An Information Crisis

I had an interesting conversation with a veteran yesterday.  He was studying to finish his Bachelor's.  After high school, he joined the Army and subsequently spent a year in Iraq.  Now he's finishing his degree because he's found many (most) employers seem to think vets are unstable and not a good risk for the company.  He said he's found only a few companies who value military service, but most think vets are riddled with mental problems, PTSS, various worrisome disabilities, and cause more problems than they're worth.

This is a far cry from when my dad returned home from the service 40+ years ago.  At the time, employers considered military experience to mean a candidate had discipline, determination, honor, and respect.  The vet was generally preferred over non-military candidates.  What happened?  Is this man's experience unique to him or is it characteristic of what's happening across the board?  If it is happening across the board, then why?

Is the issue that statistically so few employers actually have military experience and therefore have no concept of what it takes to earn an "honorable discharge" at the end of their contract?  Is it that the media has made the military seem like a hotbed of discontents and miscreants, a la Abu Ghraib?  Is it that the media has carefully created a scenario that makes it appear as if every prisoner at Gitmo was waterboarded, as opposed to three top-level operatives?  Is it that many employers buy into the notion that all military personnel are loose-cannons with a bent toward torture?  Are they envisioning walking by the water cooler only to find new employee Jones waterboarding the guy who took his stapler?  Why and how have vets become less desirable to employers?

As we discussed this, he said he was conservative, but not ultra-conservative like the Tea Party Patriots.  Ha!  I informed him that I was a Tea Party Patriot and that again, like the military, the Tea Party Patriots have been maligned by the press.  I sweetly (really, I was very calm and gentle) explained that Tea Party Patriots are probably the calmest, more thoughtful, well-informed people out there.  Ask any one of us about details of Congress, bills before Congress, how the government works and what the Constitution says and we'll probably get most of the answers correct.

It didn't occur to me to tell him that most of us are more "libertarian" than "conservative."  But, I'm a writer, not a litigator.  I don't think well on my feet.  Give me some paper and pen or a good word processor and I'll craft an awesome decent argument.  In person, not so much.  Anyway, it was rather shocking to hear a conservative guy declare Tea Party Patriots are far-right.

I guess the over-arching lesson here is that you can not trust what you get from the news.  It is vital to search multiple news sources, understand who is behind the source, and then think for yourself.  If a conservative vet who can't find a job because employers think all vets are a bad risk is under the impression Tea Party Patriots are ultra-conservative and have a few screws loose, we are indeed in an information crisis in our country.

~ G

Sarah Palin Addresses Racist Charge

Just in case you aren't on Facebook and just in case you aren't a Facebook friend of Sarah Palin, here is her response to the NAACP's recent charge that the Tea Party is racist:

The Charge of Racism: It’s Time to Bury the Divisive Politics of the Past

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 Yesterday at 8:58pm

I am saddened by the NAACP’s claim that patriotic Americans who stand up for the United States of America’s Constitutional rights are somehow “racists.” The charge that Tea Party Americans judge people by the color of their skin is false, appalling, and is a regressive and diversionary tactic to change the subject at hand.

President Reagan called America’s past racism “a legacy of evil” against which we have seen the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights. He condemned any sort of racism, as all good and decent people do today. He also called it a “point of pride for all Americans” that as a nation, we have successfully struggled to overcome this evil. Reagan rightly declared that “there is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country,” and he warned that we must never go back to the racism of our past.

His words rang especially true in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 presidential election. It seemed that with the election of our first black president, our country had become a new “post-racial” society. As one writer in the Washington Post stated: “[Barack Obama’s] election isn’t just about a black president. It’s about a new America. The days of confrontational identity politics have come to an end.”

We, as a united people, applauded that sentiment. We were proud of that progress. That’s why it is so sad to see that 18 months later, the NAACP is once again using the divisive language of the past to unfairly accuse the Tea Party movement of harboring “racist elements.”

Having been on the receiving end of a similar spurious charge of racism (in a recent frivolous lawsuit which was finally dismissed by a federal judge), I know how Tea Party Americans feel to be falsely accused. To be unjustly accused of association with what Reagan so aptly called that “legacy of evil” is a traumatizing experience, and one of which the honest, freedom-loving patriots of the Tea Party movement are truly undeserving.

On this subject, I can recommend the statement issued by a man I was proud to endorse, Tim Scott, the GOP candidate from South Carolina’s First Congressional District. Tim, poised to become the first African-American Republican Congressman from the former Confederacy since Reconstruction, is himself a sign of a hopeful, truly post-racial future for our country. It gives added meaning to his warning that “the NAACP is making a grave mistake in stereotyping a diverse group of Americans who care deeply about their country and who contribute their time, energy and resources to make a difference.”

The only purpose of such an unfair accusation of racism is to dissuade good Americans from joining the Tea Party movement or listening to the common sense message of Tea Party Americans who simply want government to abide by our Constitution, live within its means, and not borrow and spend away our children’s futures. Red and yellow, black and white, this message is precious in all our sights. All decent Americans abhor racism. No one wants to be associated with any organization that is in any way racist in sentiment or origin. I certainly don’t want to be. Thankfully, the Tea Party movement is not racist or motivated by racism. It is motivated by love of country and all that is good and honest about our proud and diverse nation.

