One of the most annoying habits of people who lean left is the assumption that all people agree with them, or at least that all people should agree with them.  Due to a combination of being a classical musician and working in non-profit, regular exposure to this phenomenon is my lot right now.  To put it mildly, my tongue is cramped from holding it still in the name of keeping the peace.

Most interesting, though, is when these liberalistas start going off on the “TEA Party people” to me.  “You know, violent, like the Tea party people.”  “I can’t believe the audacity of the Tea party people who want gun rights and then there’s mass shootings.”  “Wanting to trample on other people’s rights, like the Tea party.”  “Take that, you dirty, filthy, evil tea-baggers.” And my favorite, “They want to ban contraception.”

And the liberal idiots are saying all this to a TEA Party sympathizer.  Why?  Because they don’t know I am one.  (Clairvoyance, is seems, is not a liberal trait.  Neither is observational intelligence.  But don’t tell them that.  They know everything.)

Not only do I work in liberal environments, I also live in a place full of college professors and aging hippies (usually the same people) with a handful of quite successful professionals thrown in.  To be honest, other than the three people with Obama stickers on their vehicles and the political yard signs of maybe an additional three or four, I really don’t know the political leanings of a lot of neighbors, but I can guess because they don’t trash the TEA Party, Rush Limbaugh or Fox News without any prompting.  That seems to strictly be a liberal thing.  (As if by putting all of that down, they feel better about how crappy our economy and society is.)

Not having put myself through the pain of CNN or any NBC affiliate for some time, let alone the New York Times or The Washington Post regularly, I can only guess at what is being said about the TEA Party through those brainwash outlets.  According to the leftists I know, if those vehicles say it, it must be true.  Whatever is being said about the movement by the dinosaur media is sinking into the consciousness of many over educated individuals who think they are important and have influence over the rest of us.  Some of the leftist put downs are actually more like badges of honor for those of us more traditionally minded, and they don’t get that, poor, deluded souls that they are.

The TEA Party – Taxed Enough Already – did not arise as a forum for gun rights or traditional social mores.  Those issues have their own supporting organizations.  TEA is all about protesting higher tax rates.  Just because the people who are willing to protest higher taxes happen to be those who are more apt to carry firearms and be part of a traditional, heterosexual family is beside the point.  We don’t like paying taxes that more or less get dumped down a rathole.  I would bet my next door neighbor who owns a local marketing company – and dates a lot, but has no interest in the whole family with kids enchilada – is not wild about paying taxes and may end up getting out of business altogether before the Obamatax goes into effect (otherwise, he may have to give up his Jag).  He doesn’t fit the stereotype that the left has assigned, though, so, really, there’s no way to know unless he says something, which this guy doesn’t (but some neighbors know all about his girlfriends’ preferences).  Those are the sorts of people more likely to sympathize with TEA.  It’s more about taxes and being able to keep profits from the fruits of labor, not restricting other people’s rights, real or imagined.

I keep wondering how TEA Party activists got a reputation for violence.  I know a lot of TEA Party sympathizers and those who make up the group are out and out traditional family people moreso than strict constitutional conservatives and, honestly, none of them have a proclivity to be violent outside of a playing field or wrestling mat.  Most go to church, are actually part of families who are in civil service (although the fire department more than police), may or may not hunt and fish, are interested in leaving the country better off then it was when we were kids, and strive to stay out of jail.  How is that mean, evil or violent?  The only drugs involved are cafiene, prescription pharmaceuticals and booze – and then usually not much of that.  These people are not looking for hand-outs, may gather and protest, but pick up their trash and respect private property enough to leave public spaces pristine after events.  (There’s a photographic record on this one.)  Very few people are arrested at gatherings, and usually the perpetrators are protesting the protest.  (Honestly, TEA partiers aren’t very good at protesting.  It kind of goes against the grain of gratitude instilled in all of us.)  How exactly is this violent?  New Orleans at Mardi Gras (a religious observation wrecked by people who just want to get trashed) is a worse scene than any TEA party event.

TEA is not strictly about traditional, non-pagan social mores or rights to bear arms, to be honest.  It’s about being self-sufficient and keeping the government out of our way.  It’s about the right to generate wealth if we want.  That’s a very basic American trait and concept.  Why is this such a problem, and why do liberalistas feel the need to dis it at every turn?

And why don’t they recognize that the person with no political bumper stickers with all appearances of agnosticism may well be a TEA-bagger who has no idea what that alludes to in the filthy minded.  We’re everywhere, even next door.

(Time for another cup of Irish Breakfast.  I love my tea.)

Categories: Culture, Liberals, TEA Party

Tags: CNN, current-events, Irish breakfast, liberalista, NBC, new york times, Occupy Wall Street, political yard signs, Politics, taxes, tea baggers, Travel, Vacation, washington post