Tea Party strong grasp of politics, weak on facts

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   Mighty Momposted 11 years ago

   Read this in my local newspaper yesterday.
   
   http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/03/453245 … party.html
   
   Seems to me the author (co-author of "The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservativism") is trying really hard to be fair and balanced in her view.
   
   Article basically comes down to this observation: Tea partiers "combine laudable and effective political engagement with high levels of misinformation and troubling intolerance of their political opponents."
   
   And where do the TP members get their misinformation?
   Three guesses and the first two (hint) Faux news sources don't count.
   
   What do you think about the Tea Party in 2012???

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      GamingCowboyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      What I think is the most ironic thing about the Tea Party is how closely related they are to the Occupy Wall Street Protests. Essentially, both groups are arguing about the same thing (that power is concentrated in the hands of the wrong people), and along with a strong distrust of the government, they are more similar than they'd like to admit.
      I think that the Tea Party and OWS are symptoms of a big problem in America: the political system feels broken to the majority of people, and I'm worried that it will only be a matter of time until America explodes from this tension.

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      aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Good article, and as whatever happens in your next elections, I have no say in things, (being non American) which will affect me and the rest of the world.
      
      My first thoughts are that the original 'tea party' folk who actually started the civil revolt which ended British control of your land, did not have to contend with media intrusion and examination of their actions, so (for instance) nobody challenged the words 'all men are born equal' in your declaration, whilst the founders still allowed and profited from slavery, which certainly allowed your country to prosper from the slave labour that continued for so long after the declaration.
      
      Those guys relied on 'town hall meetings' to shape opinion and garner support, without any overview or discussion as to whether, after gaining independence, maybe the new republic should make restitution to the native American Indians that were so badly deprived of their country to make room for the new interlopers.
      
      These things have relevance to this effort, by as the article stated; the more mature and mostly accomplished members of your society to restore to America a politics which reflects more closely the situation they grew up in.
      
      In a way it's like a parent viewing the children's lifestyle and actions as incompatible with their values and deciding to intervene, and even impose some of their values over the child's life.
      
      Maybe stop the allowance and take back the car keys, cancel the internet subscription and their iPhone contracts and tell them to get a job stacking groceries if they want to have those things, instead of getting their sustenance from the parents.
      
      The parents do not wish to deny their child, but equally they also would be wrong to encourage or even allow such behaviours they found offensive to continue, and in their opinion, would be doing the best thing for their child's future.
      
      Like the first tea party members, they may be wrong, blinded by selfish intent and unconcerned that perhaps many other Americans do not share their values, but prepared to bring revolution to the land in order to defend their ideals.

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   Bob Zermopposted 11 years ago

   First, I think this is a fantastic article, and basically the best I've ever read on the Tea Party.
   Though there are certainly many who would've loved to call themselves tea party in the beginning, the insanity perpetrated by the media and to an extent by politicians has driven people whose ideas are firmly conservative to call themselves independent. The reason being the main Conservative party in the US, the republicans, have really gone bonkers. GOP2012 and the Tea Party have been like watching a circus, or a horror film. Ridiculous.

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   Mighty Momposted 11 years ago

   I agree with you, Bob Zermop.
   The Tea Party has co-opted conservative ideology and taken it to a bizarre extreme that feels really rigid (because, apparently, it is).
   This whole no compromising is the antithesis of how government works.
   GamingCowboy,
   The political system IS broken and unfettered big business influence is as much of the problem as anything else.
   TP and OWS are both reactionary, highly charged emotional movements, neither of which can really articulate what they really want.
   All they know is "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."

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      aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Which is how the first revolution started, the danger is that Americans are better armed today!

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         Mighty Momposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         You got that right, aquasilver!
         Thanks to our glorious Second Amendment.
         Packin' and just waiting for my call up to the militia, I am!
         

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         lovemychrisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Exactly.
         It's not the gvt that you have to fear, it's your neighbor!
         
         Just last week, some political operative said to throw acid in the face of women challenging their view.
         
         And some wack-job talk radio guy is calling for armed revolution if Romney doesn't win!
         This, the Tea Party (co-opted or not) has been threatening since the first rallies.
         
         I'm sure we all remember those signs.
         And I have never seen a sign like that at an OWS rally....even though they've been co-opted, I'm sure, as well.
         
         The problem I have is this: Supposedly, the TP was protesting TARP. Yet, there was not ONE sign with negatives about Bush.....which is where TARP came from! They were all negative on Obama. Something else besides TARP was going on.
         And they have yet to admit it.

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            aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            No, I think I would fear the US government more than any neighbour at this time, my neighbour is less likely to storm my house at 4am with a SWAT team and imprison me without trial or reason.

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            innersmiffposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            The government can legally take your property and assassinate you. At least with your neighbour you can voluntarily defend yourself and still be within the law.

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