Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 21, 2010

He’s obviously not a tea-totaler.

Uncle Santa Sam Lone Ranger…?

Bright!

Perhaps the pumpkin is to indicate that he’s a Hallo-weinie?

They say they’re not represented because their representatives aren’t doing what they want. And yeah, I did hear one of them say that.

Love the “Lone Uncle George Santa Pilgrim” outfit - and red too (like Sarah usually wears). Or perhaps the pumpkin denotes trick or treat?

You sure that isn’t Zorro?

\\//_

They don’t feel their representatives are representing them? They want to vote them out of office? What a un-American view. They very idea that a small federal government is as outdated as the Constitution. Next thing you know these wackos are going to try to stop unpaid mandates to the States. That bit in the Constitution about all other powers not herein listed belong to the state, well that was just a typo.

A small local weekly paper published a very interesting letter to the editor this week re the heath care debate - the letter writer quoted a congressional representative’s statement that “At this point, the process is not important.” The letter writer makes the point that, in a representative democracy, the process is ALL important and that, from the time of the American Revolution until the present, “too many good people have fought and died for ‘the process’ to chuck it now (whatever the reason of the moment).”

and now our patriotic ‘tea baggers’ are spitting on our black congressmen and calling them the N-word…….gee, THERE’s a bunch I would be proud to be member of!

and good luck with that watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants thing

What grates about the Tea Party folks isn’t what they say, but their inability to listen. They lap up rumors and conspiracy theories, and ignore any facts that don’t feed into their preconceptions and prejudices. They won’t have reasoned discourse, but only shouting matches. With all respect, this is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

And in a republic, Lewreader, elected representatives can vote whatever their own hearts and minds tell them is right, no matter what the folks back home think. The folks back home, in turn, can vote their butts out of office when the proper time comes, if they still think they were wrong. And that IS what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

Scaaty_423.. Ummm.. I think we pay their salary and perks. It is OF the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE, and FOR the PEOPLE.. Not what the dems or repubs THINK we need. They serve US at OUR beck and call. As to Health Care Reform, yeah, I think we need reform, not out and out taking over the economy, and where does College Loans fit in this?? One thing about it..Socialism, Communism, Fascism only works until you run out of everyone else’s money. And Obama is running thru that at a very high rate of speed

eagleowl – Sure we pay their salary, perks, etc. That doesn’t mean we should have them do only what we say to do, and check back with us every five minutes to be sure they got it right.

Look at it this way: if your car breaks down, do you want a mechanic who asks you how to fix it, or a mechanic who knows how to do it better than you do? A mechanic who’s trustworthy and knows his stuff is worth whatever he charges…otherwise, you find a new mechanic, (I was going to use a medical example, but I didn’t want to get sidetracked onto health care!)

It’s the distinction between a republic and a democracy. The Founding Fathers had some heated arguments about elitism versus mob rule, as they accused each other of promoting. What they crafted was a compromise, a wonderful one. I think we should hang onto it.

Where’d he get a pumpkin this time of the year?

eagleowl - Civics 101: elected representatives vote based on three things.

The will of their constituency Personal beliefs/ideology What is right for the public good

The founders did not want legislators to be tied directly to the will of their constituents - it’s one of the major problems that deadlocked the Articles of Confederation Congresses - rather, they wanted them to operate as a true republic.

If our representatives voted only by the will of their constituents, there would be a true lack of social progress in this country, and civil rights legislation may never have happened.

Elitist Strip!

I’m a Canadian, and all I know about the Tea Party is its name. Could someone give me a concise (elitist vocabulary, I know, can’t help it) description of what they want, what they are doing, what they believe in?

What on earth does Mark mean by philosophical incoherence? Are you sure he doesn’t mean hysterical incoherence?

Two guys walking down the street. First guy say,”Hooray for the revolution!” Second guy says, “Yeah! Hooray for the revolution!” First guys says, “Yeah, come the revolution, we’ll all be eating strawberries!” Second guy doesn’t say anything. First guy says, “Say, what’s the matter?” Second guy says, “Well, when I eat strawberries, I get a rash, painful stomach cramps, and throw up a lot.” First guy says, “Oh. Well, that’s too bad, cause, come the revolution, WE’LL ALL BE EATING STRAWBERRIES.”

I want a chair like Mike’s.

And it’s, “The tree of liberty must often be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots.”

Watering the tree of liberty with the blood of a tyrant does not come easy.

Since he’s on radio, Mr. Whirley isn’t wearing his bulbous red clown nose. He could equally represent the UK’s Silly Party (ref. Monty Python). After the interview is over, maybe he can find someone with Parkinson’s disease to harass like some of his tea bagging friends.

What the tea party folks don’t seem to get is that THEY aren’t “the people”–just some of the people. And just because their representative doesn’t listen to THEM it doesn’t mean he isn’t listening to the people at all. (Besides, the people their representatives are listening to are most likely lobbyists and campaign contributors anyway.)

Anyway, today’s comic is a keeper.

RinaFarina, I think it’s less incoherence than incontinence… seems the teabagger crowd can’t stop p*ssing on everybody around them…

mister tea party needs a wingnut hat

Actually the tea party is not an organized party per se, but is a group protesting against government giveaways that are going to result in exorbitant taxes in the year future. They also are against more government control of our lives and our finances. Some go overboard IMO, such as abolishing social security and medicare. Still, the basic principle of getting back to the constitution is a good one.

