Ouch: Tea Party rally cost taxpayers almost $14,000

By Sahil Kapur
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 10:54 EST
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As Michele Bachmann riled a group of feisty Tea Partiers to rail against taxes and government spending, taxpayers were quietly forced to pick up a $13,600 tab for their festivities.

New expense reports from last November’s Tea Party gathering in Washington, D.C. reveal that the rally comprising thousands of protesters was funded by official congressional money, according to the the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

For the sound, staging and equipment, Bachmann (R-MN) was financially assisted by taxpayer-funded allowances from Reps. Todd Akin (R-MO), Tom Price (R-GA), and Steve King (R-IA).

But despite natural ire at the abuse of taxpayer funds, experts suggest that the lawmakers acted within congressional rules as long as the event was not campaign-related.

“Unless it’s billed as a campaign event, or campaign donations are solicited, or there’s a concerted program of endorsements for candidates based on party affiliation, I don’t think that they ran into any issues,” Stan Brand, former general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, told the Tribune.

While use of congressional funds for events is common among both parties, it might be considered unseemly for lawmakers and Americans to protest big government and runaway spending by spending thousands of taxpayer dollars.

The Tea Party has billed itself as an independent small-government movement but has largely behaved as an anti-Obama and anti-Democratic faction, aligning more and more closely with the GOP.

Bachmann, a highly controversial lawmaker nationally, is a prominent and lauded figure within the movement. She’s also known for parsing — if not inventing — facts.

This Sunday the congresswoman alleged on Fox News that President Obama has nationalized 51 percent of the private economy — a wild-charge with no factual basis.

Sahil Kapur
Sahil Kapur
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  • Anonymous

    “This is Ronald Reagan speaking to you from Hollywood. You know me as a motion picture actor but tonight I’m just a citizen pretty concerned about the national election next month and more than a little impatient with those promises the Republicans made before they got control of Congress a couple years ago.

    I remember listening to the radio on election night in 1946. Joseph Martin, the Republican Speaker of the House, said very solemnly, and I quote, “We Republicans intend to work for a real increase in income for everybody by encouraging more production and lower prices without impairing wages or working conditions”, unquote. Remember that promise: a real increase in income for everybody. But what actually happened?

    The profits of corporations have doubled, while workers’ wages have increased by only one-quarter. In other words, profits have gone up four times as much as wages, and the small increase workers did receive was more than eaten up by rising prices, which have also bored into their savings. For example, here is an Associate Press Dispatch I read the other day about Smith L. Carpenter, a craftsman in Union Springs, New York. It seems that Mr. Carpenter retired some years ago thinking he had enough money saved up that he could live out his last years without having to worry. But he didn’t figure on this Republican inflation, which ate up all of his savings, and so he’s gone back to work. The reason this is news, is Mr. Carpenter is 91 years old.

    Now, take as a contrast the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which reported a net profit of $210 million after taxes for the first half of 1948; an increase of 70% in one year. In other words, high prices have not been caused by higher wages, but by bigger and bigger profits.

    The Republican promises sounded pretty good in 1946, but what has happened since then, since the 80th Congress took over? Prices have climbed to the highest level in history, although the death of the OPA was supposed to bring prices down through “the natural process of free competition”. Labor has been handcuffed with the vicious Taft-Hartley law. Social Security benefits have been snatched away from almost a million workers by the Gearhart bill. Fair employment practices, which had worked so well during war time, have been abandoned. Veterans’ pleas for low cost homes have been ignored, and many people are still living in made-over chicken coops and garages.

  • dennycrane

    Just another way of spending money on a brothel.

  • lucky

    We can't have a democratic republic or democracy until we remove the money from politics. We can only do this through government-regulated, restricted, completely publicly-funded political campaigns. This will never be allowed by the powers-that-be. Too many Americans are fooled into thinking that free speech means they should be allowed to give money to only their political candidate.

    So, we don't have that, but ironically, we give away some public money with few restrictions and and apparently for non-campaign political rallies.

  • lucky

    We can't have a democratic republic or democracy until we remove the money from politics. We can only do this through government-regulated, restricted, completely publicly-funded political campaigns. This will never be allowed by the powers-that-be. Too many Americans are fooled into thinking that free speech means they should be allowed to give money to only their political candidate.

