When the Biblical Tower of Babel was under construction, as the legendary myth goes, God intervened, (still not sure why), by confusing the languages of the workers so they couldn't continue building. Hard to construct something if the construction workers can't communicate with one another.
Out of that mythical story we learn the original meaning of the word, Babylon,….confusion.
Today's Tax Day Tea Parties, and Fox's coverage of those Parties….is truly Babylonian in nature….confusing.
I want to be fair about what's being said by Fox and "Friends" concerning today's protests, I really do….but I must say, it ain't easy.
Even though Neil Cavuto, (in Sacramento, CA reporting on, but not promoting, anything), admits this morning that 95% of American workers have just been given a payroll tax cut under Obama's program…..he also points to the protestors anticipatory-worry of higher taxes in the future for all Americans in order to pay off all the spending. So the tax part of the protest, it would seem, is not about what's happening right now regarding taxes (Obama tax cuts for workers), but what will happen years from now. Lots of talk about "the children" being burdened in the future with Obama's great debt.
Okay, the anti-tax part of the Tea Parties is a protest of future tax increases on all Americans, and the protest is not about Obama's plan to end Bush's tax cuts for the rich. The protest, then, is kind of a pre-emptive tax rate increase protest…..a protest about something that isn't a part of Obama's plan, yet will happen sometime in the future anyway.
Well…no….I'm learning that the protest is also about government spending, primarily on the bailouts and the economic stimulus but not, for example, on defense spending, where America spends 1/2 trillion dollars or more each year.
When it is pointed out that the bailouts started under a Republican president, the responses have been that the Tea Party attendees are bi-partisan, not just Republicans. Cavuto is telling me right now that he's talked to Democrats and Independents today and they're fed up, just like Republicans. Honestly? That's kind of confusing to me. Am I supposed to believe that Democrats and Republicans are equally represented at protests today? Am I supposed to believe that Democrats, who support Obama by 90%, are turning out to these Parties in similar numbers as, say, Republicans? Is that believable?
Similarly, when it has been pointed out that our national debt, which those same children of ours will have to pay, DOUBLED, in the eight years of Republican-controlled government, the same answer is given. Protestors, we "learn" from Fox, are not partisan in nature, you know, only protesting Obama. The Tea Party protests are directed at both Republicans and Democrats.
Why, then, didn't we have any of these Tea Parties during the last eight years? Bush's expansion of the national debt from $5 trillion to over $10 trillion didn't happen, like, all at once in the last month of his presidency. Instead, Bush ran repeated deficits virtually every year after his inauguration. But I don't remember any protests about spending, or deficits, during that time….in fact, I don't remember many, if any, Fox "reporters" or Republicans, ever even mentioning Bush's spending and deficits in a negative way. Why would that be the case?
Am I to believe that the Tea Party protests are really all about government spending, when right-leaning folks never held, you know, grassroots protests about Bush's borrowing and spending? Spending which resulted in the doubling of the debt? Really?
Five trillion dollars were added to the debt during the last 8 years, debt that our children will have to pay, and yet, it's the $787 billion Obama stimulus spending which has sent all the Taxed Enough Already protestors into a hyper-frenzy over spending and deficits? Is that credible?
If it's the bailouts that are being protested, then it would seem to follow that the protestors did not believe Bush last fall, or Obama since, when both men said if the banks and AIG weren't bailed out, our national economy, as well as the international economy, would collapse, thus creating an even worse situation. Are both presidents simply wrong in their evaluations? Should our leaders have just allowed our biggest financial corporations to go belly up? Really?
The only thing that has changed since the bailouts began is the presidency. Is that why we have protests now, instead of last fall, or anytime during the last 8 years?
None of these answers explain why I'm seeing so many signs today with the word "socialism" or "communism" on them. Cavuto and Fox's "reporting" (but not promoting) have not explained these signs, nor the signs which tie the name Obama with those two other words. Why is that?
Shep Smith is now telling me that the Tea Parties are about government largesse and high tax rates……so, you know, I'm still in Babylon here.
Jeebus, now Cavuto is telling me the Sacramento protestors are protesting a state tax increase. "The rage is palpable and the rage is everywhere." Now it's rage.
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief." Jimi Hendrix.
