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I’m an even-tempered guy. I don’t lose my cool more than, maybe, once or twice a day.
Assuming I don’t turn on the television.
Or read a newspaper.
Or log onto a website.
As long as I confine myself to drinking beer, playing with the dogs and making fun of gubernatorial candidates (Q: How many Bruce Poliquin supporters does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Trick question. There aren’t any Bruce Poliquin supporters, which is why he’s stumbling around in the dark), I only blow my top when my insurance company decides I’m not covered for much of anything that might actually happen to me or when Red Sox pitching melts down.
The point is, when I get angry, it’s because of something specific. The more amorphous the annoyance (the Portland City Council, for instance), the less likely I am to go nuclear.
In this way, I differ significantly from the Tea Party movement. If the actions of these malcontents at the recent Republican state convention are any indication, they prefer their enemies on the vague side. The party platform the Tea Partiers foisted on the GOP refers to the bad guys only as “factions detrimental to the core principles of this nation.”
Who might that be?
According to the document, proponents of “Localism and Diversity.”
Supporters of United Nations treaties.
People who register to vote when renewing their drivers licenses.
Anyone who doesn’t like having religious beliefs imposed on them.
Economists. Except for Austrian economists.
To save us from these fiends, the Tea Party’s platform calls for sealing the country’s borders. Presumably, Austrian economists would still be permitted to enter, although they might not want to. That school of economics, which advocates almost no government role in trade or commerce, calls for open borders and unfettered movement between countries. It also doesn’t seem to have occurred to the T.P. (someone please turn off the unfortunate-acronym alarm) that making it tougher to cross the frontier between the U.S. and Canada would cripple the economy of northern Maine.
The Tea Partiers want to return to the constitutional principle of locally controlled education. Setting aside the platform’s stated opposition to “Localism,” it’s worth noting that there’s nothing in the Constitution mandating local oversight of schools. (There’s also the matter of Knox County Republicans, the platform’s drafters, criticizing – and possibly stealing – materials they found in a Portland middle school classroom, where they held their caucus. According to their erroneous interpretation of the Constitution, it seems like that should be none of their business.)
The T.P. platform calls for term limits on Congress and requiring all laws passed by our senators and representatives to apply to them as well as us. The former has been found by several courts to be unconstitutional. The latter is a violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers clause. Based on these planks, it would appear the evil forces the platform claims are “undermin[ing] the education of Constitutional principles vital to the survival of the republic” have already accomplished their task.
The Tea Partiers’ unfocused anger is dangerous. Their scattershot attempts at solutions to problems that don’t exist (threats to their religious freedom), problems that have always existed (illegal aliens) and problems that can’t be solved without sacrificing the political liberty they claim to revere (dissenting views on the appropriate roles of the state and federal governments) lend themselves to scapegoating.
Instead of nebulous enemies like “one world government” and “Diversity,” they really ought to find somebody specific to blame.
Somebody like … immigrants. The Republican platform demands the restoration of “the process of assimilation of immigrants to preserve the benefits of an advanced[,] educated and prosperous society.”
Already, we can see how foreign-speaking devils have damaged our ability to properly punctuate.
In reality, assimilation, which – as any Austrian economist can tell you – isn’t a government function, takes time. Otherwise, all those retired Maine mill workers wouldn’t still be speaking French when they’re at home. Also, subversive restaurants would stop serving ployes and poutine.
I understand the impatience of Tea Partiers still waiting for the Irish (St. Patrick’s Day, stout), the Germans (Christmas trees, lager beer), the Muslims (mathematics, distilled liquor), the Mexicans (Cinco de Mayo, tequila), the Africans (jazz, rock) and the Chinese (mahjong, tea) to quit clinging to their past and embrace America (light beer, Miley Cyrus).
But if immigrants refuse to take the fall for whatever’s wrong, who will? Intellectuals? The communists have already blamed them. Jews? An unpopular choice since the Nazis tried it. Democrats? A tough sell in the general election.
Hypocrites?
Now, those folks make even mild-mannered me angry.
Platform amendments may be e-mailed to aldiamon@herniahill.net.
You sure do go on alot Al. Anyway, I have heard of ployes and blood pudding (hurl), but what is “poutine”?
poutine is french fries with gravy and cheese curd. you probably have to go to aroostook county to get it in a restaurant, although i might have had it at dysart’s before.
Well now you’ve gone and done it. You’ve upset Al Diamon. Watch out, he might beard you to death!
“factions detrimental to the core principles of this nation.”
do you want a list?
Barack Obama
Nancy Pelosi
Harry Reed
Elena Kagan
Sonia Sotomayor
Cass Sunstien
Rev. Wright
William Ayers
Bernardine Dohrn
Van Jones
Yosi Sergant
Kevin Jennings
Anita Dunn
Carol Browner
You forgot Jim Wallis, Obama’s NEW spiritual advisor and avowed socialist. I wonder where that puts ol’ Barry?
fries and gravy and cheese sound pretty good.. Too bad I lost my appetite after reading the names listed on Hutches’ list above………….
