Intellectual Ammunition for the Tea Parties
Friday, September 11, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Inside the ballroom of the National Press Club, the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights and the Competitive Enterprise Institute are holding an “Intellectual Ammunition Pre-Tea Party Strategy Workshop.” Most of the room, which typically hosts the big-ticket events by celebrity speakers and politicians, was full; on every chair, there was a copy of an Ayn Rand sampler with excerpts from her novels and her philosophy texts.
“You are the heart, the soul, and the mind of America,” said Lin Zinser of the Ayn Rand Center, bringing the meeting to order.
“You’re not lying!” yelled a friendly heckler.
The first lecture came from Iain Murray, the CEI scholar and National Review contributor who wrote “The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don’t Want You to Know About — Because They Helped Cause Them.” With slides and self-deprecating humor — Murray, who’s English, called himself a “refugee from Socialism” — he took the crowd through a history of citizen protests that linked their Tea Parties to lesser-known revolutions of the 14th, 15th, 17th, and 18th centuries.
“When you think of a Tea Party,” said Murray, “don’t just think of the Boston Tea Party. Think of this — the Peasant’s Revolt.”
Murray’s presentation included a few jokes about violent overthrows — he got warm applause with a slide quoting Dick the Butcher’s line from Henry VI, Part II, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” But during the Q&A, several questioners asked whether the right to bear arms meant to the right to take action against people “taking it away,” and about a domestic military force they worried President Barack Obama was creating. Murray cautioned his audience to calm down a little, telling them how Winston Churchill lost the 1945 UK general election after comparing the Labour Party to the Nazi gestapo. “When you talk about domestic armies,” he said, “you’re on dangerous ground.”
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17 Comments
Pingback posted September 11, 2009 @ 1:33 pm
[...] about Barack Obama as of September 11, 2009 Intellectual Ammunition for the Tea Parties – washingtonindependent.com 09/11/2009 Inside the ballroom of the National Press Club, the [...]
Pingback posted September 11, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
[...] Again, I think it’s great Wilson shouted out. Even if it’s the President, if someone is spreading falsehoods, we should encourage ourselves and our representatives to challenge it publicly and often. But the challenge has to be based on truth to be seen as a credible and passionate challenge, and not just another poorly informed moron who likes to yell. [...]
Pingback posted September 11, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
[...] The first lecture came from Iain Murray, the CEI scholar and National Review contributor who wrote “Read more at http://washingtonindependent.com/58695/intellectual-ammunition-for-the-tea-parties [...]
Pingback posted September 11, 2009 @ 3:51 pm
[...] See original here: The Washington Independent » Intellectual Ammunition for the Tea … [...]
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 5:38 pm
“When you talk about domestic armies,” he said, “you’re on dangerous ground.”
Talk about not knowing your audience…
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Seriously, when these people are going on about Obama forming domestic military groups or about rounding up dissenters, what the hell are they talking about? At least the Death Panels lie was rooted in an actual thing (i.e. the end-of-life counseling), albeit one they distorted beyond all recognition. But what is there even to distort about this? Wouldn't someone see this happening?
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 6:23 pm
You aren't talking about rational, reasonable people here, but rather conspiracy nuts who see a communist/fascist/muslim under every bed, and who believe, against all evidence and common sense, that our current president wants to take the entire country down. In short, they don't care that there is no reason to believe what they believe, because they simply know it to be true in their crazy little hearts.
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 7:56 pm
Obama made a statement on July 2, 2008 in Colorado Springs – a statement that has a lot of people wondering what in the hell he meant.
In the context of discussing his plans to increase the size of the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and the military, Obama made this disturbing pledge: “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
So tgb1000, mantis, and strangely_enough, what WAS your fearless leader talking about?
Supporters and opponents of Obama need to make Obama clarify what he meant, and then confront him if his answers are disturbing.
I know that the people from the Ayn Rand Center and Competitive Enterprise Institute are not “conspiracy nuts.”
So, Kool-Aid posters, check your facts before you derisively dismiss these people.
Dr. Gregory Garamoni?
Doctors on Strike for Freedom in Medicine?
http://www.doctorsonstrike.com
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 8:08 pm
So tgb1000, mantis, and strangely_enough, what WAS your fearless leader talking about?
You know what he was talking about. Here's the context to which you refer:
[As] president I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots [from 75,000] and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals, like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their effort connected to a common purpose.
People of all ages, stations and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem – they are the answer. So we are going to send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We'll call on Americans to join an energy corps, to conduct renewable energy and environmental clean-up projects in their neighborhoods all across the country.
We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, and to be there for our military families. And we're going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set.
We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. We need to use technology to connect people to service. We'll expand USA Freedom Corps to create online networks where American can browse opportunities to volunteer. You'll be able to search by category, time commitment and skill sets. You'll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities.
This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda and make their own change from the bottom up.
In short, he was talking about AmericCorps, the Peace Corps, Foreign Service, USA Freedom Corps, and veterans organizations.
Supporters and opponents of Obama need to make Obama clarify what he meant, and then confront him if his answers are disturbing.
It's very clear what he meant to the non-insane.
I know that the people from the Ayn Rand Center and Competitive Enterprise Institute are not “conspiracy nuts.”
Oh, but they are. And I know that to be true.
So, Kool-Aid posters, check your facts before you derisively dismiss these people.
You wouldn't know a fact if it crawled on your face and started to wiggle. All you know is distortion and nutjob conspiracy theories. Back to your bunker, nutjob.
Speaking of which, I read this on your website:
As a 61-year old patient with my own share of health concerns, I really do not want to participate in any government-run health care system.
Before you decided to go on strike, did you ever treat Medicare patients? Medicaid? Any veterans or military personnel? If you did, guess what? You have already participated in a government-run health care system.
Oh wait, you aren't even an M.D., are you? What a shock.
Pingback posted September 11, 2009 @ 10:12 pm
[...] The Washington Independent » Intellectual Ammunition for the Tea … [...]
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 9:28 pm
Thanks, mantis, that clears that up. I had never heard that quote, though if I had, I would never have assumed that meant a civilian military rounding up dissenters and putting them in FEMA trailers. But I guess if “living will counselors” = “pulling the plug on grandma”, then why shouldn't “increase AmeriCorps” = “start a secret domestic military that will lock up dissenters”.
Comment posted September 11, 2009 @ 11:26 pm
Your argument has less force than a flea's fart.
Your analysis is as penetrating as flea's frankfurter.
Comment posted September 12, 2009 @ 1:24 am
As a “doctor,” I'm assuming you're aware of the psychological term “projection,” right? Like when Rush Limbaugh, Tom Tancredo, and David Duke call Sonia Sotomayor a racist? Or when Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, and Gregory Garamoni rail against homosexuals?
Comment posted September 12, 2009 @ 1:28 am
Some say potato, others say anti-government militia, and some say tomato, while others say domestic terrorist. It's really a matter of semantics. Sanity! That's the word I was looking for, nevermind.
Comment posted September 12, 2009 @ 7:29 pm
Ad hominem attack to a point by point refutation. Lazy thinking, Doctor.
Comment posted September 15, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
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