Tea Party The New Civil Rights Movement?

[colourwheel]

The past few weeks, Glenn Beck has been the talking head for Tea Party activists preaching they must become the new leaders of civil rights movement. claiming they are being discriminated against, persecuted, and denied equal protection under the law by a biased and corrupt government.

 

Beck seems to have this delusion they will eventually be the force that saves this nation some how. Glenn Beck went to Washington DC for the anti-IRS/anti-immigration Tea Party rally outside the Capitol. On his TV program last night, he delivered a speech to his audience that "this is a civil rights movement; you many not understand it now, but believe me, you will."

 

As calling upon the Tea Party to "start moving as a civil rights movement," Beck announced that he is going to be working with Alveda King, the anti-gay, anti-abortion Religious Right activist niece of Martin Luther King, who will start teaching "classes that model exactly what her uncle Martin taught her to do." "We have to be willing to have the dogs be unleashed on us," Beck said because "after what I saw today on the way they're handling things at the Capitol, you're not very far from having the same kind of oppression coming our way".

 

Now is it just me or does this seem completely ridiculous beyond belief? I mean what imaginary civil rights that have been taken away specifically calls to rally the Tea Party to become a civil rights movement? Does anyone else feel a huge amount of hypocrisy when trying to claim to be a civil rights movement when denigrating others civil rights for people such as gay and lesbian rights?

 

It would be interesting to see what others think about this reguardless of taking a side on this subject....

[Morrovvind]

Who's Glenn Beck? Haha

 

I can't say I know much about the subject, I simply don't watch television.

 

But if what you say is true, that these people are against the equal rights of the LGBT community, then they are wrong and history won't remember them kindly.

 

That being said, if they have rights that are being denied, then I'm all for the restoration of their civil rights, regardless of whatever lame opinions that they have about people different than them. As long as everybody has equal rights, everythings cool.

[Lord Garon]

Sigh. I am a member of a (gasp!) Tea Party. We must be more popular and powerful than I realized; Glenn Beck wants to mobilize us for something no less than a civil rights movement and colourwheel puts our name in a NEXUS post to rail against that happening.

 

Please, calm down. Glenn Beck does not "speak" for the Tea Parties. In fact, contrary to popular opinion, no one does. Our administartor would LOVE to get some kind of concensus on a national, even regional, spokesperson. Beck simply uses the "Tea Party" much like you do; to rouse emotions.

 

I actually think everyone hates us. Lefties think we're Bible thumping rednecks, Righties think we're Libertarian nut cases, and Libertarians think... well, who knows what Libertarians think. (C'mon, some of my best friends are Libertarians.)

 

Were the Tea Parties "persecuted" (by the IRS)? Maybe "treated unfairly" is better. Of course, one thing most members want is smaller government and fewer taxes; its only natural that government taxation bureaucrats might be a little "annoyed" at that. So what. The IRS action is simply one symptom of what many Tea Party members are concerned about. Is it a spark for a "civil rights" movement? No. Its a spark to help Beck's ratings. (Is he still on the air anywhere?)

 

Don't stereotype the Tea Parties as a bunch of LGBT hating, right-wing religious anti-abortion anti-immigration Beck lovers. Some are. Most are not. Precisely the same as society and the world as a whole. All it does is show how ignorant and prejudiced you are.

 

However, I'll say one thing; I actually do believe that common Tea Party values can "save" this country. And exactly zero of those values involve lesbians, gays, religions, or abortion. There are bigger fish to fry.

 

BTW: I didn't know you posted here. (I don't get online that often.) I simply want to say thanks for all your mods. Elizabeth made Oblivion a lot more fun. Thanks.

[Morrovvind]

My bad, Lord Garon, my wording was totally bad. When I said "these people" I didn't mean to say all people that affiliate with this name or group, I just meant those opposed to the equal rights of others. I'll try not to be as ambiguous and I apologize.

[colourwheel]

Please don't get me wrong here. I am not judging any individuals associated or targeting anyone on their political views. More or less a public awareness to let people know what "leaders" (if you can call them that) are preaching on behalf of an organization you might or might not be associated with.

