by Allison L. Williams Hill In-Vesica Art Design Energy
“Do All Things In-Vesica.”
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
Quotation of Galileo Galilei
“The River 2” by Allison L. Williams Hill
Keli Carender, writer of the Liberty Belle blog and also credited with starting the Tea Party was a guest under “Who is a Patriot?” She is affiliated with Tea Party Patriots, a group that borrows its name from white colonists who hid behind custom dress of indigenous people to make their point in Boston Massachusetts in 1773 for which the entire town paid. Such courage to embark on an act considered treasonous was not enough to justify doing it in their white skin. Ms. Carender’s desire to reduce government spending occurred when the first African-American president took office.
The Tea Party Patriots’ focus, according to Ms. Carender, is on fiscal responsibility; constitutionally limited government, and free markets. I did not know that no-bid contracts, from which Haliburton made billions for services rendered during and after the Iraqi invasion, were acceptable in the model of a free market or even a fiscally responsible means of controlling spending.
Ms. Carender took issue with the size of the federal government’s control over our lives. I have attempted to find her blog, Liberty Belle not without difficulty, to see if she ever mentioned the Patriot Act, created and implemented during a Republican administration, and the extent to which it has entrenched government into our lives. So much for constitutionally limited government.
There were several opportunities to respond to questions to form a better idea about the Tea Party Patriots’ intentions but Ms. Carender did not take advantage of them. She raised issues with the size of a department’s buildings- Agriculture, to be specific, and what they actually do, and how they justify the money that is spent. All of this needs t be examined. She would want to take a look at the various departments; commissions; agencies, and boards. She mentioned the GAO report that stated there were over $200 billion in redundancies.
Mr. Paulsen, the interviewer, mentioned various things that take place in the Dept. of Education like studying education policy which makes for effective and ineffective teaching, and standardized tests to create overall standards. Though she said she was not against public education, Ms. Carender is a teacher, which was not mentioned during the interview.
Regarding the constitutionally limited government, many of the departments and affairs can be done at the state level. Completely remove health care from the federal government and revert it to the states via block grants with no strings, she said.
On Slog blog she is quoted: “If you believe that it is absolutely moral to take my money and give it to someone else based on their supposed needs,” she said, waving a $20 bill to boos and cheers, “then you come and take this $20 and use it as a down payment on this health care plan.” Many people, from the beginning of Obama’s first term, disliked the Affordable Health Care act because they felt it would redirect their money to help others.
Because it takes less time to go to her state capital, she wants more control of the issues to be brought at the state level. Saving hundreds of dollars and time, most or all issues can be addressed where the people have a greater voice. The Tea Party Patriots came into being five years ago. In five years of their existence, what have they accomplished? Are they, in any state, closer to getting more control of, debating, and making sound decisions on local issues? The October government shutdown might have been less jarring if the structure for a seamless takeover at the state level had been in place. It was obvious it was not and the Tea Party Patriots, after five years of only working to strategically place candidates who know less about government than they should, appear to need to refocus in order to implement their goals and objectives.
The second interview was with Mr. Harvey “Obama is no FDR” Kaye who wrote a book about Franklin Delano Roosevelt called “The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great.” He thought FDR actually invited Americans to change America. He felt that when Obama had the opportunity, he floundered.
Two things about FDR: his decision to enter World War II may not have been based on sound facts. Like Bush 43, who, it is now known, lied and directed the release of false information to justify invading Iraq, Roosevelt was influenced by businessmen. Pearl Harbor’s destruction was known in enough time to prevent it, like the false flag destruction of the World Trade Center, and the Gulf of Ton-Kin incident.
FDR did nothing to stem the re-enslavement of African-Americans in the south, nor did J. Edgar Hoover because he felt he could not win. J. Edgar Hoover sacrificed the powerless. FDR did, however, allow Black men to be drafted into the armed forces. It was not because they would greatly contribute to the cause but it was done to avoid an implosion within the United States: the unification of Black people with Japanese-Americans. FDR promoted segregation of Black people from every other culture and race. He directed the creation of specific communities for Black people. Realtors throughout the country perpetuate the process through redlining.
My sister and brother-in-law searched for homes in areas, my sister noticed, were predominately Black. To her credit, she put the realtor on the carpet and told her that was what she was experiencing. They changed agents and demanded where they wanted to live.
Kaye went on to say that the rise of the Tea Party was Obama’s fault. The rise of the Tea Party included white men and white women carrying gorilla dolls with Obama name cards on them.
He commented on Obama encouraging people during his 2008 campaign. His students that year were so enthused, but according to Kaye, Obama never actually engaged people in the Yes, We Can.” His students felt “…disappointment, disenchantment, a cynicism…” No national works progress, national youth administration was created, he said.
In this day and age, people have the fundamental tools to create, to do. There are stories about 8-year-old children collecting food for food banks because they saw that classmates were not eating enough. They did not need the President to construct a national program to do it. One particular child saw a need and pursued an answer to solve it.
It was unfortunate that this historian accepted his students’ complaints rather than inspire them to either join organizations that, in whole or in part, do some of the things he berated Obama for not doing he thought should have been done and for Obama’s unfulfilled promises. I think it is even sadder that Kaye did not see the opportunity to encourage his students to BECOME the power to do something about what he or they felt needed to be done.