Originally Posted by barb1191

I purposely did not put this in "Political" because not all members have joined that forum.

This is something that most are feeling right now, yes? ....barb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SGyV...layer_embedded

GR8

Originally Posted by ilovetv

How about "paying back this country" by offering additional jobs to people in your small business?

To me, it seems that anyone who thinks income earners and small business owners making $250,000 are "rich" and "should pay more" don't know what it costs to employ people.

Well, that is a given and all businesses should try to do it. Think what a difference that would make if all business hired at least 1 person. I hired a "long time unemployed" young man two months ago, and we have another new employee starting in two weeks. I have 7 employees and absolutely know what it costs to employ people. Here in New York state it gets very expensive to live, let alone run a business. I have to agree that a $250,000 income doesn't make you rich, but 2010 statistics show that only 4% of people in this country make over $250,000. We are lucky that Rochester hasn't experienced the extreme booms and busts that many parts of the country has, but our major corps - KODAK, B&L and XEROX have still had to downsize. Business is still very good around here and we try to do our part to keep it moving. I will have wonderful help running the company this year while I'm enjoying my new home in The Villages this winter and managing from a distance.

To all posters to this thread...In my view most things have a political bent because so much of our interactions have political implications. Think back on what criteria was used to even up sides for a sand lot game. think back about how you had to approach your employer, spouse, lender, etc all political.

Having said that the dialogue among posters was very civil . In essence most posters agree that our Constitution has been hijacked by idealogues

Most also agree that the Tea Party goal is to force our elected officials to abide by the U.S. Constitution

There was not one thought word or opinion that the gentlement on You Tube said that hasn't been replicated millions and millions of times by American taxpayers/voters.

Where have all the Harry Trumans and Ronald Reagans gone? These were men of character, vision and whowere guardians of our American way of life and our belief in exceptionalism and the exceptional business leaders, scientist, engineers,etc.

Until you introduced the Tea Party into the conversation. I left the bus then.

Originally Posted by Golf-Tinker

Until you introduced the Tea Party into the conversation. I left the bus then.

With the above stated I decided to do a little reading about the Tea Party and learn something for myself instead of reacting to it and running the risk of turning this thread into a political discussion. What I found IMHO was interesting unbiased reading and it did provide information about opposing views on the movement. I feel that fair minded people might also like to read what I found before making any judgements pro or con of their own. So without any opinions given on my part, here's the link to what I've read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement

Originally Posted by rubicon

To all posters to this thread...In my view most things have a political bent because so much of our interactions have political implications. Think back on what criteria was used to even up sides for a sand lot game. think back about how you had to approach your employer, spouse, lender, etc all political.

Having said that the dialogue among posters was very civil . In essence most posters agree that our Constitution has been hijacked by idealogues

Most also agree that the Tea Party goal is to force our elected officials to abide by the U.S. Constitution

There was not one thought word or opinion that the gentlement on You Tube said that hasn't been replicated millions and millions of times by American taxpayers/voters.

Where have all the Harry Trumans and Ronald Reagans gone? These were men of character, vision and whowere guardians of our American way of life and our belief in exceptionalism and the exceptional business leaders, scientist, engineers,etc.

I certainly do NOT agree that the tea party has any goal, leadership or purpose that is reasonable or that benefits the CURRENT situation in our country. They do, however, pour a good cup of, er, tea

Originally Posted by BigLew

I certainly do NOT agree that the tea party has any goal, leadership or purpose that is reasonable or that benefits the CURRENT situation in our country. They do, however, pour a good cup of, er, tea

Diverse Group with a Unified Message

Tea Partiers detest all things big: big government, big business, big national debt, big taxes. They express hostility toward the elite and outrage that the government has come to the aid of Wall Street while ignoring the plight of Main Street. Most Tea Partiers consider themselves citizen activists who are part of a grassroots movement that is organized from the bottom up—small groups united under a shared ideology. The movement claims no national leader or figurehead.



Read more: History of the Tea Party Movement — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/us/governm...#ixzz1YkMxN2JH

Originally Posted by BigLew

I certainly do NOT agree that the tea party has any goal, leadership or purpose that is reasonable or that benefits the CURRENT situation in our country. They do, however, pour a good cup of, er, tea

I agree. In addition, there have been so many documented reports in the media about racist actions of tea party members, it is difficult to believe the almost uniformly white tea partiers are anything other than a racist, right-wing reaction to the election of an African American president.

I was at the original Tea Party in New England and I never heard of a racist remark by a Tea Party member. I have talked to literally hundreds of members and their conversations evolve taxes, jobs, the economy and electing people that will help us get this country going again after the last disastrous 4 or 5 years. It would be scandalous to wrap all these good people into one package and label them so cruelly.

I personally am not a fan of the Tea Party movement, but I do not believe any group should ever be painted "or tarred" with one brush. As a Democrat I do not like it when all Democrats are labeled as "liberal wackos" that are unpatriotic and certainly can't be Christians. So I will not resort to labeling another group of people as all being one thing or another. I only wish more people would refrain from name calling. Then maybe we could all act as the grown ups we are and learn to get along. Like it or not we must accept this country is pretty much split down the middle concerning politics. If we don't work together with some give and take on both sides nothing will ever get done.
This is just my opinion. No one has to agree with me but I would like people to accept the fact that I have the right to have my opinions. This is what makes America the free country it is.

Originally Posted by momesu

I personally am not a fan of the Tea Party movement, but I do not believe any group should ever be painted "or tarred" with one brush. As a Democrat I do not like it when all Democrats are labeled as "liberal wackos" that are unpatriotic and certainly can't be Christians. So I will not resort to labeling another group of people as all being one thing or another. I only wish more people would refrain from name calling. Then maybe we could all act as the grown ups we are and learn to get along. Like it or not we must accept this country is pretty much split down the middle concerning politics. If we don't work together with some give and take on both sides nothing will ever get done.
This is just my opinion. No one has to agree with me but I would like people to accept the fact that I have the right to have my opinions. This is what makes America the free country it is.

I agree with you. We are split down the middle... I wish we could find the middle and start from there. Find what we agree on and then move on... I don't think I can ever remember in history when we have been this divided and it saddens me.

No need for all the critics' analyses and labelling and stereotyping....look no further than what T.E.A. stands for in the TEA Party:

TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

Taxed Enough Already does NOT mean "require no taxes".

Taxed Enough Already does NOT mean "no government".

Taxed Enough Already does NOT mean "hate everyone who disagrees with us".

But it DOES mean

"The government already collects enough taxes for what needs to be done"

and

"Live within your means"

Is every single Tea Party member racist? No, but there sure are a lot of them that are, and the ones that aren't don't seem to mind associating with the racists. The following is an interesting link showing some of the signs the tea party people are showing at some of their meetings and demonstrations. Shameful. http://brotherpeacemaker.wordpress.c...the-tea-party/
Senator Rand Paul, one of the tea party favorites, has stated publicly he would not have voted in favor of the Civil Rights amendment as it pertains to discrimination in business. I recall during the last election receiving many emails from fellow Villagers that were promoting incredible lies about Obama, such as "he's a Muslim - if you vote for him you'll be wearing a burka, etc., etc.," and they all seem to have jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon. It sure looks like racisim to me.