Nothing to Applaud

Aaron praised this letter to the Tribune-Herald, saying that it "pretty much sums why I find the TEA Party movement so disgusting."

I think the letter is a dismal example of how low our public discourse has sunk. But here's the letter, in its entirety:

The Tea Party movement has finally made its way to Hawaii (Tribune-Herald, April 16). Many locals, including myself, believe Hawaii is exporting some of its aloha spirit, and if so, do we really need to import the high level of negativity and uncontrollable anger the Tea Party movement is known to spread across America?

Although the protest here was "Meek," the namesake of one sign-holding family, it will only grow into the monster it has become on the mainland.

Is the Tea Party movement truly about higher taxes and big government? This argument dates back to Boston's Big Bash in 1773. Why the urgent need to resurrect this issue with such anger? Is it the historic but "grave-shaking" election of America's first African-American president? Who knows. Before Mr. Obama had a chance to sit at the White house desk, invitations to the party were already handed out!
The GOP and Tax Day Patriots would have you believe Obama's tax increases are the worst in history, when in fact his increases were offset by tax credits. Therefore, most Americans received a tax cut this year and are paying the second-lowest percentage (4.6 percent per family of four) in federal tax in the last 50 years! (sources: The Fact Checker and the April 16 Huffington Post, "Tax day fact check"). Poll numbers indicate Americans are barely aware of these developments.

Tea Party members are misguided. Local businessman Jim O'Keefe blames the "Jones Act," a 1920 federal law (formalized in 2006) that protects U.S. workers' jobs on American vessels, between American ports, for the demise of his bakery. At the protest rally, Mr. O'Keefe admitted he's "not very good with math." I concur with his self-assessment because he also believes the shipping cost of "his" flour by American workers was too high and the ultimate cause of his business sinking.

John Kai said at the protest, "The mast majority of people at the rally were taxpayers." Since it's a known fact that more than 80 percent of Tea Party members are Caucasian, well-educated, wealthy males, are we to assume minorities (non-whites) don't pay taxes? Hawaii is a state with nothing but minorities or, according to Mr. Kai, "freeloaders."

Protesting higher taxes and big government is a good thing. However, it shouldn't be used as a platform to cover up bigotry.

David B. Lee

Hilo

In the second sentence, the cheap racial undertone is set: "many locals" are worried about the tea party (because the tea partiers are you-know-who, not "local"). Next comes the unsupported assertion that tea partiers harbor not just anger, but "uncontrollable" anger. Watch out! David Lee is on a mission to smear his fellow citizens.

After admitting that the tea party in Hilo on April 15 was not at all angry, Mr. Lee notes that tax protests date back to Revolutionary War days, then bizarrely "wonders" whether this protest is the result of the election of "the first African-American president." Having made the charge of racism, Mr. Lee fakes agnosticism. "Who knows," he asks innocently, leaving out the question mark. So the baseless, fabricated charge of bigotry just sits there steaming like a turd.

In the middle two paragraphs, Mr. Lee tries, and fails, to construct a substantive argument, tossing out half-digested talking points from somewhere, and, probably working out a personal grudge, writes a semi-coherent insult to one of the tea party protesters.

The penultimate paragraph is the worst, so I'll quote it in full:

John Kai said at the protest, "The mast majority of people at the rally were taxpayers." Since it's a known fact that more than 80 percent of Tea Party members are Caucasian, well-educated, wealthy males, are we to assume minorities (non-whites) don't pay taxes? Hawaii is a state with nothing but minorities or, according to Mr. Kai, "freeloaders."

Got that? John Kai (whose name doesn't sound like a you-know-what) said that the people at the protest were "taxpayers," a non-racial term. David Lee, showing some real creativity and commitment to his smear, concocts the following proposition: Because Mr. Kai said the protesters were taxpayers, and because "it's a known fact" that tea partiers are white, Kai intended to insult minorities as "freeloaders." It's a transparent, cheap, and despicable smear. David Lee should be ashamed.