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The Tea Party and the GOP Crackup
Wall Street Journal ^ | Oct. 15, 2013 | WILLIAM A. GALSTON

Posted on 10/16/2013 9:12:44 AM PDT by neverdem

Ted Cruz and his followers represent Jacksonian America: angry...

More than a decade ago, before the post-9/11 national fervor set in, Walter Russell Mead published an insightful essay on the persistent "Jacksonian tradition" in American society. Jacksonians, he argued, embrace a distinctive code, whose key tenets include self-reliance, individualism, loyalty and courage.

Jacksonians care as passionately about the Second Amendment as Jeffersonians do about the First...

--snip--

Many frustrated liberals, and not a few pundits, think that people who share these beliefs must be downscale and poorly educated. The New York Times survey found the opposite. Only 26% of tea-party supporters regard themselves as working class, versus 34% of the general population; 50% identify as middle class (versus 40% nationally); and 15% consider themselves upper-middle class (versus 10% nationally). Twenty-three percent are college graduates, and an additional 14% have postgraduate training, versus 15% and 10%, respectively, for the overall population. Conversely, only 29% of tea-party supporters have just a high-school education or less, versus 47% for all adults...

--snip--

Many tea-party supporters are small businessmen who see taxes and regulations as direct threats to their livelihood. Unlike establishment Republicans who see potential gains from government programs such as infrastructure funding, these tea partiers regard most government spending as a deadweight loss. Because many of them run low-wage businesses on narrow margins, they believe that they have no choice but to fight measures, such as ObamaCare, that reduce their flexibility and raise their costs—measures to which large corporations with deeper pockets can adjust.

It's no coincidence that the strengthening influence of the tea party is driving a wedge between corporate America and the Republican Party. It's hard to see how the U.S. can govern itself unless corporate America pushes the Republican establishment to fight back against the tea party—or switches sides.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: teaparty
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To: neverdem

it’s time for a third party


21 posted on 10/16/2013 9:42:08 AM PDT by Cubs Fan (EVERYTHING IS RACISM!!! except hating whitey)
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To: neverdem
Agree, it's a long fight. Washington lost many battles, but he kept fighting and eventually would the war. Obamacare will be the issue in the 2014 elections.
22 posted on 10/16/2013 9:43:32 AM PDT by cowboyusa
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To: LS
Mead's is a seriously flawed view of Jackson

Ignore Mead. He voted for Obama. Anyone who doesn't have the inclination or the wits to do their due diligence on Obama when the necessary information was widely available since at least 2007 is not to be taken seriously.

23 posted on 10/16/2013 9:47:33 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Is John's moustache long enough YET?)
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To: neverdem
This is a stupid article.

Jackson's political success was due to his success as a general in the War of 1812. Jackson's stated his political philosophy when he said “to the victors go the spoils.”

What this meant was that the party that won the election(”the victors”) were entitled to the wealth that government took from the people(”the spoils”). The Jackson Administration was characterized by massive fraud, corruption and outright theft. It also was the beginning of the spread of the Democrat political machines which worked to win elections through fraud and payoffs.

Jackson also destroyed the young American economy. His policies caused the Panic of 1837 which led to a deep recession which lasted until the mid 1840’s.

Jackson's policies on slavery were also one of the many causes of the Civil War. Judge Taney, who authored the Dred Scott decision, was a close friend and adviser to Jackson and a member of his cabinet.

Ted Cruz and other conservatives want to end government corruption and destructive economic policies. They are not like Jackson and his followers.

24 posted on 10/16/2013 9:50:11 AM PDT by detective
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To: detective
“to the victors go the spoils.”

I believe that was actually William L. Marcy, later Pierce's secretary of war.

25 posted on 10/16/2013 10:34:10 AM PDT by Theodore R. (The grand pooh-bahs have spoken: "It's Jebbie's turn!")
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To: neverdem

I agree.

I would also say, conservatives have NOTHING to lose. We have no party to represent us now.


26 posted on 10/16/2013 10:37:43 AM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Johnny Rico picked the wrong girl!)
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To: nathanbedford

Well said.


27 posted on 10/16/2013 10:39:57 AM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Johnny Rico picked the wrong girl!)
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To: Theodore R.

You are right. But in using the term he was referring to the election of Andrew Jackson and the installation of the spoils system by Andrew Jackson.


28 posted on 10/16/2013 11:54:04 AM PDT by detective
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To: KC_Lion; cripplecreek

Yes he did. and I have argued in a number of scholarly articles that his “war” on the BUS was less about a “big bank” than it was a war on ALL banks and private issue money, of which I’m a big fan. The gold standard (i.e., NO bank able to issue paper) would have absolutely choked this country in the cradle.


29 posted on 10/16/2013 2:49:11 PM PDT by LS ('Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually.' Hendrix)
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To: neverdem
Say what you want about old hickory, the man knew how to throw a house party.


30 posted on 10/16/2013 2:54:16 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: neverdem

William Galston is Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and College Park Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. He is a political theorist who both studies and participates in American politics and domestic policy. His expertise includes American political thought, institutions, and processes; contemporary political and social philosophy; history of political thought; and U.S. domestic policy. Galston was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the first Clinton Administration and Executive Director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal, which was chaired by Sam Nunn and William Bennett. His books include Public Matters: Essays on Politics, Policy and Religion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005); The Practice of Liberal Pluralism (Cambridge, 2004); and Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice (Cambridge, 2002).

31 posted on 10/16/2013 2:58:39 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: taxcutisapayraise
Jackson actually paid off the national debt in 1836. Followed by the Panic of 1837. "Old Hickory" had appealing qualities, much like Teddy Roosevelt did later, but in the end neither was a friend of Americans seeking small government and liberty.
32 posted on 10/16/2013 5:04:20 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: LS; cripplecreek; detective; Zionist Conspirator
Wasn't the Democrat Party created solely for the purpose of maintaining Power, whether that was being for Slavery or some Tariff or other?

To me the Idea of an Overpowered Executive Branch started with Jackson, he rode rough-shot around everyone, the Courts Included, if we would have done what the Founders had intended he would have been impeached during the Nullification Crisis.

Taney is only a handful of History Figures that I would like to meet solely to punch them in the face. While Dredd v. Scott was not the ONLY cause of the Civil War, it was a major factor contributing to it happening when it did.

33 posted on 10/16/2013 8:03:45 PM PDT by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: KC_Lion
100% correct. It was created by Martin Van Buren to maintain a single party in power that could protect slavery by simply never bringing it up for a vote---sort of like Tip O'Neill did with term limits and a balanced budget amendment.

Ditto on Taney. And I'd punch Jackson, whom I despise, except he'd kick my butt and wouldn't hesitate to shoot me :)

34 posted on 10/17/2013 5:57:00 AM PDT by LS ('Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually.' Hendrix)
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To: LS
"Ditto on Taney. And I'd punch Jackson, whom I despise, except he'd kick my butt and wouldn't hesitate to shoot me :)"

I don't know if You have any Native American Blood L.S. but he would if you did! lol

I learned that from reading a certain book. :)

I also learned that the "Us Vs Them" Begin with FDR who permanently divided this country with Class Envy.

And this is the Fruit of that 70 Year Labor :/

35 posted on 10/17/2013 6:15:26 AM PDT by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: KC_Lion

Yeah, hard to figure who Jackson hated more, a banker or an Indian. Jeez, imagine if you were an Indian banker with the last name of Clay!


36 posted on 10/17/2013 10:48:16 AM PDT by LS ('Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually.' Hendrix)
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