 

One might think Tea Party values can "save" this country, but when you look at the people in power associated with the tea party they advocate social legislation involving anti-gay and lesbian laws, abolishing abortion rights, and undermining sexual equality all based on religious/personal beliefs, not to mention also denigrating immigrants in america as well as trying to control womens bodies. If this wasn't the case I think I "might" be a member of the tea party too, MAYBE.... :teehee:

 

Maybe I am wrong about this, me being bisexual woman who wasn't born in america yet has been an american citizen "almost" my whole life, feels like the tea party as a whole concidering the people who are in actual legislative power probably views someone like me as a 2nd class citizen.

 

BTW: Thankyou for being a fan of my oblivion mods, Lord Garon :thumbsup:

Edited June 21, 2013 by colourwheel

[JimboUK]

The smaller the state the less powerful it is in comparison to the individual so I guess it makes sense for anyone wishing to start a civil rights to movement to target those who want a smaller state, it certainly makes more sense than appealing to those who think the answer to everything is more government. As for Beck, I would imagine he'd do more harm than good to the cause.

[kvnchrist]

I take exception to the entire premise of this discussion.

 

First of all, I've never known Glen Beck to support anything other than his own face in front of a camera. He is the quintessential poor man's Donald Trump, as far as being more a searcher for causes he can get in front of than believing in that cause.

 

Secondly, I find it humorous that you, somehow equate the causes of a person of religious conviction to the causes of a entirely separate group and ignore the fact that her father played a major roll in the Civil Rights movement of the past. Is Miss King automatically the preeminent figure head of the Tea Party movement, simply because a self promoting wh*%# like Glenn Beck draws her name into the discussion.

 

The issue of what happened to the Tea Party is relative to everyone and should not be diminished by the ambulance chasers who see a chance to be in the lime light in a situation that resounds with injustice and restrictions on anyone's right to express themselves.

 

For the record, I believe wholeheartedly in the right for Gay's to merry. I have gay friends and some of them are far better people who claim to be against it These who denounce gay people do so of their own accord.

[Lord Garon]

Please don't get me wrong here. I am not judging any individuals associated or targeting anyone on their political views. More or less a public awareness to let people know what "leaders" (if you can call them that) are preaching on behalf of an organization you might or might not be associated with.

 

One might think Tea Party values can "save" this country, but when you look at the people in power associated with the tea party they advocate social legislation involving anti-gay and lesbian laws, abolishing abortion rights, and undermining sexual equality all based on religious/personal beliefs, not to mention also denigrating immigrants in america as well as trying to control womens bodies. If this wasn't the case I think I "might" be a member of the tea party too, MAYBE.... :teehee:

 

Maybe I am wrong about this, me being bisexual woman who wasn't born in america yet has been an american citizen "almost" my whole life, feels like the tea party as a whole concidering the people who are in actual legislative power probably views someone like me as a 2nd class citizen.

 

BTW: Thankyou for being a fan of my oblivion mods, Lord Garon :thumbsup:

 

I can't pretend to to understand the issues faced by "minority" elements, let alone females, in this country. I'm a white male, probably a little older than most here. For me, and its the reason I was attracted to the Tea Party, its a question of from where the persecution (for lack of a better word) comes from; if its the law, if its the government, that's wrong. Its the tyranny of the majority, imposed by government. A lot of the Tea Parties are criticized for citing Founding Fathers because they lived two centuries ago and participated in the very problems which are still present in the world today; slavery, oppression of women, white priveledge, etc. However, disregarding their faults for a moment, those people were acutely aware of the problems caused by large governments; they experienced those problems, and they sought to change things. Jefferson said something about laws; that any law imposed by the majority must also protect the Rights of the minority. Ideas like that transcend time and circumstance. Those people were experts in government and government's impact on a society, despite their personal flaws. To me, it is very enlightening to read the literature of that era regarding the structure and intent of the proposed new republic. Many issues we see on the nightly news today concern the very things which the Founding Fathers wished to prevent in the first place; a powerful federal government, national debt, high taxes, etc.

