Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said the Tea-Party movement will “Die-Out” soon enough.

After evaluating what I observed at the recent tea party rally in Franklin, I agree with him.

The Tea-Party’s fatal flaw is their incessant use of terminally false dichotomies. Blatant counterfeit knowledge used to distance Tea-Party followers from discovering common ground with “the enemy” of its leaders.

Our own quaint little tea party rally had a rejected congressional candidate using biblical references to compare President Obama to a tyrant. Another abandoned congressional candidate attested the current administration to a “regime.” Let us not forget that Barack Obama was fairly elected and won in a landslide, receiving 53% of the popular vote.

First of all, they should read the Constitution more carefully. The first amendment implicitly states the separation of church and state. James Madison thought this amendment would protect religious Americans from being persecuted by an official state church. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This important sentence promotes and respects the diversity and religious plurality of American society.

The timing of this movement really illustrates their motives. Where was this organization when President George W. Bush sent our country into two unfunded wars, while cutting taxes for the wealthiest 2.2% of Americans? Where was the tea party when President Bush and the Republican Congress passed a Medicare prescription plan without paying for it? Where was the Tea Party when the Bush administration attempted to hide the true cost of the Iraq War through supplemental budget appropriations? Do tea partiers realize that President Obama has passed 25 separate tax cuts?

President Obama’s stimulus package included $300 billion in middle class tax cuts (one of the largest in history). Unlike President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts, which greatly benefited the wealthiest 2.2%, President Obama’s tax cuts overwhelmingly benefited working and middle class families; or 95% of Americans.

No one likes paying taxes, but how else can we pay for our military, our public education system, food inspections, our roads, etc? Our Democratic county commissioners acted responsibly by raising taxes in order to pay for a new public school. They should be thanked for being fiscally sound.

The Tea Party claims to be for individual freedoms, unless it conflicts with their worldview. Do they think that a gay couple should have the freedom to get married? Of course they don’t. They demanded an active response from the federal government to fix the oil spill, and immediately cried foul when President Obama forced BP to pay $20 billion in compensation to individuals and businesses adversely affected by the spewing oil. They can’t have it both ways.

Their positions on many issues are full of contradictions. If they want to be taken seriously, they should have some serious ideas.

It would have looked better if the rally had more local people in attendance, but I’m glad to know that most people in Franklin have some common sense.

Justin Conley & Chad Simons 
Franklin natives