The most valuable thing I received from my family of origin was a graduate practicum in hypocrisy before I completed elementary school. Dad believed he was God, and Mom supported his delusion as long as he was always there to pull out her chair and open the car door for her. They intensely disliked the outcome of their tutelage as I developed of my greatest talent, the ability to see through subterfuge to hypocrisy. I have been amused by it ever since.

The Tea Party (TP) is the poster group for Hilarious Hypocrisy. Their Bible thumping married to their anti-Christian behavior and statements is more consistent with Saturday Night Live than with the Bible. I am talking fundamentals here. The province of God is faith, hope, love, and charity. Theology is the province of Satan. The nutshell of Christianity is love one another, treat your neighbors as you would want to be treated, and everyone, even those people you consider to be the most despicable, are your neighbors. Historically, examples of theology are the questions of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and can God make a boulder so heavy that he cannot move it. The discussion may be amusing, but it is distracting, serves no useful purpose, and is irrelevant to Christianity, as well as life.

Jesus was a liberal with strong socialist leanings. The evidence is clear. He took loaves and fishes away from a boy, who was the only person in a multitude to plan ahead for the day’s activities. Jesus then used the boy’s food to feed a bunch of strangers who were unable to plan ahead, unemployed, poor, or all of the above. How socialistic is that? VERY! Jesus turned over the tables of money lenders in the temple. Can you imagine what he would do to Wall Street? It boggles the mind.

Christians, in all good conscience – a very rare commodity, that conscience – cannot excuse the wealthy from their obligation to pay their fair share of taxes any more than they can deny the least fortunate of the population necessary health care, and the opportunity to become educated to make a reasonable living. An average wedding costs enough to feed a multitude and the amounts spent on celebrity weddings are obscene. With all the extreme wealth of this country, there is no excuse for anyone to live in abject poverty. To allow that to happen demonstrates a lack of Christian principles.

The TP maintains that allowing the rich to escape paying their fair share of taxes will increase employment, and it will – in third world countries where children work in factories and are denied adequate health care and educations. How Christian is that? It confuses me that the TP has such a cavalier attitude toward child labor when they rally to protect even one cell of a potential child. Are only potential American children worthy of protection? Why aren’t they rushing to China to get child labor laws passed?

The hypocrisy never stops. The TP supports vociferous demonstrations at Women’s Centers. I have been tempted to distribute adoption applications and petitions against capital punishment to the demonstrators. How many have rushed to adopt babies who are severely handicapped or whose mothers are unable to provide care for them? How many TP members are demonstrating to secure nutritious diets and good prenatal care for the potential mothers of these potential children? How many TP members value human life so religiously that they are demonstrating to ensure that all children have nutritious diets, good health care, and good educations? How many are signing petitions to end capital punishment?

As a social worker with experience in mental health, early intervention, child welfare, adoption, and juvenile probation, I have seen little concern for my client families from TP-esque people. Condemnation is more probable. What insane logic would suggest that a child who is confined to Hell during his/her childhood will, upon reaching his/her 18^th birthday, immediately be infused with good health, a strong moral compass, logic, and the opportunities to get a good education and well-paying job? That is irrational. I have a habit of kindly explaining the circumstances of these unfortunate people’s lives to people, even strangers who self-righteously censure them. It doesn’t make friends, but I hope it causes people to think. Yes, I am delusionally optimistic.

Occasionally I have seen children from very difficult situations who do well, but they were not children left to their own devices. They were children who miraculously found someone, such as a neighbor, relative, teacher, social worker, foster parent, who cared for him/her and somehow managed to make a difference in that child’s life whether that support person was Christian or not. Christians definitely do not have a monopoly on performing kind acts.

All children need to be nurtured from conception in order to develop into capable, responsible adults. They need a healthy diet and good medical care. The number without those necessities of life is growing world-wide. So where is the TP’s Christianity when it comes to the children of the world? Does it end at birth? The TP seeks to protect the potential of a child, not children, who are the world’s most precious natural resource. This is embracing the idea of Christianity without bothering to practice love and charity for one another. Guess TP really fits.

Mikko, I usually forgo reading your diatribes because, well, your diatribes are no longer funny. I don’t like being sad, and you make me sad. Sad is the opposite of funny. I’m sorry, but it’s true, ask anyone. Oh, that’s right…to ask someone you’d have to be on speaking terms with them. Sorry, I forgot the whole “Zano no longer exists in our world” pledge we all took here at the ‘cord.