    So, we don't have that, but ironically, we give away some public money with few restrictions and and apparently for non-campaign political rallies.

  • theghostpony

    Those teabaggers are some real fucking hippo_crites.

  • macsux

    Who cares – 13,000 is such a minuscule sum. There are billions been squandered by government on things way more stupid.

  • buttsniffer

    This is how tax money should be spent….to support homegrown political movements to uncover the socialism and fascism being foisted upon us by Barry Obama. It is Godless and Shameless. Thank you Tea Party! It is time government money finally went to something American. The little guy is finally standing up for the big guy and fighting the Islamo-fascist guy (Obama). I am going to donate my money to the teabaggers this weekend and also yell and scream at peasants for wanting to feed their families and take care of their sick relatives. How dare they use my tax money? It is shameless. My tax money should only be used to support political movements I want. I have had it. The Danish and French and Swiss all tax at close to 100% and still have deficits because they are a Nanny State. Why work at all…just sit at home and collect money from the Government. The government wants everybody to be their servants. Earn a profit yourself and achieve on the level playing field that is American Capitalism. A rich trust fund kid has just as much opportunity to achieve as a poor inner city kid. The opportunity is the exact same. The parental investment is the exact same. Stop letting unionized public schools indoctrinate our kids into believe that man evolved from pond scum. Al Gore is profiting off of Global Warming hysteria…case closed. No Global Warming….keep drilling and burning fossils. It is plant food. Reagan would not approve of Envirno-Nazis.

  • smallbear

    $13,000 here, $20,000, there, then it's $1 million, then it's $1 billion. It adds up fast. theghostpony nailed it: Hypocrites!

  • smallbear

    Grow up.

  • piscatore

    Wow. This post could completely go either way as a Teabagger rant or Swiftian satire. But when we get to “A rich trust fund kid has just as much opportunity to achieve as a poor inner city kid. The opportunity is the exact same,” I'm going with satire. Guffaw guffaw.

  • sonderman

    Writer is aptly named. Total BS, boilerplate GOP talking points. Smells like astroturf to me– and BTW, Reagan was a tool.

  • felinetta

    What a surprise. They are all phonies and hypocrites. Never forget, they don't like anyone getting anything but themselves. They will always be the ones at the front of the line with their hand held out for anything they can get. Shameful humans.

  • dennycrane

    ..”this shows how fucked up I am”….

  • RichardCrow

    And todays word of the day is:

    H Y P O C R I T E
    i.e. Someone who screams against government spending, UNLESS it is spending on their behalf.
    see also: Republican

  • Fred

    This causes one to wonder how much that rally of illegal aliens in D.C. cost the citizen taxpayers.

  • dennycrane

    ……here is your “buttsniffer-raygun”:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJDhS4oUm0M

  • Showdown0_0

    I fully understand now why you are called buttsniffer. She should have the money taken from her pay you know they would not hesitate a minute if you spent $14,000 of taxpayer money.

  • chrislib

    Since she hates how America turned out, Bachmann can move to Argentina and live with the descendants of the last bunch of secessionist traitors.

  • Sod Buster

    Didn't I see you featured on one of the Tea Bagger videos? You know, where you set straight a guy with Parkinson's? Way to go! I'm sure he has the same “opportunity” that you have had!

    Your post is a fact checker's delight. I'm surprised you took time away from listening to M. Savage, S. Hannity, or Faux Noise.

  • smallbear

    $13,000 here, $20,000 there. After awhile it adds up. the ghostpony nailed it: hypocrites!

  • smallbear

    $13,000 here, $20,000 there. After awhile it adds up. the ghostpony nailed it: hypocrites!

  • smallbear

    Socialism and fascism are opposite ends of the spectrum, fool. Grow up and get a brain.

  • smallbear

    Socialism and fascism are opposite ends of the spectrum, fool. Grow up and get a brain.

  • Joke !

    Yo Butty, do you even qualify to pay taxes !

  • buttsniffer

    Reagan was the inspiration in my life, he was the meaning….

