The community I live in loosely organized around our small lake gathers on the 4th of July for a picnic and some fireworks. A guy who is a new arrival come up and started to talk. He had on a bright red tee-shirt with an American Flag – fairly standard garb for such an event. I said something like, "That’s a pretty green tee-shirt." He laughed and said he guessed it was his TEA Party Party tee-shirt. I became mute.He continued, saying he was going to this month’s TEA Party meeting to hear the speaker – someone he knew. "He grew up in Cuba but got out before Castro. I’ve heard him before. He talks about how the things that are happening here are the kind of things that happened in Cuba before Castro took over." I became more mute [if that’s possible]. 
But he continued. "I’ve never paid attention before, but It’s a good time to start. Now that so many things are being taken away from us…" That’s about where I zoned out, and shortly found someone to pretend was calling me to tend to the fire. I said "excuse me" and rode a rocket to another place.
It put a pall over the rest of the evening, one that’s still with me. It was my first ever such encounter, and it left me feeling very creepy. It reminded me of the John Birchers from the 1960’s. Very creepy…
This is the worrisome thing about the tea party crowd that we’re just catching on to. These aren’t the same folks as the religious, anti-gay, anti-abortion crowd that dominated the agenda in recent years.
These are people who are convinced “something’s being taken away from us” — whether it’s guns or individual freedom or property rights. They’re convinced that the government is the problem. And it’s like pouring gasoline on a fire, every time some other government intervention is proposed.
Somehow the Democrats have got to figure out how to address this issue — “something’s being taken way from me.” The other crowd knows how to frame an issue to convince people black is white. Instead of benefits from health care reform, they’re hung up on the requirement that everyone have insurance — instead of gaining something, they see it as something being taken away.
The framers made an omission. After the part that finished with “inalienable rights” they needed to include something about the inalienable responsibility of each citizen to educate and inform (him)self to the full extent of his innate capacities of the factual bases of (his) sense and judgment as they relate to (his) conduct and intercourse in public dialog and the common wealth.
You guys are on my page, sure enough. inalienable responsibility is a great concept – should be taught in every Civics and American History course in America.
I assumed that was more common. Glad it wasn’t. And don’t you mean pretty red? Not pretty green? I think I got some pictures, if you’d like one to accompany your post. I was pretty astonished.