As I was telling you last week before I was so rudely interrupted by that word-count thing, I went to the Tea Party rally at El Presidio Park on Tax Day. They had gathered—about seven years too late, by my estimation—to protest what they consider to be excessive government spending, a skewed tax system and/or a flawed foreign policy.
Really, where were these people when Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney, et al. were looting the country and pissing on the Constitution? It would probably be easy (and maybe even fun) to demonize these protesters, but why? Despite what some of their signs say, it’s a free country. They have as much right to assemble and protest as anybody else. They’re just wrong about a bunch of stuff. That doesn’t automatically make them bad people. Just wrong.
There were lots and lots of American flags and, as I said last week, I saw one Confederate flag. You people out there who want to defend that despicable rag need to check yourselves. The Confederate flag represents a time when an entire society and economy was based on people owning other people. And when the war broke out, Confederate troops fought and died in an attempt to keep intact their “right” to own another human being. Where is the honor in that?
You can put up the lame arguments about states’ rights and regional pride, but as long as slavery is part of the equation, all of that other stuff amounts to the equivalent of, “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
Anyway, I was walking around at the Tea Party gathering, looking at the signs. I saw one that read “Protect the Constitution: Impeach Obama.” Trusty notebook in hand, I went up to talk to her. I asked her which was more important to her: protecting the Constitution, or impeaching Obama? She replied that it was the former. Then I asked her how many amendments there are to the Constitution.
She looked puzzled and asked, “Why do you ask that?”
I said that somebody might snatch away one or two of them, and if she didn’t know how many there should be, she wouldn’t even know they were missing. She finally guessed 24, which wasn’t a horrible guess, but wrong.
I then asked 10 other people, all of them carrying flags or posters or both. Not one got it right. Sadly, of the answers, the one given most often was 10. I’m betting that there are black people who are glad that the Constitution doesn’t stop at 10 amendments. One poor soul initially blurted out a number that was off by 60! Six-zero. He then said, “No, that can’t be right.” No, it can’t.
I finally came upon a guy who said that he was a “student of the Constitution.” He missed the amendment question by one. (There are 27.) I then asked him whether the Constitution would prohibit Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein from running together for president and vice president. He said he didn’t see why two women couldn’t run on the same ticket.
I told him that the 12th Amendment prohibits the president and vice president from being from the same state. When Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968, his official residence was New York. But he later shifted his residency to California. While Nixon was a native of California, he almost certainly made the switch to prevent then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan from forcing his way onto the ticket in 1972.
The Constitution talk gave me an idea, so I went back to my car to get something.
There was this really funny skit on Saturday Night Live one time in which Bob Newhart played a guy who ran a tiny general store/trading post out in the middle of nowhere. The first few customers who walked in asked for stuff like a bag of flour or a pound of sugar. But then, the next few made requests that were a bit more obscure. No matter what was requested, Newhart would just reach under the counter and produce it. Finally, a guy walks in and asks for half of a basketball. Newhart pulls out a half-basketball and deadpans, “Whew! That’s the last one I had in stock.”
That’s my trunk.
I got a piece of poster paper and a marker that I keep in there in case my basketball players want to do a car wash. I made a sign and walked back to El Presidio. I stood on Alameda Street and held the sign up to see if anybody would honk.
The sign read, “LOWER TAXES!! REPEAL THE 13th AMENDMENT!!”
If you don’t get the joke, shame on you. The 13th Amendment was the one that outlawed slavery. (The 16th established the income tax.) Although, in strict terms, if the 13th were outlawed, some people’s taxes probably would go down. The ratio of productivity versus labor costs would go through the roof.
I got three horn honks and a “Right on!” (Who still says “Right on!”? I didn’t know members of the Brady Bunch lived in Tucson.)
One person slowed down and asked, “Hasn’t that already been repealed?”
“No, that would be the 18th,” I replied. (That’s Prohibition.)
Yet another child left behind.
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2010.
LOL – funniest article I’ve read in a long time. I’d say ‘saddest’ as well, except for the fact that Ye Ole Defenders of the Constitution have already underwhelmed me to basement levels.
Teachers in Arizona have to take courses on the US Constitution and Arizona Constitution in order to get certified. I wish the same were true for our legislators, civil servants and anyone who wants the “right” to wave a poster in someone’s face.
I challenge you to go to the May Day March coming up here and investigate it just like you “investigated” the Tea Party. Ask the same questions, and select those you ask by the same criteria. Then maybe you might have some credibility as being a neutral opinion writer, and not merely dismissed as another mouth-piece for the left.
