When this guy was his homie
Posted on 12/30/2009 4:51:48 PM PST by Publius804
It appears that some state and county Tea Party groups are trying to cleanse their ranks of libertarians. That's a shame since the movement started with Ron Paul and his libertarian followers, and was then co-opted by mainstream GOP Sean Hannity types.
Lawrence Samuels, editor of Facets of Liberty: A Libertarian Primer and participant in the Monterey County Tea Party, is witnessing the purge firsthand:
[A]fter a successful 4th of July Tea Party parade and Freedom Rally in Monterey, the cracks in the alliance split wide open. I was accused of belonging to too many leftist organizations. In fact, I am co-chair of the local Libertarians for Peace, which joined the 27-member Monterey County Peace Coalition to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Libertarians for Peace is neither Left nor Right….
Obviously, the Tea Party conservatives were neophytes; never before had they been involved in political activism. Some had never heard of Congressman Ron Paul. Prof. David R. Henderson, one of the libertarian Tea Party Board members, described this curious phenomenon as "activism without ideals." I thought my phrase captured it best: "a cause without a rebel." In fact, as demands to purge the libertarians intensified, we got the distinct feeling that the purgers fit the category of "reactionary" since they seemed to know only what they were against, not what they were for. Amazingly, they never pointed out any philosophical differences that they found objectionable. It was as if they were devoid of ideas, marooned with empty rhetoric and no real solutions….
In retrospect, it did not help our case when we asked these rookies embarrassing questions. We asked them why they had done nothing when President Bush bailed out the banks and auto companies, spent money like a drunken sailor, bashed civil liberties and advanced socialized medicine with Medicare Prescription Drug law, a program that some in Congress estimated will have a price tag of $1.2 trillion by 2016. I suppose our questioning merely rubbed their noises too deeply in their ignorance.
You can read his entire account here.
If the Tea Party movement is to function merely as the activist wing of Republican talk radio, it won't get very far.
Oh yea, this will help. I’m really, really beginning to loathe the GOP.
The tea parties should be there own thing and beyond political affiliations.
I knew Paul was old, but I didn't know he was Ben Franklin old.
I stopped right there.
What is this guy smoking?
“since the movement started with Ron Paul and his libertarian followers”
Is that true? I kinda thought it started with Glenn Beck.
there = their
When did Ron Paul supposedly start the Tea Party movement?
As long as you keep that kook RON PAUL your Spokesman... you’re going to be marked as a KOOK and not welcome ANYWHERE!!!
“I suppose our questioning merely rubbed their noises too deeply in their ignorance.”
Perhaps they are “purging” you because you come across as an arrogant prick.
Always a good way to win your argument by insulting those who don't agree with you.
If the Tea Party movement is to function merely as the activist wing of Republican talk radio, it won't get very far.But if they hitch their wagon to the Ron Paul star... wow... there's no telling how far they can go... in East Texas.
The tea party movement actually started in 1773. Many have taken up the name, but the latest movement has direct themes to the original tea party. Paul and his ilk used the name for some of their little anti-war, Guy Faulks type protests, but it had nothing to do with the Tea Party protests you see around the country now.
Nonsense and mad hatter blabbering.
The Libertarian went on a twenty minute rant about George Bush and Republicans. He also canvassed the crowd trying to sell crap.
A cause without a rebel.
How cute.
How catchy.
And how obviously and demonstrably untrue.
I would mention the name of the rebel but I don’t want to sully that name by having it mentioned in the same thread as Ron Paul.
But y’all know who I mean.
Who said it was?
I think the original idea came from somebody name Santelli or Santori (from CNBC) and an off-the-cuff comment that he made during a live broadcast when he was railing against the original bailout.
When this guy was his homie
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