A Tea Party 10-point guide to fighting socialism in your own life

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sat Apr 10, 2010 at 18:30


In her Morning No diary on Thursday, Natasha linked to Digby  writing about Gregory Lee Giusti, arrested on Wednesday for repeatedly threatening Nancy Pelosi.  Giusti, it turns out, has lived in subsidized housing for at least around a decade.  After enduring close to a year now of a Medicare-based movement against public health care, don't ask me why this particular individual pushed my past my own personal tipping point, but somehow he did.  I've had enough.

Look, it's time for these people to exercise a little personal responsibility.  If they don't like socialism, fine.  They should just stop relying on it.  Don't wait for anybody else.  Take some personal responsibility, dammit!  Here's how.  This 10-point list is not a comprehensive guide-personal responsibility means finding things out for yourself!  It's just a guide on getting started, so you start to get the hang of recognizing and rejecting socialism wherever it is  But be warned,  if you limit yourself to just these ten steps, the socialist will win.   So start here, but don't stop!  Don't stop until you've destroyed every vestige of socialism in your life. Teabaggers everywhere, take heed!  This is how to throw off the shackles of socialism, once and for all!  Spread the message far and wide!  Defeat socialism in your own life.  Don't wait for anyone else to do it for you!

    (1) If you live in subsidized housing, like Gregory Lee Giusti , move. Into the street, if necessary. But not to a shelter. All shelters receive government support one way or another-either getting money directly from the government, using government-subsidized resources, or being subsidized via the tax code.

    (2) If you're on food stamps, tear them up, throw them away, and don't get any more. Just starve. Food banks are a no-no, just like shelters. All non-profits are government subsidized through the tax code.

    (3)  If you're on Medicaid, or your children are on SCHIP, just say no! Pay out of pocket or get sick and die. Like the man said, "Give me liberty AND give me death!"

    (4) If you are on Medicare, drop out. Refuse to use your Medicare card, and pay for all your medical expenses yourself. You can try to get medical insurance, of course. Good luck with that. Aside from supplemental Medicare coverage, you'll probably have to go to Switzerland, or something.

    (5) Pull your kids out of school. Obviously, public schools are socialist. But so are charter schools that receive public money. And even purely private schools employ teachers who went to public school. Yes, I know it's shocking, but it's true! So, no school! It's socialist, through and through.

    (6)  Stay off the streets. Almost all streets, roads and highways in America are socialist. Private roads are incredibly rare, so unless you live on one, stay off the streets entirely. Besides, you can't buy gas without paying state and federal taxes.

    (7) Stay off the sidewalks. They're just as socialist as the streets, if not moreso.

    (8) Stop using municipal water. Municipal water is socialist. Use only commercial bottled water for cooking, bathing, clothes-washing, etc.

    (9) Tell the fire department to screw off. Notify your local fire department that if your house catches on fire, you do not want them to come. They're socialists, after all. You'd rather have your children die a horrible death.

    (10) Tell the police to screw off, too! Notify your local police department that you don't need their help if anyone steals your stuff, or tries to kill you or anything like that. In fact, you'll kill them if they try. You've warned them politely... this time!

So that's it, folks!  Spread the message far & wide.  No one can free you of socialism but you yourself!

Paul Rosenberg :: A Tea Party 10-point guide to fighting socialism in your own life

Tags: , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email
Umm... (0.00 / 0)

(2) If you're on food stamps, tear them up, throw them away, and don't get any more. Just starve. Food banks are a no-no, just like shelters. All non-profits are government subsidized through the tax code.

How do you think food stamps work? Hint: they're not paper.  


Damn! (0.00 / 0)
Well, I was on food stamps briefly back in the 70s, and they were paper back then.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Paul .. (4.00 / 1)
we had a road-rage incident here in suburban Philly just yesterday(Friday) .. and wouldn't you know it but the guy whose fault it was(meaning he was the nutty driver .. and shot someone who pissed him off) was at least a right-winger .. not sure about a teabagger though .. as they said in the paper .. that the guy had a little trafficed website .. where he ranted ... against the HCR bill .. among other things

[ Parent ]
I love it. It should be widely disseminated (4.00 / 3)
This is an excellent list! I hope it does get wider renown.

