Yesterday I was a bold political activist! I went to a TEA party at Founders Park in Queen Creek from 6-8:30 pm. These are the signs that I made and waved around:
Do you get it? It's sort of based off of a song by the artist currently known as Prince. You know, the one that goes, "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999." Well, I changed 1999 to 1776 to be all patriotic and stuff, because 1776 is America's B-day!
I made this sign because I wanted to show the world that tea party activists are smart people who know what's in the Constitution. So I quoted from the U.S. Constituition and used elipses correctly and everything. See, it bugged me when Democratic Representative Alcee Hastings from Florida said about the health care bill going through Congress, "We make up the rules as we go along." And Democratic Representative Phil Hare from Illinois said, "I don't worry about the Constitution on this." That unpatriotic, un-American statement was also said in relation to the health care bill.
So, I thought I would remind the Representatives and Senators "and all executive and judicial Officers" that if they don't support the Constitution, that's unconstitutional. Because it says very clearly in the Constitution that everybody in all three branches of government has to support the Constitution. And all these public officers took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution when they were sworn in to office.
These public officers are breaking their oaths, and we need to hold them accountable by replacing them this November with conservative Republican candidates!
Of course, some could argue that Alcee Hastings, Phil Hare, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid are upholding and defending the Constitution, even while they are dragging the nation down the dark path of socialism and bankruptcy. Some people interpret the Constitution in wacky ways.
Speaking of interpreting the Constitution in wacky ways, remember Roe v. Wade? In that case, the Supreme Court decided that there was a right to abortion in the Constitution all along. Abortion was part of privacy rights or something. I think I heard Michael Medved say that one of the Supreme Court justices who heard Roe v. Wade said that the right to abortion was an "emanation of a penumbra."
Gosh, an emanation of a penumbra.
That makes the Constitution seem really metaphysical. It makes it seem like only the mystical elders, trained in the dark arts of constitutional review, can hear the secret whispers coming from the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has way too much power.
Sometimes I wonder if the Supreme Court should even have the authority of constitutional review at all. Maybe Congress should vote on whether or not something is constitutional. At least Congress is sort of accountable to the people. They have their jobs on the line. The justices of the Supreme Court are there for life, and they don't have any constituents to worry about. They don't really answer to anybody. And if you get a lot of liberal activist judges up there, they can really change the laws of the nation fast.
Or maybe the people should vote on whether or not something is constitutional. Of course, maybe that would be impracticle. That would require a whole lot of voting. But I think it would be nice if the people could vote on whether or not something was constitutional or not. I think the Constitution was written so that anybody with a high-school education can understand it. I think the people, in a democratic type of vote, could apply the Constitution to new cases that arise. The three options that the people could choose for each case should be:
1] Yes, X is constitutional.
2] No, X is unconstitutional.
3] A lack of information constrains us to acknowledge that we cannot determine if X is constitutional or unconstitutional. Therefore, a Constitutional ammendment is required
(Maybe I should go to law school. I do enjoy reading the Constitution and thinking about what it means. But I don't want to get into way too much debt to go to law school, and I worry that I won't like it. A lot of law stuff is boring.)
Anywho...
I had a lot of other good ideas for signs, like...
I’m not fringey, I’m friendly.
Obummer
Obama aint my mama (held by a child)
Obama is a sith lord (most effective if held by a person costumed as a sith lord)
Obama drinks from the wells of Communism
A spectre is haunting America…and I’m a Ghostbuster!
I like my presidents all black
Obama is a Kenyan Muslim terrorist
Hey Congress, don’t spend more than you make.
Hey Congress, fire most of your workers
Geitner belongs in Gitmo
Socialism hurts children
Bankruptrcy is the new Black
I don’t like paying taxes
I don’t like paying taxes
Excuse me, I really don’t appreciate the way my tax dollars are being spent.
We the People
Taxation without Representation is an Obama-nation
Repeal the Health Care Bill
Stay away from my Guns
My heart wanted change, now my pocket wants change
Obama is hopey and changey…I wish he was impeachy
Don’t worry, I dislike his white half, too
Vote for fiscal conservatives
Read my sign: No new taxes
Washington failed Economics 101
The Founding Fathers would be ashamed
I can’t find a right to health insurance in the Constitution
The right to abortion is an emanation of a penumbra
I'd say there were 500-700 people there. But it was very different from the tea party I went to in Flagstaff last year. The tea party in Flagstaff was a public demonstration- it was held alongside Route 66, which is the major road through Flagstaff, and we were trying to get the attention of the passersby. (Passerbys ? you know... the plural of passerby... the people walking and driving by.)