Okay, how about for every dollar spent on welfare is a dollar less for schools?
I can feel the tremors of jerking knees on Hernia Hill all the way down here on Red Schoolhouse Road.
As a voter who has considered myself to be “independent” and has voted based on candidates and issues, rather than political party, I’m looking at a change this year. After reading about the Maine Republican Convention and the TP platform, I’m not looking to vote for any Republican candidates — at least those who support TP so-called reforms.
I was particularly appalled by the debacle that occurred when one group caucused in a middle school social studies classroom in Portland. When the teacher returned to his classroom the following day, a poster on the history of labor unions had been removed (stolen) and replaced with a bumper sticker that read, “Working People Vote Republican.” A closed box of pocket US Constitutions had been opened a note was left — “A Republican was here. What gives you the right to propagandize impressionable kids?” And phone calls started coming in the the Principal of the school about “anti-American” materials in the classroom — Constitutions and student-produced and other posters that were part of projects on freedom and free expression.
This was the group from Knox who led the campaign to replace the regular Republican Platform with the TP platform. They just lost my vote.
Want to read Hutches’ list again, check out the ongoing FBI investigations linked to the Obama admin. See who is on the FBIs Washingtons top ten most wanted list. ( http://www.judicialwatch.org ) Plenty of info here. Warning: If you have a weak stomach, don’t go to this website.
Voter,
the group that allegedly stole the poster should be condemned if they did it,
but if thats your reason for not voting republican then you’re not a conservative and the republic party does not want you.
thanks Truth, lets save people time.
Welcome to czar nation!
so they can avoid senate confirmation!
Afghanistan Czar Richard Holbrooke Intelligence Czar Admiral Dennis Blair
AIDS Czar Jeffrey Crowley Information Czar Vivek Kundra
Auto Task Force Czar Ron Bloom Iran Czar unfilled
Border Czar Alan Bersin Middle East Peace Czar George Mitchell
California Water Czar David J. Hayes Mideast Policy Czar Dennis Ross
Car Czar Ed Montgomery Mortgage Czar unfilled
Climate Czar Todd Stern Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg
Copyright Czar unfilled Performance Czar Jeffrey Zients
Cyberspace Czar unfilled Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein
Domestic Violence Czar Lynn Rosenthal Science Czar John Holdren
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske Stimulus Accountability Czar Earl Devaney
Economic Czar Paul Volcker Sudan Czar J. Scott Gration
Education Czar Kevin Jennings TARP Czar Herb Allison
Energy & Climate Change Czar Carol Browner Technology Czar Aneesh Chopra
Faith-Based Czar Joshua Dubois Terrorism Czar John Brennan
FCC Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd Urban Affairs/Housing Czar Adolfo Carrion
Great Lakes Czar Cameron Davis War Czar Douglas Lute
Green Jobs Czar Van Jones (resigned) Weapons Czar Ashton Carter
Guantanamo Closure Czar Danny Fried Weapons of Mass Destruction Czar Gary Samore
Health Care Czar Nancy-Ann De Parle
OK, let’s all be clear on that. The Republican Party doesn’t want voters who aren’t conservative. I hope EVERYONE’S got that.
Oh, and Hutch, they admitted doing it.
Here’s a listing of numbers of czars appointed by administration:
Summary table – Number of czars per administration
President’s name In office Number of positions Number of appointees
Franklin Roosevelt 1933–1945 12 19
Harry Truman 1945–1953 6 6
Dwight Eisenhower 1953–1961 1 1
John F. Kennedy 1961–1963 0 0
Lyndon Johnson 1963–1969 3 3
Richard Nixon 1969–1974 3 5
Gerald Ford 1974–1977 1 1
Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 2 3
Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 1 1
George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 2 3
Bill Clinton 1993–2001 7 10
George W. Bush 2001-2009 35 47
Barack Obama 2009– 38 8
The spacing on my chart didn’t translate from my typing to the posting. You can read each line as follows:
Name of President
Years in Office
Number of “czar” positions available
Number of “czars” appointed by that president
“Truth”, I went to the webpage you cited and didn’t see anything about the FBI Most Wanted list.
What I saw was the webpage of Judicial Watch, a conservative organization almost entirely funded by Richard Mellon Scaife, who is particularly well known for his financial support of conservative and right-wing public policy organizations over the past two decades.
There was a list of “Ten Most Wanted Wanted Corrupt Washington Politicians” from their political perspective.
I invite people to do some simple internet research on this organization and Richard Mellon Scaife for more information.
Diamon says that the Tea Partiers want to “requir[e] all laws passed by our senators and representatives to apply to them as well as us.” He then says that would be “a violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers clause.”
Oh, really? What Constitution is he referring to? Mao’s Constitution for the People’s Republic of China.
I’m quite sure that the opposite is true. That senator and reps putting themselves outside the law is unconstitutional.
I’d say Al has spent too much time mining the harbor at Carrabassett Valley.
Voter,
why would the republican party want big government liberals, then it would be the democrat party.
yes the republican party wants conservatives!
if you like 10% unemployment please feel free to vote for democrats! do i smell a rat in that line?