a little disappointed….

If you know me, you know I love to talk about politics.  And, I do it with passion. I’ve been politically oriented since as long as I can remember.

In my family, our dinner table consisted of talking about the things you weren’t supposed to talk about:  religion, politics and sex.  

So, when it comes to politics, I’ve been doing it most of my life.  Here’s where the disappointment comes.

I’ve come to identify with the Tea Party movement, not the whacko, I am not a witch faction, but the one that says that government is taking over too much of our lives, and the one that thinks we need to be honest with our people about spending and the deficit, social services, and what can be done.

My view of the Tea Party consists of more libertarian thought.  The Patriot Act is a bad thing, not a patriotic thing, because it gives government the authority to intrude in my life without my consent. 

Government should work for us, not the other way around.  We need to tell the truth about Social Security, and we need to raise the retirement age.  We need to rethink about our role in world matters and not be so quick to shoot at others.  We need to get out of social engineering and not worry who marries who and what gender they are.  We need to stop demonizing people of different religions.  We need to firmly stand for keeping religion out of our government and government out of our religion.  We need to back off and think about what the real role of government is.  We need to stop looking at government to fix everything.     

So, you’d think I’d be excited to discuss my positions with Tea Partiers.  Guess again.  Many of these people think that since people are noticing them, they need to express their opinions, all their opinions.  There seems to be no nuance, no empathy for another position, no ability to think rationally, but to move into emotional blather once somebody disagrees on a point.

And when it gets loud, it’s ruined  for everyone.  Like the drunk at the party who thinks he’s funny, they look stupid.

I’m very concerned a legitimate movement will implode under the weight of all of the “Jerry Springer” crowd, while thinking people try to quietly move the agenda forward with diplomacy and tact.   I don’t want to be part of a mob, but a movement.

I understand there is a whole new group of people wanting to be part of something.  Just like a party, when the loudmouths show up, so do the police. 

Let’s keep it civil and organized.