The Coffee Party

http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/

"MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in
government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the
expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in
order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots
volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable
those who obstruct them."

Are these people saying that the people who we elect to political office and who work for Government are not trying to harm us? In other words, our fellow citizens, our friends, nieghbors, and family members who work in the Government are not working against our interests? Are they trying to say that the American electoral system is some sort of a democratic process that actually reflects the will of the voters?
Does this mean that we the people are allowed to use Government to solve the problems that the "free market" doesn't?

Not according to those 9% of us who are way over there on the extreme right.
They think that the "free market" should rule every aspect of our lives. They claim that Government intervention is tyrannical. I think that these people have it exactly backwards. The Government is elected by and is answerable to us, "the people". The "free market", on the other hand, is unelected and answers only to those with financial power. Therefore those with the most money have the most power. Those with the most power (money) almost always make decisions that are intended to increase their money (power). This is often done without regard to other considerations/consequences. (Witness our current financial/economic mess)

Am I saying that the free market is a bad thing? No.
That would be just as stupid as saying that Government is a bad thing.
Am I saying that Government is always a good thing? No, again.
Government is good when it results in good things happening.
Bad Government should be fixed or gotten rid of.
Is the only good Government small Government? No, that's nonsense.
A Government that just stands by and lets bad things happen can be just as bad as any other sized bad Government. It's not the size of Government that makes it good or bad, it's the quality.
Not allowing people to use Government because of a mindless devotion to an ideological bias is a bad thing.

The market works well most of the time because it allows individuals to pursue their self interest and greed. These are very powerful motivating forces. These forces provide the energy and incentives that drive the economy.
Greed, however, is a two edged sword. It is kept in check to a large degree because
it is usually in the self interest of the individual to please the consumers. But greed can motivate us to screw the consumers if we can get away with it.
Plus, an individual's self interest doesn't always coincide with the interests of society as a whole.

So the market doesn't always work in our best interests.
The "free market" restricts the freedom of those with less money.
Not being able to do things like insure your family for healthcare or move to places where you once could, or being forced to move from places where you had been living because you have been "priced out", are some examples of how the "free market" restricts freedom.
Often, when we have unmet interests in common, the market treats us only as individuals, nullifying the power of numbers.
Government can help to balance the will of the market with the will of society by restoring the power of numbers.

Those 9% on the far right are the real tyrants. They fight dirty. Their side loses an open and fair election, so they just declare the Government to be tyrannical. They distrupt town hall meetings, falsely accusing the other side of all sorts of treachery. They tell us that the "American people" believe what they believe, even though the American people are divided, and usually not in their favor. They dictate so much of what is heard today on all the issues. Government is bad, Liberals are bad, taxes are bad. We can't have Government run health insurance that would cover every American citizen because that would be paid for through taxes, and that's socialism. Never mind that the "free market" charges us TWICE AS MUCH and doesn't cover pre-existing illnesses, or cover you if you lose your job (even if you've been paying into it for years and never used it once) or can't afford it and will cheat you anytime they can get away with it.

That 9% has managed to cow Democratic members of Congress with accusations of an imaginary "Death Panel", while a real actual Republican sponsored, free market administered Death Panel has been allowing THOUSANDS of Americans to die every year, for many years, because of lack of health insurance. And that's not to mention the awful grief and anxiety that comes with being ill and uninsured, the terror of getting ill, losing your job, then losing your insurance. Or the bankruptcies which hurts the uninsured, the creditors and the economy.

How does this distortion occur?
Once again it's the free market.
A multi billion dollar industry has evolved which rewards individuals for demonizing their political opponents. And the Conservatives have managed to corner this market on radio and TV. These multi-millionaire talk show hosts twist and distort the truth in order to manipulate the emotions of their audiences and provoke anger and hatred, thus driving up their ratings. This "free market" doesn't reward fair mindedness. And other viewpoints don't get their fair share of airtime.

Ever since Reagan made government bashing popular with clever remarks like
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help." (Yeah, good one Ronny),
few things have made me as angry as the way Conservatives have been allowed to get away
with the demonization of our Government.

These are the people who set themselves up as the only true American Patriots. They constantly tell us how great America is and how great they are because they are so damn patriotic. Anyone who disagrees with them hates America and deserves to be hated in return.

The irony of the situation is that the Government is the single greatest thing about the United States of America.

Throughout all of history mankind has been ruled by force. Kings, tyrants, thugs, despots, warlords, emperors, dictators, royalty, oligarchs, aristocrats, one party rule.
While ancient Greece may have invented Democracy, and the Roman Republic may have had a republican (small r) form of representative government, on which we base our own government, voting was restricted to free male landowners and officeholders were restricted to an aristocracy.

It wasn't until the Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution that eventually ALL citizens had the right to vote AND the right to hold office. We eventually became what Abraham Lincoln called a "Government of, by and for the people."

And I say eventually because, of course, the Founding Fathers didn't live up to all the high minded words that they wrote, "All men are created equal". (Slavery, non landowners) And they didn't include women. But those words and the Government they instituted, allowing for amendments, paved the way for American born and bred Liberals to force society to live up to those ideals.

These Liberals are the true American Patriots. The true American heroes.
As great as the Founding Fathers were, they were hypocrites. Those words were, in a way, self serving, giving them the moral high ground from which they could justify independence from England. But they do deserve credit for establishing these principles. That alone is one of the greatest human achievements in all of history. We would eventually strive for and achieve most of these ideals.

Let me point out the full irony of the situation. Throughout American history, whether it be giving the right to vote to non landowners, freeing the slaves, women's suffrage, women's rights, children's rights, workers' rights, civil rights or desegragation, Conservatives have fought tooth and nail against change and for the status quo. They have cited everything from the Bible to Nature's laws to States Rights to the rights of business owners to defend their positions.

Liberals have fought, and died, to make this country the great country that it is. They changed society by changing people's minds, but they also used Government, the greatest tool that the Founding Fathers gave us. Without the Government, all those words in the Declaration, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution would be meaningless.

So the very people (liberals) and institutions (Government) that made this country great, that greatness which conservatives take the credit for, are the very same things they fought against back then and vilify today.

Am I saying that liberals are good and conservatives are bad? No.
We hear conservative pundits and loudmouths like Limbag, Hannity, Beck and Levin tell people every single day that the opposite is so. But neither assertion is true.
To their credit, the vast majority of conservatives eventually saw the unfairness of those societal conventions and overcame their own biases. Eventually, I believe that most conservatives will overcome their biases toward gay people. They have already come a long way towards that in just a few decades. Today's conservatives have a decent moral outlook on most things, in my opinion. But they have yesterday's liberals to thank for that. We have all been shaped by those liberal ideals.

Conservatives should realize that the very qualities they despise (sometimes justifiably) in liberals are the same ones that were needed to change society for the better and to make us who we are today.
Conservatives have an important role to play, in that liberals can often go too far and need to be reigned in at times.
Conservatives also have honest arguments that deserve to be made and heard.
But conservatives have to fight fair (that goes for liberals too) because fighting dirty does a disservice to society.
How can you trust decisions that are based on false and distorted information?

One final irony. The Government is us. We are the Government. So when conservatives demonize the Government, they are demonizing the American people. How unpatriotic!