The racial reason

I certainly hope E.J. Dionne Jr. is correct in his column "Tea Party Populism" (April 19) when he asserts that the tea party's publicity outweighs its potential impact. These people are angry, but why?

Is it because of "increasing" federal taxes, which actually decreased in 2009? Is it because the health care reform bill is "socialism," when it is actually quite modest and has been criticized from the left as being a give-away to the insurance companies?

Is it because President Barack Obama is a "socialist," when he is actually quite moderate and has incorporated some Republican ideas into his proposals? Is it because their freedoms have been infringed upon, when last I knew the Bill of Rights was in full force, allowing them to march around with misspelled signs making fools of themselves?

These pretenses are lies told by prominent Republicans to get their base fired up, but this is not really why the tea partiers are so angry. The Democrats won big in the 2008 election, and the right's presidential nominee was defeated by (gasp!) a black guy! They want their country back? Yes, they want to go back to the days of the Confederacy!

The U.S.A. will never go back to those days and that's why they're so angry!

 

MIRIAM E. LINDAUER
Bethel Park