General discussion

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #2247554

    Could the tea party movement become a third party?

    Locked

    by av . ·

    I’m not sure what to make of the tea party movement. It isn’t well organized and I don’t see any specifics other than they support smaller government and deficit reduction.

    I do like the fact that the tea party is challenging our existing structure, and thats all great, but how can they do a better job?

    One thing I notice that is different is the candidates. They’re not millionaires, and I like that, but the tea party seems to have big-money backers.

    AV

All Comments

  • Author
    Replies
    • #2875769

      “how can they do a better job?”

      by seanferd ·

      In reply to Could the tea party movement become a third party?

      They can leave the Republican Party, along with the neocons, and maybe we’ll see a sane Republican party again.

      Not that I think anything about the party system isn’t dysfunctional at the core.

      The teabaggers are just looneycons.

      • #2875560

        I can agree with that

        by av . ·

        In reply to “how can they do a better job?”

        I don’t like the fact that the Republicans are accepting these extreme radicals into the party. Maybe they have no choice, but I wouldn’t vote for any of them.

        The tea party people have some clout and money, though, but all they seem to stand for is throwing out all incumbents. Not a bad idea in some cases, but the replacements are even more scary.

        The tea party had an opportunity to be a real grassroots, sane alternative to our other parties, but, you’re right, they are looneycons along with their Queen, Sarah Palin.

        AV

        • #2875559

          The biggest problem is that they are fear-based.

          by seanferd ·

          In reply to I can agree with that

          And there doesn’t seem to be much else to them.

          Sure, I’m all for smaller gov, but these people, touting their brand of freedom, would actually rule with an iron fist once they set up their fundamentalist regime. They are not rational. Which is sad, because if they made any sense, it might be a decent movement, if not party.

    • #2875766

      AV

      by santeewelding ·

      In reply to Could the tea party movement become a third party?

      Their strategists, I recall reading, will have nothing to do with the sort, i.e., a “party”. Nor, as far as I read, is there a president, speaker-in-chief, or CEO.

      More, like, cells.

      Harder to get a handle and defeat them that way.

      You, Seanferd, need to get a handle other than the one you reveal.

      • #2875755

        For me, perhaps.

        by seanferd ·

        In reply to AV

        It will have to be a long enough handle, with something interesting at the distal end.

        • #2875753

          Distal

          by santeewelding ·

          In reply to For me, perhaps.

          Stay away from that word.

          Intimates that you know to both treat and at the same time report MOI and NOI of your patient in the field to other, competent medical authority, lifesaving meanwhile the best you can.

          Quirk of English.

          Cf., “hack” and “hacker”, and all that brouhaha.

        • #2875704

          Terminal.

          by seanferd ·

          In reply to Distal

          So as not to infringe anatomical terms claimed as IP by military medicine. I assume this covers usage relative to a midline of the organism’s patient’s bauplan, as well as usage in a self-referential manner, especially in terms of appendages. And let us completely avoid here the other interesting situations of bipedal tetrapods, certainly, or I may have to license some words.

        • #2875459

          Better

          by ansugisalas ·

          In reply to Terminal.

          Replace distal with business.
          The cell structure is revealing… it’s what al qaeda uses too. The goonmasters finally learned how to avoid things like that former majority whip from texas… you know, whatshisface. One that got nailed on campaign funding issues or tax fraud or something similarly accountable.

          They now keep their puppets and their puppeteers seperate. Remote automation, by way of the LCD knee-jerk.

          At least that’s how it seems to me, being paranoid. I wouldn’t handle them without something with a business end. Preferably something with long range and fire-and-forget capability.

      • #2875557

        Unofficially, their head is Sarah Palin

        by av . ·

        In reply to AV

        In my opinion, anyway. When she was running for VP with John McCain, I initially thought she had some substance, but it soon became apparent that she was not a good choice.

        The tea party people are separate cells at this point, but I’m not sure it will benefit them in the long run. It seems like they’re good at going after some incumbents, but the candidates they back aren’t very good.

        I feel very sorry for Delaware if Christine O’Donnell becomes their next senator. I still can’t believe anyone would vote for her.

