Where were these guys during the last administration?

I love tea parties.

I'm all for holding elected officials accountable, and for demonstrating support for your cause, but when you have a blind mass of Republicans showing up at these "Tea Party" events without anything more than a vague sense of what to protest (please watch the youtube video here, referred to from The Texas Observer), any intelligent individual would have to wonder: Where were these people to hold President Bush accountable for his mistakes and lies? They are out there because they believe it is patriotic to protest something they feel is going on without justification, and as a matter of fact, it is. But even in the video above, it comes into question what the demonstrators are even out there for. There is so little unification in the message they are trying to convey, that ultimately there isn't a message at all. You have some people protesting higher taxes, some demanding greater transparency and accountability for government finances, some promoting limited government, and others taking issue with the deployment of our troops all over the world. Let us address some of these issues, and some more of the inconsistencies with the Republican message.

Let's start with taxes. Taxes are a fear that Republicans are playing on to manipulate public opinion in regards to universal healthcare and the bailout programs. Now what concerns me the most is the issue of universal healthcare. Republicans, of the most ignorant of sorts, believe that President Obama is going to raise taxes on all U.S. citizens to allow for universal health care that is going to insure illegal immigrants, pay for abortions, and convene death panels to euthanize our loved ones. The plan that has been proposed is going to raise taxes, but only on individuals or couples making 250k a year (see NYTimes). Not only that, but it is an increase in the Medicare portion of the tax code that already exists, and will be raising it from 1.45% to 1.95%. The plan also explicitly outlines the potential eligibility of up to 31 million more Americans, ALL of legal resident status. And to address abortions, this is a particularly sensitive issue, but somehow (mostly due to sheer ignorance I suppose) all conservative sheep believe that abortions might as well all be partial-birth abortions, and that every case is identical. I love that their God gave people free-will, but they seek to take the ability to choose away from them.
As for TARP, it amazes me that as time goes on, more and more Republicans ACTUALLY believe that President Obama started the program, and that the whole bailout is the Democrats fault. Please see here and here. President Bush started the program on October 3, 2008, and even more interestingly, on December 19, 2008, negated section 102 allowing him to authorize the expenditure of TARP funds on anything HE deems worthy. That's hilarious.

Let's address some more key Republican issues: Transparency and accountability. This is a relatively overrunning theme in every one of their arguments, but let's refer to the previous administration once again. Where was the accountability for illegal wiretapping? Where was the transparency when we decided to go with a gut feeling and invade Iraq because they had weapons of mass destruction? Let's not forget my favorite: torturing detainees. For any self-proclaimed Christian and President of the United States, this surely couldn't have been allowed to happen. I'm glad we were demanding transparency and accountability then. If we weren't, I don't know what I would've done to myself. I think I might have had a tea party.

Which brings me to my last point for tonight: When did we decide we were entitled to policing the world? Finally we find that the masses of people who so ardently supported the cause of freedom in the name of the Lord and in support of our great country, are fatigued by war and the toll it is taking on our troops. And with this comes the blame game. Bush put us at war, in the wrong country, for the wrong reasons, lied to us, and vacated office without an exit strategy. If it's the accountability game you want to play, then you've lost.

But the worst part is, you're not smart enough to figure that out.