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Dox47
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08 Sep 2010, 8:01 pm

But probably not how you're thinking...

Special Report: The Tea Party goes to school

Reuters wrote:
HANNIBAL, Missouri — Some Tea Partiers admit mistakes were made. Others are quick to describe the movement's recent efforts in the political arena as not quite ready for prime time.

But the conservative upstart is determined to shed its amateur status. To that end, members are literally going to school. They are taking part in training sessions, some of which are underwritten by established conservative groups like American Majority, the Leadership Institute and Americans for Prosperity.

Indeed, an up-close look at the Tea Party in 15 states over a three-month period during this summer's political primaries showed a group striving to make the transition from unruly protesters to effective activists. Their near term goal is to gain a foothold at the most basic levels of government -- from city councils to state assemblies.

If they succeed, say political analysts, they could be a significant factor well beyond the November 2 midterm elections and could help shape the 2012 presidential race.

During one recent class held in Hannibal, Missouri by American Majority, Beka Romm, the group's director for Kansas, tells her audience to hold U.S. politicians' feet to the fire. Above all, the ones they like.

"If you look at that chart," she said, pointing at a screen showing deficits under U.S. presidents stretching back half a century to John F. Kennedy, "You can see that some of the people we like have run large deficits."

The numbers show an estimated budget deficit of 7.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 under President Barack Obama, which is in line with most nonpartisan forecasts.

But the chart also makes plain that the last three Republican occupants of the White House -- George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, a GOP deity -- ran up some hefty fiscal shortfalls themselves. As a percentage of gross domestic product, Obama holds the record with Reagan and Bush Sr tied for second place.

"We have to acknowledge what happens to people, even the ones we like, when they get to Washington," Romm told 18 Tea Party activists gathered in a hotel conference room here in Hannibal on the banks of the mighty Mississippi. "It shows why we must hold them accountable. It's also why you don't get to go on vacation on November 3. Because on November 3, you start holding politicians accountable."

That is not necessarily good news for the Republican Party. The GOP is expected to be the beneficiary of the Tea Party's assault on the midterm elections. But for all their shared political DNA, the two parties are by no means always or even regularly on the same page.

In fact, the Tea Party has in some cases forced the GOP to spend more in primaries and could end up helping Democrats in districts where they field their own independent candidate, splintering the conservative vote.

But if Republicans are frustrated, so be it, say many Tea Party members. They add that if the conservative establishment finds them a nuisance now, just wait.
...

The article continues at some length and is available in it's entirety from the link at the top.

This certainly sounds promising, I disagree with many things the Tea Party is for but I see promise in their desires to hold Republicans accountable for their recent turn towards big government. What I see even more interesting long term, is whether the Tea Party will remain content to influence candidates in the mainstream parties, or will they decide to try running under their own brandname. If they choose the latter and are successful, they may finally break through the two party system in this country and encourage some actual political diversity, something I think many people could get behind.


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Jacoby
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08 Sep 2010, 8:34 pm

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the Tea Party after midterms when the GOP likely takes back the house and possibly even the senate. The antiwar left has fell silent since Obama has been elected, I'm afraid the same might happen here. Will they hold the neocon GOP accountable the same way they do the democrats? It will all mean nothing if they go and nominate Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in 2012.



pgd
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09 Sep 2010, 1:02 pm

That's a good article which explains how political parties can work (my view). Thanks for sharing it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_point



xenon13
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10 Sep 2010, 5:18 pm

Ah yes, trying to strengthen the hand of the Mellonist quacks "Liquidate labour, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmer", liquidate everything!



jojobean
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12 Sep 2010, 3:42 am

From what I have seen from the tea partiers, I believe that they are the next incarnation of the republican party. Even though they will probably win this election, they are a dying breed, and they need a make-over to continue. Problem is the tea party says they are against corruption in government, but certain leaders of the movement have stated that they are for racial segergation. They are a dangerous bunch, promicing an answer to our broken government, but I think they are opertunistic of how dysfuctional of system is. This would be a prime time for a takeover...and always beware of the ones who promice the answer to all of our problems. Desperation causes us to compromise in areas where we would not normally think of compromising like re-segergation


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Quartz11
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12 Sep 2010, 9:00 am

Most of the Tea Party education programs are established and funded by a pair of brothers from Kansas - who have extreme hatred for the government and taxes.

