“We are on the right side of history! We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and, dammit, we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that movement — because we were the people who did it in the first place.”
As you probably know, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent, Michelle Bachmann, and thousands of People of Tea will be gathering on the steps of the Lincoln Monument (on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech) in Washington this weekend to restore honor or something.
According to Beck, the rally isn’t political, it’s all about supporting the troops. Which is odd, if Palin and Bachmann are to appear. It’s even more odd you listen to the words of some of the People of Tea who plan to attend the event:
People are upset with the direction of the country,” says Patti Weaver, head of the Pittsburgh Tea Party…(the rally will) continue to unite people who are upset with our government. … We can take our country back.
“It’s time for Americans to let themselves be heard instead of being spoken to or spoken for by people who don’t represent us,” says Dan Baltes of Salt Lake City…Baltes, who runs a group called Americans Against Immigration Amnesty, says “the government has a deaf ear to our best interests.”
Thelma Taormina of Houston, who has organized two busloads from Texas, says she’s concerned that the Obama administration and Congress are passing legislation that strips Americans of their rights. The sweeping new health-care law means people are going to “lose our human rights in one fell swoop” and new credit-card legislation aimed at protecting consumers’ rights “means they can go into your personal bank accounts and get information,” she says.
So apparently, it really is a typical People of Tea rally – aggrieved white people who seem to feel victimized because we have a Democratic President. Apparently, they only feel like government represents them if their preferred candidate wins elections. If Democrats win, the government is composed of illegitimate, Nazi, Communist no-goodnicks who want to kill grandma.
But the most galling part of the march really is that Beck and his minions somehow believe that it’s their place to reclaim the Civil Rights Movement from the people who actually lived it and who still struggle for King’s dream to be reached. It appears that these poor oppressed Tea-baggers are all in favor of civil rights for all people, unless they happen to be Muslim, Latino, gay, Democrats, or members of any other group that does not believe the same things they believe.
In any event, this event should be a classic, as the People of Tea never cease to entertain.