You know what?
I am actually glad you keep putting the Tea Party out there.
I am also glad that you keep mocking these people, and I am going to tell you why:
The people showing up to these events, these “racist” (by implication through your sign, which, btw why did you take it to the street, cause we would have thrown your ass out if you had walked around with it inside the Park, and you knew it) anyways- these people used to be the squishy middle. Yes, a lot of them aren’t informed. A lot of them don’t know their stuff.
But they are learning.
And that scares the ever living be-jebus out of the folks on the Left, because if they learn, truly begin to delve into US History, the Constitution, and the news – then that is more votes lost, probably permanently, by the Left and the Democrats. So you have to mock the Tea Party, you have to keep isolating and marginalizing, in the hopes that you will keep that squishy middle away.
But you’re not.
They are still coming out. They are still showing up. They are reading beyond the paper and the Tucson Weekly. They are opening their eyes to the danger of big government and out of control spending. They are watching events like the “peaceful demonstrations” recently in Phoenix and Tucson, and comparing motives and actions. They are sheering the wool off, and leaving the flock.
So every little piece like this just gives us who agree with Tucson Tea Party, who are proud to wear the shirts, who invite our friends and neighbors along – it just gives us reassurance that if the Left is protesting it, we must be doing something right.
TheBigShmoog,
We get it, you’re angry.
But c’mon, let me get this straight; you would have thrown Mr. Danehy out of a public park and stopped him from exercising his 1st amendment right to assemble at a rally, because he was displaying a sign you judged to be in bad taste for an attendee of a Tea Party rally? Really?
If you take a couple steps back, and a deep breath, I’ll bet you start laughing too.
Robert Alexander Dumas
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in 1909 at DePauw University. Its stated mission is to promote and defend the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press; encourage high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism; and promote and support diversity in journalism.
By definition, Tom Danehy is not a journalist. Tom Danehy is a propagandist, which by definition is “The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.”
Actually, two people from the same state can run as President and VP. It’s just that electoral votes from that state can’t be counted in the electoral college. “The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves;” i.e., both candidates can’t come from the same state as the Electors.
Still, it was a fun piece.
If Tom wants to show how he reveals his propaganda promoting self, he should re-read what he writes: “….one Confederate flag. You people out there who want to defend that despicable rag…” One flag, but it’s ‘you people’ … Careful, Tom…
The Residue of Reagan still is tainting everything. Twenty years of electing people who hate government has given us bad government.
Tea Party folk that read the papers and study on their opinions might be well served to support big government because big government is the only thing that can control big corporations. It might be too late, though, because the big corporations have installed their tools in the Congress that are doing a pretty good job of protecting their interests and gumming up any of those pesky bills that might limit their ability to pillage and rape the little guys.
I’m amazed these tea partiers can go out and protest against their own interests, like the retired folks on medicare that protest government health care. It appears many of them need a subsidized prescription for their irony deficiency.
Tom Danehy certainly is not a reporter. He is a columnist. He is not supposed to be neutral. He is supposed to write an op/ed. He is a wordsmith extraordinaire. Fun to read. Aggravating at times, but not this time.
This Danehy column exposes Tea Bags for the uninformed agitators that they are. If they were to objectively examine the facts, some would change their minds. A large percentage still believe that President Obama is increasing taxes for most US citizens. He is NOT. A large percentage of these TBs think President Obama is not a qualified US citizen. He most certainly IS qualified.
Given Arizona’s abhorrent legislative output, particularly the immigration bill, but including a dismal array of new and proposed laws, I think Arizona should secede, become a separate country called Teabaggistan, elect Rush Limbaugh president, Sarah Palin vice president, and declare only white protestants who carry a concealed handgun, text while driving and who use incandecent light bulbs as eligible for citizenship.
Tom, I always enjoy reading you. Seldomly agree with you, but always enjoy it. A couple of things here:
A lot of these people WERE pissed during the Bush administration. They just weren’t pissed to the point they were willing to hit the streets. The Obama administration is the proverbial straw. I’m not saying that about all of them. You can’t make blanket statements about these folks. Fairly neutral polls show a pretty broad spectrum of people across the country joining in. I’m betting that if you polled a IMF protest, the results would be a much narrower margin.
