Article: The Tea Party Movement: what is it? July 14, 2010

It’s been a crazy day, but this article will assist me in my exploration into the world of the tea party.

http://biggovernment.com/oftheeising/2010/04/26/the-tea-party-movement-what-is-it/:

An Excerpt: “The common philosophical thread which does seem to run all through Tea Party adherents who speak out appears to be a sense that government has become too large, too overbearing, too much in debt and that it is muscling into our private lives as never before.”

– Sounds okay to me….

But I feel the need to compliment this more theoretical look at the Tea Party with a quote from a major Tea Partier at their National Convention this past February:

“Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo at the Tea Party convention in Nashville stated to applause, “People who could not even spell the word ‘vote’ or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House..his name is Barack Hussein Obama.”^[65]

This task would be much less daunting if I read more things like the first article and less things like this quote when trying to learn more about the Tea Party.

More later. Good night.

Understanding the Tea Party Movement [an attempt] July 13, 2010

The Tea Party has been around for about a year and a half now and I’ve never really understood it. My initial reaction was that it just doesn’t make sense that politicians, who are paid through tax dollars, are fighting against taxes. It also didn’t make much sense that people were being charged over $500 to attend a Tea Party convention. That didn’t seem very inclusive to me, I mean even if I wanted to attend, I couldn’t afford it, not because of the taxes I pay, but because of the student loan debt I’ve accrued, but that’s another rant.

So I plan on doing some analysis of the Tea Party movement and its values for my own understanding. Maybe it will help others understand it as well, I am open to any feedback and assistance in this venture.

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Brainstorming:

1. The basics

2. Bred from mistrust?

3. Socialism vs Obama’s policies

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The Basics: A compilation of information found on the Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party’s ‘Constitution’ if you will….. [from Wikipedia]

Contract From America:

The Contract lists 10 agenda items that it encourages congressional candidates to follow:^[72][73]

1. Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does (82.03%).
2. Reject emissions trading: Stop the “cap and trade” administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. (72.20%).
3. Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification. (69.69%)
4. Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words — the length of the original Constitution.(64.9%).
5. Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities. (63.37%)
6. Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%).
7. Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (56.39%).
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation. (55.5%).
9. Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%).
10. Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011. (53.38%).

Now for my OPINION on these 10 items…

1. Sounds great but is unrealistic… the constitution is our foundation, like the foundation of a house, that doesn’t mean that you can’t add a room to that house, or knock down a wall in that house… Things have changed since 1787 and we need to have a government that adapts to those changes.

2. Reject Emissions Trading? Really? That’s #2? So 72% of the Tea Party supporters [who chose their name based on the Boston Tea Party which fought against taxation without representation from England] think Rejecting Emissions Trading is most important and 53% think Reducing Taxes is most important?? Something is strange there.

—> more tomorrow…..