The Tea Kettle Movement
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/opinion/29friedman.html
Simple minds aren't going to cut it here. Complexity has to be understood.
Excerpt:
In other words, it will require a very smart, subtle and focused plan to use our now diminishing resources in the most efficient way possible to get back to our core competency. That is the only long-term solution to our problem — to grow our way out of debt with American workers who are more empowered and educated to compete.
Any Tea Party that says the simple answer is just shrinking government and slashing taxes might be able to tip the midterm elections in its direction. But it can’t tip America in the right direction. There is a Tea Party for that, but it’s still waiting for a leader.
7 comments:
hey Mark, political comment:
Three paragraphs in has me saying F this clown.
#1. His deep thought now that someone else has "started it" marks him as a do nothing himself.
#2. Things aren't going to change unless and until the people that created the present are ousted. That's action, that's the Tea Party.
Deep thought comes later. What a wanker....wah, wah, wah....can't do anything yet because don't have a plan. A plan would be nice, but got news for this clown, this country is out of time for "a plan." The people will work it out as they go.... been done before.
Just an opinion,
Hi Anonymous,
The problem with the current Tea Party is that people in it will become disillusioned and quit before anything gets done. It's very important how a project gets started. If the start is wrongheaded, it will fail.
Deregulation and lower taxes are not the main problems. That's what the Tea Party thinks the problems are, and that is just flat wrong.
Runaway government spending, particularly on expensive wars of empire, other horrendously misplaced priorities, outsourcing, and criminality in Government are what's killing us.
The Tea Party barely addresses any of these things. I felt this guy was saying the same thing I'm saying, so I posted his editorial.
It's very American to act without thinking, just to get some kind of action.
That is not a good plan, and is partly why everything is so screwed up now. We've been doing that for decades, throwing money and energy at unproductive solutions, I've been there to watch it happen.
Maybe it's because I'm older, but I've seen a lot, and the best I can say is without an understanding of the complexity of our problems, this country is really screwed, period.
I'm not sure Thomas is a do nothing, he's writing an editorial to try to get people to think about what their goals really are, and this is also what I try to do with my little editorials. I have also been to anti-war events, and other protests for years, I can't say whether Thomas Friedman has done these things as well, but he is trying to wake people up that the current path is the wrong one.
When I hear Tea Party rhetoric, I hear rage, and little else. That's a Hell of a platform. It will in turn, bring us more Hell.
Regards,
Mark
hey Mark,
First, I surely appreciate all you do and have done with this blog and respect the position you take. Further, I'm from a genre and upbringing that can fully relate to what you're saying. However, will the PLANNED approach get the job done? I don't think so.
Preface -- I'm old too... undergrad at the Univ of IL, Champaign when veterans were returning from Vietnam in the late 60's. UofI was no Kent State, but we had National Guard jeeps outfitted with barbed wire laced contraptions that went down the street to move crowds. Do you think the Vietnam war would have ended when it did without the angry, NO PLAN, protests of the day? Would a well reasoned, civil, logical discourse/plan ended it sooner?
//become disillusioned and quit before anything gets done.//
Well perhaps, back in the day, at least the Vietnam war got stopped. That was a good thing. True enough, the horse was already out of barn with Johnson's Guns and Butter programs that rolled the Soc. Security fund into the general fund. Protesters didn't have a plan for rolling that back.
//That's what the Tea Party thinks the problems are//
The tea party is diverse. To say, "that's what they think" is to say they, at least somewhat, have a PLAN. I don't think that's the case. If there is one thing central to a tea party person, it's that CHANGE must happen. It will be interesting to see if tea party MINDED reps and senators can come together and co-opt the Republican party establishment OR, the Republican establishment successfully co-opts the tea partiers as they so clearly are trying to do right now.
//Runaway government spending, particularly on expensive wars of empire, other horrendously misplaced priorities, outsourcing, and criminality in Government are what's killing us.//
Whose to say they won't figure that out? Clearly, the folks in charge of the current plan haven't. Or, if they have, they are controlled by others that are truly in charge of the "plan". Either way, they're worthless to us.
//I felt this guy was saying the same thing I'm saying, so I posted his editorial.//
And that's a good thing. First, there's "radicals", then innovators, then early adopters, then the followers... this guy falls in the latter category. He can see the benefit but is attaching prerequisites before he gets involved.
//without an understanding of the complexity of our problems, this country is really screwed, period.//
I think the tea party people fully understand the country is screwed without having to understand the complexity of the "screwing." Students didn't understand the establishment's complexity attached to the Vietnam war. They just knew the benefit was not worth the 50,000+ lives lost. Gotta start somewhere and we're running out of time to get started.
//Thomas Friedman.... is trying to wake people up that the current path is the wrong one.//
If he wants to make a positive contribution and be additive to a solution, he should not antagonize the people doing the work. Bad PR.
//When I hear Tea Party rhetoric, I hear rage, and little else. That's a Hell of a platform. It will in turn, bring us more Hell.//
It just might. Personally, I'll take their hell over the one the PTB / bankers have PLANNED for us.
Enjoy the discourse. Regards,
Hi Anonymous,
Well, we may have to agree to disagree somewhat on this. I see your point in a certain way, and I'm not calling for a 'plan' as such, for the Tea Party to follow. It's just an awareness thing. For Vietnam, to me, the issue was simpler, one was for it or against it.
For the Tea party it's a different kettle of fish.
Many of the Tea Party member are much more 'well off' then most of the truly disenfranchised in today's society, and I just feel, with a few notable exceptions here and there, their concern is mostly to keep themselves in a low tax bracket.
Much of the movement is funded by the Billionaire Koch brothers, who make huge amounts of money on war profiteering. They are carefully cultivating this movement so it won't jeopardize their cash cow.
Since runaway military spending is one of the big components of this crisis we're all in, the Koch brother's involvement is a factor that renders the movement compromised.
Another thing I am skeptical of is the involvement of the Kissinger and Rockefeller people with Beck and Palin. Many photo ops of these people all together make me extremely wary about where this is all going...
These were the political forces that got us in 'Nam in the first place..
So it's not about a plan per se, it's about whose dancing with the devil here...
Regards,
Mark L.
I like the useful info you provide in your posts. I will book mark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite sure I will learn a lot of new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
Excellent tips. Really useful stuff .Never had an idea about this, will look for more of such informative posts from your side.. Good job...Keep it up
Always good to see, this was really a brilliant post. In theory would like to be such a good writer too. It takes time to create that brilliant and additionally real effort to make a brilliant article.
Post a Comment