What's the Tea Party all about, really?

[Eric]

I've been to a rally, I've read the literature - but there's not much in the way of specifics beyond a general call for less government and lower taxes.

That's ok, I guess, but it doesn't give people a real principle to rally around.

How much government is "too big" - and on what basis do you make the determination?

How much is "too much" taxation? And how do you draw the line?

Another thing about the Tea Party that strikes me as a potentially fatal flaw is its fearful reluctance to directly challenge PC orthodoxies about "diversity" and "multiculturalism." Arguably, many of the daunting problems we now face have their root causes in the balkanization of the country along racial/ethnic lines - inevitable in any heterogenous country - and the equally inevitable racial spoils system and antagonisms that come with it.

If anything, based on what I have seen, the Tea Party people bend over backwards to show how deeply they "embrace diversity." They seem absolutely terrified of anything that smacks of defending/trying to preserve the old (that is, white/European-based) America, its culture and traditions - even though the Tea Party is itself overwhelmingly (and quite naturally) a movement of white middle and working class America.

As a purely practical political matter, the facts is non-whites are massively in favor of entitlements, race-based preferential treatment in hiring, etc. - and to a very great extent owe the existence of their "middle class" to the existence of government jobs.

Thus, it serves no good purpose - and arguably, does the opposite - to soft-peddle the diversity racket, not speak openly about the need to restrict and control illegal immigration and at least discuss the question of whether it is sane to believe that America can be the one exception in history of a non-homogenous "free" society of limited government that won't tear itself apart along racial/ethnic lines.

[swamprat]

I think that the problem with the Tea Party movement is that it doesn't address the issue of Freeeeeeeee Trade, which is the root cause of our economic problems. Without means of production, this economy has no chance of real recovery. To me, all the other issues are like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Government spending has certainly spiraled out of control since Obama took over and is now an extremely serious problem. Prior to that, we could have managed that even with historically high government spending levels. What we can't manage is our dependence on foreign made goods for even our necessities of life.

My belief is that if we manufactured everything here, we could manage our social problems such as assimilation and things like that. Our economic policiies have been tearing at the middle class since the 1960's.

I agree that many non whites are in favor of entitlements, however, we could manage that problem if we had an economy that worked. Ours doesn't anymore.

[swamprat]

The only Tea Party ----

http://www.constitutionparty.org/party_platform.php

[Eric]

I think that the problem with the Tea Party movement is that it doesn't address the issue of Freeeeeeeee Trade, which is the root cause of our economic problems. Without means of production, this economy has no chance of real recovery. To me, all the other issues are like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Government spending has certainly spiraled out of control since Obama took over and is now an extremely serious problem. Prior to that, we could have managed that even with historically high government spending levels. What we can't manage is our dependence on foreign made goods for even our necessities of life.

My belief is that if we manufactured everything here, we could manage our social problems such as assimilation and things like that. Our economic policiies have been tearing at the middle class since the 1960's.

I agree that many non whites are in favor of entitlements, however, we could manage that problem if we had an economy that worked. Ours doesn't anymore.

You're right - and this is my chief disagreement with Libertarians. Many have this almost worshipful attitude toward "the market" - but don't see that there is a huge difference between "the market" on a small scale (for example, individuals in a community freely trading goods and services) and multinational corporations leveraging their coercive advantages (such as political influence that leads to favorable-to-them laws as well as labor arbitrage across international borders, etc.) to destroy competition, cartelize their industries and systematically impoverish the working and middle classes in order to maximize "shareholder value."

It's a terrible blind spot and arguably' Libertarianism's fatal flaw. Just as conservatives ' worshipful attitude toward the military and authoritarianism generally is theirs.