Teabagging

I was unsure if the Teabagger-protests (yes, the ambiguity is on purpose) were the most outrageous or most hilarious thing I have seen in a while. It is probably a mix of both. It is simply stunning how conservatives stood on the sidelines and watched while the Bush-administration was systematically violating constitutional rights, international law and any ethical guideline there is.

Torture? Does not bother anyone, these terrorists wanted to hurt us! Wiretapping and recording anything without a warrant? Why should it matter if you have nothing to hide, besides it helps the war on Terror! Tax breaks for energy companies that were at that point already the most profitable companies on the face of this earth? What do I care! Blocking policies that would help prevent global warming? What do we need those policies for in the first place, energy companies are making great profits and climate change is a fake in the first place! Starting a war that completely violates international law? What do we care, go get the terrorists!

These people stood there, applauding the administration for every unethical and illegal action, bashing liberals and left-wingers as unpatriotic and domestic terrorists as they stood up against it. Not one moment did they spend to reflect on their action, let alone validating their arguments. These Teabaggers could not give less about the people that were tortured in their name and will forever suffer from the consequences. The right cried out bitterly when it became clear that the Obama-administration censored a paragraph stating that “valuable information” was being acquired from the usage of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” from one of the Memos that were released over the course of the past weeks. And yes, this was a huge mistake that erodes Obama’s promise of transparency but at the same time the act of releasing the memos in the first place was a victory for democracy. When we learned though that a single person was waterboarded 183 times in a single month after we were told by the CIA until the very release of these memos that they only used waterboarding on “a few occasions”; they were not bothered by the fact that we now know with certainty that the past administration intentionally lied to the American people. No, they were angry that these memos were released because they allegedly helped the terrorists since they now know how the United States used to treat enemy combatants (wait, wasn’t it “War on Terror”? Why not Prisoners of War then? Oh yeah that’s right, the Geneva convention forbids any kind of torture). Karl Rove even complained on Fox News that “the techniques are now ruined”. What a shame. The USA will not use the techniques anymore so what benefit to the Terrorists have from knowing that they were used at some point? Which, by the way, pretty much everybody knew anyway, Bush just lied about it the entire time.

The Teabaggers did not care at all for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that were killed in their name. They did not even care when the administration changed its reasoning for the war, a war that their sons and daughters also fought and died in, from “Fighting al-Qaeda/Find WMDs/Keep the US save” to “Spreading Democracy”, the most imperialistic description possible. The people blindly followed the Republican Party wherever they took them like sheep. They had no regrets, showed no remorse for the crimes that were committed in their names. The only thing that gets these people enraged is if the government is reaching for their wallets.

God forbid raising taxes to finance all the military operations and wars that were started in their name. God forbid raising taxes to finance the much needed stimulus package to counter the worst economical crisis since the great depression; which, by the way was also caused by the deregulating policies by their party, which, in its blind addiction to profits and uncontrollable greed let Wall-Street run wild. God forbid raising taxes to finance education, besides the fact that US is one of the dumbest industrialized nations on the planet and human capital is the only thing that can ensure a prospering economy in the long run. Those people are so incredibly short sighted and unbelievably greedy that there is no time and space for them to question their reasoning. That taxes are only restored to their pre-Bush levels is something they forget gladly. That the Bush tax breaks exploded the same national debt that they are now protesting against does not even occur to them. That taxes are the only thing that a government has to pay back debt is a fact that they ignore. That most of them as a matter of fact have their taxes lowered under the Obama plan gets overlooked (given that not only the richest 5% of the US went Teabagging).

Instead they pathetically try to induce some kind of revolutionary, patriotic feeling with their slogan “No Taxation without Representation”. The usage of the slogan lets one wonder if these proud US-citizens have even the slightest idea of how a democracy works and what “representation” actually means. Not only does the abuse of this historical slogan entirely trivialize the American uprising against the British that they are so proud of. It is also testimony of a complete lack of historical and political competence and education in general. I will never be able to understand how anyone who identifies himself as conservative can say that they are not represented in the political system of the United States. Do these people even know that there is a Senate, a House of Representatives and a Congress, let alone how they work?

