‘Fiscal Republicans,’ Tea Party in disguise
By George Gaspar December 10, 2012 6:50PM
Updated: January 12, 2013 6:04AM
Surprise, the Will County Tea Party movement has announced it is shedding its name!
Let’s go back a few years for a little historical perspective. As president, Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt and had 18 increases in the debt ceiling. Bill Clinton actually ended his term with a $236 billion surplus.
Then George W. Bush got us into two wars along with huge tax cuts for the wealthy, and increased the national debt from $5.7 trillion to $10.7 trillion, with seven increases in the debt ceiling, along with a depression that caused revenues to collapse.
Then we elected our first black president, and, before he could propose doing anything with taxes, the “Taxed Enough Already” party (Tea Party) formed and began lashing out that they would no longer tolerate any increases in our taxes. Of course, they insisted this had absolutely nothing to do with Obama being black, just with the fact the he was a “socialist” — an idea that has been put forward by many groups. In the past, I have emphasized that the Tea Party movement had its foundation in racism.
Despite the efforts of the tea party and its obstructionism — and despite the money poured into the Republican Party by billionaires and corporations — Obama still won re-election with a broad-based coalition of Americans supporting him. He took over half of the popular vote, over half the states and D.C., and over three-fifths of electoral votes. Now, all of a sudden, the Will County Tea Party is dissolving its name. But the fact that they can’t stop the “black man” from being president again has nothing to do with it.
Steve Balich, one of the founders of the movement, blamed the demise on “the media,” which he said “demonized the national Tea Party over social issues.” You know, the media is to blame for the extremist positions of the racists in the party and those opposed to gay rights, women’s reproductive rights, equal pay for women, immigrant rights, etc.
Tim Kraulidis, co-founder of the Joliet Tea Party, said “people were fed up with the trillion dollar deficits and taxes,” but surprisingly, he and his fellow radicals weren’t fed up with them until we elected a black president, but were fed up immediately when we did. He was bewildered, and said. “I don’t understand what taxes have to do with racism.” Excuse me, but I don’t believe in coincidences, and I don’t think most Americans do either.
The Tea Party has acquired a connotation of being comprised of “kooks” and fanatics on social issues, so Balich has decided he needs to get away from the name with which he has been so closely associated. They will now refer to themselves as “fiscal Republicans” which reeks of a Karl Rove double-speak move. But Republican double-speak has been failing them quite a bit in the last few years, and I am betting it isn’t going to help Balich and his extremists. Just keep remembering, “Fiscal Republicans” will always equal “Tea Party”.
Anti-Tea Partier George Gaspar can be reached at
ggg182@comcast.net
