And Now For Something Really Good . . .

I just read an article in Mother Jones about Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.). Rep. Inglis sounds like a pretty stand-up guy. And while I am a staunch liberal, I have to admire his style. Here is a politician that is willing to collaborate (his word) with the Obama administration and had some actual ideas for change then was essentially thrown overboard by his own party, more specifically the so-called Tea Baggers, when he refused to toe the party line and call Obama a socialist (among other things).

I was especially taken back by this particular passage:

During his primary campaign, Inglis repeatedly encountered enraged conservatives whom he couldn't—or wouldn't—satisfy. Shortly before the runoff primary election, Inglis met with about a dozen tea party activists at the modest ranch-style home of one of them. Here's what took place:

I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there's a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life's earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, "What the heck are you talking about?" I'm trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, "You don't know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don't know this?!"

Holy crap! I'm all for a good conspiracy theory, but this is so far out there it deserves it's own X Files episode. I have to wonder what else goes on at these Tea Parties. Maybe I don't want to know.