What’s with the happy picture of the American family with guns? Even the sweet little 8 year old daughter? As I recall, Jesus Christ said, “Love your neighbor,” not “Shoot your neighbor.”

And I don’t buy the idea that history simply repeats itself. Societies are certainly better off now that we have realized that we can, to some extent, take care of our neighbors, help the Samaritans who are ill by the side of the road. We do it through Government, which is the mechanism by which we all try to take care of each other. We build good roads, we take care of our elderly by means of Social Security and Medicare, and when we really get it right, we will take care of our children, parents, and others through universal health care as almost all of the countries of the world have had for the last 40 or 50 years–except here in the U.S.

We can have progress in the U.S.. We can do better, but only if we work together and don’t fall for silly talk by people like Sarah Palin, who didn’t even have the knowledge and ability to do the one job she was elected to.

Jesus envisioned the coming of the kingdom of God. I can’t imagine that he saw it as mornings in which blond, white families would go out looking for neighbors (perhaps for neighbors with darker skins) with loaded guns.

Love and best wishes,

JoAnne

I guess you could say anything that ever happens is on some level a repeat of something that happened earlier, but I’d like to think that caring and thoughtful people can decide to change the course of their lives both personally, socially and politically and not to have to suffer from those who wish to put them into some historical category so they can better understand who the Tea Party folks are, what they want, etc.

For the most part, they’re everyday Americans fed up with massive spending, massive government control and they appear to be very passionate about wanting things to go in a different direction. A good number of them voted for the current Prez and are experiencing serious buyer’s remorse. So much so, they’re becoming politically active for the first time in years, or ever.

I see that as a very healthy sign and I’m not inclined to find the historical precedent so that I can better understand who they are. They seem pretty lucid about that.

I wanted to make it simple but not overly simple. You are right the federalists are not technically the Whigs. The Federalist Party devolved into the Whig. During the reign of Andrew Jackson. The parties were not the same but they were about as similar as the 1950s republicans are to the 1990s republicans.

Lincoln talked a huge Anti-Abolition game before he was elected. He surround himself with people from all sides and ended up doing less about slavery than his republican comrades hoped. I still think it would be hard to paint Lincoln as a pragmatist.

Who knows. Perhaps the Tea Party is the Anti Mason party of 2010. And Sarah Palin is John Quincy Adams. I agree about the lack of champions. The real question is which party will the new champions emerge from?

Umm… Abe Lincoln fell very short of "uncompromising Pro-Abolition." And I think you know it, Thomas. Before getting into office, his insistence was that he would do nothing about the slaver issue. When he did pass the emancipation proclamation, it did not effect the states he actually had control over. (or even towns the Union Army currently occupied) Why? His Secretary of State wondered about this… It was pure politics, that's why!

The Tea Party is good for America. Doesn't seem to be a party of champions right now, but it's good agitation and hopefully will get those pragmatists moving. I don't think Medina is a gubernatorial personality, but I'm glad she's running.

Only time will tell if the Tea Party ends up being like the Republican Party or the "anti-mason" party.

><> Brian