Sep 26 2010
The Real Tea Party Movement Emerges
I think the Political Industrial Complex on the right is still trying to take control of the Tea Party, and is missing the point of the movement. I have said for a year this is a libertarian movement, not a social conservative movement. And two recent articles make the point quite clearly.
First, via RCP, there is this great USA Today article about how the only ‘civil war’ in the GOP, or in the country, is between the rising tide of voter anger with DC and the dinosaurs of the entrenched Political Industrial Complex:
Powell is right. The political center has shifted. Polls show that independents have moved right and are staying there. A recent one, conducted by Democratic pollster Doug Schoen in late August for the conservative Independent Women’s Voice, calls it a “fundamental realignment” as independents now lean to the right by 2 to 1. The survey asked independents what they would like candidates to do. The list of answers is clear: “Decrease the size and scope of government, cut spending and taxes, balance the budget, reduce the federal debt, reduce the power of special interests and unions, repeal and replace the healthcare legislation, and decrease partisanship.”
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Notice what’s not on that list: climate change, financial regulation, bank bailouts, auto bailouts, troop surges, lawsuits on immigration reform, and repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Other things are also not on the list: ending abortion (though the making sure no dollars come from the feds for abortions will pass), forcing creationism on schools (though I would bet freedom to pray would be part of rolling back the government), etc. Anything that hints at an intrusive government pushing conservative social values is not a priority. The nation wants the government pared down to its minimum size needed. On the list: decrease partisanship – i.e., build consensus. It screams “more RINOs and DINOs and independents please“.
There is another article that brings this home by identifying ‘5 things [social] conservatives should be wary of in the Tea Party‘. Items #1 and #2 distill out the truth quite nicely:
1. Lack of reverence for conservative leaders and organizations. It has been my observation that many of today’s new activists are quick to conflate being “old” with being part the establishment. This is probably natural, but it is not always helpful. To be sure, some conservative leaders have been corrupted or co-opted.
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2. A move away from social conservatism. Just as the rise of Christian conservatives in the late 1970s and 1980s profoundly changed the conservative movement, the Tea Party has the potential to change it once again, possibly making it more libertarian. While many Tea Partiers are full-spectrum conservatives, it’s fair to say that government spending and the failed economy are the galvanizing forces right now.
I think #1 shows why the movement is not being led by Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham or Mark Levin. They are cheerleaders, but not seen as the leaders. Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin get the nod as being the visionaries of the movement, as do all the elected candidates running for office across the country. They are the movement and will decide priorities and focus.
#2 is just a reminder that the common ground of this movement is limited and does not extend too far to the right. This has been from the beginning a centrist movement and a centrist shift. It was unique in that it grew spontaneously from those who never had been politically active before.
Remember, I am pro-life and against embryonic stem cell research, and I really wish the latter was on the agenda. But I come at it from a balance of scientific and moral opposition – one that uses science to prove the lives being destroyed for spare parts are human individuals. Few realize to this day that science and existing law regarding DNA testing can prove beyond doubt embryos are viable human beings. And the lack of results in embryonic research prove the claims of many of us that humanity is maybe a century away from manipulating cells at this level, while adult stem cell research keeps producing amazing results each and every year. This matter will have to be pushed carefully in proscribing the limits of government. To have a even a hearing, though, we need the Tea Party movement to win.
As the first article notes there is no battle going on in the movement, the consensus of its focus and wrath is quite clear:
Despite what the White House says, the Tea Party agenda is more mainstream than the Obama agenda. That’s why, by a 52-to-40 margin, a majority of likely voters say their views are closer to Sarah Palin’s than to President Obama’s, according to Rasmussen Reports.
Among all Americans, the federal debt now has become the “top perceived threat” to the future of our nation—even topping terrorism in Gallup polls from this summer—driven by Tea Party supporters’ heightened concerns about fiscal irresponsibility. The national debt has become its own national security issue.
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What Obama doesn’t seem to see is that there’s already a consensus, a new American mainstream centered on the need for reining in government taxing and spending, ending the squabbling, and reforming entitlements. The White House doesn’t realize that the “war” is over. The voters won.
It’s not just the White House still trying to adjust to this Brave New Country out there. It is the entire Political Industrial Complex – who still don’t truly see what is coming.
Tom Tancredo just came out in favor of legalizing Mary Jane. I find that surprising and fascinating on several levels.
Definitely confirms that he’s trying to seize the libertarian vote.
