Online readers had the following responses to Bart Blasengame’s article about Oregon’s growing conservative movement (“Right Turn,” March 2010). Join the conversation by commenting below.

Attempts to “understand” the Tea Party movement crack me up. Attempts to demonize them as racists, hateful, and any other negative stereotype are just ignorant. Personally, I don’t think the Tea Party ideas break down well into signs, slogans, or talking points. But they are far from new ideas. Frédéric Bastiat laid it all out back in the 1800s [in his book The Law]: “Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter—by peaceful or revolutionary means—into the making of laws.”
—“A.D.C.”

When the government takes my income and gives it to others, it creates a moral hazard. The recipients don’t see my sacrifice to provide for their family; my support is taken for granted. I will help them, but what will they learn? Will they learn I was compassionate in their time of need? Will they understand I have been making moral or financial decisions that allow me the choice of helping others? Will they know I took from my family to support their family? I am tired of families on assistance with fancier cars, flat-panel TVs and iPhones. I am angry that I support them and they have only a sense of entitlement. This must change.
—“Steve”

Clearly the moron who wrote this believes that without Glenn Beck, none of us would be able to form any opinion at all. After all, we can’t see with our own eyes what’s going on. Only after Beck and Fox News say something do Americans have enough vision, brains, and motivation to know or care what’s happening? What an insult.
—“Citizen”