Posted on 12/13/2011 5:38:55 AM PST by Billlknowles
A few years ago, I was an early, enthusiastic supporter of the Tea Party movement. Its essential belief in limited government and individual freedom form the core of conservative principles. The group's message of low taxes, deficit reduction and fidelity to the Constitution resonated with me.
However, my Tea Partying days are over.
The shot gun wedding between the Tea Party and the Republican Party after the 2010 midterm election has been consummated. It definitely wasn't a match made in heaven.
Unelected Tea Party police chieftains are calling the shots. They demand acquiescence to their agenda and intimidate Republican officeholders adhere to it or face a primary challenge.
The Tea Party purist police - with their rigid ideological orthodoxy - presume to know who's a "true" conservative. Now various Tea Party groups, most notably the State of Georgia Tea Party, wants to purge the GOP ranks of heretics.
Tea Party groups around Georgia are mobilizing to challenge Republican state elected officials they’ve deemed RINOs - Republicans In Name Only
(Excerpt) Read more at wearepolitics.com ...
Mark
>> And man oh man, what a brown noser.....
LOL! And what’s worse, a *misguided* brown noser.
Tyrants love public transport, electric cars, and the heavy funding taxes that force the masses to use them....One wiff of a revolt and SWITCH, we can't move.
>> Rinos like Romney are the Benedict Arnolds of 2012.
Romney, check. Couldn’t agree more.
Now: who are the OTHER “Rinos like Romney” on your list?
Not for my primary vote.....ABO in the general
A conservative is one who conserves the constitution. Principle dictates....and mine may differ from yours, but in the end, I have one voice and one vote and I intend to steer them right, come hell or high water.
>> Princess Murkowski, Karl Rove, John McCain
Agreed.
Saying a lot of people on FR are purists. Making statements like that. How about people who believe in the Constitution? How about people who believe in America and its people?
>> Saying a lot of people on FR are purists. Making statements like that.
They’re TRUE statements. Are you saying I shouldn’t speak the truth here? Why not?
>> How about people who believe in the Constitution?
How about them? They’re wonderful. But are you insinuating that YOU are one of those and that I am NOT one of those? If so, support your premise with evidence.
>> How about people who believe in America and its people?
How about them? They’re wonderful. But are you insinuating that YOU are one of those and that I am NOT one of those? If so, support your premise with evidence.
“They demand acquiescence to their agenda and intimidate Republican officeholders adhere to it or face a primary challenge.”
OH NOES!!!!! This is SERIES and HUGH!!!! We can’t have congress-critters thinking that they might have to ACTUALLY represent those who hired them!!!
The two present senators are as rino as they get!
The author says this like it's a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.
I disagree, in that the Republicans effort to co-opt the Tea Party is grabbing a fistful of water. The Tea Party are individuals, not a group of chattel that can be bought or sold.
I’ll likewise add that this is *demonstrated* by individuals in the Tea Party attacking just about every Republican contender. And I’ll put this down to “Holding their feet to the fire”.
The individuals in the Tea Party have been burned too many times FOR DECADES, to trust the Republican party AT ALL, when it comes to carrying out the Tea Party agenda.
Because the Republican party WILL NOT carry out the Tea Party agenda. Only INDIVIDUAL Republicans may try to do so.
And the Tea Party agenda, by the way, IS NOT a fixed set of goals, but an overall *philosophy* of how government is *supposed* to be run.
And *this* is what the Republicans find most objectionable about the Tea Party. They loathe having “core values” in which they can’t haggle and deal make with their political opponents. They much prefer hugs and kisses with the liberals, and at best inertia, NOT opposition to the liberal agenda.
Remember the Contract With America? It was extremely popular for a few, simple reasons:
1) It presented clear, concise goals.
2) It did not waffle, or place reservations on these goals.
3) It was realistic, promising only a vote, not a win.
4) It was objective, so that those who signed on either kept their promise, or cheated and broke their promise.
And even at the time, many Republicans refused to sign on, because they hated every aspect of the honesty found in the document.
So what is the Tea Party doing right now?
Self appointed “leaders” can bloviate all they want, because they control nothing. They cannot muster a vote *for* a candidate. But they *can* persuade other Tea Party members to *not* support a candidate.
