slightest bit of research then he would realize that Paine's most famous work was "The Age of Reason," which was a book against religion. Yet somehow douchebags like Glenn Beck somehow manage to turn such a great thinker into some god-fearing, quaking in his boots at the thought of hell, pussy. When will idiots like Beck realize that people came to this country to escape conservatism and the status quo, which history demonstrates quite well as the natural progression of empires, but every generation conservatism is repackaged and sold to the masses as what the founding fathers would have wanted.

The United States is in a terrible financial position in the early 21st Century and it has been a long time coming. We as a people have been lulled into a false sense of security and have grown fat on prosperity. Few people understand the complexity of such things as the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, demanding that we let these companies fail under their own weight. However few realize these two companies are the largest companies on the planet and their failure means you will be using the money from your savings as kindling in your fireplace when they do. Entire nations and the world economy are directly tied to the financial matters of these entities. Bailing them out at least buys us time as opposed to the world economy already gringing to a halt. I know this concept seems impossible to those who find their store shelves full and their gas stations always fully stocked but this is a fact whether you care to believe it or not. Even the staunchest of economic conservatives understand the need to prop up our struggling financial system.

Having concern over excessive government spending is fine, but I believe what we are seeing is sour grapes from the right-wing over losing power. People have taken to the streets to protest taxes on a day when tax cuts were signed into law for ninety five percent of working families. Soundbite nation has ignored our reality and wants to return to a simpler time, which they naively believe are the great days of Reagan or even Bush. On could definitely argue that these were the times when the heat was turned way up on the stove and our fate was sealed. Regulations were eliminated on everything from utilities to Wall Street and what resulted was a floundering utility system, ever-rising electrical rates, Enron and now the complete failure of our financial system at the hands of the greediest of the greedy. Those who are ignorant of history now wish to pound down the White House door out of frustration fostered by those who know better but have no direction, no plan, no prospects for regaining power, and no shame. They demanded we support one of the most unpopular presidents in history and the day after he was gone they came for the new guy, completely revealing their hypocrisy in the process.

I have respect for many conservative principles, mainly the ones abandoned by the last few republican presidents, but I also understand that these same politicians were downright enemies of labor and the working man. Someday when I have a few more zeroes in my bank account I may think differently, but in the meantime I get up at the crack of dawn everyday to head out and rebuild this country one brick at a time and I don't need some filthy rich politician continually pushing to reduce the costs to the wealthy when those bricks come crashing down on my head so as to add another penny to their stock dividend.