TEA BAG TENNESSEE

In Tennessee there is a town which is basically Tea Bag Nation, everything is privatized, and everything is for profit, no big government. The Fire Department requires you pay “fire insurance”, $50.00 each household so then you have bought into this private capitalistic non-governmental market fire protection. Ok, it seems this past week there was a fire in that town. One of the people had not paid the fire insurance, the fire department showed up and they watched it burn to the ground with a number of pets inside dying in the fire. They were there to make sure the next door neighbor’s house which had paid the fire insurance was not endangered by the fire burning down. Neighbors showed up and offered the fire department hundreds of dollars, I am going to say a $1,000.00 to put out the fire but they refused because “the insurance” had not been paid in advance. They’ve often said people deserve the government they get, and the town of Tea Party Tennessee is a case in point. Because while they now require people to pay for fire protection, what happens when police and emergency room services are next? And how about this one gang, what if someone is denied such assistance, perishes, and then they discover a clerical error…the person had actually paid! May the tea baggers among us be the first to be bagged in the Tea Party Nation.

SPREE PARTY CANDIDATES

With all the attention given lately to the tea party, a far more important and perhaps more ominous trend is taking place in current politics, a trend I would call the “spree party”. And that of course is when incredibly rich self funders have bought their way into electoral prominence. But according to these folks, Meg Whitman, Carl Fiorina, Carl Paladino, Linda McMahon etc. it’s never about their own personal aggrandizement, it’s all about job creation. And you know what? As candidates they are right. Because consider the hundreds of millions of dollars that they collectively flow into the media, print and bulk mailing industries to help with what they hope will be their own personal political tsunamis. Alas, should they be elected, the political theory that have given shows they would not create jobs, but in fact endanger current unemployment benefits and even the level of the minimum wage. But were they to be defeated they will no doubt run again and again (see Ned Lamont), and every 2 years be a boost for the economy as spree party candidates.