Exactly. Indeed, the "Tea Party" movement doesn't appear to really have any hard and fast core principles either, beyond the general "small government" push.
Somebody posted a political advertisement for a Tea Party candidate on here yesterday, I think it was, some guy named Schiffer running up in OH. I checked it out, and frankly, he looked like some kind of Buchananite, which means I wouldn't support him. He never did get around to really explaining why the Republican he was running against was bad, except for some vague ramblings about how the "establishment" had "hand-picked" him (whether that is really true or not, I don't know, but depending on his ideology, doesn't matter that much).
If the Tea Party movement is going to be hijacked by Buchananites and other wackos, then it doesn't deserve to go anywhere. It needs to be a vehicle for true conservatives, not government-intervention friendly populists.
And I say this as someone who is supportive of the Tea Party movement and has been involved in organising Tea Parties.
I completely agree except I’m not sure there’s much of an agreement on what a “true conservative” is either... unless it’s someone who uses a lot of exclamation marks, underscores and capital letters on FR. ;-)
That having been said, kudos to all Tea Party members.