I didn't listen to anything Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck said yesterday. Their lying and idiocy make me angry, which is not good for my blood pressure. I did note the choice of day and venue and instead watched, again, video of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream..." speech. One can see why it was chosen by scholars as the greatest American speech of the 20th century. Both the writing and delivery are exceptional, with concepts and metaphors ground in and taken from the Bible, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the power and rhythm of a Baptist sermon adding to the words' strength.
Well, back to yesterday. Those who claim that they "want their country back" are forgetting -- or ignoring -- a couple of things. First, Barack Obama was elected by clear margins whether using the Electoral College (+192), popular vote (+10 million) or percent (+7). This leads to point #2: The country struggled through eight years of leadership (?) by a man whose party stole the election right before our eyes and then he proceeded to drag the country into ruin. Where were these so-called "patriots" then?
Those who gravitate toward the Tea Party movement -- and what a misnomer...Samuel Adams is rolling in his grave -- don't seem to recognize how they are being played by the same old forces: the wealthy. The New Yorker has a piece on the billionaire Koch brothers, who have spent millions -- including backing the "anti-corporate" Tea Party -- fighting Obama's policies for the usual reasons: they want to be even richer. The outline of history never changes. The rich keep the rest of us fighting amongst ourselves so we don't unite against them. Same old song and dance, my friends.
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