It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.



Orwell
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12 Sep 2010, 9:51 am

Quartz11 wrote:
It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.

It is rather curious to have a populist movement which advocates against the best interests of the common man.


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ruveyn
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12 Sep 2010, 11:27 am

Quartz11 wrote:
Most of the Tea Party education programs are established and funded by a pair of brothers from Kansas - who have extreme hatred for the government and taxes.

It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.


Well we do have a government which is loathsome and fit for contempt, contumely, low regard and extreme dislike. Our government now reflects the quality of the common man and we see just how base and trivial it is.

ruveyn



Dox47
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12 Sep 2010, 5:05 pm

Quartz11 wrote:
Most of the Tea Party education programs are established and funded by a pair of brothers from Kansas - who have extreme hatred for the government and taxes.

It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.


Do you really believe everything you read in The New Yorker? :roll:

http://volokh.com/2010/09/02/errors-in- ... the-kochs/

http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/12/koch- ... ea-party-p

http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/25/the-o ... dustries-r


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ruveyn
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12 Sep 2010, 8:07 pm

Dox47 wrote:
Quartz11 wrote:
Most of the Tea Party education programs are established and funded by a pair of brothers from Kansas - who have extreme hatred for the government and taxes.

It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.


Do you really believe everything you read in The New Yorker? :roll:

http://volokh.com/2010/09/02/errors-in- ... the-kochs/

http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/12/koch- ... ea-party-p

http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/25/the-o ... dustries-r


Isn't it strange? When a rich man puts his money where his mouth is politically, it is seen as a sinister Fascist plot.

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Master_Pedant
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12 Sep 2010, 8:19 pm

Dox47 wrote:
Quartz11 wrote:
Most of the Tea Party education programs are established and funded by a pair of brothers from Kansas - who have extreme hatred for the government and taxes.

It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.


Do you really believe everything you read in The New Yorker? :roll:

http://volokh.com/2010/09/02/errors-in- ... the-kochs/

http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/12/koch- ... ea-party-p

http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/25/the-o ... dustries-r


So you pretty much poison The New Yorker well while citing various right-libertarian propaganda sites? Pot, kettle, etc.



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12 Sep 2010, 8:20 pm

Orwell wrote:
Quartz11 wrote:
It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.

It is rather curious to have a populist movement which advocates against the best interests of the common man.


I hope the Tea Partisans get purists in control of the Senate, House, and Executive by 2012. That way they can destroy their crediblity by making America a third world country through various austerity measures.



ruveyn
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12 Sep 2010, 8:21 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:
Orwell wrote:
Quartz11 wrote:
It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.

It is rather curious to have a populist movement which advocates against the best interests of the common man.


I hope the Tea Partisans get purists in control of the Senate, House, and Executive by 2012. That way they can destroy their crediblity by making America a third world country through various austerity measures.


Lord Obama has taken the U.S. a good part of the way to that end.

ruveyn



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12 Sep 2010, 8:24 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Master_Pedant wrote:
Orwell wrote:
Quartz11 wrote:
It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.

It is rather curious to have a populist movement which advocates against the best interests of the common man.


I hope the Tea Partisans get purists in control of the Senate, House, and Executive by 2012. That way they can destroy their crediblity by making America a third world country through various austerity measures.


Lord Obama has taken the U.S. a good part of the way to that end.

ruveyn


Does Oracle ruveyn have any more words of wisdom for the web audience? :roll:



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12 Sep 2010, 8:25 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Master_Pedant wrote:
Orwell wrote:
Quartz11 wrote:
It is nothing more than a backdoor means to prop up American oligarchy and nothing more.

It is rather curious to have a populist movement which advocates against the best interests of the common man.


I hope the Tea Partisans get purists in control of the Senate, House, and Executive by 2012. That way they can destroy their crediblity by making America a third world country through various austerity measures.


Lord Obama has taken the U.S. a good part of the way to that end.

ruveyn

Except for the austerity measures part.


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ruveyn
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12 Sep 2010, 8:26 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:

Does Oracle ruveyn have any more words of wisdom for the web audience? :roll:


You bet.

I have a clear conscience. I did not vote in the last presidential election (the choices were far too horrible). So I can look and laugh and laugh and laugh.

Now the operative idiots of the great American electorate can see the U.S. run by Chicago Rules.

ruveyn