Posted on 02/05/2010 9:50:07 PM PST by dr_who
In recent months, the most influential political party in the country may not be the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, but the Tea Party. This murky, largely leaderless grassroots movement has been the driving force behind the derailment of President Barack Obama's dearest agenda items, notably health care reform and climate change legislation.
What are the goals of this movement? In part, that is the wrong question. The Tea Party effort rejects the notion that a politician or a pundit should define their movement. Rather, citizens themselves will tell us what the movement means.
As their name suggests, these citizens want to revive the ideas at the heart of the American Revolution: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. One chapter in Texas adopted these principles: limited government; fiscal responsibility; personal responsibility and the rule of law.
The quality that gives the Tea Party movement its legitimacy is that it is so fundamentally illegitimate.
Tea Party groups are conducting online polling and deliberations to determine the priorities of the movement. This process will create a "Contract from America" to serve as a template for reforms to come. The most popular ideas now include a flat tax, congressional term limits and abolishing the U.S. Department of Education.
Those ideals and policies sound like what the Republican Party once espoused but have not practiced for at least a decade.
Not surprisingly, establishment conservatives have recently tried to make hay of the Tea Party movement's apparent lack of a recognizable face or national headquarters. Grover Norquist, the Rasputin behind countless conservative organizing activities, has offered tips to Tea Party organizers. Old (and perhaps new again) Republican apparatchiks like Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich have proclaimed their oneness with the Tea Party faithful and essentially offered their services as the movement's leaders. No doubt many Republican leaders would like to direct the energy of the Tea Party against the Obama administration and to receive the votes of these idealists come November.
We pray thee, Tea Partiers: Do not go there.
The quality that gives the Tea Party movement its legitimacy is that it is so fundamentally illegitimate: outside the establishment, bereft of representation on K Street, and without an identifiable face to speak for it on Meet the Press. This is a movement that sprang deep from within the viscera of America, not from some political poll or focus group.
It is not Republican; it is not even conservative. It has no interest in debating the merits of No Child Left Behind, abstinence-only sex education or George W. Bush's rationale for going to Iraq. Replacing a "spend and borrow" Democrat with a "spend and borrow" Republican is not the goal of the Tea Party movement.
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John Samples is director of the Center for Representative Government at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group in Washington, D.C., and the author of the forthcoming book The Struggle to Limit Government.
This movement is simply saying: "We are fine without you, Washington. Now for the love of God, go attend a reception somewhere, and stop making health care and entrepreneurship more expensive than they already are."
Machiavelli once said a republic stays healthy by returning to its first principles from time to time. The Tea Party movement is trying to get our nation back to its first principles to prevent our decline. For their trouble, they have been denounced by many in the media and the Obama administration.
But they will continue to fight. They still believe in the promise of America. That faith may spread as Election Day approaches in the second and perhaps final year of what is supposed to be the Age of Obama.
What began as angry town meetings and grew into a political movement may end as a third political party in 2012. Maybe then Washington will finally listen.
Exactly. But The RNC/GOP has drifted away from conservatives. They interfer in primaries and quit listening to the base.
The RATS win if the current GOP stays the course.
I suspect that the Tea Party is composed of various political groups from anarchist to conservative. The one thing that they have in common is disdain for big government. They believe in minimum government and maximum freedom. Political parties do respond to political movements, such as the Tea Parties, and they adopt those movements. Those running for office in the GOP will be more conservative than in previous elections. They have learned their lesson for now. The GOP knows that they cannot win an election without the Tea Party. There will much pandering to the Tea Party groups.
I am growing more anarchist by the day. Not left wing whack socialist anarchist but anarcho-capitalist. Been hanging out at Von Mises too much. (:
The Tea party should marry the GOP and wear the pants in the family.
Agreed.
Being chaotic and disorganized and not cohesive, but just dissatisfied and angry and "not going to take it anymore" will not win elections to move a large group of people in a particular direction that they want to go in and succesfully carry them along like that for an extended period of time.
But being organized, unmotivated and unpopular isn't going to take it either.
No matter what it takes -- if conservatives want to win elections and have control over this country -- then they are going to have to be cohensive, organized, have leaders that can carry a large group of people through on political goals and keep control of the mechanisms of government and do it long-term.
Again, I fully agree with you.