I'd say there were 500-700 people there. But it was very different from the tea party I went to in Flagstaff last year. The tea party in Flagstaff was a public demonstration- it was held alongside Route 66, which is the major road through Flagstaff, and we were trying to get the attention of the passersby. (Passerbys ? you know... the plural of passerby... the people walking and driving by.)
The tea party in Queen Creek, on the other hand, was more like a gathering for likeminded people. But it was great.
Oh, and I took it upon myself to stand on a much-traveled intersection near my house holding the a sign to advertise the tea party. Well, I got the idea from the San Tan Valley Patriots email list. Here's an email I wrote to one of the guys organizing the tea party:
Secret Tea Party Person,
This afternoon I stood on the corner of Ironwood and Ocotillo with a sign that said "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1776" from about 2:45 - 4:00. It was hot outside.
Interesting story- a cop came up and asked me what I was doing. He asked me what my sign meant. He asked my why the tea party was on the same day as tax day. I said the scheduling helps with publicity. He asked me for some ID and I gave him my driver's licesne and he walked away and called somebody and then in a few minutes he came back and gave it back to me. He said it's fine to express your first ammendment rights.
He said the main reason he came over was because I think he said he got some phone calls from some people who were worried about my baby daughter that I had with me. It was hot outside. I gave my daughter plenty of water before I went out there and I tried to keep her in the shade, but, blah blah.
Anyway, thanks for helping me have the guts to go out there for a while. I got quite a few supportive honks!
Telemoonfa.
That story about the cop really happened. It was kind of cool to get hassled by the man for being a right-wing extremist. But the experience of standing out there also made me feel weird and sad inside. I felt weird. I felt weird because I was by myself, and I looked crazy. But I felt like I was supporting a good cause. The supportive honks and thumbs-up signs I got were great.
Sincerely,
Telemoonfa
2 comments:
Democratic constitutions are literally made to be amended. In fact, amendment is written into the American Constitution, see Article 5. Why would people want rules from 1776? The world has completely changed since then! The health care bill stops insurance companies from being able to double bill as well as makes insurance companies cover children with pre-existing conditions. The fact that America doesn't already have these rules in place is absolutely baffling to other first world countries around the world.
My advice to you would be to buy a textbook, not something partisan, but a textbook that explains how the American government works because you seem really confused.
Anonymous,
I love constitutional ammendments! I really think we ought to add lots more constitutional ammendments so that the Constitution is more clear and easier to understand.
My sign, "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1776" was meant to help us return to the spirit of the American Revolution, not the letter of the American Revolution. There was a lot of crazy stuff in the Constitution back when it was first adopted, like slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person for determining the number of representatives each state gets. Also, the way they elected Presidents and Vice Presidents was crazy (The Presidential candidate who got second place became the Vice President). But there were a lot of good things about the government in 1776 and in 1787 when the Constitution was adopted. Like, in 1787, the federal government was smaller, and they didn't waste as much money, and they had people like George Washington in it.
If you have an insurance company that is double billing you or doing something else slimy like denying children with pre-existing conditions, then switch to a different insurance company! That's the beauty of the free market- if you don't like one insurance company, go find another one. I know it's hard, because it seems like health insurance is expensive no matter what you do, and there is a lot to be fixed in the health care system. But our current system is still better than Obamacare.
(Oh, and about being denied because of preconditions, instead of looking at it from a victim's standpoint, try seeing things from an insurance company's perspective. The people who work at insurance companies aren't evil. By and large, the people who work at insurance companies are just honest people trying to make a living by helping their company to be profitable. Would it be a good business move to accept really sick people? Would it be profitable if you accepted a patient who needed lots of expensive surgery or dialysis right away? No. So I can understand why insurance companies would want to deny coverage to some people, or at least make them pay the premiums for a year or two before providing full coverage to their customers.)
I think I have a pretty good idea about how the government works... I took a government class in high school, and I studied for and passed a big test on the US and Arizona Constitution so I could become a teacher... and I took an American History class in college, and I follow the news, and I write my elected officials and I vote and I've been to a few Town Council meetings... I've never claimed to be a Constitutional scholar or any kind of authority figure on the U.S. Government, but I think I know a good amount and I think my opinions are valid and maybe sort of educated.
What in particular about "how the government works" do you think I need to learn about?
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