The Roots of Intransigence

by: deciminyan

Tue Jul 26, 2011 at 04:14:00 PM EDT

MoveOn.org sponsored rallies today all across the country to bring attention to the irrevocable harm that the Republican Tea Party is imposing on mostly complacent Americans. One such event was held over the lunch hour today at the Mount Laurel office of ex-NFL offensive linesman and Tea Party darling, Congressman Jon Runyan.

I arrived at Runyan's office at around 11:30, and there were about five people already gathered in the parking lot. One was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the rest were members of the West Jersey Tea Party. (I've heard of North Jersey, South Jersey, and Central Jersey, but where the heck is West Jersey? But I digress.)

I then tried to have a conversation with Frank, an older gentleman. He told me that, like me, he is retired and is receiving Social Security. But I quickly discovered that having a conversation with a trained parrot is more enlightening than talking to a Tea Partier. All they do is regurgitate Glenn Beck's talking points and refuse to listen or engage in substantive dialog. Now I know where the GOP in Congress got their intransigence from.

By noon, the working people from the left started to arrive, and eventually outnumbered the Tea Party counter protest by about a 2:1 ratio. Everything was civil, with the Tea Partiers mostly on the west side of the driveway and the MoveOn folks on the east side. One of Mount Laurel's finest was parked across the street, keeping an eye on things. I noticed several drivers honked their horns in support of both sides. Go figure!

There were no speeches, just a few spirited arguments, and the working people disbanded around 1 PM to get back to their jobs. The mostly older Tea Party folks were still there when I left.

It was certainly good to exercise our First Amendment rights. But it was sad to see how many Americans have been co-opted by the Koch/Christie Axis of Greed to demonstrate for policies that are not in their best interest.