Posted on 08/17/2010 8:14:28 PM PDT by neverdem
The movement is not seeking a junior partnership with the Republican Party. It is aiming for a hostile takeover.
On Feb. 9, 2009, Mary Rakovich, a recently laid-off automotive engineer, set out for a convention center in Fort Myers, Fla. with protest signs, a cooler of water and the courage of her convictions. She felt compelled to act, having grown increasingly alarmed at the explosion of earmarks, bailouts and government spending in the waning years of the Bush administration. President Barack Obama, joined by then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, was in town promoting his plan to spend a trillion dollars in borrowed money to "stimulate" the economy.
Mary didn't know it, but she was on the front lines of a grass-roots revolution that was brewing across the nation. More than 3,000 miles away, Keli Carender, a young Seattle school teacher and a member of a local comedy improv troupe, was feeling equally frustrated. She started to organize like-minded citizens. "Our nation's fiscal path is just not sustainable," she said. "You can't continue to spend money you don't have indefinitely."
Today the ranks of this citizen rebellion can be counted in the millions. The rebellion's name derives from the glorious rant of CNBC commentator Rick Santelli, who in February 2009 called for a new "tea party" from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. By doing so he reminded all of us that America was founded on the revolutionary principle of citizen participation, citizen activism and the primacy of the individual over the government. That's the tea party ethos.
The tea party movement has blossomed into a powerful social phenomenon because it is leaderless—not directed by any one mind, political party or parochial agenda.
The criteria for membership are straightforward: Stay true to principle even when it proves inconvenient, be assertive but...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
What he (or she) said. Exactly. You have described it precisely. We don’t need a third party, we need to straighten out the one we’ve got.
I know that. I was trying to make a funny.
I have said this all along, the tea party, libertarians, and Beckites, have been planning to displace the Republican party. Not satisfied with just getting rid of the rino’s, they want a complete takeover.
Splitting the vote on the right, of course, is going to insure the democrats staying in power.
Neither.
It’s an opinion column written by Dick Armey that WSJ either solicited or he offered for their consideration for publication.
Didn’t Dick say something about it being time to move past the Tea Parties recently?
I read the column and it sounds nice and all. Except all I hear are the words of a man who wants to co-opt the movement for his own even as he proclaims it being leaderless is it’s strength. I don’t favor exiling his involvement, at times he has been very useful. I just don’t trust him. He’s someone who needs to be kept at arm’s length even when working side by side with him some of the time.
Growing up in my dad and mom's house, Reagan was god with a little "g". But, after reviewing his record, I don't think he was that great. However, when his presidency is put in context of happening during the very liberal times of the 70's and 80's, he was OK.
Obama vs. America "We have a president who doesn’t get America."
Ben Stein: Have Gun, Will Travel (Great speech on 4th webpage, Sestak offered Secy of Navy job)
Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Dick Armey is part of the problem. He and his buddies had complete control of this government for the better part of a decade, and they completely squandered their historic opportunity to restore this free republic.
Armey controlled the stage at the 9-12 DC march last year, too. The message from that stage, if boiled down to its essence, was the Republicans saying “give us our power back.”
But the message of the marchers was a vastly different one: it was We the People saying “give us our country back.”
Huge difference.
I disagree. I see the Dimbocrats are splitting up too. This nation is tired of the fence riding of both parties being the same; they are demanding principled positions on the issues from the left and right. This nation is split left and right like it was in the 1850's (south vs. north - right vs. left respectively); thank God we've civilized and will use the ballot box instead of guns.
“Beware of RINOs bearing gifts.”
I cannot imagine anything they could offer that would cause these freedom fighters to surrender. Live free or die is not just a slogan.
It doesn’t have to be hostile. If the RINOs just leave quietly there will be no trouble. :-)
The problem with most folks who say that is that can't even tell you what's wrong with it in the first place. And they almost always signally fail to offer any cogent remedy for this disease they can't really describe.
In any case, while we're waiting for you to clean up your party, it remains a false flag operation, co-opting the strength of conservatism to the support of unprincipled lying liberal hacks.
Why would they leave? They control it.
Not for long.
Yep. It's called lip service. Something the Republicans perfected some time ago.
Can't wait until people figure out that lip service ain't going to cut it anymore if we're going to save this country from destruction.
Hah.
Thanks for the ping!
History repeats. As a Bible believer, it appears to me that what you and the libertarians are going to do is create the splintered political environment that will help to bring in the antichrist. It was splintered political parties in Germany that allowed Hitler to come to power.
The tea party may be fiscally conservative, but they are not cultural conservatives. Disgruntled Democrats are a large percentage among them. As to Libertarians, they are a bunch of atheists, homosexual hippy types.
The right solution is to have the Republican party purged of its rino’s. Third party types, of course, don’t want this, they, as libertarians have always wanted, is to displace the Republican party with themselves.
It had its breeding ground before that in the Republican spending spree. These events are what turned the people off to Republicans.
Amnesty isn't going anywhere, especially during the Great Recession as well as while the threat from Islam is perceived. I've seen some supermajority polls lately, e.g. polls around seventy percent that want secure borders and against prosecuting Arizona, against the Ground Zero mosque, against Obamacare in the bellweather state of Missouri, etc. I'm not worried about Armey and amnesty when the economy is in the crapper, and Islam poses a threat.
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