Bravo (0.00 / 0)
I guess when people start getting to you, you bust out some great strawman arguments.

Do You Have ANY Idea What You're Talking About? (4.00 / 2)
Really curious.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Pure Socialist Propaganda, DFH! (4.00 / 2)
...subsidized via the tax code.

You have to be a socialist to believe this qualifies as "subsidized".  True believers in property, capitalism and true liberty understand that what you earn is yours.  Not being taxed is not a "subsidy".

Damn hippie socialist.

(Either that or you understand math, but everyone knows socialists only go into the humanities and suck at math.)


How About "Bribed"? (0.00 / 0)
A fricken socialist government bribe!

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
You forgot a few (4.00 / 5)
Libraries - a big socialist no-no. If you want a book, you best damn be paying list price. Also, those after-school programs are just a cover for socialist indoctrination through literacy, so yank your kids out of there ASAP

Public transportation - 9 times out of 10, it's getting a government subsidy of some kind, or else wholey operated by local government. Just another commie social experiment if you ask me

 


LIke I Said (0.00 / 0)
This list isn't supposed to be exhaustive.  It's a starting point, nothing more.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
It sounds like a starting point (4.00 / 6)
for some excellent letters to the editors.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
"Voluntary" Assessment for Fire Department (4.00 / 3)
I grew up in rural Missouri, about an hour southwest of St. Louis.  The practice was that homeowners or renters would be asked for a voluntary donation to the volunteer fire department and receive a decal after payment of the suggested donation.  I remember well my mother telling me about a neighbor who did not make the payment and when there was a fire the volunteer fire department showed up when called but refused to fight the fire and the place burned down. Needless to say, my parents made the donation every year.  

This Was Commonplace 100 Year Ago Or So (4.00 / 1)
Labor historian Elaine Bernard has a very humorous way of discussing this history.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Interesting point. (4.00 / 2)
And doesn't the Mafia use the same concept, you know, protection money. Not sure about the decals, though :)

[ Parent ]
This is THE Argument (4.00 / 6)
I use a form of this argument whenever someone claims that somehow they should pay no taxes. Fine, try enforcing a contract without courts, police, jails, or roads and bridges to get to and from court. Not to mention your car and your gasoline. Not to mention education for your judges and jury. And the police. Contracts and wealth are impossible without all this infrastructure paid for by taxpayers.

It really boils down to a combination of selfishness and/or stupidity, in my experience. Sometimes both.

And the next question, of course, is who pays for this critical infrastructure? It's only fair those who benefit most from all this taxpayer subsidized infrastructure should pay out the most. Not least because it really does not take much to live very well in any society. If you have a lousy $24 million earning you 5% for breathing that's $100k/month, more than enough to live on, don't you think? That's what makes me all for taxing wealth above some level at 100%. And makes me not worry too much when people who make less than $50k/year pay no taxes.

And we're not even talking Paris Hilton, W, and other trust fund babies who get subsidized welfare from their families instead of the government. It's still welfare.


Remember the (4.00 / 5)
"I am Catholic, please call a priest" medals? Maybe they need to make some that say "I am a teabagger, do not take me to a hospital."

Montani semper liberi

Better yet (4.00 / 4)
"I am a teabagger, please call an exorcist"

[ Parent ]
Excellent Concept (4.00 / 1)
But most of the lettering is hard to read.  The melding of message, music and visuals is really top notch--if only it were easier to absorb.

I'd love to see it redone by a visual professional (which I am not).  It's only got a little more than 1K views.  If it were properly spiffed up, I wager it could go viral and get a million or more.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3


[ Parent ]
Fire, water (4.00 / 3)
Volunteer fire departments in NJ have become a back-handed form of government.  The volunteeers, after all, get a break on their property taxes.

