COME ON GEORGE AND OPEN LETTER TO GEORAGE WILL

COME ON GEORGE: HAVE YOU JOINED THE KKK aka TEA PARTY?


(An open letter to George Will)

Dear George;

Over the past two decades or so I have read your commentary and taken another swig of Pep to Bismol. However, your recent installment of conservative Hog Wash was so distorted and incorrect that I just had to put my thoughts in writing and forward to you. In your commentary “Tea Party Change Fundamental”, from the Washington Post and reprinted in the Jackson “Clarion-Ledger, Sunday, July 24, 2011, p. 4C.” Either you have lost your mind, or, you believe that everybody else have lost their minds.



You state, “The tea party, the most welcome political development since the Goldwater insurgency in 1964, lacks only the patience necessary when America lacks the consensus required to propel fundamental change through our constitutional system of checks and balances.” It would be unbearable if the “Tea Party” had seized control of both houses of Congress and the White House was occupies by, let’s say, George W. Bush or the immortal Ronald Reagan. By this time the entire country would be in social and political ruin, which is the case in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, and the entire Dixiecrat-Republican South.



Next, you advise the “Tea Party” to be patient with this: “The Goldwater impulse took 16 years to reach fruition in the election of Ronald Reagan. The tea party can succeed in 16 months by helping elect a president who will not veto necessary reforms.” Where were you, George, when George W. and his Republican Controlled Congress took less than a year to turn a budget surplus into a deficit through tax cuts and restricting social programs. What the Administration of Ronald Reagan should have taught the American voter is that “Supply-Side” does not work for a majority of the working class in American. It is designed to upset the government by reducing the amount of revenue it can collect. Two quick history notes George, the Income tax was designed to force the wealthy to pay into the government, not the under-employed and the middle class. Secondly, this philosophy persisted in the 1920s and the end result was “The Great Depression” Finally, it leads to two “Recessions” during the great years of Ronald Reagan and both Bush Administrations. Come-On George.



George, you know as well as any rational thinking person, is the fuel of the “Tea Party” is to defeat the Nation’s first elected African-American President. Review the History of the tea party. I ask you to review the current Republican leadership in Congress. They were all in office during the spend, no tax, years of “W”. Where was this outrage? Where was your outrage, George? You people have been trying to bind President Obama to the Bush mess since he was elected. This group has played political games with this president.



George, any freshmen college student understands that the effect of Recessions can surface many years after its inception. The Bush Administration did not admit that the country was in recession for ten (10) months. Why George, because it was an election year. It was Bush who offered the first stimulus to save his rich buddies long before President was elected. And we all know that the banks that could help, or the corporations, who could invest in jobs will attempt to hold out until the next election. You, George and the Dixiecrat-Republican-Tea Party supporter will not support the use of government to create jobs.



Finally, your support of a smaller federal government and your support of “States Rights” are as old as The United States itself. Go back, George, and study the history of United States Government. Review the reasons your “Founding Fathers” saw the need for a new Constitution, and a need to fight the Civil War. Maybe you will be able to see what has happened to your Republican Party since Goldwater’s “Southern Strategy” high-jacked the Party and is today pressing the national debate. History shows us, George, there is not a section of this nation that has more experience in oppressing the majority of its citizens, that the “New South.” The Tea Party is just the latest installment.



Dr. Johnny Gilbert

Asst. Professor of History

Jackson State University