    Why is it that the science lobby all think Man evolved from some goo in a pond? I don't understand it. Look at the human brain and human eye. It could not have evolved from pond scum and single cells of bacteria. It is impossible. You can't blow up a car factory and expect cars to magically appear assembled. I didn't come from a big bang. I didn't come from a monkey. Entropy proves that evolution is false and all scientists are lying to the public so they can turn them atheist and against God. Read a book…..read Genesis in the bible. It clearly disproves Evolution. Godless liberals like Carl Sagan try and smooth talk people into believing dinosaurs and man didn't live together. Well, they did. I went to that museum in Kentucky and saw robot people riding around on dinosaurs. They lived together. Scientists are covering it up and trying to keep creationism out of the textbooks. The earth is 6,000 years old, man lived with dinosaurs, and fossils were put there by the devil to trick us. The continents have never moved and the grand canyon was formed by Noah's great flood. Case closed….liberals are Godless.

  • blip

    “Illegal aliens”? Must be teabonics for anyone with skin lighter than a klan robe.

  • blip

    lighter than a klan robe. I meant darker…. but you get the drift.

  • shamrocker

    Funded by Republican Congress members ONLY, and they call themselves a 'movement' to slither through the loopholes… I have a 'movement' for ya… I'll even put it in a BAG!

  • Satan

    The troops can spend more than that in a few minutes of a murder spree.

  • Anonymous

    Not to play the devil’s advocate here, but don’t all such rallies cost about the same amount of money? This really does seem like a non-story.

  • CarlPagan

    Yeah, all scientists lie. Especially Einstein. That's why nuclear weapons don't really work. Everyone knows god destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki because they were filled with liberals and faggots. I really like you. You wanna sniff my butt sometime? I'm into assplay, just like Mark Foley.

  • buttsniffer

    FREEDOM!! I deserve Freedom, the freedom to believe in my religion. Freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. God might have bombed them……time to get real about science. What do we really know? We know the lord died on a cross, rose from the dead, then died for our sins. We know Adam as created, a rib was taken out and baked with some dirt to make Eve, the snake told them to eat an apple, they ate it……sin was created…..man was killed in a flood. This all happened about 6,000 years ago. It is fact from the bible. Scientists would have you believe in “from goo to you”….a Godless theory. I didn't come from a big bang…….

  • ACitizen

    “Reagan was the inspiration in my life, he was the meaning….” Yeah, well a fellow recently commented in our local paper that he was so INSPIRED by Reagan that HE Joined the Military BECAUSE “Ronald Reagan was WWII's Greatest Military Hero.” LOL!

  • damixaustex

    Federal funds to promote controversial dissent? I'm for it.

    Does this mean Bachmann would support eliminating restrictions on the National Endowment for the Arts? How's about a federally funded cable network devoted to political dissent?

  • Stan_Black

    Home schooling?

  • Stan_Black

    Home schooling confirmed.

  • ACitizen

    Then there's Sarah Palin in Boston today wearing a RED LEATHER jacket. HEY! NAME the CHARITY that got that 2008 campaign wardrobe provided by the GOP which included the EXACT SAME Red Leather Jacket.

  • http://mcthorogood.myopenid.com/ mcthorogood

    When you sniff butt, can you see all the way to France?

  • PATRIOT101

    Teabaggers protesting taxes while spending more tax dollars! Priceless!! LOL!

  • winski

    Bachmann has never met a fact… The FACT that she is a MORON should not be missed by anyone…

  • tyson

    Socialism and Fascism are not opposite ends of the spectrum. The Spectrum is this left to right:
    Communism – Facism – Socialism – Republic – Democracy – Anarchy.

    Tea party members align as far to the right, like the founders, as possible without being anarchists. The idea that facism is on the right and socialism on the left is incorrect. They were both birthed from Marxism. By definition Socialism is where the state Owns the means of production. Fascism, the state doesn't own the means of production, BUT controls it.

    ….your welcome

  • hawk

    BUTTSNIFFER,

    Me think you sniff one too many BUTTS

  • hawk

    BUTTSNIFFER;

    What planet do you live on????? or did you just get here on earth
    by way of a light-beam?

