It is time for us to start calling the teabaggers un-American and unpatriotic

[bluestateguy]

and repeat the mantra (even if we really don't mean it), that "it's not patriotic to protest against your country, especially in a time of war".

We need to be questioning these people's Americanism, their patriotism and their love of country.

After all, they have done it to us for over 40 years.

[CTyankee]

1. It's America. Love it or leave it.. ...nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I hate that when they say it to us so I won't say it to them

[CTyankee]

7. I think they need to hear it. They need to hear the way it sounds.

And in a way it is true. You can't pick and choose. You can certainly fight for your political rights but if you take the stand that "love it or leave it" is you standard, don't you have to live by that standard, too?

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. But we aren't them so let's not act like they do

[CTyankee]

19. Well, if they are forced to "hear" the way it sounds, perhaps they will learn something.

I want their freedom, too. But I also want their education about what it is to be a real American, not a faux American...it really should be the start, not the end, of a conversation with them...

[Raschel]

2. I say call them the neo kkk

[whyverne]

3. Love it or leave it, baby!

We won, you lost. Get over it.

Personally I would just like to ask them about what they are protesting. Federal taxes? And when was the last time federal taxes were increased? 1993. So they are protesting something that happened 17 years ago. They are irrelevant.

[Martin Eden]

4. Sorry, no.

Not a valid or honorable tactic when they used it against us either.

[Atticus]

10. Gee, you don't see a difference? Like maybe they ARE unAmerican with their

terrorist threats against those with whom they disagree?

[Martin Eden]

17. I see many differences between us and them.

One difference is that we don't stoop to their level in a political argument.

Whether or not their rhetoric and threats of violence are "un-American" can be the basis of a philosophical debate from several perspectives. It would be more accurate to characterize them as misguided, delusional, hateful ... and criminal if they follow through on their threats.

But calling them "un-American" (even if you can make a good argument why that term applies) looks too much like the schoolyard taunt of "I know you are but what am I" ... and it can detract from much better arguments that cast us in a more positive light while showing why their vitriol and threats are baseless and wrong.

[Atticus]

20. We disagree, but you have stated your position well, Thanks, nt

[elocs]

6. "It's not just your country, it's ours too" a letter from my local paper:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_64050734-36e9-11df-824d-001cc4c002e0.html

WINONA, Minn. - It's Day Two of Obamacare and we're still waiting for the earth to open to swallow us up and fire to come down from the heavens.

Maybe Nancy Pelosi isn't the AntiChrist.

Maybe, just maybe, the Republic will stand. Not that that was ever in doubt.

There's been a lot of manufactured drama over the past few months. Folks dressing up in frock coats and tricorn hats have been kicking up a fuss, doing their best to scare the people into believing that making sure everybody can take their kids to the doctor is an idea Joe Stalin cooked up in the bowels of the Kremlin and that any attempt to guarantee basic medical care is as good as a ticket to the Gulag.

For months we've heard the "No We Can't" crowd tell us that the U.S. wasn't able to do what Germany, Great Britain, France, Canada and Iceland can do. They told us we're not as resourceful as Spain, as prosperous as Cuba, as self disciplined as Italy. Well, they're wrong, and it's about time for the costume party patriots to quit selling our country short. First, to the all those angry, frustrated folks demanding "I want my country back!" - it's not your country ... it's our country. Each of us has equal claim. For that matter, I'm not sure what country you want back or why you feel you've lost it.

If it's a country where blacks sat in the back of the bus, a woman's place was in the home and gays and lesbians existed only in dirty jokes, well, we're not going back there.

Just what country is it you want back? The one where government keeps its hands off your Medicare? The one where you have the freedom to go bankrupt when you're between jobs and your child is diagnosed with leukemia? The one where you have the right to go to the emergency room instead of the clinic for routine care because you have treatable diabetes, but no one is willing to insure you?

Well, we're not going back there either. Oh, it's been tried. Tried when times were a lot tougher, a lot scarier than these. Back in his day, some folks claimed Franklin Roosevelt was the most hated man in America ... and those folks were probably right. He pushed through Social Security and even back then the Party of No howled socialism - back when socialism was a real thing - and swore revenge at the ballot box. In 1936 Alf Landon was going to ride a wave of popular sentiment for repeal right through the gates of the White House.

Didn't happen.

Medicare and Medicaid would substitute government bureaucrats for the family doctor, or so it was claimed. LBJ signed it anyway.

Not even the House Republican Caucus is out to repeal it today. And despite the loud grumbling noises, there'll be no repeal of Obamacare either. Because it's the right thing - or at least a big step toward the right thing - to do.

Doing the right thing almost always has a price to pay. And we'll find a way, many ways, probably. However it's done, it is a cost we all will share, because it's the right thing And because it's our country.

Our country. A country we're all proud of. A country we all lay equal claim to. We don't have to get it back. It's been ours all along.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Awesome!!

[DeschutesRiver]

16. Wonderful! I agree completely with those sentiments. Thanks for posting it. nt

[Martin Eden]

18. "I'm not sure what country you want back or why you feel you've lost it"

Spot on throughout :thumbsup:

[Atticus]

8. Happy to be your 5th rec. I totally agree.

These yahoos believe they were born with an American flag tattooed on their asses. THEY are the "true Murikans!" It will really put their panties in a twist to be labelled "unAmerican and unpatriotic"!

[mariawr]

9. It's my country too, and I love it. nt

[johnaries]

12. Nah, they are doing it to themselves better than we could.

I was out smoking during my break today, and the conversation led to a story by one of the girls who stated "I went to a Tea Party protest with my Boyfriend. I'm not political, I just went in support of my new boyfriend" and her story just got more defensive from there.

The point is that the Tea Partiers are already being interpreted as an extremist "tin-foil hat" party. We don;'t have to do anything. They are painting themselves into a corner. All we have to do is let them finish the job.

[Alamuti Lotus]

13. except that whole "Americanism"/"patriotism" argument is trash when they drag it out

"After all, they have done it to us for over 40 years." Yeah, it was load of bullshit then, too -- are you no better?

[hlthe2b]

14. the are the party of ReTHUGlicans.....

can't name our opposition without THUG...

[HopeHoops]

21. I've been calling them that all along!