North Iowa Tea Party billboard (L-R) Adolf Hitler, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Lenin
A billboard created by an Iowa tea party group comparing Brother O to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is being condemned by tea party activists including Vander (Good) Hart, who thinks the sign counterproductive and doesn’t help the tea-party cause.
Shelby Blakely, a spokeswoman for the national Tea Party Patriots, also doesn’t think the sign appropriate and says her group opposes any comparisons of Brother O to Hitler or Lenin.
Finally, a group has the guts to put out the truth about the country’s socialist dictator and tea party twit nits seethe with indignation and summarily try to ingratiate themselves with the elitist-minded who pride themselves on being above “this sort of thing.”
Such gutless, mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy wimps seem to care more about personal celebrity than saving the country from despotism and totalitarianism. The fools haven’t figured out that there’s an ongoing war to wrest America from the steely grips of a progressive regime, and patriots don’t need Neville Chamberlain types to give the battlefield atmosphere.
During an interview, Phil Donahue once maligned Milton Friedman for supporting a free market system that rewarded greed instead of virtue. The exchange is remembered fondly as the battle of wits, to which Donahue came unarmed:
Donahue: When you see around the globe the mal-distribution of wealth, the desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries, when you see so few haves and so many have-nots, when you see the greed and the concentration of power, did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed’s a good idea to run on?
Friedman: Well, first of all, tell me is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy; its only the other fellow who’s greedy.
The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way. In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about, the only cases in recorded history are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear: that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.
Donahue: But it seems to reward not virtue as much as ability to manipulate the system.
Friedman: And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? You think a Hitler rewards virtue? You think – excuse me, if you will pardon me – do you think American presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout? Is it really true that political self interest is nobler somehow than economic self interest? You know I think you are taking a lot of things for granted. Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us? Well, I don’t even trust you to do that.
I.M. Kane
Iowa Billboard Compares Obama to Hitler & Stalin
By Shane Vander Hart
I’ve attended tea party events. I am a constitutional conservative. I believe that the Obama administration is pushing a socialist agenda, along with 55% of Americans so I’m not alone.
I don’t think signs like the one on the left are helpful however. More than that I think they are counterproductive. The AP reports:
A billboard created by an Iowa tea party group comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is being condemned by other tea party activists.
The North Iowa Tea Party began displaying the sign in Mason City last week.
The sign includes photos of Obama, Nazi leader Hitler and communist leader Lenin with the statement: “Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive.”
North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson says the sign highlights what the group argues is Obama’s support for socialism. He says the pictures might be overwhelming the intended message.
Shelby Blakely, a spokeswoman for the national Tea Party Patriots, says the sign isn’t appropriate. She says her group opposes any comparisons of Obama to Hitler or Lenin.
While both Hitler and Lenin were socialist, that isn’t the image that comes to mind. They think instead – concentration camps, holocaust, Red Terror, gulags, and mass murder. I think it would also be a mistake, as I’m sure some will be prone to do to call this race driven. No, this is about policies, not race.
I’m glad the AP was on top of this just as I’m glad they covered displays like the ones below when President George W. Bush was in office.
Oh wait, I guess they never did cover these tolerant people at left-wing rallies. This must have been ok since the media overlooked it. Thanks to Liberty Pundits for helping me stroll down memory lane.
The fact that there is a media bias and inequity in reporting doesn’t excuse the billboard. This hurts, not helps, the tea party cause for tax cuts, smaller government, and fiscal responsibility. It distorts the message and gives the opposition ammunition. Let’s do better than this.
HT: Memeorandum