  • sandi2

    No, in socialism the working people own the means of production and control the government (as in “For the People, By the People”). Read the Communist Manifesto before you try acting like an expert. Now, fascism is when the government is controlled by corporations and is usually a result of a country leaning heavily to the right. The founders were actually a lot more left than you realize. They were libertarians, yes, but libertarians can be either left or right.

  • margaretpoa

    Thanks teabaggers! I just love supporting ridiculous asshattery.

  • sj

    the stoopid it burns! You ever read history? You remember things like Slavery and Sharecropping? Were those govt programs hoisted on the people or were those a product of unfettered capitalism?

    By the way do you understand that Palin, Beck, O'Rielly and Rush are ALL making money off of creating “Hysterics” like yourself!

  • sj

    And we have been fighting Corporate control of govt since the actual Tea Party. King George owed the British East India Trading company…,.so he removed the tax (or tarriffs) from the tea imported by BEITC. The rest of the imported teas (the mom and pop productions of the time if you will) had to continue to pay the high taxes thus making it more expenses. King George doing this for the East India Trading company is the essence of Fascism! We have been fighting corporate power since day 1.

    The woeful disregard for our real history is stunning.

  • wyrdless

    So is this reporting or an editorial?

    Look at this paragraph:
    The Tea Party has billed itself as an independent small-government movement but has largely behaved as an anti-Obama and anti-Democratic faction, aligning more and more closely with the GOP.

    that is an editorial comment.

    BTW, It is lame that they are getting money from congresspeople to do tea parties.. I bet there are a lot of costs and permits which are put on demonstrations by both the right and left. For example, pawning off the cost of law enforcement to the protesters, when there is a right to peaceable assembly.

  • Charlie

    All of you complaining about Tea Party and Republicans, let's complain about this too which was in the article:

    Spending tax dollars on partisan events is practiced on both sides of the aisle. Democrats spent more than $9,000 in public money the week before the “House Call” rally to unveil the health care bill at an event outside the Capitol building attended by several hundred.

    Silence. Not surprised.

    Who's the “hippo_crites” now?

  • dennycrane

    OK, how about it if it was the democratic party that did that. or if ACORN did it? Feel the same way? It's still a waste.

  • dennycrane

    …And again, sign this, and do without your “socialism” :

    The Teabagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge
    I, ________________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a
    socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
    I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly
    being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
    I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly
    being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing
    unconcealed firearms in public.
    I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming
    unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.
    I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and
    participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
    ● Social Security
    ● Medicare/Medicaid
    ● State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
    ● Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
    ● US Postal Service
    ● Roads and Highways
    ● Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
    ● The US Railway System
    ● Public Subways and Metro Systems
    ● Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
    ● Rest Areas on Highways
    ● Sidewalks
    ● All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate
    appropriations–http://grassley.senate.gov/issues/upload/Master-Approps-73109.pdf)
    ● Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink,
    outdoor hose!)
    ● Public and State Universities and Colleges
    ● Public Primary and Secondary Schools
    ● Sesame Street
    ● Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
    ● Public Museums
    ● Libraries
    ● Public Parks and Beaches
    ● State and National Parks
    ● Public Zoos
    ● Unemployment Insurance
    ● Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
    ● Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or
    Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
    ● Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government
    Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
    ● Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA
    Inventions)
    ● Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the
    basis for subsequent computer networking
    ● Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or
    That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
    ● Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs
    From Government Subsidies
    ● If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and
    insist on paying for my own medical care
    I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
    I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist
    locations, including but not limited to:
    ● Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
    ● The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
    ● The government-operated Statue of Liberty
    ● The Grand Canyon
    ● The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
    ● The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
    ● All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC
    I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and
    government-provided healthcare.
    I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United
    States of America.
    I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing,
    Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell,
    and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist
    army.
    I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of
    Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.
    Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.
    Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I
    die.
    SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF ____________ IN THE YEAR
    ______________.
    ___________________________ ___________________________
    Signed Printed Name/Town and State

  • dennycrane

    Ha ha ha ha

  • dennycrane

    “Once upon a time, all the “tea-baggers” decided they would go and visit God. When they got to heaven, God asked them to hang their butts outside before they entered. When their visit with the almighty was over, the “tea-baggers” found it nearly impossible to locate their own butt and have been looking for it ever since”

  • Thrall

    Both communism and socialism are economic theories, not political ones. They don't actually fall on the left to right spectrum. So yeah. You're welcome.