 

Why am I talking about this stuff in response to your original post? THESE things are what most Tea Parties are concerned with. Are we concerned with religion? Of course many Tea Party members practice a faith and are devout in that practice, just like the rest of the country, but their primary interest, insofar as a "Tea Party" is concerned, is the Constitutional admonition regarding separation of Church and State. People like Beck will get up and appeal to personal beliefs in order to rile crowds and appear to be the spokesman for the cheering group. Those Tea Party "talking heads" seem to be leaders, but they are simply good public speakers, like Obama. The members of my Tea Party will discuss what those types say, no doubt. But the discussions ALWAYS return to whether those ideas are within the scope and intent of the Constitution, and whether or not they promote big government.

 

If you want to bust out Glenn Beck, give me some time to find out what he said and I'll help you. If you want to bust out the Religious Right, I'm right there with you. I just hate to see the term Tea Party used in concert with them.

 

The reason the term "Civil Rights" strike a chord with Tea Party members is that government should be promoting them, not limiting them. What has government taken away? Think about this; every law on the books eventually imposes a constraint or necessity upon personal actions and freedom. Many laws are good; citizens can't be allowed to perform criminal activities, for instance. Many are not good. There are thousands of laws in this country, and politicians seem to believe that their job is to create more laws all the time. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are six pages of hand written documents. Just the Code of Federal Regulations (not including state, county, or local statutes) contains around 180,000 pages. Its not so much that particular Rights have been taken away completely, its that there has been two hundred years of lawmaking, hence a continual erosion of Rights. We can't do anything without "permission" nowadays. I tell people that I fly large model rockets over a mile high. Invariably, they ask me, "Can you do that?" People have little conception of "freedom" today, they instinctively feel that "someone" or "something" LETS them do things, LETS them make (limited) choices, LETS them lead their lives. Its backasswards. WE established the government. WE are the source of government power and authority in this country. And WE are responsible for it. At least, it used to be that way, or it was intended to be that way. But WE have delegated most of that authority and responsibility over to government, by letting it enact myriad laws, some completely disregarding the Rights of the minority. We are all citizens. In that vein, the idea of Civil Rights is important to the Tea Parties. I'm not sure Beck actually understands that.

 

Well, I guess I need to stop. I get fired up over these things; they're really important to me.

[TRoaches]

@colourwheel: Do you ever spend any time questioning the practices of the people who you actually vote for? It seems like all of your political posts are intended to criticize the policies of people who do not claim to represent you. Perhaps your time would be better spent analyzing the actions of those who DO claim to represent you. While you focus on some guy who claims to speak for the tea party your own party are doing plenty of things that oppose your personal interests and beliefs. You either have no idea that they are doing this, or don't care enough to post about it. Either way it is evident that your attention has successfully been diverted away from the unethical and illegal practices of your own party. They know that as long as they can point elsewhere and fix your attention away from them they will be able to continue to receive your vote while breaking all of their promises and violating all of their stated ideals. It seems like it would be more productive for everyone if more people focused their criticism on the actions of the people who they voted for and who claim to represent them rather than the people who do neither.

 

In other words, while you point the finger at the tea party, or the NRA, or Glenn Beck, or whoever your current target is the politicians and party who thrive on your support are violating the ideals for which you elected them. Try pointing that finger back at the ones you have handed your vote to and analyze their actions, and you just may find yourself quite appalled. To a large extent, that is what the tea party is really about.

[colourwheel]

 

Perhaps your time would be better spent analyzing the actions of those who DO claim to represent you.

 

I would if there was actually something to debate about on behalf of the people who do claim to represent me....

 

 

Either way it is evident that your attention has successfully been diverted away from the unethical and illegal practices of your own party.

 

Attention has successfully been diverted away from my own party? Did I ever state in this thread who my own party is? I think you are assuming too much about me personally. But giving you the benifit of the doubt, of assuming you know who represents me, what unethical and illegal practices are you talking about?