I’ve never been a fan of ‘man on the street’ quizzes. I’m a pretty smart guy….I’ve read the Constitution, as well as many of the papers that went into the construction of it. I had to think hard about how many amendments there were, and was wrong at my first guess. I haven’t had to remember which was which since my last American Gov’t class in college…..10 years ago. Doesn’t mean I care any less…..doesn’t mean I don’t understand it….just means I haven’t remembered my memorization. God knows the citizens of this country could use more education on government. I can think of 4 or 5 things we could take out of the curriculum of the top of my terribly conservative head, but I doubt you’d agree with me.
The confederate flag. I’m of mixed mind. I see where you’re coming from, and I don’t disagree. I’m 20 miles from Antietam, 30 from Harper’s Ferry. I’m somewhat familiar with the Civil War. (can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting something educational) I can’t speak for the person carrying the flag. I can’t speak for the men who went and died for it. I suspect, however, that for a lot of the men that did it wasn’t about slavery. It was about state’s rights (not that they would have said it that way). Much like today, they were men standing up for the right to be left the hell alone. I don’t think they’re lame arguments, just part of the reasoning. There is no black & white behind the causes of the Civil War (figuratively speaking, of course), only large amounts of grey.
It’s an interesting world we live in. I wish we could move past the name-calling and rhetoric, and move toward fixing the problems. I’m afraid bipartisanship is dead & buried. Too easy to call each other names…..refuse to work together to come up with solutions. People take stances because of who the other side is, not what they have to say. Pity.
Oh look, right-wing nutbag mouthpieces TheBigShmoog and “Steven”…don’t you guys ever get tired of jabbering off the stream of lies from the extreme right-wing wanna-be fascists now running the Republican Party? Or is the pay just so good that it doesn’t matter (I’m assuming you’ve no consciences.)
Go on back to sucking Jon Justice off, guys. It’s a better use of your time.
Will,
Well said. We’re in for a rough patch, probably in many more ways than one. But if we keep talking, I can’t believe that the powerful ideas that founded this great democratic experiment can be defeated by a bunch of no-nothing fascists, being churned into froth by the corporations.
Man, I would love to walk that battlefield at Antietam ( Sharpsburg ); I’ve read both Catton’s and Foote’s depictions so many times that I have whole pages memorized.
I made it back to Maysville Kentucky once on an 8 month job to deepen a decline in a limestone mine; but the bastards had us working so much, I didn’t get to go do anything.
It’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better brother, stay strong.
I don’t believe that the corporations are going to relinquish what they have gained without a fight, an actual fight. Particularly after Citizens United V F.E.C. this past February. Saw that one coming, and still wasn’t willing to believe it possible.
Robert Alexander Dumas
I am sure that if I showed up at something you believed in Mr. Danehy I could shame your people too. I could shame your children on thier lack of knowledge or shame you. But that is what little people do. I think it is good to bring to light the holes in people’s knowledge. It is how we grow. It’s what you do. But in this article it is all you did and it is class-less. The big picture that Tea-partiers want is less government and considering how poorly run so much of the government is, it is a goal to be considered. Mocking them is just childish.
I am so glad to find out that only constitutional scholars or those deemed smart enough by Mr. Daheny should be allowed to assemble.
Mr. Daheny is obviously the most intelligent man in Az.
possibly America.
Illyio Bagatelli
I suppose Tom is slightly ahead of his cohorts on the left, as he hasn’t written an expletive laden rant, complete with physical threats (as can be heard/seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSQIYStgBYY ). That said…Tom, where in the H*** have you been when Bush was president and the numerous lefty protests du jour could be seen? I attended many of these protests in ill fated attempts to have adult conversations. Nine times out of ten, it ended with the protester ranting and stomping around like a five year-old after his sugar-caffeine treat was taken away. In a Tea Party protest V. MoveOn.org, Code pink, or name you lefty group protests match up, Tea Party folk trounce hopped up lefties in intellect. Tom, why didn’t you give little tests to any of these Bush hating groups? There have been numerous gatherings of lefty-environmentalists for solar/wind energy that demonized fossil fuel and nuclear power. Why haven’t you put your nuclear engineering degree to work and test these folks out over their very basic knowledge of efficiency, cost/benefit, and pollution ratings in power generation? Ah yes, you were one of the first to label the Tea Party movement as foolish and a flash in the pan. Since you were obviously wrong about the staying power and influence level of the Tea Party movement, you are now left with nothing more to do but launch ad hominem attacks on them (me). BTW – Anytime you want to play “Jeopardy” with me, I will make room in my schedule.
Hee hee, ain’t you a sinker!