        AV

    • #2875685

      Not as they’re currently (dis)organized.

      by charliespencer ·

      In reply to Could the tea party movement become a third party?

      There’s no leadership or national agenda. Most of the quotations I’ve heard disavow any desire for centralized organization. The lack of such is why I don’t see the movement lasting beyond the current election cycle.

      While I agree with some of their positions, there are issues that work against my involvement. First, I’ve heard no official platform or proposed solutions. Here in SC it appears to be a movement strictly about blowing off steam, complaining but not offering any solid, actionable (legislatable) ideas. Without a national platform, they’ll remain effective only at the state level. Without state leadership, they won’t remain effective long.

      Second, the lack of a central core of defined principles and the encouragement of anyone dissatisfied with ‘the system’ is bringing in participants I cannot work along side (white supremacists, secessionists, religious radicals).

      Third, I cannot take seriously any movement that so highly regards Sarah Palin. I regard her as a lightweight the Republican party pulled from obscurity only for her appeal to women voters and Second Amendment supporters. She brought no political assets I could see beyond a steady aim and a uterus. Her appeal to the very rightmost section of the party, the apparent core of the Tea Party movement, is now working against the party that brought her to attention in the first place.

      I read an editorial this weekend that resurrected one of William F. Buckley’s principles: primaries should be use to select the most ELECTABLE conservative candidate. So far, the Tea Party supporters appear to be electing primary winners without regard to their general election chances. We’ll see in November, and again in 2012. I’m betting they’ll be gone or greatly reduced, like Ross Perot’s followers.

      • #2875558

        Thanks for you calm and reasoned approach.

        by seanferd ·

        In reply to Not as they’re currently (dis)organized.

        I can’t be very reasonable about these people any more – I’ve spent too long dealing with them elsewhere.

      • #2875550

        They could organize

        by av . ·

        In reply to Not as they’re currently (dis)organized.

        I think this could be the party of Sarah Palin and maybe even Glenn Beck (shudder). They’re disorganized, but they have lots of money from somewhere.

        If they do organize, they could be a conservative-radical third party. Tea party rallies are pretty much the same thing in NJ. People letting off steam, but some are real extremists. Too much for me.

        Initially, I thought Sarah Palin had some substance, but she proved herself to be just an idiot. She found a niche in the tea party because she’s good at instigating controversy. You betcha! I can’t believe people buy her BS.

        I really hope that the tea party candidates lose in the November elections. I don’t remember Ross Perot’s followers to be as strong as the tea pary, but if the tea party ever decided to go mainstream, it could be a force to be reckoned with.

        AV

        • #2874748

          Ross Perot.

          by charliespencer ·

          In reply to They could organize

          Perot was running for pres. with a national organization, with state campaign offices supporting him; more of a ‘top down’ organization as opposed to the Tea Party’s ‘bottom up’ non-organization.

          Like many in the current movement, Perot’s supporters were mainly ‘deficit hawks’. (Disclaimer: I was one of them, and voted for him the first time. The second time it was clear he’d gone over the edge.) Unlike the current movement, I recall Perot offering solutions. Some of them made sense, some didn’t, but at least they were more than “Throw the bums out!”

          That’s another problem I have with the Tea Party movement. They refuse to acknowledge that it’s just barely possible some incumbents have value. Should they manage to establish an ongoing organization, who would want to run under their banner? After the first term, they’ll only want to replace you again. Since congressional rules award chairmanships and leadership positions based on seniority, Tea Party congresspeople would never have any power. (I strongly disagree with this system of power, but Congress makes its own rules. Minority party and junior reps aren’t going to be able to change that.)

        • #2874743

          Favorite Perot Quote:

          by robo_dev ·

          In reply to Ross Perot.

          “If anybody has any better ideas, I’m all ears.”

          I have a Perot 92 T-shirt and bumper sticker that I plan to sell on eBay at some point.

          I also have a ‘Nixon: now more than ever” sticker, and I won’t mention the ‘I like Ike’ buttons.

          It was unfortunate that he could not find a good running mate, as Stockdale was not the best choice. He got over 19 Million votes, which was 18.9% of the popular vote.

          The interesting thing is that it could be argued that Perot was the ‘spoiler’ who put Clinton in office in 92, much like Nader was considered to be in 2000.

