The useful Tea Party.

The useful Tea PartyApologists for the administration have zeroed in on the Tea Party as the villain in the recent downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt by Standard & Poor’s. Calling S&P’s action the “Tea Party Downgrade,” they blame the tea partiers for bringing about the showdown in Congress, a process the administration characterized as “dysfunctional.”

I don’t think so. I think the Tea Party forced a useful debate exactly as the founders would have hoped. Our ruinous national debt is a product of the fact that too few creators of wealth are being called upon to support too many consumers of wealth.

The resulting gap leads to deficits that must be covered by unsustainable borrowing. Unless this imbalance is corrected, financial Armageddon looms.

Social Security’s status quo cannot stand. Only by raising the retirement age and slowing automatic increases can it be made financially viable. So far, our political class has avoided such reforms. The same for Medicare. The same for endlessly extended unemployment benefits, lavish public employee retirements, easy access to food stamps, housing assistance etc. etc., etc.

To what degree are we going to ask a capitalist system to support a smorgasbord of socialized entitlements and how will it all be paid for? That’s the question the Tea Partiers want answered.

Come to think of it, I’d love to know the answer to that myself.

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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5 Responses

  1. katt says:

    WELL OBAMA HAS TO BLAME SOMEBODY, SINCE IT IS NEVER HIS FAULT. I DO NOT THINK THE TEA PARTY IS TO BLAME BUT AM GRATEFUL THAT SOME OF THE TEA PARTY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SO OBVIOUSLY UPSET THE APPLE CART – DC MEDIA SEEMED SHOCKED AND APPALLED THAT “THESE TEA PARTY FOLKS DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS ARE DONE HERE” AND “THESE TEA PARTY MEMBERS ARE NOT WORRIED ABOUT GETTING RE-ELECTED” AND THESE TEA PARTY MEMBERS CANNOT BE BRIBED WITH PROMISES OF PORK TO THEIR STATES/DISTRICTS IN ORDER TO MAKE THEM VOTE THE WAY THEY ARE TOLD.

    SEEMS FROM THESE COMMENTS FROM DC MEDIA, AMERICA NEEDS MORE TEA PARTY FOLKS AND NO THEY ARE NOT TO BLAME FOR THIS DOWNGRADE, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, CONGRESS ITSELF, WITH ITS INFIGHTING, SELFSERVING, BACKBITING, FINGERPOINTING, DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS SHOULD ACCEPT FULL AND COMPLETE RESPONSIBLITY – BUT MAINLY OBAMA, ET AL

  2. katt says:

    SECOND SUGGESTION – ELIMINATE PERKS AND RETIREMENT FOR POTUS, CONGRESS, CZARS, ELECTED AND APPOINTED FEDERAL OFFICIALS, UNTIL DEBT IS PAID IN FULL AND ALLOW THE PEOPLE TO SET CONGRESSIONAL SALARIES, ETC

    HOUSE AIDES HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED PER NEWS MEDIA, BUT WHY WERE SENATE AIDES NOT ALSO ELIMINATED. OR IS SENATE “TOO GOOD” TO HELP REDUCE WASTEFUL, UNNECESSARY SPENDING – HMMMMM – AND WHY DOES NO ONE MENTION THE RAISES OBAMA GAVE THE WHITEHOUSE STAFF JUST BEFORE THIS DEBACLE OR THE RENT CHARGED TO SECRET SERVICE TO PROTECT BIDEN AND CLINTON (AND OTHERS IF THEY CHARGE RENT) – WE THE TAXPAYERS PAY THIS RENT, PLUS THEIR INFLATED SALARIES, RETIREMENT, ETC – AND THEY JUST MAKE MORE MONEY OFF THE PEOPLE – STOP IT NOW !

  3. Linda E. Montrose says:

    When the left demonizes and blames a certain group or individual, we can be assured that the person or group is a major threat. There is a term psychologist use to describe what our esteemed president has been doing since day one, placing blame on the innocent for things YOU are guilty of…but the term escapes me at the moment. We see this in the president, in nancy pelosi, harry reid and all the other ultra liberal leftist. It is the foundation of the rules for radicals handbook. Along with if you tell a lie long enough, it becomes truth. The thing is, the lies they tell for truth are built on quicksand and eventually will swallow them whole. The truth is the only thing that can stand alone, for the truth is built on a solid foundation. Lies have to be proped up by more lies and those by even more lies where the weight of all those lies become too burdensome to hold up, which will be the cause of their collapse. This is where the Tea Party will survive and thrive because it is built on the truth of our Founding fathers.

  4. Lea Havens says:

    Another thing the Obama Admin is doing is classic. If you holler and scream about how “wrong” something is, you’re just trying to drown out what is being spoken in a normal and REASONABLE manner. The ones being normal and reasonable eventually quit trying to make themselves heard. I truly hope that doesn’t happen this time. I know I am not the only one tired of all this childish, grade-school action!

  5. The Tea Party has definitely changed the way ‘an average American’ can get involved in today’s politics. Search on the www for the Tyler Tea Party, Waco Tea Party, etc, etc. They have events and links to keep everyone informed. OBTW last Sat the Waco Tea Party hosted a Senate candidate forum that was OUTSTANDING. I urge everyone to check out where the next forum will be located. Go online and submit questions. Go listen. Go shake their hands and ask them the hard questions . . . “would you vote yes/no to exted the Patriots Act Extention?” We need a conservative, constitutional upholding senator to replace Kay Bailey Hutchinson (sp?). See Kris Anne Hall’s web site for information on her lectures on the constitution. She is a lawyer and educator on the constitution out of Florida. I heard her lessons at Waco and probably know more now about the constitution than most elected officials. I have been ignorant for too long and we all must educate ourselves. The TEA PARTY MOVEMENT is all about that and I appreciate Paul Glieser’s inputs to the local population and his support of the Tea Party.

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