Until it comes together like that with solid infrastructure and can hold together and get political goals carried out over the long term and control the different facets of the government (from whatever organization this turns out to be) -- whether it's local, state or national -- it's going nowhere... and only the Democrats will benefit.
So far passion and people showing up to challenge politicians and showing up to vote has taken NJ, VA and MA, but I'm not advocating for disorganization...just pointing out that things can happen as they currently are, and they should only get better with time.
We'll see how it pans out, in terms of actual political accomplishments and in terms of the control of the infrastructure of out government in this country. That remains to be seen...
Absolutely. It looks like we really are in agreement for the most part. The thought behind my previous post was just that the republicans can't just say shut up and line up behind us because we're the recognized party and if you run off on your own the dems win. Well, most of the same comments can be said about the republicans...and they can't win without the tea party folks.
As I see it, one of the primary targets of the tea party movement is big and ever expanding government and it's attendant programs. The majority of them are of democrat creation...but not all. There are big government types in the republican party as well...and if the republicans choose to keep running that sort they're going to find very tepid support for the tea party folks. In such cases the republican party can try to say vote for our guys anyway or the dems win...well, big government republicans aren't much better than big government democrats. I'm fed up with voting for the lesser of two evils...and if the republicans decide to run one of those "evils" then they can count me out...let the dems have the seat then...and it's the republican party's fault in each and every place that occurs.
Threatening the GOP with a third-party or a third-party candidate is no threat at all to the RINOs who control the GOP. That is how the RINOs, who make up less than ten percent of Republican voters continue to control the GOP, while pretending to be just slightly less communist than the Democrats.
If conservatives want to reform the GOP, conservatives need to stay and work within the party, at the precinct, county, state, and national levels. The RINOs don't want or need conservative participation, until the general election. Then you get your choice of Dem or Dem-Lite. Their mantra has been for years, "what are they going to do -- vote Democrat?"
Third party stupidity is keeping the RINOs in power. RINOs don't care if the Dems win; they are on the same side. They just don't want conservatives to win, or even participate. They want you to toss up your registration, and quit the process. You can't beat them if you quit the party.
The major message of the Tea Party movement is that we can win by participating in the process. The system isn't broken, so much as it is neglected by the people.
My instincts have signalled that Cato is working for the democrats.
Every time they speak I get that same feeling that their agenda is not conservatism but liberalism.
Are you a Paulista?
I dont trust anyone who wants to control others.
Fiscal conservative? = you bet. Social conservative = what does that mean exactly? Beyond the traditional definition of marriage, what exactly does that constitute?
There seems to be a unquenchable desire for people, who otherwise espouse freedom and liberty, to try and control others.
I look to the libertarians to check that tendency in Republicans.
“This is where all the Republicans are worried that a third party will split the vote, keeping the Dems in power...”
actually where all Americans should worry if the Dems keep power. The Dems want third party movements at this point to split the conservative vote. Deval Patrick in MA may actually be able to keep his seat with his 36% approval because there is a Republican and an Independent(formerly a Democrat until he decided he couldnt win a Dem primary) in the race. Last poll i saw had Deval winning with something like his 36% approval and the others splitting the anti-Deval vote.
The Tea Party is not just conservatives.....it is a coalition of citizens (some who just woke up) and all agree that our government is out of control.
Our politicians spend too much, control too much and do not listen to the people.
This is not a conservative, liberal, or libertarian movement....it is a coalition of people united by a few common ideas.
If any ideology or party tries to coop the Tea Party....or if it tries to become a party....it will fall apart.
If any ideology or party tries to coop the Tea Party....or if it tries to become a party....it will fall apart.
Agree. 100%.
I've been registered as an independent (non-aligned) voter since 1966. In no way has that EVER been my philosophy.
Only if the GOP continues to support RINOs. If they stay true to the party's conservative values, then there won't be a problem.
The vote gets split because of GOP RINO turncoats. NOT the Tea Party.
LOL! True.
The dense media continue to try and box in what the Tea Party movement is about and who they represent, either by ignorance or design. Once again, it’s about returning to the Constitution, not party affiliation.
Repeated polls have shown that the majority of voters are conservative. The problem is that the Republican party has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the "country club Republicans", who are, at base, mostly liberal with a nod to "fiscal conservatism". The Tea Party is the vehicle that can kick the CCR's out, and see that REAL conservative candidates are run.
Again, the numbers show that ALREADY more people identify with the Tea Party than either Democrats or Republicans.
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