The above billboard, which compared Obama to Lenin and Hilter, was paid for by the Iowa Tea Party. While Tea Party officials did, after considerable pressure, take the billboard down, they didn’t go so far as to condemn the message, only saying that it felt like a “waste of money.” Having spent five years living in a country where all my reasonably liberal friends describe themselves as Socialist, I guess I have different associations with that word: associations like universal health care, universal child care, and long paid summer vacations. For those who are curious, here’s a definition of state socialism taken from Merriam-Webster.

State socialism (n): an economic system with limited socialist characteristics that is effected by gradual state action and typically includes public ownership of major industries and remedial measures to benefit the working class.

I have a very hard time understanding how a bunch of primarily working class people can be so frightened by a system that above all protects and benefits them. Even harder to understand is the link between Obama’s suggestion that insurance companies shouldn’t be able to cut people from their rolls for getting sick and you know, murdering six million people.

A conversation on the subject between liberal and conservative commentators (including Ben Stein who I used to like) on Larry King Live recently devolved into a screaming match, which is actually somewhat amusing to watch. Less amusing is the conservatives’ defense of Tea Partiers’ (referred to as Teabaggers by one of the liberal commentators on Larry King… awesome) tactics and their claim that the movement has nothing to do with racism. The below video is a compilation of racist signs at various Tea Party rallies. I made it less than two minutes in before I started to feel sick to my stomach. Can I just ask – and if any of you have an answer feel free to share it in the comments section – what is wrong with people?