And this is an important, even vital thing to do.
The individuals within the Tea Party know that our nation has been about brought to ruin by liberal Democrats and liberal Republicans, and that there is NO crystal clear, unimpeachable voice for conservatism in ANY of the current crop of candidates.
So yes, the best the Tea Party can do right now is refuse to accept the Republican parties’ *default* RINO candidate instead of a conservative. Truthfully the RINOs would prefer a liberal Democrat as president to a Republican conservative, which shows you how godforsaken they are.
And the RINOs perpetual message is horribly wrong. They keep insisting that a conservative candidate *cannot ever* win, so all candidates *must* be “big tent” liberals or moderates.
But they are dead wrong in this. Each and every time a real conservative runs for office, unless they are downright crazy, they win, against both liberal Republicans and liberal Democrats.
America WANTS conservatives in political office, from state legislators all the way up to the office of the presidency. And only the RINOs, and their “Beltway bandits”, truly stand in the way of this happening.
And, of course, Republican liberals pretending to be conservatives, who get nominated to be the Republican candidate for president.
We’ve had to endure the failure of Bob Dole, selected for us, and the utter turkey John McCain, selected for us, so NO MORE.
Either candidates promise to embrace the Tea Party philosophy as part of their core values, or the heck with them. The time for pragmatism, “crossing the aisle”, wheeling and dealing with scoundrels, and bending the knee for disreputable lobbyists is OVER.
Apparently people like you (and me) who don't bow down to the latest left wing republican candidates. We "stir up trouble" by presenting embarrassing facts like Newt's shameless ass-kissing of Pelosi on the Globull warming fraud or Newt's anti-gun record, or Newt's personal lack of integrity, etc. How dare we question what our betters in the Republican establishment have decided for us.
“Tea Party groups around Georgia are mobilizing to challenge Republican state elected officials they’ve deemed RINOs - Republicans In Name Only”
There’s a reason for what is happening. Case in point our new GA 7th District US Congressman Rob Woodall. Heck of a nice guy, great personality. We just elected him in 2010 and he will just tell you all day long how conservative he is. We have been to two of his townhalls. At the last one we attended I stood up and made the comment that the Super Committee was unconstitutional and why in the world would he ever vote to waive his own congressional power much less agree to raise the debt ceiling for basically no corresponding spending cuts. He assured me that the Super committee was indeed constitutional and that he had total confidence that they would come to an agreement on cutting $1.2 trillion since is was such a low bar to get over. Well we all know how that has turned out.
In addition he has sent us all a newsletter and made a video of him on the floor of the House of Representatives talking about finding common ground. There is no common ground with the Dems at this point in history. What a waste of time. This guy has only been in the Congress for a year and he is already totally co-opted by the GOP elite leadership. Boehner tells him how to vote and he does it. So yes we need to do some house cleaning and thank God the Tea Party is keeping an eye on these worthless fecks.
Seems like a lot of them are trying to lead us back on to the grand old plantation.
A few weeks back a county GOP chair from the other side of the state showed up at our little informal tea party breakfast at a local cafe.
At first he seemed OK, talking about over regulation and taxation but then he started going off the rails. He was whining about the unfair redistricting that pushed a good “conservative” influence out of our district. (Former congressman Joe “We can’t abort them fast enough” Schwarz). He complained that “extremist” candidates like Michele Bachmann were killing the party. He said our little group needed some structure with contact lists, phone numbers etc.
Some phone calls were made to official tea party groups on his side of the state and they said the guy is a sleazeball who had done everything from making threats to trying to insert his own people into their tea party groups.
Its going to take constant vigilance to purge the RINO’s and keep them out. We are not voting for Woodall next year. Hopefully the Tea Party will up a candidate to try t primary him. Otherwise we will vote for the Libertarian.
Since you didn't answer the question, what part of FR vision of conservatism you disagree with, I must assume you are too cowardly to put it on record.
So it is probably better to have a brown nose than a yellow streak running down one's back.
I agree with all of it, there, “knob-polisher”. Say, how’s it smell from that location down there on your knees? LOL!
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