tobinov wrote:
Why does the anti-big government/tea party/right reactionary "patriot" refuse to take responsibilities for their own actions?
What actions are those that you speak of?
tobinov wrote:Why do the above resort to threats, intimidation, and occasionally violence?
Haven't seen any Tea Party calls for violence at all. Tea Party advocates fighting it out at the ballot box. So far the Tea Party has won the first major battle. I guess we will see how it goes in the next battle in 2012.
tobinov wrote:How is it not treasonous for these self-proclaimed patriots to call for insurrection against political institutions within our democratically-elected government?
Again, I haven't seen any Tea Party advocating insurrection. However I would note one thing, from one of our Founding documents. One particular exert that speaks of the responsibility citizens have when it comes to government, no matter if it is democratically elected or otherwise-
Declaration of Independence wrote:That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,
There is the moral authority for insurrection against a Government, even if it happens to be democratically elected. Democracy in itself is no guarantee of freedom, especially if the majority is allowed to run rampant over a minority.
Why we seem to just allow Government to increasingly grow in it's power and influence over every aspect of our daily lives and our economic freedoms as well as social freedoms, we can find that answer in the same document-
Declaration of Independence wrote:and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable,
"It isn't
that bad" people tell themselves. Tiny little steps, each step in itself subtle, unable to see the implications in the future, allow tyranny to fester, to grow until one day we wake up and realize we just aren't
free anymore. So long as it is a "soft tyranny", men will suffer through it rather than stand up to stop it before it grows to something...else.
Of course, altering the Government through peaceful means is always preferable to violence. Luckily that is within the framework of our Constitution instituted by our Founders, and is by which the Tea Party is working. Through Constitutional process. By voting.
I don't think Loughner had any real understanding of the Constitution at all. He certainly wasn't defending it. It also seems that with your three questions you are trying to blame the Tea Party for Loughner's actions. I am not sure how you can come to that conclusion unless you just don't like the Tea Party.
Instead of trying to use this horrible incident to promote opposition to a political movement, how about you actually try and argue against what it is that the Tea Party actually advocates?
To do that you have to argue
for increased National Debt,
argue
for greater taxes,
argue
for greater regulation over individual's habits,
argue
for how it is somehow Government's job to protect individuals from themselves.
I would love to see someone actually argue against what it is that the Tea Party wants based on the issues at hand instead of just resorting to calls of "traitor" or "racist" or any other name calling. How about argue the actual issues and leave out all the other rhetoric?
*FWIW, though I find myself in agreement with most of (if not all) of the Tea Party's tenants, I feel as though even the Tea Party is not addressing at all the
real problems of what has gone wrong with the United States. Until that issue is solved somehow nothing else will ever have a chance of being reformed for the betterment of the Nation. A debate of which is not really appropriate for this thread at all.