  • Truthfairy1

    Now that Politico.com today published the PR firm strategy memo which outlined how GOP PAC totally funded the Tea Party Express tour & Tea Party events as part of their anti-health reform, anti-Obama, defeat Democrats in the 2010 elections……Michelle Bachmann, Steve King, Tom Akin & Tom Price should have a tough time “pretending” it was an independent non-partisan event.

    The Tea Party Express, we now know from the PR firm's document, was organized as a front to give “authenticity” to the GOP anti-health reform and 2010 elections campaigns…..but to bill $14,000 to taxpayers for their November events is beyond dishonest, it's disgusting.

  • anne

    The point is the irony of demonstrating against government spending while using government money to do it. Don’t worry – it was lost on them too.

  • Anonymous

    buttsniffer tries to pretend to be a conservative troll. Does not do a good job. Must be much more subtle.

  • Anonymous

    I got the point. I do not consider it a valid point.

  • Joe

    Then you are as brain dead as they are.

  • Anonymous

    Tell you what, Joe-the-plumber, I’ll compare my bona fides against your’s any day, AND come out the better.

  • geschenkefrmnner

    It gets tiresome when the left concentrate on knocking the tea partiers on their spelling, rather than debate what they are saying….
    iedge

  • EnderW

    it irks me that these uneducated idiots and bigots have no understanding of what the boston tea party was actually about.

    talk about the ignorant rewriting of history.

  • chrislib

    Teagaggers, birthers and made-up-oath keepers can move to Argentina. Descendants of the last bunch of secessionist traitors will welcome you all with open arms. They still hold plantation balls complete with confederate traitor uniforms and Scarlett O'Hara gowns. (Note to neo-confederate traitors: Confederate traitors married locals down there, so their descendants are short, brown and speak Spanish. Ironic, isn't it?)

  • AdamTro

    This article is a joke. We are spending more than $14G/second killing innocents in foreign lands on a day to day basis. And you guys are getting bent over a TP where people are practicing dissent? Focus your energy on something that matters, like ending our Empire. You know, what you guys talked about before Obomber got into office. It's all you O supporters that are the hypocrites. And it is pathetic.

  • AdamTro

    But we can spend untold trillions bailing out banks and for the welfare/warfare state? Where's the outrage over that? Free ObamaCare for all? $14G is laughable in comparison.

  • davewtf

    Valid point, which is why I'm not outraged. Was watching interviews at the Boston Teabagger event that happened yesterday. One of the participants said that when he got out of the service he joined the post office and worked there for 30+ years. Now he is complaining about government spending?!? He has worked for the government his entire life!

    Mass gatherings require government assistance to go smoothly, even if those gatherings are protests. The question is, do most pay for that assistance?

  • http://rls73bulletin.economicplaypin.com/?p=51 Epic Watch The Country Burn Fail « Economic Play Pin Bulletin

    [...] plan fail and the economic catastrophe that it would mean, and worry about how she’s spending taxpayer money on Tea Party rallies [...]

  • Ross

    It is funny that you invent what Bachmann said in an article accusing her of inventing facts. She said that “…the federal government effectively owns or controls 51% of the private economy.” She also said that it started under George Bush (which is correct). I don't know if the 51% is defensible but I suspect that you could get to that number with a sufficiently loose interpretation of “controls”. I thought Chris Wallace did a nice job of calling her on some of her more wild assertions as well. I wish more journalist would be that responsible in calling politicians on their statements.

    Here is a link to the transcript:
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,590745,00.html

  • madelinewall

    Michele Bachman's wild comments indicate she doesn't own half a brain, and those that follow her, support her and vote for her display their own ignorance. It is not possible for a person with some education and even a minimum of knowledge to listen to her wild proclamations with approval.

  • Point taken

    Huh? What does putting your good faith up against somebody else’s have to do with anything here? Also, yours doesn’t have an ‘s. The point this article proves is exceptionally valid. These people should be using their own money to hold these rallies, not the taxpayer’s.