Water is a purer form.  We have well water (and town sewer) where I live.  I wouldn't drink the water although it is OK for other uses.  Some places a little further out in the burbs have both well water and septic (which requires larger lots).

Home schooling which has no paid employees would seem like the educational mode chosen by tea baggers.

Sidewalks are optional the further you get into the burbs.  Main streets have them, side streets don't.  Once you hit the well and septic crew, sidewalks disappear.  I have actually seen people in a neighboring town drive to the high school which is fronted by sidewalks to walk their babies in carriages.  Others just walk on the side streets (avoiding "rush hour").

All of these primitive features are just 25 or 30 miles from mid-town Manhattan.


Great article, Paul! (4.00 / 3)
It's about time someone pulled all of these points together in one handy reference (I mean that as a compliment, Paul - kudos!).

I am sooo posting this on my facebook page, linking it on HP, etc. Heck, I may even post it on my (mostly) non-political blog. This a meme that wants spreading!


Mostly O/T, but... (0.00 / 0)
In this movement, there is a small group I like to call the Tea Party Taliban.  They are absolute in their belief that there can be no variation in the ideology of the tea party movement.  We cannot endorse Republicans and profit is anathema.

I know socialists hate the free market.  The free market destroys socialism every place it competes.   The idea of imposing one type of business model on all aspects of this movement is socialist.  It is just the opposite of some of these people claim to be.

When did socialism infiltrate the tea party movement?  When did profit become a dirty word?

That is from the most recent Tea Party Nation email newsletter that I get to laugh at once a week. These people really do see socialism everywhere and have no clue whatsoever what socialism is. I would just like to know how in the past 2 years, anti-socialism has become the cause celebre of the right. Maybe someone should inform them that St. Ronnie died for their sins and rose again. oh wait, that was somebody else...nvm


That's freakin' awesome! (0.00 / 0)
like sadie said, a good starting point for letters to the editor

I would add here that the Guisti's defense in court (4.00 / 1)
has been that he may be bipolar and hasn't had access to treatment!!! While I'm skeptical of that defense (the DSM-IV doesn't in fact list a tendency to make death threats as symptomatic,) I'm still impressed that the dude could manage to argue against himself with such fervent dedication. I can think of a mental evaluation that I might make, but it isn't going to get him in a halfway house instead of prison. Which, of course, is another one for the list: don't commit crimes which land you free room and board on the government's dime!

Or, To Take A More Apocalyptic Turn... (0.00 / 0)
don't commit crimes which land you free room and board on the government's dime!

Or, if you do, make sure you get killed instead of captured, in order to avoid that fate.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3


[ Parent ]
socialist security (0.00 / 0)
i get it and socialist, communist, fascist, death watch govt insurance. (medicare). lol. breid

one more (4.00 / 1)
no post office

want to send a package to the kids that live in a small town not serviced by the private carriers? no dice

say bye bye to the kids, the market has spoken


Rats! (0.00 / 0)
That means no letter bombs!

They have to go FedEx--no, that won't work.  It may be private, but the name suggests otherwise.  Glenn Beck would have a field day at my expense.

Okay, then UPS.  No, wait.  The "U" is for "United" as in "United States."

DHL, then.  I have no idea what any of those letters stand for, and I'm not going to take any chances by trying to find out.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3


[ Parent ]
But Paul (4.00 / 1)
How can they move to the streets (point 1) when you're telling them to keep off the streets (point 6)? :-)

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

Hah! You've Discovered A Tiny Sliver of My Secret Plan! (0.00 / 0)
Very good! Very good!

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Don't forget the military (0.00 / 0)
Or air. We all breathe the same socialist air supply.

USER MENU

Open Left Campaigns

SEARCH

   

Advanced Search

QUICK HITS
STATE BLOGS
Powered by: SoapBlox