I know from watching the Living Dead movies it must hurt to be dead. Does it hurt to be the vast minority? It’s really near the same thing, after all. One is dead, but it doesn’t seem to grasp the sichiashun. The other is, well, you get my point. I think Stone Keef has a better grasp of the fact his days are numbered than you do.

The “grass roots” Wall Street protesters are funded by their own “Koch Brothers” in the person of George Soros. You know, the guy that made billions by shorting the British Pound, and almost bankrupted a nation? Yeah him. The Tea Party actually thought  they could save the country, whether their ideas were right or wrong is immetesticle. The “Wall Streeters” are the polar opposites, working for a guy who wants to fundamentally change the way we are as a nation. No not Obama, the other snake, Soros. He claims to want a new world order, to make privately owned businesses and corporations a thing of the past. Of course, he actually is a closet capitalist, big time, having made billions the old fashioned way. He is the Dracula to your Renfield (only Renny laughs funnier than you do). But, hey, you did say once you’re prepared to eat bugs, right? He is using the “educated elite” of our nation (you know, you) to do his bidding. The good thing about the Koch Brothers is they are just what they say they are ruthless businessmen. They ain’t hiding a thing. We know what they are useful for, and just where they get dangerous. Soros, on the other hand has you all hornswaggled.

Did you know that the insurance company he owns, ‘Progressive’ is pedaling a new ‘Black Box” that he wants you to voluntarily insert in the OBD2 port in your car to save you money by tracing your driving habits, and possibly sell the info to the highest bidder. Can you say ‘Big Brudda’? No shit, ask your sister, the smarter Zano.

So get off the whole idea that this is anything but a political ploy, as was the Tea Party. There is no grass roots anymore, look out the window. It’s all dead, beige as a rock lawn in Sun City. It takes money, union power, and, well, weed, to get a good youth protest going today. I read dozens of news articles on both sides of the argument every day. I have a boring job, after all. To keep name calling and dismissing to the other side, like you do, is really what one does when they got nuthin left. Reading you is almost painful, and can only possibly be funny to you and other like minded drones, who just can’t wait for us to become Europe.

Reagan said it best, “we could all vote with our feet.” As smelly as yours are, you should get them to motivate you over to the big E, where you can feel right at home. You said you think at some point I will have to “get out of your way”. You have stated many times you think it’s‘over’ for us. Well Mikko, just maybe you need to get out of OUR way. We are not ready to give up.

You will pry my (insert personal valuable here) from my cold, dead hands

The Crank

I don’t typically intervene in the creative process of the contributors, even their gross misuse of bold, italics, ALL CAPS, BOLD ITALIC UNDERLINE ALL CAPS, but this is getting old… This whole ’buttle thing stops now. Crank: Zano wrote a little ditty [‘bout Jack and Diane…] comparing and contrasting Teabaggers and Occupy Wal*Marters; you came out with something wholly unrelated.

There are some valid points in there, somewhere, but it really does end here, I swear, on the graves of my long fallen ancestors, the Native Americans, who were slaughtered at the hands of freedom lovers and their fuckin’ Manifest Destiny {Washington Redskins? Really?)…

And I hate to defend Mick Zano, a man who remains nearly impossible to work with…which reminds me, you’re fired, Zano!

But Mr. Crank, you said reading Zano’s last post makes you sad. You know what makes me sad? Your current reading comprehension level. Zano had a few main points in his last post and you, as usual, missed all of them. Way back when, he warned the Tea Party to remain independent or risk a hasty demise under the Fox News banner and, ummm, that’s what happened. He has shown a keen political insight beyond what I expected when we started this little project.

Now, according to his latest post, he’s simply warning Occupy Wall Street not to make the same mistakes as their predecessors. He’s saying, don’t follow George Soros or MSNBC or anyone else for that matter. He even said it’s a “long shot” that they won’t get roped in by the lefties. He’s even suggesting incorporating Tea Party ideas into their platform while encouraging this group to become a viable and completely separate third party. That’s what I take from his last post. How does that possibly get translated into: Zano is George Soros and a socialist and is wrong about everything? How can that possibly be your interpretation? Alas, I don’t think you can read. In conclusion, it seems Zano has not been hornswoggled by George Soros, but you have certainly been hornswoggled by the Koch Brothers.

Zano then talks about how people immediately interpret things through a filter. Then you interpret everything he says through the very filter he’s talking about. Stop making his points for him. Frankly,he’s a smug enough bastard without your help.

Oh, and Zano…you’re still fired!

