Exactly correct. I do not want the TEA Party to become a “big tent”... We have one already... It’s called the GOP, and if they make their damn “tent” any larger, they might as well toss out the platform since it will by then be so diluted as to have no meaning for anyone having a modicum of principle.
The TEA Party ideal is in its basic essence a CONSERVATIVE PHOENIX that has risen from the ashes left in the wake of the scorched earth policies enacted by a spineless GOP leadership, who put principle to the torch in 2008 with their nomination of John McCain.
Do-nothing GOP leadership had as much to do with creating the TEA Party as did any action of the progressive movement. This is why TEA Party members have such a gut-reaction to any attempt by the GOP to subvert or assimilate its members. We’ve been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt ... The GOP brand of “conservatism” just does not hold up to repeated runs through the DC wash and rinse cycle, so we have decided to develop our own brand. We think it superior both in quality of materials and staying power.
Amen.