  • Point taken

    Huh? What does putting your good faith up against somebody else’s have to do with anything here? Also, yours doesn’t have an ‘s. The point this article proves is exceptionally valid. These people should be using their own money to hold these rallies, not the taxpayer’s.

  • Anonymous

    Yup, you got me. I made a mistake of thinking I knew what something meant rather than looking it up and making sure I knew what it meant. I should have said something to the extent of “curriculum vitae”.

    And it just seems to me that pointing out that the rallies cost taxpayer money is rather moot. All rallies cost taxpayer money.

    Sorry about the typo.

  • Anonymous

    Yup, you got me. I made a mistake of thinking I knew what something meant rather than looking it up and making sure I knew what it meant. I should have said something to the extent of “curriculum vitae”.

    And it just seems to me that pointing out that the rallies cost taxpayer money is rather moot. All rallies cost taxpayer money.

    Sorry about the typo.

  • Anonymous

    That is not what they’re pointing out at all so going back to that is in aid of nothing more than you attempting to circumvent the issue.

    Yes rallies often cost taxpayer’s money but in this case when you have a party that opposes tax dollars being spent it is hypocrisy to use it. They should rely on donations for funding.

    Now if you’d like an analogy let’s look at healthcare. Yes healthcare costs money but if you’re a staunch advocate against taxpayer funded healthcare like medicare yet you accept it instead of paying for your own insurance then you are a hypocrite.

  • Anonymous

    That is not what they’re pointing out at all so going back to that is in aid of nothing more than you attempting to circumvent the issue.

    Yes rallies often cost taxpayer’s money but in this case when you have a party that opposes tax dollars being spent it is hypocrisy to use it. They should rely on donations for funding.

    Now if you’d like an analogy let’s look at healthcare. Yes healthcare costs money but if you’re a staunch advocate against taxpayer funded healthcare like medicare yet you accept it instead of paying for your own insurance then you are a hypocrite.

  • Fred

    Yeah, sure. And anyone to the right of Karl Marx is a racist Klan member, right? We know what kind of silliness the liberal media has stuffed into your tiny little liberal brain. Try thinking for yourself sometime, if it's not too painful, and get off the same old boring crap.

  • dan66

    The difference there is the dems aren't opposing government spending like the Tea Party.

  • dan66

    Assuming that you're talking about the economic sphere you're still wrong:

    Pure Communism in a Marxist sense is where the people ultimately own and control the means of production. This is as close to anarchy as you can get. No state or companies owning the means of production, just the people.

    So anarchy would be far left not far right but you can often end up going so far right that you end up coming back around onto the left.

    Socialism is where the state at least regulates the means of production and will own vital infrastructure and services for the benefit of the people e.g. the military and law enforcement. I doubt even the tea party are so averse to socialism that they'd allow those to be privatized.

    Fascism involves state control of the means of production for the benefit of the state

    Pure Capitalism is just control of the means of production by private owners, generally companies.

    Republic and Democracy are not on the economic spectrum, they are just political systems.

    So the economic spectrum would go something like this:

    Anarchy – Communism – Socialism – Fascism – Capitalism

    The difference between left and right is the emphasis on economic equality rather than economic freedom since socialists often support private ownership provided it does not result in the manifest abuse of power by companies for example.

  • http://rssitaliano.com/Article/5747/ Da: epico guardare il paese non bruciare «Bollettino Economico pin gioco

    [...] [. . . piano] falliscono e la catastrofe economica che vorrebbe dire, e preoccuparsi di come sta la spesa contribuente soldi su [Tea Party rally. . . ] URL articolo originale http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0414/tea-party-rally-cost-taxpayers-14000/comment-page-2/#comment-171121 [...]

  • http://thebureauchiefs.com/2010/04/news-briefs-for-monday-april-20/ News Briefs for Monday, April 20 – The Bureau Chiefs

    [...] Tea Party rally costs taxpayers $13,600. No joke. Well, apart from the obvious one. [...]

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    [...] [. . . ] Fiesta del Té de rally cuesta a los contribuyentes $ 13.600. No es broma. Bueno, aparte de la obvia. [. . . ] URL del artículo original http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0414/tea-party-rally-cost-taxpayers-14000/comment-page-2/#comment-204711 [...]

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