Like President Reagan, Tea Party Americans believe that “the glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past.” Isn’t it time we put aside the divisive politics of the past once and for all and celebrate the fact that neither race nor gender is any longer a barrier to achieving success in America – even in achieving the highest office in the land?

I just spent a few beautiful Alaskan days with some beautiful Americans in my husband’s birthplace – they are Todd’s family and they are Yupik Eskimo. In the decades that our families have blended, I have never heard one proud, patriotic member judge another member based on skin color. Both Todd and I were raised to measure a person according to their capacity and willingness to love, work, forgive, contribute, and show good character. We’re joined by the vast majority of Americans in this belief whereby we measure a man by his character, not his color. Because of amazing efforts and accomplishments by those who came before my generation, it is foreign to us to consider condemning or condoning anyone’s actions based on race or gender. Being with our diverse family in a melting pot that is a Native village just days ago reminded me of that.

So to leave that remote village and return back to “modern civilization” only to hear of the NAACP’s resolution today suggesting that we Tea Party Americans don’t respect equality makes me sad for those who choose to divide these great United States. It is time to end the divisive politics.

- Sarah Palin

Tea Party Isn't Just a Meaningless Blip

Take a look at the latest data about the Tea Party:




What I derive from this isn't that the Tea Party is a viable third political party, which I hope it doesn't become as it will only split the conservative vote, but that the message of the Tea Party strongly resonates with voting Americans.  The idea that our federal government has run amok isn't relegated to crazy right-wingers, but is a mainstream idea gaining traction among the electorate.  Hopefully, this will influence how voters respond in November.

The data leaves me with questions, though. How many career politicians will co-opt the Tea Party message for their benefit and drop it as soon as they (re)secure their seats?  Is the only way to assure necessary change (how bastardized has that word become?) in Washington to boot out all incumbents?  Are all incumbents in need of retirement?

What are your thoughts?  

~G

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

I keep hearing my liberal friends say that the Republicans used Reconciliation to pass Medicare Part D and therefore the Democrats using it to pass Health Care Reform is fair.  That argument strikes me as being similar to hearing my child tell me he punched his brother because I didn't say anything when his brother punched him.  Well, I missed the beginning of the fight.  I wasn't paying close enough attention.  I was wrong for missing it, but that doesn't absolve the punchee for punching.  Both boys are wrong for punching.   Likewise, ramming legislation through using Reconciliation isn't right when anyone uses it.

Claiming that no one was really paying attention to the Republicans when they used Reconciliation is mostly true.  Most of us weren't really paying attention until the market crashed in 2008.  As more and more people started paying attention to what was happening and how things were being run in our country, more and more people got angry.  Many of those people became the Tea Partiers.  The Tea Partiers are non-partisan and are angry at America's elected representatives forgetting America is a democratic republic.  Too many of our representatives, Democrats and Republicans alike, have forgotten that "we the people" are not their subjects, but are rather their constituents.  I have attended a Tea Party rally and can verify that not everyone participating was Republican or white or rich.

The anger over the way the Health Care bill was written and how it was passed is not purely a Republican position.  22 House Democrats voted against the bill.  Using the argument "the Republicans used Reconciliation, too" doesn't make it right.  This is 1/6 of our economy.  Using an obscure legislative tactic that was designed 30 years ago to pass legislation that the majority of Americans don't like doesn't make it's passage right or noble.  It makes it wrong.

How will we get past our ever-widening political divide when we don't hold our elected representatives accountable for terrible tactics?  

The Tea Partiers aren't saying we don't need Health Care Reform.  They're saying that putting so much of it in the hands of the government is wrong.  No one is saying we don't need reform.  We need it.  We desperately need reform.  But this bill isn't it.  And the way it was passed is reprehensible.  Please, let's stop acting like children pointing the finger and repeal this monstrosity and work together to craft legislation that won't bankrupt the country and will actually help Americans. 

Troubled

Today I am troubled. I am troubled by the nastiness I see in the papers, in the news, and in the world around me. The constant insistence of the Left that anyone who doesn't agree completely with Obama is a racist wears thin. It seems to me that calling someone a racist is losing it's meaning. It's crying wolf. "Racist!" or "racism" used to stop people from continuing with their arguments. Now it's merely the first step in the debate. It's become the first response from the liberals.

"Racist!" Whew. Finally. Hope you got that out of your system. Maybe now we have have a discussion about policies.

There was an op-ed in the local paper today that torqued my jaw. The writer concerned himself with pointing out the instances of racism he'd seen and the bigotry he'd witnessed. Nevermind he called Tea Party Patriots that foul, lewd name Anderson Cooper coined for them. So while this writer is professing his moral superiority, he's calling the Right names. Classy. Really, this just confirms my hypothesis that those who are engaged in the business of calling dissenters "racists" are actually the ones with the prejudice problem.

This afternoon I sat down with my Bible. Prayer bubbled from my lips and my heart begged God to open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to him so that we might see each other through him. God is the only one who can unite us. Whether we choose to allow him to work through us is another thing all together.