Civility and Congress

I was chatting with my sister today (unbelievably, a Republican--take THAT sis..), and it came up that she really was a "don't bother me, I won't listen to ya, I am a ""BIRTH-er" republican....

ALL I can say to this is that the Cause OF THE DISEASE  we currently have in congress is NOT the fault of the democrats.

We are suffering from a TOTAL lack of civility.  It started with the Republicans.  They are the ones who claim the Legally elected President of the United States isn't a citizen.  They are the ones who say, "We will do EVERYTHING we can do in Congress to defeat him".

This lack of civility is the cause of the decay of our civilization.  Once upon a time, members of congress worked 4 days a week instead of just THREE days per week.  In those long ago days, members would actually live in Washington, and FRATERNIZE with the enemy (the other party).

It was not unknown for two congresspeople of different parties to ACTUALLY be FRIENDS, and understand the point of view of the other.  This is now gone, replaced by a congress where they work less hours per week, and actually fly home (costing us the taxpayer much more) every weekend.

I bring this up, only because my other (democratic) sister refused to listen to my starting this political discussion, and when she left, pubby and I started to talk (calmly, I thought), until she said she was STILL a birth-er, despite the release of his birth certificate.

I tried to explain to her that this was an extremely offensive remark to me, and that civility was the problem that we have in congress, as well as in our family.

I told her I would NOT make disparaging remarks about the last president, (and Secretary of Defense), if she would not defame my president.  I also asked her if she knew her remark was actually treasonous.  I stand corrected, according to dictionary.com I am thinking of sedition, defined as:

Sedition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection; it does not amount to treason and therefore is not a capital offense.

I will however state that I believe that the beliefs of those who claim to be Tea-Party members are NOT as honest as they claim, and that they all have hidden, as well as confused agendas.

(Confused agendas?:  

• Ask 10 tea-party members if they support budget cuts.  
• Then ask them if they support cutting Social Security or Medicare.. 
• Then ask them if they think the two biggest expenditures (besides the military) of the federal government should just be left alone, without cuts.
• Then ask them if they support cutting federal school lunch programs.
• Ask them if they know that their candidates support trashing these programs. (example: Rick Perry claims Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme (like Bernie Maidoff).

I believe that the "average" rank and file tea party member is NOT aware of the distinctions I have made, and that if they knew the effects they would NOT support such drastic budget cuts.



I will close this post by saying that we all need to become more Civil between parties and people.  I will start by personally not calling the Tea-Party, the "Tea-Baggers Party" anymore (especially since I was told by my son that "tea-bagging" is not EVER discussed in mixed OR polite company).