The title of this post is an expression that I picked up years ago from an old timer. Essentially the meaning of this colloquialism is that IT IS TIME TO MAKE A DECISION. Today America stands foursquare on such a threshold. As a disclaimer, this post is not specifically intended to highlight the plans of any particular group or organization in the country; rather it attempts to point to the current conditions in American society which underscore the dangerousness of the present situation. We have all witnessed the birth of the “Tea Party” from the “knock about rag tag mob” that terrorized the Town Hall meetings on Health Care Reform last summer. The Tea Party has grown into a shiny new media attraction impatiently waiting to emerge over the coming summer months as the new darling of the Main Stream Media (MSM). More from the bait bucket below the fold.
I have written many times concerning the use by the Republican Party of AM Talk Radio as a 24/7 propaganda outlet. Further, I devoted a serious amount of text to the weak kneed feeble attempts of the Democratic Party to curb these propaganda outlets, the last attempt coming not to long after the Democrats won a majority in the Congress. The Senate Democrats ALL bailed out and left Senator Dorgan as the sole advocate for a bill that would have severely curbed the Limbaughs and the Becks ability to spew hate on an unrestricted basis over America’s air waves. Now these preachers of hate and racism left undisturbed and comfortable in their respective broadcast environs have grown in popularity such that their every twisted word or comment becomes classified as prime time news for the American people. Their insane ramblings have now become the belief mantras for millions of white Americans. It is important to put the situation in perspective. The mindless drivel that these “right wing” commentators saturate the airwaves with is simply the oldest of all of the dangerous components starting to coalesce around the “Tea Party” mobment.
The most significant component recently entering the Tea Party tent is money. Why is money important? Because money attracts money, and nothing moves, squirms, grunts, or slivers in America without money. Second, money has a tendency to supersede ideology and even political fanaticism (in America). Our TV communication channels are rapidly becoming polluted with outraged rhetoric from the opposing political camps. TV networks are in the business of entertainment and they will make their broadcast platforms available to whatever brings the most advertising revenue (money again).
Under the guise of “balanced opinion” the TV networks have hired heavy bombasts from both the liberal persuasion and from the right wing super conservatives to grace their respective broadcast studios. Needless to say there are hundreds of applicants for these jobs and the list is still growing. Thus those who are in these positions have very generous salaries to protect, so it is their goal to be more and more outrageous that the next guy. Outrageous violent speech equals job security and more money in the bank. Further, whoever is the greatest demagogue gets the biggest paycheck and the awesome power that comes with super public notoriety.
The next component to recently and very discretely enter the Tea Party tent is corporate lobbyists. Sensing possible congressional upsets by Tea Party endorsed candidates in the fall elections the lobbyists are scrambling to sprinkle their “just in case” money around so there will be no loss in corporate control over the new Congress.
Finally, the most dangerous component to enter the Tea Party tent is the powerful gun lobby. Now I don’t think that it was ever the gun Lobby’s original intent to get involved with the Tea Party. But I think that they were dragged into the fray by the crazy Town Hall protestor’s signs and slogans about not letting “Obama take away our guns”. As the loose cannons of the Gun Owner’s League (GOAL) pushed forward to carry/wear guns at Starbucks, shopping malls and other public assembly places in defiance of local ordinances for gun free zones, the gun lobby had to get involved.
So where has all this taken us? There appears to be a coalescing between GOAL members, and various Militias to sponsor “open Tea Party” rallies around the country this summer. The “open” in the designation of these rallies means people will be encouraged to bring their guns to the rally and many of these rallies will be sponsoring shooting contests just to liven things up. These rallies will be a dream come true for the TV media considering that the summer (without the Olympics) is a very slow time of the year for the networks. (There’s the money thing again.) (I know that I surely wouldn’t want to be a black cameraman covering one of these events for the networks!) Now don’t get me wrong, there won’t be any raging bloodthirsty white mobs spewing out onto the streets of hometown America following any of these “open Tea Party rallies”. However, what I am certain of is that these rallies will become the inspirational catalyst for much random spilling of innocent American blood around the country by highly influenced individual members or followers of the Tea Party moment. You know, it’s the T. McVeigh effect.
So on a warm April afternoon, them’s the facts. Obama has already demonstrated that it is not in his playbook to take action beyond meetings and conferences targeted towards compromise and reconciliation. The gun toting right wing racist extremists have had a year to validate this quirk in Obama’s behavior, and their final evaluation is being proudly displayed in their open belligerence and contempt for president Obama and the government. Many in these Militias across the nation believe that a race war is inevitable, and they have been waiting and training for years in anticipation of such an event. Articles in the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) magazine, “Intelligence Report”, indicate the seriousness of the problem. In a recent article titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism” they state, “But what was most remarkable was the explosive growth of militias and the “Patriot” movement which jumped 244%”. In another article, SPLC cited the rapid growth of militias as extremely dangerous, lacking only a spark.
Cries for media responsibility have thus far gone unheeded, after all the MSM is a business and if they don’t keep pushing the sensational “hot button” racial stuff, Wall Street will punish them. Other people continue to call for Republican leaders to stand before the public and refute all of this hate and racist talk currently dividing the country. Fat chance, the Republicans smell Democratic blood in the water over the Health Care Reform bill. Many elected Democrats have already received death threats against their person and against members of their families.
A recent “University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality (WISER)” multi-state survey led by Prof. Christopher Parker examined the question, “Is America Now a post-racial society?” As part of this survey they found that 45% of the whites polled had either strong approval or somewhat conditional approval of the Tea Party. Of this 45% only 35% believe blacks to be hard working, only 45% believe blacks are intelligent and only 41% believe blacks are trustworthy. These statistics should provide a wakeup call to those progressives who continue to cling to the myth that ours is an “Obama led Post-Racial Society”. This MSM propagated myth needs to be buried once and for all, particularly after the veteran civil rights leader, Congressman Lewis in a recent encounter with Tea Party people was repeatedly called a “nigger” to his face. There is nothing post racial about the current American society where 45% of white Americans embrace the racialist rhetoric of the Tea Party mobment.
So the question now is WHO will STEP UP to make sure that no spark falls on this powder saturated fuse? It can only be the American people. Regardless of your bigotry or racism, I don’t think any reasonable American wants to see blood running in the streets. For those progressives who steadfastly refuse to believe that such a bloody outbreak of violence could occur in our country, I would cite the growing membership within the “Promise Keepers” right wing organization among local law enforcement officers. Weather wise we are experiencing the early stirring of spring with record level summer like temperatures. But beyond the weather, the Tea Party promises to make this one helluva summer.
So listen up America, it’s time to turn off those Ipods, tweets and TV’s. For real, it’s Time to Fish or Cut Bait!