A recurring theme of the Tea Parties movement is that they clean up after themselves. Literally: by picking up their own trash after their events. They contrast that with the dirty, filthy librul hippies who support Obama or who are in the Occupy Wall Street movement. This theme is largely true, but it's also incredibly ironic as I'll discuss below.

Some examples are at [1], with the latest example being the post [2] "San Francisco Tea Party greets Obama; Picks up the trash" [3]:

For people nominally concerned about the "environment," liberals generate a surprising amount of trash. As Obama supporters moved along in the line to get into the fundraiser, they left behind an impressive amount of trash, such as shown below [pic] ...Tea Partiers shouted "pick up your garbage" and "this is San Francisco, what about recycling?" There was no response. They chanted "Obama leaves a mess." Still no response. Eventually, a tea partier (wearing the black cowboy hat) crosses over and starts to pick up the trash on his own [pic] ...Other tea partiers join him. Another manages to find a trash bag. Soon the trash is being collected [pic]...

What the Teapartiers are doing is good PR, but it's also incredibly ironic because their ideology would necessarily lead to more pollution and at a much larger scale than some trash left behind at a rally.

The Teapartiers support "economic freedom", which involves among other things reducing environmental regulations. They also oppose "green" initiatives. If their ideas gained purchase, companies - such as those in the energy field - would be able to cut even more corners, reducing their costs by not having the heavy boot of regulations on their throats [4].

The Teapartiers might like to pretend otherwise, but by reducing regulations, they'll necessarily increase pollution: more leaked oil products, more waste products disposed in places where it will have negative impacts years or decades from now, more need for (government-funded) remediation years or decades from now, a greater chance of oil spills, increased air pollution, increased percentage of dangerous chemicals in water, and on and on.

So, my question [5] for anyone in the Teaparties movement is this: are you going to get out there and clean up all that increased pollution too?

An alternative question: will you finally realize that you're being used to help large companies "privatize the profits and socialize the costs"?

Please tweet that question to @SanFranTeaParty, @NorthBayPatriot, and other Teaparty groups, and leave a comment if they reply.

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[1]
* Fox News: "Tea Partiers Clean-Up Mess Left By Union Protesters in Wisconsin" ( peekURL.com/zAmLwbE )

* Ms. Bachmann also explained how she thinks Occupy Wall Street is very different from the Tea Party. "The Tea Party picks up its trash after it has a demonstration, there’s a difference," Ms. Bachmann said ( peekURL.com/zkYXP47 )

* Ann Coulter: "I'm glad we never had one of those at the tea party. I don't know, maybe they thought that they'd estimate the crowds based on the garbage they left behind. And, they way out did the tea party on the garbage they left behind." ( peekURL.com/zqj2R7Y )

* Gateway Pundit: "Hooray!… Police Bring in Dump Trucks & Mop Up #Occupy Boston Garbage (Video)" ( peekURL.com/zn2qxg3 ), "Portland Needs 70 DUMP TRUCKS to Clean Up Filth After Occupy Goons Removed From Parks" ( peekURL.com/z2r2dm5 ), "It Figures… Green Activists Completely Trash Park on Earth Day" ( peekURL.com/zTh4Jj5 ), etc.

[2] Naturally, linked by Glenn Reynolds and Pajamas Media.

[3] Pictures at peekURL.com/zAxkDx3 . Those involved: "This protest was organized by the Sally Zelikovsky of the Bay Area Patriots. It was attended by patriots from the North Bay Patriots (Marin County), MyLiberty (San Mateo County), and other Tea Parties of the SF Bay Area."

[4] That's a reference to Rep. Mike Kelly's call to "Take the heavy boot [of regulations] off the throat of American job creators!" ( http://peekURL.com/zg4TJKy )

[5] An alternative question off the topic of this post is why didn't the "patriots" try to ask Obama or one of his associates a tough question instead of waving signs like little kids? For instance, back in February 2007, I tried to ask Obama a question he would have had difficulty with. Since that date, I've tried to get others to do the same, with almost no help. Those who didn't help include people who now promote the Teapartiers, for instance see this October 2008 open letter. Countless other times, I've tried to encourage people to use the Question Authority plan to hold politicians accountable. Not only did I get no help from the Tea Party "patriots" types, but I even got some pushback from those in their sphere.