They are confusing representation with losing the vote. They simply lost the vote and after raping the country and the rest of the world for the past 8 years for nothing but their personal gains these people are shameless enough to call for a conservative revolution not even 3 months into the new administration, ridiculing themselves within the nation and the United States all over the planet. Characters like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity did not hesitate to capitalize on this and engaged in the most irrational form of government bashing this country probably has ever seen by hosting “spontaneous” Tea parties. Tea parties so spontaneous, they were advertised as the “FNC Tea Parties” on the network. And all of this after hating the left for criticizing the former government for killing, torturing, deporting, breaking the Geneva convention and internationally isolating the United States. There is such a strong desire in these people to be convinced that nothing will, is or has ever been their fault, it lets me doubt if a constructive dialogue is even possible anymore. They go to such length to indoctrinate and comfort themselves, it is astonishing how stubborn people can be.

Please let me be clear: I am in no way attributing all these things to conservatives in general, simply to the Teabaggers. I would never ever judge anyone for the fact that they are conservative as I would expect that no one would judge me for being a liberal. There is nothing that I embrace as much as different opinions and approaches in a political debate. Only by considering every perspective and opinion we can be able to determine which one is the best. Only by realizing that the greatest democracy is one that is completely a-idealistic we are able to achieve it. Only a democracy that makes decisions and shapes policies by taking every point of view into consideration, that resists the temptation of populist, polarizing and therefore deceiving statements and debates is one that can react the most efficient and truly serve the people.

However, neither am I the first one to realize and say this and neither am I the first one to recognize the utopia of such a system. How we will get as close as possible to this goal if not by striving for it would be beyond my understanding though.

The frustrating thing about polarizing and deceiving discussions is that once one side made one such statement, it is hard to counteract it without being polarizing yourself. In this light I think it is our duty to point these fallacies out. A civilized society cannot stand on the sidelines and watch while half of it engages in dangerous, irrational behavior. I am well aware that this contribution will not convince a single protestor, simply for the way it is written but so many things accumulated over the past years. Seeing that these people are not even willing to give the new administration a chance (how did Limbaugh say: “I want him to fail!”) makes one wonder if they ever thought that they would have to contribute something to the country they so dearly love. They complain about “redistribution of wealth” and by calling it “socialism” they prove that they do not even know what they are talking about, that they did not even bother to look up the meaning of this word.

I also want to make clear that I will not let the argument, that everything is the same as the past 8 years just with opposite signs, count. Liberals and left-wing intellectuals have engaged in a thorough discussion about each and every single step that the Obama administration has taken concerning economic and fiscal policy. Paul Krugman, Nobel economics prize winner of 2008 and avowed liberal, repeatedly raised the concern that the Stimulus Bill and the Bailout were not large enough in his New York Times blog and op-eds. There was a lot of discussion within house democrats and democratic Senators prior to voting on any of these issues. People like Jon Stewart that the right permanently bashes for being liberal, voiced their doubts. The New York Times had op-eds for both sides of the story. The Economist, by default pro-business, stated that it was hoping that the stimulus was not too small, pointing to Germany’s two stimulus packages totaling roughly 100 billion € and calling it “too little, too late”. Especially the issue of inflation has received a lot attention. The problem is, if we do not do something, there won’t be much left that can inflate. As Warren Buffet said on February 23: “Whatever the downsides may be, strong and immediate action by government was essential last year if the financial system was to avoid a total breakdown. Had that occurred, the consequences for every area of our economy would have been cataclysmic. Like it or not, the inhabitants of Wall Street, Main Street and the various Side Streets of America were all in the same boat.”

It is easy these days to call the Media biased but what can they possibly report if Nobel prize winners are coming together and either praise the measures or even call for more. What can they possibly report if the leaders and the economical experts of the 20 biggest economies in the world agree that these measures are the only way to get out of the crisis. I can already hear the right cry “What about the leftist principle to question authority?” but nothing has ever been so much discussed and examined in the history of economics as these policies have been. There is a lot of questioning going on and no one knows for sure if this is actually going to get us out if this crisis but most people agree that this is our best shot (and by talking plural here I am explicitly referring to the world as a whole). No one has come forward and demanded to let the markets regulate themselves except for Republicans in the US. This notion was articulated when it came down to the vote of the stimulus bill: Not one Republican voted for it. Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann said in March 2008 “I do not believe anymore that the markets have the power to heal themselves”. Today the “Handelsblatt” reports that Deutsche Bank will report a yield of 25% and a profit of 1.162 billion Euros for the first quarter tomorrow. Last week, all major banks surprised by posting profits, a first signal that things are relaxing at least in the credit markets and an indicator that the stimulus works.

The left is capable, willing and eager to reflect on itself in order to adapt to new challenges and to make sure their positions and policies are supported by facts and evidence. The Teabaggers on the other hand are neither of those things. They choose to be mad at the ass they have to pay taxes for. If they want to see him, they should take a look in the mirror.

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