Why Do Anti-Government Tea Partiers Love Government Handouts?

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Posted by stevebenen at 10:47 am
March 28, 2010

Why Do Anti-Government Tea Partiers Love Government Handouts?


This post was originally published on the Washington Monthly.

There’s an old joke that goes something like this: my neighbor went to public schools before joining the military. He went to college on the G.I. Bill, bought his first home through the FHA, and received his health care through the V.A. and Medicare. He now receives Social Security.

He’s a conservative because he wants to get the government off his back.

I mention the joke because a surprising number of right-wing activists don’t seem to appreciate the humor. We talked the other day, for example, about a radical libertarian activist who encourages his allies to throw bricks through the windows of Democratic offices to protest the Affordable Care Act. He hates government involvement in the lives of citizens — but his main income is taxpayer-financed disability checks sent to him every month by the federal government.

This is not uncommon. The NYT reports today on some of the well-intention folks who’ve been caught up in the Tea Party nonsense. Take Tom Grimes, for example.

In the last year, he has organized a local group and a statewide coalition, and even started a “bus czar” Web site to marshal protesters to Washington on short notice. This month, he mobilized 200 other Tea Party activists to go to the local office of the same congressman to protest what he sees as the government’s takeover of health care. (...)

“If you quit giving people that stuff, they would figure out how to do it on their own,” Mr. Grimes said.

When Grimes lost his job 15 months ago, one of his first steps was contacting his congressman about available programs that might give him access to government health care. He receives Social Security, and is considering a job opening at the Census Bureau. But in the meantime, Grimes has filled the back seat of his Mercury Grand Marquis with literature decrying government aid to struggling Americans. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/28/why-do-anti-government-tea-partiers-love-government-handouts/

[TomCADem]

1. Tea Baggers, Like Other Republicans, Are Immune To Hypocrisy and Irony

[MisterP]

2. this is why the US needs a left wing: if people were aware that their check was coming from a New

Deal or Great Society program, the far right would be smaller and the left and liberals would be bigger. Of course, New Tammany sees its job as whipping the grassroots into line and blocking any populism or leftism: it's the Dems that are now the main obstacle to good reforms, since a plurality are cons or neolibs whose first focus is helping the corporations and (and here's where it comes down to DU) keeping the political climate safe for the corporations: they want voters to fold on candidates who flush away the national future and shackle Americans to murderous insurers, and they'll do everything from screaming "Naderite" to encouraging people to think that "well, I HAVE to vote against the teabag candidate" or "I HAVE to vote this way to give the party a victory" to saying that winning elections is the only important thing to purging calls for 3rd (well, 2nd) parties to falsely claiming that a bill is progressive and historic and then publicly orgasming when it passes. long story short, the party leadership is just not interested in opening welfare recipients' eyes to the fact that they're on government money, because 1) they hate human welfare as much as Raygun and GeeDub, 2) that would drive the Dems to the left and build a popular base, and 3) that would hamstring the teabaggers, whom they need in order to blackmail our votes from us (few'd vote Reid, Pelosi, or Landrieu if they only faced Weickers, or even McCains)

[smoogatz]

3. Oh, they do. They REALLY do.

As long as the handouts/programs/services are for them, or their family, they're rabidly in favor (keep your damn government hands off my Medicare!). Handouts for black people, or white people they aren't related to? Communism!

[B Calm]

4. That's why they point their finger, so you won't look at them. . .

[eppur_se_muova]

5. "Well-intention{ed}"? Um, I wouldn't bet on that.

Nothing good about these people's intentions, except good and selfish.

[dkofos]

6. They are too stupid to know what the fuck they are talking about.