Nancy Pelosi called the Tea Party movement "astro turf." She implied that the movement was not a grass roots effort. Her contention was that the movement was created by Fox News. She also called the people of the Tea Party dangerous and racists. Progressives believe all you need to do is call someone a racist and its game over. If you're not a progressive, then you must be a racist.
The real insult to Nancy was that conservatives had the nerve to demonstrate. Demonstrations are protected by the constitution. As long as they are peaceful, they are legal. Ever since the Vietnam War, demonstrations have been the sole property of liberals - and we all know how peaceful and law abiding those demonstrations were.
I watched a late-night show one night where the progressives were demonstrating to save the rain forest. I believe Penn and Teller were the interviewers. It was quite an interesting show. There were about 50 college-age young men and women carrying signs and chanting. They were obviously having a good time.
Article Photos
Jay
McCaulley
I believe they were saying, "Oh, we love to march and chant," and then to change it up they'd say "We love to chant and march." Real scholars and devout believers held those signs. Several were asked where the rain forest was - their answers ranged from South Dakota to Asia and Africa.
They were asked who was destroying the rain forest. Big mining and big lumber companies owned by corporations were the culprits, they said. Oh, those bad, bad corporations - lets not let facts get in the way of ideologies! The largest portions of the rain forest are destroyed by the people that live there. Those people scratching out a living by farming.
The rain forest has very poor soil. Those pesky farmers discovered that if you cut down the forest and then burn it, the soil is enriched. They can grow several seasons of crops before the soil is again depleted. Then they move on and do it again. Should the self-righteous progressives tell them to just go starve to death? After all, progressives should be allowed to meddle in foreign countries and tell them what to do and how to live.
To be fair, there was a middle-aged woman who organized the march. She knew what she believed and why. I didn't agree with her, but at least she knew why she was there. Therein lies the problem: Too many so-called liberals are affected by the zeal and passion of their leaders. They follow blindly without really knowing what they believe.
Progressives love to quote a study they commissioned. The study contends that progressives are college educated and smarter than the dumb, Neanderthal conservatives. Conservatives walk around with their knuckles scraping the ground. In my life experiences I have found just the opposite to be true.
Apart from a few at the top, my experience is that liberals are the ones mostly lacking in brain power. But if you're a liberal, don't take that personally - you just might be one of the lucky ones.
Jay McCaulley is the production manager for The Sentinel. He can be contacted via e-mail at sentinel@lewistownsentinel.com.
