{"id":1866,"date":"2010-04-15T07:53:34","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T12:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2010-04-15T07:53:34","modified_gmt":"2010-04-15T12:53:34","slug":"one-circle-venn-diagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=1866","title":{"rendered":"One-circle Venn diagram"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article in the NYT<\/a> on the tea partiers comes to the conclusion most of us had already drawn–they're confused:<\/p>\n

\n

Their responses are like the general public’s in many ways. Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as “fair.” Most send their children to public schools. A plurality do not think Sarah Palin<\/font><\/a> is qualified to be president, and, despite their push for smaller government, they think that Social Security<\/font><\/a> and Medicare<\/font><\/a> are worth the cost to taxpayers<\/strong>. They actually are just as likely as Americans as a whole to have returned their census forms, though some conservative leaders have urged a boycott.<\/p>\n

….<\/p>\n

Asked what they are angry about, Tea Party supporters offered three main concerns: the recent health care overhaul, government spending and a feeling that their opinions are not represented in Washington.<\/p>\n

….<\/p>\n

[warning nuts ahead] “I just feel he’s getting away from what America is,” said Kathy Mayhugh, 67, a retired medical transcriber in Jacksonville. “He’s a socialist. And to tell you the truth, I think he’s a Muslim and trying to head us in that direction, I don’t care what he says. He’s been in office over a year and can’t find a church to go to. That doesn’t say much for him.”<\/p>\n

….<\/p>\n

And nearly three-quarters of those who favor smaller government said they would prefer it even if it meant spending on domestic programs would be cut.<\/p>\n

But in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security — the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on “waste.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Some defended being on Social Security while fighting big government by saying that since they had paid into the system<\/strong>, they deserved the benefits.<\/p>\n

Others could not explain the contradiction.<\/p>\n

“That’s a conundrum, isn’t it?” asked Jodine White, 62, of Rocklin, Calif. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security.” She added, “I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Enter usual caveats about polling and reporting, but "paying into and deserving benefits" is how government ought to work.  Remakring on the results of the poll, Steve Benen<\/a> quips: <\/p>\n

\n

If you were to make a Venn Diagram of the issues Tea Party members care about, and the issues Tea Party members are confused about, you'd only see one circle. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article in the NYT on the tea partiers comes to the conclusion most of us had already drawn–they're confused: Their responses are like the general public’s in many ways. Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as “fair.” Most send their children to public schools. A plurality do not think Sarah Palin … Continue reading One-circle Venn diagram<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inexplicable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}