Dear Honest Teabaggers

I'm sure, somewhere amidst the Fox News organizers, the racists, bigots and nutjobs, and the idiots who equate returning taxes for the wealthiest Americans to pre Bush levels with oppression, there are those who legitimately want to protest the waste and corruption of the bailout.

So I read snarky posts like this with disdain. Not just because the author apparently got brutally thwacked with the fail whale. But because they miss the point.

Organize (real grassroots, not astroturf like those joke tea parties) a protest against the waste and corruption of the bailout. Leave out taxes (for most Americans, we are getting tax cuts, only the very wealthy are returning to paying what they were before Bush's fiscally irresponsible tax cuts). Get over the bigotry, racism and petty poltics of whining about a legitimate loss (question" if people protesting the corrupt and stolen 2000 elections were sore losers, what does that make someone who protests the legimate Republican thrashing in 2008?).

I had no idea the bailout was so corrupt until watching this Daily Show segment:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Clusterfu#@k to the Poor House - Goldman Sachs' Connections
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

When you realize just how hard we were hit during the bailout process (Elizabeth Warren Interview Parts 1 and 2):

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

It really puts things in perspective.

To be fair, the early corruption of the bailout process occurred under Bush (who's administration exhibited corrupt practices in Iraq via Haliburton). That said, Obama should be fighting this corruption with every ounce of his strength. It threatens to undermine our financial security and political stability over the long term.

I realize writing a letter to honest, sane tea party-goers is bound to reach a small audience. But a left-right coalition is always going to be needed to address systemic problems, and the corruption of the bailout process is one hell of a problem.

We need to agree on bringing back the regulations discarded over the past several decades, and make fiscal stability a priority. On the economy, we need to adopt Obama's pragmatic approach of putting success ahead of partisanship for partisanship's sake. Given the past few years, this is going to involve far more sacrifice from the principals of conservatism. It means allowing the government to resume the role and powers that have been chipped away in the name of the free market.

So, conservative readers, are you up to it?