Another faction finally emerges, Occupy Wall Street. A rocky start, fer sure, and I condemn their recent attack on the E*Trade baby. But how does one bridge the gap between the Tea Party and this new group? We need a revolution that resonates with more, not less people. Thus far one group seems to be railing against Wall Street and the disparity of wealth, while the other attacks taxation and a growing government. One demands entitlements and the other wants to put an end to them. What’s the answer?  The Transcosmetic Party, that’s what.

Will this revolution condemn both the banks and the government? Sean Hannity doesn’t like them, which is a good thing. Sure they’re directionless, but it’s better than going off half-cocked in the wrong direction. Of course the Tea Party is more organized—with 40% of the country armed with only Fox News talking points, you’re guaranteed consistency…consistently wrong. The real deal is going to start off a little sloppier, I’m afraid, but you can’t make an integral omelet without breaking a few legs.

Joe Biden said these two groups have a lot in common. He’s wrong, but someday perhaps they will. Thus far President Obama is being criticized for sympathizing with this faction. Meanwhile, Fox News sees it as a threat to their very foundation of greed, fear, and stupidity.

Before we discuss the new kid on the block, why did the first revolution fail? Well, this Discord cartoon sums it up nicely:

No Regulations, No Unions, No Taxes? …Excellent

That’s a real nice revolution you have there.  Now go home, lie down, and let someone with insight lead the disenfranchised masses. Hey, but maybe Mr. Burns can be your spokesperson? He funds your rallies already.

The Tea Planeters have clearly delegitimized themselves. But will this new group address all of our government’s flaws wherever they lie? Only an integral movement can work here…have I mentioned that?

I think if their platform is built correctly and they incorporate the few valid points the Tea Party has to offer, this could be the wave that propels us into the future. The Tea Party is useless.  Will they still negatively impact elections? Probably, but do they have any real relevance in 2011? Hell no. They had a premise not entirely without merit, but they chose to hand their microphones over to the criminally insane, not to mention the people who got us here. This, of course, coincided with Fox News championing their cause. Fox News is arguably the most damaging media group this country has ever seen, besides the Daily Discord, of course. 

Blogger Juan Cole found one Transcosmetic type at one of these rallies. He noted how not everyone there was anti-business.

“One woman had a sign saying that she liked business and she liked freedom and she wanted to find a way to combine the two,” said Cole.

Are we finally ready to do what needs done? Is this the birth of a faction beyond ideology? Are we sick and tired enough of both parties? Will a real viable third party emerge from this? I have my doubts. MSNBC will likely try to pull what Fox did with the Tea Party. And Obama can wink all he wants, but this bunch needs to watch special interests and challenge every talking point. Most of all, this group must learn from the Tea Party’s mistakes.

What does this group stand for? Who the hell knows? Adbusters started it and interviewing this disenfranchised generation is not netting much—except maybe that free weed the Crank was talking about…which, by the way, the legalization of pot needs to be a key platform item. Talk about helping our economy and our society with one long overdue statute. I love how supposedly fiscal conservatives throw gazillions of dollars at lost causes, like the George W. Bush Liberry. He’s never going to spell or even say that correctly, no matter how much you donate.

This new group can still embrace a smarter, more integral platform. But if it simply bellyaches about entitlements and jobs, and parallels some mob in Greece, it will merely add to the chaos of a country in its death throes. This new faction needs to embrace those few aspects of the Tea Party that make sense. Our deficits are unsustainable and many functions of our government are mired in dysfunctional bureaucracies. Entitlements need to be given only to those deserving; they should not be of the irresponsible/enabling variety championed by pluralists.

This revolution needs to be about responsibility, a group unwilling to be governed by special interests and an outright refusal to allow the continued corporate rape and destruction of our planet. America as we knew it is dead, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use this crisis to produce something of long lasting value, like internet porn. This could be the turning point, or the final chapter. It’s up to us. I have been patiently waiting for the real revolution. Is this it? Only time will tell. 

If handled properly, this group is more likely to bridge these seemingly different worlds. They could lure those few functional aspects of the Tea Party over to their cause and galvanize a new approach, one of no party or clique. They need to become a non-partisan, or even post-partisan group willing to think outside of the two camps currently mired neck-deep in idiotic ideology. 

The problem with media and its insane levels of spin is this: it’s so deeply entrenched in ideology it would take a proctologist a week to find it. The Discord has been attacking the media since its inception…um, the Discord’s not the media’s. They are a big part of our collective confusion and, worse than that, they’re profiting from of our downfall. And the result? We are now effectively two nations. Trying to convince a liberal to curb certain entitlements is next to impossible, and trying to convince a conservative that more of Bush’s policies are not the answer is even harder. Most of our collapse is history for us, yet we still can’t seem to agree on what’s happened and happening. Why is this? Eisenstein over at Reality Sandwich said it best:

Reasonable people can, depending on their vantage point and life situation, look at the same set of events and form different beliefs about them. These beliefs then become a filter that determines what they see and, indeed, what they look for. It is as if they enter separate but parallel realities.