“Not what the dems or repubs THINK we need.”

Of COURSE it’s what they think we need. That’s because you live in a R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C.

If you don’t want a republican form of government, move somewhere else.

Tea parties are still mostly attended by little girls.

Generations of Americans have forgotten what they once knew: that a government that protects your rights is a blessing, but a government that goes beyond that is a curse.

Once you agree that the government may do anything beyond the protection of rights, you no longer believe in limited government, and there are no brakes on that train.

In a few hours Congress is going to turn America into a full-blown socialist nation of the Scandinavian model. Communists nationalize industries; fascists nationalize CEOs and boards of directors; but welfare-statists nationalize taxpayers.

They can’t spend it until they take it, whether they take your money directly by taxes or they take your future purchasing power by inflation. Either way, it makes no difference that you earned it, because someone else is going to spend it.

I give the Dems an atom of credit for having the courage of their statist convictions and going ahead like a steam-roller, over the taxpayers, the rule of law, and the Constitution. But will the Republicans have the courage to repeal this horror when they sweep into control in November? Why should they start now when they never had enough spine in the past to more than slow down America’s slide from freedom?

Hey ElDo Disc Golf,

I live in a Democracy, not a Republic and my representatives still don’t do what I/we want. They do what their party bosses tell them to – sound familiar?

ElDo Disc Golf said, about 3 hours ago

They say they’re not represented because their representatives aren’t doing what they want.

….that kind of stuff happens, when your form of Government is a Republic, not a Democracy.

the sad thing is that they wanted to lynch anyone who acted that way during the Bush administration. Now they can look in the mirror and get the rope. Or just do like the rest of us and shut up and vote and then accept that the ones in are the ones the most want in. I prayed for the last two the country elected and I’ll pray for this one. If all the folks with the godhood complexes would listen, I might get my way. :) :)

Well, I sort of understand what @jelindley said. But for everyone else, now I know even less about the Tea Party than when I started.

Other things that Americans have forgotten:

That our form of government IS a republic (i.e., rule of law, representation, no royalty, etc.) but that is NOT enough. Many dictatorships manage to pose as republics, like the USSR, the DDR, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

That we DO elect our representatives democratically, but that is NOT enough. Many dictatorships claim to be democratic with (one-party) elections. Never forget: Hitler was elected.

All that matters is a system aimed solely – I repeat – SOLELY at defending rights and freedom. Not solving social ills. Not managing the economy. Not providing health care or food or education or anything else that a free country can and should provide for itself without the intrusion of government coercion. Only freedom.

The Dems will talk about freedom but they don’t really believe what the say since they know their more fundamental ethical beliefs are at odds with your rights. But the Republicans are no better, because they may think they belief in freedom, but that makes no difference when they won’t stand up for it and their moral beliefs are the same as the other side. The war was lost when “compassionate conservatism” was born as a Republican band-aid trying to cover the Democratic social welfare state.

There is still hope for America because we still have the Constitution, but what we’ve forgotten is the Declaration: our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – not some alleged right to force someone else to pay for your Prozac.

And how many billions have we spent on these utterly disastrous wars – and who got anything good out of that?

At least the “elitists” are not spitting on folks.

Well, I’m one of the people, and I vote every election, and I think the people not doing what I want are the Republicans. I have never seen such a bunch of lying, cowardly, backstabbing babies in office in my life, and the tea partiers are just the craziest and dumbest of them. If they were really independants, they would be able to think for themselves, and possibly be Libertarians. Instead they get together and shout each other into a mob that is easily led by the John Bircher sorts currently running the Republicans. They remind me of my little brother when he was two, when caught doing something wrong, he would just deny it at the top of his lungs until you’d just go away to shut him up.

RinaFarina: Read the comments above and you’ll get a taste of the Tea Party movement: it’s all about impotent right-wing rage and unquestioning acceptance of all the conspiracy theories that the pundits and FOX News continually spew out. “Full-blown socialist nation”? Those are the not the words of a critical thinker, but of someone parroting the latest of Glenn Beck’s paranoid rants. The other defining feature of the Tea Party movement is the bizarre, otherworldly interpretation of the US Constitution. I’m really glad that most of us don’t live in their alternate reality.

It’s amazing how short a memory the Tea Partiers have. When did the national debt top $10 trillion? In early 2008. How did Obama manage to reach back in time and create all that debt? And after Bush’s war of aggression, the PATRIOT Act and numerous other blatantly unconstitutional acts, how can conservatives possibly complain about abuses of the Constitution?

I’m sorry, av8tor, but I must call “BS” to your claim of having to pay 35% of your $80K salary to the Feds.

For 2009, worst case (you’re single and take your standard deduction and personal exemption - no itemized deductions), you would owe just over $16K to the Feds. That’s a hair over 20%, not 35%. And that’s the absolute worst case.

So, BS.

Thanks, rotts, I know tax law well, and couldn’t let that one pass. The 35% bracket, the highest we have now, only applies to income over $370k, and that’s after all expenses, deduction, exemptions, etc. You’re in the 25% bracket, but you only pay that rate on the amount over 68K. If you’re paying in over 10k, you need a tax advisor.

BTW, the 35% is very low, historically. In the 50’s and 60’s, when we were becoming the most powerful nation in the world, the highest rate ran from 70% up to 91%. Let’s not pretend that a 35% marginal rate is being unfair to our “persecuted wealthy”