A response to: Will Schick, Tea Party book pick a great read

This letter to the editor was recently published in the Galesburg Register Mail

Thanks to Will Schick for pointing out the ant-Christian sentiments of Thomas Paine to us Tea Partiers. Apparently his point is we have no business quoting Mr.Paine as his religious beliefs are opposed to that of the vast majority of Tea Partiers. To this I would like to quote, in Thomas Paine's own words, from a section on religion in his famous treatise Common Sense. "For myself I fully and conscientiously believe it is the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among us. It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all one way of thinking our religious disputations would want matter for probation..."  So it appears religious believers and non believers of all stripes are welcome under Thomas Paine's tent.

In reading Ed Klapp's letter of 9/20 attacking Tea Partiers I really don't see anything to respond to. Much of it was pure ranting. And yes, I am guilty as he charges. I am anti Communist anti socialist, against government intervention in business ala Solyndra and in favor of deregulation. His charge we Tea Partiers are under the influence of the Koch brothers is no different than the charge that Progressives are mere pawns of George Soros and Michael Moore. How do you disprove either charge?
 
Both his letter and that of Will Schick are really distractions from the real issues and that is what we should be debating or discussing,i.e,  how do we live with $14 Trillion and growing debt, when there is not enough wealth, not income, but wealth to appropriate to remove our debt. Further what are the consequences for our children and grandchildren if we continue on the current path of $1 Trillion or more in deficits each year to add to our debt?

 

So rather than be distracted by name calling, and charges that can be levelled at both sides and questioning the shallowness of one side's reading list, why can't we debate the serious issues that confront us? Here's a good list to start with. Does Social Security really need fixing? If so, how? We know Medicaid and Medicare need fixing. How do we do it?  Why does the Department of Justice pay $16.00 per muffin and $52.00 per person for conference coffee breaks? Who was paying for those $16.00 muffins? If Obama Care is so great why will it take 16,000 IRS workers to enforce it?  Is the cost of these IRS workers included in the Health Care Reform cost or hidden in the IRS budget?  If Obama Care is so good, why, at the latest count that I heard, are there over 1,000 entities asking for and receiving waivers from it including some of Nancy Pelosi's own largest contributors. I recently came across an alternative proposal to health care reform that on the surface looks pretty good. Yet it never saw the light of day because the then Democratically controlled congress allowed no discussion on the issue. So why is an area as important as Health Care, which represents 1/6 of our economy, not open for debate, discussion and input from both parties? Can we not even now bring this very important topic back for open discussion in Congress as well as in the public forum.  Maybe Obama care is the best solution but we will never know until it is honestly debated in the public forum.

Theses are questions that should be honestly and openly debated, not which book I have read most recently.

 

Dick Conklin

Soon to be retired Tea Party Sympathizer

Will’s article: Will Schick: Tea Party book pick a great read