—Charles Eisenstein

Way back when I wrote an entire post on the cognitive distortions inherent in the human condition and nothing epitomizes those separate realities more than switching between MSNBC and Fox News. No group is more detached from reality than the right, of course, thus the gist of many of my posts. But everyone is currently drifting away from the truth at light speed. The only difference: the left just broke the sound barrier, and the right invented warp drive.

I have asked the right, very nicely, to stop the whole upping-the-idiocy-ante thing, but they insist on a level of media bombing that makes the attack on Dresden look like a day at Jellystone Park. I would love to focus on the left, but did you see what Rick Perry just said yesterday? Holy shit! But let’s not forget how entitled the progressives are to entitlements; how prone they are to support senseless bureaucracies. Let’s face it, folks, both parties suck!

I feel like I at least still have a foot in both worlds. There’s about four of us left. Unfortunately, this is why this new revolution is a long shot.  Their leaders will be the key. These new spokespeeps need to act from a selfless, integral perspective if they hope to truly bring about a transformative society. They need to, above all else, promote an underlying responsibility that embraces a world centric approach. Again, not off to a great start. But look at it this way, if our technology continues to grow without some comparable growth of human consciousness, we’re doomed. From a spiral dynamics perspective, the movement needs to allow people to remain in any level of consciousness they happen to be operating. But this new society should be the best vehicle for anyone who desires to springboard to the next level. In such a culture fundamentalism will not be condemned (er…like I often do), but it will be kept in check as not to interfere with anyone else’s growth potential.

The Crank and I are not at polar opposite ends of the political spectrum as our posts might suggest. He just has a much thicker filter than most. It’s stunning, actually. Moving to a new phase of Americana, based on true, not false assumptions, is completely alien to a Foxeteer. Unfortunately, Foxeteers base their world from the perspective of their stock options and a romantic view of America long extinct. If Sean Hannity gets his way, we will allow this suicidal sociopathic society to barrel onward toward a hasty end. Some of his ilk even believe Jesus is literally coming again, so why worry about resources, and why worry about other cultures? They’re all going to hell anyway, right? Sure there will always be fundamentalism in our world; it’s an important part of spiral dynamics, but they don’t have to be our leaders! We don’t need people praying before they bomb the shit out someone in 2011.

Sure the right will criticize this faction and much of it will stick, but the right will dismiss an entire movement because someone takes a shit on a police car. It’s how they roll—and I never would have even done that if someone had thought to provide some god damn port-a-potties at this thing! And that’s how I roll without a roll.

In all-or-none thinking land, every Tea Partier is a model citizen, fighting for truth, justice, and the American way and everyone in this new movement is a liberal stoner. That’s the way they always approach the unknown, not with a healthy skepticism but with a disproportionate condemnation. The right is not going to understand the impetus behind this movement.

You see, the Tea Party will only remain a viable force when a Dem is in power.  But they will always reemerge, like a superhero with Alzheimer’s, to battle conditions created by their last candidate.  Very helpful.  This new groovy scene is somewhat liberal but it is actually forming when a liberal is in power.

If you remember, I watched the Tea Party form with a skeptical encouragement, but quickly moved to disdain and disgust as their leadership emerged. In other words, I can understand the Tea Party and then rightly marginalize it, but the Occupy Wall Street movement will remain incomprehensible to a Foxeteer. They will immediately marginalize it without understanding it.

For the record, this is when it all started.  At the same place where Al-Qaeda knocked down the Twin Towers.  Sure this revolution will change, morph, quiet down, resurge again, adapt, maybe even throw up on a senator, but it’s finally a group truly disgusted with everything.

Those unintended consequences you were talking about, Crank, might just surface, but not in the way you think. Sure it will backfire on the Dems, and it should, but this rag tag group could well morph into the real deal. As an aside to the last Crank post, I will stop making fun of those with mental disabilities when you stop electing them to public office! And no one is trying to edumacate you, Cranko, but at some point it’s going to become necessary for you to get out of the way.

We do not need great historians to tell us the fact that our society is crumbling; and there must be new architects, new builders, to create a new society. The structure must be built on a new foundation, on newly discovered facts and values.

—J. Krishnamurti