The tea parties aren't just for extremist libertarian Randroids. Oh, no. Of course not.

The video here shows a tea party organizer from Seattle reading a Randroid rant she wrote complaining about redistribution in relation to Obama healthcare. She wants people to be left alone rather than some being "plundered" in order to fund UHC. At root, her argument isn't just with excessive redistribution, with pork, with connected contractors, with the social negatives of redistribution, with the Democrats using it to obtain and maintain power, or all the rest. Seemingly she would oppose most any form of redistribution, and that's highlighted by her use of "plunder" and "taking". That's definitely not an invalid argument, and she's not spacey like her. However, she's living in a fantasy world if she thinks that even a small number of Americans would choose to live out her dream. And, it shows the extent to which the tea parties and those in their orbit are open to Randroid concepts.

And, it shows the extent to which the tea partiers/libertarians/Ron Paul supporter types rely on stunts rather than being able to engage their opponents in debate: at the end, she holds up a $20 bill and urges her representative to come and take it away from her in order to give it to someone else. Cheap stunts won't paper over the fact that the ideology of people like her is full of holes.

UPDATE: Unlike almost all other Randroid loons, she doesn't come across as loopy in print (albeit a bit OUTRAGED). For instance, this:

What about when people give talks against illegal immigration? What if their talk is centered around describing how illegal immigration is a very dangerous concept to our economy as well as to our national security? Guess what. That could be a hate crime. Even without fallacious legislation to back them up, entitled college brats act like Neo-Stasi speech wardens.

Lastly, what about crimes committed against white people because they are white? There are puhlenty of cases like that out there. Do I think that those criminals should face tougher consequences because their actions were racially motivated? He** no. However this is a serious and innate flaw of any hate crime legislation - if you are not a protected minority, then no one can commit a "hate crime" against you. There is so much injustice built into these types of bills that it is sickening, and anyone that claims to be an advocate or supporter of equality and civil rights ought to be OUTRAGED.

Perhaps she should burn the notes she took while reading Atlas Shrugged and concentrate on that angle of things instead.

Sun, 09/06/2009 - 18:30 · · Importance: 4