unclear on the concept

03 Jul 2009

So, I went to the Tea Party Nation’s tea party thing at legislative plaza yesterday. These things tend to be a cornucopia of photographic opportunities – awesomeness and hilarity in general – regardless of the political persuasion. Obviously this particular segment of our political spectrum is not one that I have much in common with. In theory I am a libertarian, but not really of the same, er, strain as these folks. Anyways, so I went in with taking pictures in mind – the various speeches, which were almost entirely pointless rhetoric comparing Obama to King George (what?) and such. But during the last speech, I was up front taking pics, and I heard him start to talk about “calling in conservative” – basically they were suggesting they pick a day on which everyone calls in sick (“call in conservative”), to get their voices heard. Obviously, my ears picked up at this – I mean, I’d spent the last hour wandering around a crowd with anti-socialism signs. Did my ears deceive me? Did he really just call for a general strike? I turned to the people behind me and said, incredulously, “did he just call for a general strike?” “I think so,” the guy chuckled. Shortly after, I shouted “YOU SHOULD FORM A UNION!!” .. didn’t go over well.

So yeah. What? The libertarian pro-capitalist anti-leftist right-wing contingent is calling for a general strike. Surely I’m not the only one to see the irony in them adopting wholesale a leftist organizational tactic. I thought I must have misheard, so when I got home I went to their website – sure enough, it’s right there on the front page:

On July 30th, Conservatives are “Going Galt”. On that date, we are asking Conservatives all across the nation to “Call in Conservative”. On July 30th, Conservatives will not work, we will not buy. Instead, we will spend time with our families and friends. We will show President Obama and Congress who REALLY drives this economy. For more information on “A Day Without Conservatives , contact Judson Phillips at [email protected].

The mind reels. Political rallies: good for photographs, and also for massive cognitive dissonance. Rest of the pics are here.