        • #2874664

          Ross Perot did have real solutions

          by av . ·

          In reply to Ross Perot.

          I remember his pie charts and no-nonsense way of explaining things. He wasn’t just a naysayer, he was a successful businessman that had some real solutions.

          The man was dead-on about the “giant sucking sound”. I can still hear it today, and look where we are.

          Its too bad that the tea party can’t become a party of moderates with new ideas. There is a lot of dissatisfaction in this country just waiting for something like that.

          Sadly though, their goal seems to be just to get rid of incumbent politicians, regardless of their record.

          AV

        • #2874566

          Perot was a Captain Obvious kind of guy

          by delbertpgh ·

          In reply to Ross Perot did have real solutions

          Perot would say “This is an obvious bad thing, and that is an obvious good thing, and we should just do the obvious stuff to go from bad to good.” He ignored a lot about politics.

          He would look at things as a businessman, which is to say he saw the U.S. as a big enterprise, and that the job of government was to make the enterprise successful. While that might sound neat and simple, it ignores a lot about a country. For somebody like Perot, you imagine the nation as a bunch of success meters, and your job is to bring the needles up: jobs, profitability, balance of trade, innovation, military power. Makes it sound so simple, and Perot’s strength was that he saw a simple path through the confusion of politics. He appealed to tea-party types of thinkers, who didn’t like the way government kept getting stuck on a bunch of junk while the country went to hell.

          Businessmen are all about profitability. They have a simple goal, and find a creative way of getting to it. It makes them seem like geniuses, compared to bureaucrats and politicians. However, government doesn’t have simple goals. It has many, which are often in opposition, and have to be balanced against resources and the passions of the times, and the power of their competing advocates.

          A lot of what motivates today’s Tea Party does not show up on Perot’s dashboard meters. Abortion, suspicion about the size of government, trustworthiness of leaders: these are all emotional and ideological factors, and they aren’t represented by any success indicator. You can’t business-manage your way around these passions.

          Perot just wound up looking too naive.

      • #2875456

        Populists…

        by ansugisalas ·

        In reply to Not as they’re currently (dis)organized.

        We’ve had them for ages. Sadly, they don’t go away, and they only get worse with time. In Denmark it started with “the Progress Party” who wanted to kill all taxes. They evilved into “the Danish People’s Party” that now “helps” the neoliberals (i.e. neoconservatives) stay in power… the cost being a contract written in blood.
        They’ll use anything as a tool to increase their own power, regardless of detriment to society as a whole.

        One step up from mob rule, but it’s a temporary step.

        Watch out, don’t except them to go away. Don’t turn your backs for a second.

        • #2875353

          That’s democracy for you.

          by delbertpgh ·

          In reply to Populists…

          Got to accept the meatheads along with the thinkers. Otherwise, where is your virtue?

        • #2875300

          Populists aren’t meatheads…

          by ansugisalas ·

          In reply to That’s democracy for you.

          They’re the ones that think they can manipulate who they think are meatheads for political gain.
          They think they’re smarter than they are, playing with dynamite.
          Look out.

        • #2875351

          I know they’re never going away

          by av . ·

          In reply to Populists…

          There will always be Populists and thats ok, because it challenges the establishment.

          I’m kind of disturbed that the tea party is being accepted by the Republican party. The candidates are uninspired and radical. I wouldn’t vote for them, ever.

          You’re right, we can’t ever turn our backs. Otherwise, we might have a Sarah Palin President. Moose anyone? :^0

          AV

    • #2875679

      As the little (R) in front of their names will show, No not a third party

      by de’raj o’citsen ·

      In reply to Could the tea party movement become a third party?

      No, they are mostly a GOP “grassroots” ad campaign… As much as they like to deny this its rather hard with people like Palin up there running off her mouth about Beck & Rush working with her to bring the Tea Party vote home for the GOP cause…

      Running under the banner of the people that caused the mess they claim to protest against is kind of a sick joke.

    • #2875554

      While I can’t argue that we could use an option

      by boxfiddler ·

      In reply to Could the tea party movement become a third party?

      that’s not Democrat or Republican (alphabetical order…), we’re not going to get one unless we’re willing to vote third party at EVERY opportunity, no matter who that party is.

