E.J. Dione hyperventilates about the rise of the Tea Parties and about their impact on American politics.
To Dione and other lefty statists, the insistence on balancing the budget and lowering taxes and obeying the Constitution is something akin to anarchism.
Our self-anointed elites get very nervous about all of this 'unalienable rights' and 'We the People' talk. Ordinary Americans might even realize that we don't even need inexplicably highly-paid liberal media Brahmins like Dione to tell us what our rights are.
The proles are getting restless...
To Dione and other lefty statists, the insistence on balancing the budget and lowering taxes and obeying the Constitution is something akin to anarchism.
Our self-anointed elites get very nervous about all of this 'unalienable rights' and 'We the People' talk. Ordinary Americans might even realize that we don't even need inexplicably highly-paid liberal media Brahmins like Dione to tell us what our rights are.
The proles are getting restless...
It seems to me that the Tea Party is simply a reaction to the whole Neo-Con Neo-Lib synthesis.
ReplyDeleteThe Tea Partiers are REVERTING to old style political thinking that could be described broadly as 'American' style politics.
That this shift in the grass roots to a rather a-partisan, realistic and traditional stance should horrify mandarins like the author is no shock. Rather it is a sign they are doing something right! I cannot understand for the life of me, though, why they do not form an official THIRD party and murder the other two at the polls? Every American I know is sick of the bipartisan BS in congress, and this would be such an obvious way to break that deadlock.
"I cannot understand for the life of me, though, why they do not form an official THIRD party and murder the other two at the polls?"
ReplyDeleteBecause they'd sink to utter irrelevance almost instantly, like all the other third parties in the U.S.
Anon,
ReplyDelete"Because they'd sink to utter irrelevance almost instantly, like all the other third parties in the U.S."
Why do you presume that? I mean, what is your reasoning in thinking they would sink into irrelevance?
"I mean, what is your reasoning in thinking they would sink into irrelevance?"
ReplyDeleteThe Green Party. The Libertarian Party. The American Party. The Reform Party. And so on. The plurality voting system for Congressional elections effectively eliminates the relevance of third parties.
The Tea Party is the latest manifestation of the “moral majority”; old, white, religious conservatives. They will never be more than about 20% of the electorate. The Tea Party’s has become hugely unpopular, with roughly twice as many people having an unfavorable opinion vs. favorable, and twice as many people being strongly opposed vs. strongly support. They would only split the conservative vote and ensure Democratic majorities. Crusader, get a clue man. What crap do you watch, listen to, and read that makes you think they would clean up?
ReplyDelete-KW
KW has a point. Look how much damage the Tea Parties did to Republicans in the 2010 House and Senate elections, when they made historic gains.
DeleteImagine how well the Republicans would have done if they didn't have all of those "obey the Constitution" and "balance the budget" wackos on their side!
KW,
Delete"The Tea Party is the latest manifestation of the “moral majority”; old, white, religious conservatives. They will never be more than about 20% of the electorate. "
Strange characterization. This is how you see a grass roots movement among your own people? An entire FIFTH of them, no less!
Not what I have seen, not the people I know who are 'all for' the Tea Party demonstrations. Neither old, nor entirely Christian, nor by any means all 'white'.
"The Tea Party’s has become hugely unpopular, with roughly twice as many people having an unfavorable opinion vs. favorable, and twice as many people being strongly opposed vs. strongly support."
Strange. That is not what our media reports. A 'growing' movement is how I hear it most commonly described.
"hey would only split the conservative vote and ensure Democratic majorities. Crusader, get a clue man."
Like the congressional senate majority of the last term? Is that a clue?
"What crap do you watch, listen to, and read that makes you think they would clean up? "
They used to call it 'the news', but I also read what were once called 'books'. I can also read INTO the hysterical resistance to this movement, which leads me to believe it is a real threat to the 'progressive' movement.
Mike,
Such is the strength and potency of the disaffected and disillusioned masses. I would suggest that if the Republicans do not measure up to what they demand (constitutionalism, a sane economic policy etc), you may just get that third party.
It could be a good thing, too. Even if it is only a temporary measure.
I don't think that the Tea Party should be a party at all, but a movement above the parties. It is an insistence that all players in the political process obey the Constitution and live within their means (a balanced budget).
DeleteIf it becomes a "third Party", it will quite likely become part of the problem.
Angelo Codevilla in his extraordinary essay The Ruling Class (a must read!-- http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the/print)
made this point. The most difficult part about restoring limited Constitutional government is that any group sufficiently organized to accomplish it is prone to-- become a greedy party itself and become part of the problem.