Recent Twitter war:
dwight munroe @tfrogdotcom
There’s a group o’ yahoos in Nevada making a strong case for tighter 2nd Amendment regulation. Patriots, my ass. #BundyRanch
will nevertell @WNevertell
@tfrogdotcom read the declaration of independence they are doing there duty study history before you run your mouth dont be a commy
dwight munroe @tfrogdotcom
@WNevertell Next time I drive the turnpike and refuse to pay the tolls, I sure hope some yahoo “militia” shows up to cover my back.
will nevertell @WNevertell
@tfrogdotcom then protest it dont just bitch about it
dwight munroe @tfrogdotcom
@WNevertell Sorry, I thought we were pretending that this was a “Declaration of Independence” issue, instead of just refusing to pay bills.
will nevertell @WNevertell
@tfrogdotcom this is way bigger then a bill do so research or stfu
dwight munroe @tfrogdotcom
@WNevertell Right. ‘Cause if Bundy HAD paid his bill, all of this would have happened anyway. Sure. THINK, dammit.
will nevertell @WNevertell
@tfrogdotcom you are a sheep if it wasnt bundy it would have been someone else just one more straw on the camels back go back to sleepsheep
dwight munroe @tfrogdotcom
@WNevertell You’re desperate to make something out of nothing. You backed the wrong horse, and now you’re stuck. Me sheep? #bundyranch
will nevertell @WNevertell
@tfrogdotcom that is the thing I back freedom not the man i hop you wake up some day
dwight munroe @tfrogdotcom
@WNevertell Freedom to what? What “freedom” has been quashed here? You don’t like land use fees? You don’t like taxes? What, exactly?
will nevertell @WNevertell
>no reply<
There is a sickness upon the land.
This is 2014, not 1776. A lot has happened in the last 238 years, but let’s try to keep up.
There was, some years ago (okay, a lot of years ago), a running skit on Saturday Night Live about rules and regulations that we all adhere to, because some ONE person screwed things up for the rest of us. Some idiot was caught urinating in a public park, so now NOBODY gets to urinate in a public park. Some idiot refused to yield at an intersection, so now we have STOP signs, traffic lights, and even “red light cameras.” (We never learn.)
Some idiot tried to set fire to his sneakers aboard an aircraft, so now we ALL have to take our shoes off. And now, some idiot doesn’t want to pay land use fees, so we have a whole bunch of yahoos waving guns in Nevada to protect “our freedoms.”
“Will Nevertell” is just one example of a knee-jerk “patriot.” They love to wave the Declaration and Constitution around, but fail to acknowledge that things have changed just a bit since the 18th century. For one, there are a hell of a lot more people here in the U.S. of A., and we all have to try, somehow, to get along and respect each others’ “rights.” For another, a few more amendments to the Constitution were added after the Second. And each of those successive amendments are as valid as the first two. We no longer get to own other people. Women are no longer “belongings,” but full-fledged humans with all of the rights and responsibilities of men.
No, I don’t think anyone is treading on Mr. Bundy’s rights. (Except, possibly, Mr. Bundy himself.)
There are billionaires (BILLIONAIRES) funding political campaigns, trying to stir up “the people” to oppose this oppressive Obama regime. I can’t figure out why – they’ve never had it so good. Since 2008, they’ve seen their individual fortunes rise astronomically. What more do they want? What are they fighting, exactly? The right to despoil the land? The right to rip off millions of consumers?
They want to abolish the EPA. Of course, they do! Who wants to spend extra money to protect the people’s ability to breathe, to drink clean water? After all, we know that the free market would never behave badly where the environment is concerned, even without the EPA watching over them. (Remember Superfund? That was a whole lot of taxpayer dollars.)
Social conservatives have no problem at all trying to tread on MY rights (and everyone else’s).
The way I see it, there is only one group who are trying to whittle away at my rights, my “freedoms,” and that’s the Republican Party. In state after state, they are changing voter registration laws with only one goal in mind – to decrease Democratic turnout and to guarantee Republican victories in elections. They have come right out and admitted to that. They are rigging the system.
In state after state, and now on the federal level, too, they are whittling away at women’s rights. In some states, it is now almost impossible to get a legal abortion. Now, first – no one is “pro abortion.” I don’t believe that the women who GET abortions are pro abortion, or even happy about it. But it is a necessary choice, and I am certainly pro choice. And who is it that are trying to take away this right? Usually, it’s a group of older white guys, Republicans, who sneak these things through.
Republicans want to slash the federal safety net – cut food stamps, end extended unemployment benefits, and they’d like nothing better than to FINALLY abolish Medicare and Social Security. Today, we still hand over $4,000,000,000 in taxpayer money to oil companies, and Republicans will fight to protect that subsidy to companies who have no need for that money, while cutting a needy family’s monthly food budget by $90.00.
Someone once said that progressives are always looking forward, conservatives always looking back.
Some conservatives, like my friend Will Nevertell, seem to want to take us all the way back to 1783 (pre-Constitution – more Articles of Confederation). Some want to take us back to the good ol’ 1950s. And still others seem to prefer the Dark Ages, when life was good, a man was a man, and Church was the only game in town.
Doesn’t matter how far back someone else wants to take this country, I want to go forward. There are a LOT more good people in this country than yahoos. It’s just that the good folks don’t want to make a ruckus, don’t seek out attention, don’t want to raise a fuss. Problem is, all of the yahoos will come out to vote in every election, while the good folks only turn out in presidential election years.
The good folks DID show up in large numbers in Madison, Wisconsin to support public unions, when Wisconsin Republicans wanted to strip them of all bargaining power. The good folks DID show up in large numbers to support Wendy Davis, when Texas Republicans were trying to outlaw abortion. In both cases, the good folks were ignored, and Republicans did what they wanted to do, anyway.
There is a sickness upon the land, and until the good folks start exercising their rights (while they still have them), the yahoos will be running things at the state and local level. And nothing – NOTHING – will ever be done about the obvious problem this country has with guns, with voting rights, with income inequality, with substandard education, with the millions upon MILLIONS of folks who wonder if they’re going to even eat tomorrow.
And Will Nevertell will never know what hit him.