The tea party is very strong in my area?

[crookedfinger556]

And it is mostly composed of old white men who are already
on Social Security and Medicare.
Socialism for me, but not for thee! If they hate the government so much, why don't these old men
give back their communist social security and medicare, and go on the wonderful free market?

[Chosen1]

They are only American when it suits them.

[Baron]

burp,,,,,

[Anti Censorship]

Because they have been paying taxes their whole lives and this is basically their money being spent on them?

[Derek]

Because they've already spent their entire adult lives paying into those 'communist and socialist' programs you jacka s s.

[Pythagoras]

Maybe its because they've already paid into social security for 50 years and figure that the government owes them the funding that was promised to them. Why is that so difficult to understand? It doesn't have anything to do with socialism/communism. Its a simple matter of honoring your word.

[Sky]

I looked at the demographics of the movement itself--where it's mostly spread out--and it's not very strong at all.

It's hellishly weak and not very coordinated, well-funded, or organized.

[jamie]

well you must not have seen many tea party demonstrations
if you think that .
look harder you will see you are wrong..

[Dr. Phil of sh!t]

One little difference between them and you.......about 50 or 60 years of labor put into the kitty.
Your problem is you want it all without the work part.

[Jen]

Thomas Frank explains in his excellent book, "What's The Matter With Kansas?" that low-information voters act against their own self-interest due to a variety of factors. Fear tactics (credit to Karl Rove and Dick Cheney as the ultimate of dedicated experts on scaring Americans with bogus issues) are high on that list, as is misinformation from the opposition (remember the bogus death panels, concentration camps, etc.?). If these voters continue to undermine their own safety nets (Medicare, Social Security), this is the legislation they will face in a Republican-controlled government:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-kl...get_p.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/opinio...aulkrugman

In Texas, the GOP platform incorporates the old, favorite culture issues:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/06/...bs_an.html