      Who knows. Maybe when Dems and Reps start losing a larger and larger percent of the vote (whether or not it costs them an office for the moment), they’ll discover that political power is finite.

      • #2874659

        Thats a good point

        by av . ·

        In reply to While I can’t argue that we could use an option

        No third party has ever garnered much of a voter turnout.

        The tea party has turned that around somewhat. Their candidates are winning, but the quality of the candidates is a little scary.

        If they had organization and real ideas, aside from just getting rid of incumbents, they could become a valid third party.

        I think that after we were all burned by both existing parties, this country is ripe for a real, all-inclusive, grassroots third party.

        AV

    • #2875533

      loose-leaf semi-colons

      by bergenfx ·

      In reply to Could the tea party movement become a third party?

      Disclaimer: (notice it is not in small type, only because I couldn’t figure out how to do small type), I don’t know any teabaggers that I know of. I don’t know of anybody I know of that knows any teabaggers; although I would like to talk with any teabaggers to get their side of the story; but all I know is what I read in the papers; even if this is semi-colon ridden sentence of sorts; not that semi-colons or teabaggers are bad or anything ;;; better than no colon at all or loose leaf tea.

      I get the impression that the tea party movement is based on a nostalgia for an America that never existed; manipulated by right-wing money-baggers, (which I guess is better than loose leaf money). It seems the Palinistic, Bequesque breakfast tea brew is for an America, pre-progressive era, complete with twelve year-olds pulling twelve-hour shifts, tenements as the new American Dream in our cities, toxic snake oil sold as “cures-what-ails-ya,” etc. An America where Enrico Fermi would have been allowed within our borders long enough to help us win a war, and then be sent home … too Mediterranean, doncha know.

      Less government actually sounds rather nice to me, but I do believe in social justice (without entitlement mentality, but that is an attack in the other direction), and protecting our people from poisonous miracle cures, Wall Street Greedistas, surface welds on our bridges iced through kick-backs, etc; etc ;;;

      • #2875532

        Difference being

        by santeewelding ·

        In reply to loose-leaf semi-colons

        That, maybe, your nostalgia is recent.

        Paragoric for infants is better than smothering them.

        • #2875528

          So, it’s the Document that mentions Indians …

          by bergenfx ·

          In reply to Difference being

          several times, but not the Soviet Union, the European Union, the Asian tigers, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Axes of Evil, etc? It can be considered sacrosanct, but interpretation is mandatory … especially in the context of the zeitgeist.

          Pagoric? Absolutely! Free open expression of grievance — even acting out frustration, probably even cathartic. But then, I hope, in my culture, people engage and seek the truth through dialogue, exchange, intercourse, (okay maybe not intercourse, although it would certainly help resolve differences). Okay, I just revealed it there, didn’t I? Faith in mankind. What kind of fool am I? Hum a few bars and I’ll pick you up. Key of G? Great. I’ll follow.

        • #2875527

          I have a feeling

          by santeewelding ·

          In reply to So, it’s the Document that mentions Indians …

          That I can send missiles of every odd sort your way, and that you can slow them down for examination before they reach you with a wave of your hand.

          So far, anyway.

        • #2875524

          You just need to tell me to …

          by bergenfx ·

          In reply to I have a feeling

          … “Listen Up, and you might learn something,” or “biscuit.” I generally respond to those things. There are other things that I respond to better than biscuits, (like fig, papaya, cheesecake), but then you were born to the wrong 50-ish%.

          Besides, I can never quite figure out how your missiles work anyway; absolutely wondrous contraptions made of equal parts Rube Goldberg, Nikolai Tesla, Zen, Dr Emmet Brown and Santee.

          Thanks. I have had LOL’s, but not with warmth.

        • #2875521

          Some missiles

          by santeewelding ·

          In reply to You just need to tell me to …

          Or, missives, are constructed such that…

        • #2874695

          It’s the misifs

          by bergenfx ·

          In reply to Some missiles

          … that concern me.

          If you were stranded on a tropical island with one person, and that person could be anyone you choose; what kind of fruit would you want to be?

Viewing 5 reply threads