[…] and Paul fading — thanks to screwy samples – hotair.com 09/26/2010 Hmmm. more… The Real Tea Party Movement Emerges – strata-sphere.com 09/26/2010 I think the Political Industrial Complex on the right is still […]
Tancredo, having lost the primary, will say whatever he needs to say in order to get a job.
Oh, hey, there was a Tea Party rally in MARIN COUNTY CALIFORINIA! Of all places MARIN! That is about the most lefty of all areas in the state, on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I can’t believe it. The readers of the SF papers are tearing them up, though, in the comments at the SF Gate website:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/26/MNVM1FJAQB.DTL
Note that article says that tea party followers are being told to now switch from “rally” mode to campaign and contribution mode.
Obamacare was a game changer for me. I hate everything about it and will vote for anyone who would oppose it, anyone, well maybe not a murderer, but almost anyone else. I think the “tea party” folks are like me.
I saw this, and find it not unbelievable. How sad!
Ahmadinejad Met With Farrakhan in New York City
Posted by Jim Hoft on Sunday, September 26, 2010, 3:16 PM
Iranian Regime President secretly met with anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan in New York City this past week.
My FOX Houston reported:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s six-night visit to NYC included a secret sit-down with militant minister Louis Farrakhan, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The president shared a hush-hush meal with Farrakhan and members of the New Black Panther Party Tuesday at the Warwick Hotel on West 54th Street.
The meeting took place during Ahmadinejad’s stay in NYC to address the U.N. General Assembly. He met Farrakhan, the fiery 77-year-old leader of The Nation of Islam, in the Warwick Hotel’s banquet hall.
Ahmadinejad’s speech Thursday, during which speculated that the U.S. was behind the 9/11 terror attacks caused outrage, caused a walk-out by U.S. delegates.
The speech was just part of the Iranian leader’s bizarre six-night NYC visit.
I agree. I want to get rid of the economic illiterates that pollute DC but I don’t want to replace them with a bunch of social issue nags. Government should enforce the laws – protect me from others who would infringe my right to live my life and vice versa – and defend the country. We don’t need it to engage in pseudo-science or tell us what to eat for dinner or whether or not to buy health insurance or what to do with whom in our own bedrooms. Just guarantee our right to live our lives in peace (free of jihadi or ANY other external threat) and then LEAVE US ALONE TO WORK THE REST OUT FOR OURSELVES!
Is that so hard? Is there anything about that that any idiot cannot understand? Then why can’t our retarded, sorry “intellectually challenged” so-called elites like the media, the Democrats, the academic pinheads et al comprehend it? To turn John “I’m important becuase I married the ketchup fortune” Kerry’s recent question on its head, “Are you people not paying attention or are you just stupid?”
A.J.
I think what has happened to the Christian Right is that many of them have figured out if you live by legislation you die by legislation. Neither governments nor individuals can make others do good they can only prevent them from doing evil and when you try to force people to do good then that good becomes evil and even that is problematic at times. (I hope that is clear)
I’d like to see contentious issues like Abortion handled like Texas handles liquor laws, local option; county by county. You have areas in the state that are completely dry, some that are completely wet and others that are kind of damp. You know where those areas are and if you don’t like the law in your county then move. Not every issue could be solved this way but many could
Most members of the Tea Party movement don’t agree with most other members on a whole range of topics, but are united around their core beliefs of fiscal responsibility, elected representatives should represent and the Constitution is not an imposition that needs to be shirted whenever possible. To look for agreement on anything else is a fool’s errand. It is not necessarily a libertarian movement, but it does include a large number of libertarians, especially among those who are not Republicans.
Neo: “Most members of the Tea Party movement don’t agree with most other members on a whole range of topics, but are united around their core beliefs of fiscal responsibility, elected representatives should represent and the Constitution is not an imposition that needs to be shirted whenever possible.”
Which, if true (and I believe it is), puts an interesting spin both on our hosts severe disdain for Christine O’Donnell and our hosts curious hiding behind her less-than-pure past to support, remarkably, an establishment candidate that has no history of fiscal responsibility, politically, and is anything but a libertarian.
AJ,
As to calling for RINOs, DINOs, etc., so what is going to happen should one of the calls to reduce expenditures be the reduction of or abolition of the Department of Education? What is Susan Collins going to do? Brown? Snowe? If he gets there Crist? Lindsay Graham? McCain?
I am betting that more than half will vote against the reduction on the flawed premise that the Department of Education should be maintained if not enlarged.
If they do, what is the benefit of having them there for a budget battle?