Poll-itics: Anti-government tea baggers want agressive government action

By GottaLaff

Think Progress has an interesting Bloomberg poll up. Why so interesting? I report, you scratch your head:

At the same time, 70 percent of those who sympathize with the Tea Party, which organized protests this week against President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, want a federal government that fosters job creation.

They also look to the government to rein in Wall Street, with almost half saying the government should do something about executive bonuses. Supporters are also conflicted over whether private-enterprise elements should be introduced into government programs like Social Security and Medicare.

[...] Only 10 percent of tea party backers agreed that the Veterans Administration, the country’s “only true island of socialized medicine” where the government directly runs hospitals and services for veterans, is socialist. Meanwhile, 47 percent of responders thought that Social Security and Medicare, both of which are government programs, should stay public programs and not be privatized.

So they want less government.

So they want more government.

"Are we going to forgo... providing medical care to millions of seniors and the disabled?"

By GottaLaff

Via the L.A. Times letters to the editor:

Thoughts on a GOP 'tea party'

Re “The ‘tea party’ dance,” Opinion, Feb. 21

I read with interest Jacob Heilbrunn's article on the delicate attempt the GOP is making to recruit "tea party" members with a conservative manifesto, the Mount Vernon statement.

I always find one of the main points both groups make to be incomprehensible: the need for small government. How is it possible for a country of more than 300 million people, with the world's most advanced military and with millions of miles of interstate highways, sewers and interconnected electric grids, to be overseen effectively by a small government?

Are we going to forgo educating children? Scientific research? Policing our streets or putting out fires? Building roads, power plants and providing medical care to millions of seniors and the disabled? Are we going to remove our troops from all corners of the world?

I have no interest in aligning myself with the inchoate rage of the tea party or the GOP, but I would like to know how they really think they can run our county with a small government. I fear they know they can't and are using this simplistic but appealing pitch for cynical political gain.

****

I wonder how many of those implacable foes of government have ever received benefits in the form of Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, farm subsidies, education grants, etc.?

Why can't the Obama administration's message be as clear as this?

CNN Poll: Majority think government is broken

Weird, I went to the PDF and it seems this is the only result they're putting out right now, question #37. Would be nice if they put out the whole survey.

Washington (CNN) - Americans overwhelmingly think that the government in this country is broken, according to a new national poll. But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Sunday morning, also indicates that the public overwhelmingly holds out hope that what's broken can be fixed.

Eighty-six percent of people questioned in the poll say that our system of government is broken, with 14 percent saying no. Of that 86 percent, 81 percent say that the government can be fixed, with 5 percent saying it's beyond repair.

(snip)

The number of Americans who think the government is broken has grown eight points since 2006. "That increase is highest among higher-income Americans and people who live in rural areas," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Maybe it's just a coincidence, but those are the groups that make up the bulk of the Tea Party activists today."

More proof of Michele Bachmann's hypocrisy

By GottaLaff

Hyp. O. Crite:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) -- "known for her anti-government tea-bagger antics, protesting health care reform and every other government handout as socialism" -- received $251,000 in government handouts for her family farm, according to TruthDig.

You know what this makes her, don't you? A... socialist!

I cannot wait for her to babble herself through this one. Video. I want video!

Conservatives fail to prevent government takeover of marriage in Maine

By GottaLaff

One of my Twitter pals, Greg Skilling, writes for The Examiner. He got my attention with his latest piece. Here's a taste:

In a disappointing defeat for advocates of freedom, choice and limited government everywhere, voters in Maine overturned a state law allowing Mainers to choose who they marry. Who's to blame for the failure of civil rights advocates to curb the state's intrusion into Maine's homes and bedrooms? The short answer is the group Stand for Marriage Maine. The long answer is that proponents of same-sex marriage failed to garner the support of their fellow freedom-loving, limited-government cohorts in the National Rifle Association (NRA) and 912 Project.

If we allow the government to tell us which sex we are allowed to marry can state-arranged marriages be far off?

It gets even better, so please go read the rest here.

The people who are so concerned that Big Bad Obama is going to storm their homes and yank their guns away don't object to government marching into our bedrooms. That is perfectly acceptable.

Hyp. O. Crites.

By the way, do they not realize that the courts are there to balance mob rule? That's called a "branch of government". Say it with me.

Voting marriage equality down does not make it right or just. "The people" supporting segregation was wrong, and so was this.

Let's start reminding them in loud voices: It is unconstitutional to allow a majority to take away the rights of a minority.

Most Americans Say Government Doing Too Much

The one time in years that we have a fighting chance to make government work for us and their damn meme is sinking in. Via Taegan.

"Americans are more likely today than in the recent past to believe that government is taking on too much responsibility for solving the nation's problems and is over-regulating business. New Gallup data show that 57% of Americans say the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to businesses and individuals, and 45% say there is too much government regulation of business. Both reflect the highest such readings in more than a decade."