Thread: Tea Party: What is it/what does it stand for

Interesting. Apparently the founders of the party are not too happy about the crazies taking over...

Tea Party ‘founder’: Palin, Gingrich a ‘joke’ | Raw Story

A financial blogger and ex-CEO credited with being one of the original "founders" of the Tea Party has come out against the movement, saying it has been hijacked by the very people it was protesting and is now obsessed with "guns, gays and God."

In a "message" to the Tea Party Wednesday, Karl Denninger declared that he "ought to sue" anyone who uses the Tea Party name "for defamation."

"Yeah, that's a joke," he writes. "But so are you. All of you. Especially Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Bob Barr, and douchebag groups such as the 'Tea Party Patriots.'"

Denninger writes: "Tea Party my ass. This was nothing other than the Republican Party stealing the anger of a population that was fed up with the Republican Party's own theft of their tax money at gunpoint to bail out the robbers of Wall Street and fraudulently redirecting it back toward electing the very people who stole all the ****ing money!"

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Now if she actually accepts her role as a lightening rod for the TEA Party Ideal and continues to push the issues and stays away from the party politics,, By taking out Republicans, that don't stand for fiscal conservative values, along with as many Liberals as possible, then perhaps it will become the voice of the people....

If Palin becomes the face of the tea party... then they're dead.
If Palin becomes the face of the republicans... then they're dead.
If she realized this, she'd actually have a way to play with the big dogs and get her way in the background.
It's like people paying you to not show up at your birthday party

Originally Posted by Bruno

It's like people paying you to not show up at your birthday party

Yeah, but what about the TEA Party?

I think you underestimate who Americans are willing to vote for to stay within party lines.

Palin and Beck are already the faces of the tea party.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If Palin becomes the face of the tea party... then they're dead.
If Palin becomes the face of the republicans... then they're dead.

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

I think you underestimate who Americans are willing to vote for to stay within party lines.

Palin and Beck are already the faces of the tea party.

Just as BO and Pelosi are the faces of the Democrats party.

From what I've seen of Tea Party members, they're all demographics, but united in being opposed to the oppressive intrusion of government into our lives, our pockets, our minds. Today were 3 good examples: Juan Williams gets fired for admitting what many people feel. If there wasn't some rationale behind his thoughts....then why do we have TSA screeners at the airports? Second example: now government is dictating what you can eat and drink. We've all heard about government plans to tax soft drinks to discourage sugar consumption....today the government announced that people on food stamps can no longer purchase any POTATOES or potato product with food stamps or WIC because potatoes are a starch and fattening. Example 3: my son-in-law learned today that his health care premiums just jumped $200/MONTH! With the health care reform we knew this was coming, his $200 is going to amortize the costs of the government saddling consumers with the 34 million people who didn't carry health insurance. There's simply too much of this government intrusion going on and just like the tax revolt of the first Tea Party, is the reason for the new Tea Party. Unfortunately, there is a movement afoot to paint them as bigots or racists or whatever simply because they're opposed to bigger government.

Just consider the reason Govt got so big. Was it because the President at the time decided to expand for fun or to make himself more important? Look back through the 1800s and you will see the sad state of affairs in this country. The Govt expanded to deal with services demanded by the people and abuses private corporations subjected the people to because they knew they could get away with it.

All the people who want smaller Govt love the idea until the smaller Govt has a detrimental effect on them and then it's a different story.

Yes, but then I recall what my great great uncle Thomas Jefferson once told me...

Most bad government has grown out of too much government.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms [of government] those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.

Jefferson had it right.

There is an excellent article in FT on the subject:

FT.com / Comment / Opinion - The Tea Party will prove transient

Originally Posted by harpman

From what I've seen of Tea Party members, they're all demographics, but united in being opposed to the oppressive intrusion of government into our lives, our pockets, our minds. Today were 3 good examples: Juan Williams gets fired for admitting what many people feel. If there wasn't some rationale behind his thoughts....then why do we have TSA screeners at the airports? Second example: now government is dictating what you can eat and drink. We've all heard about government plans to tax soft drinks to discourage sugar consumption....today the government announced that people on food stamps can no longer purchase any POTATOES or potato product with food stamps or WIC because potatoes are a starch and fattening. Example 3: my son-in-law learned today that his health care premiums just jumped $200/MONTH! With the health care reform we knew this was coming, his $200 is going to amortize the costs of the government saddling consumers with the 34 million people who didn't carry health insurance. There's simply too much of this government intrusion going on and just like the tax revolt of the first Tea Party, is the reason for the new Tea Party. Unfortunately, there is a movement afoot to paint them as bigots or racists or whatever simply because they're opposed to bigger government.

Have to agree to disagree with your contention that your son in laws premiums jumped $200 due to covering the 34 million uninsured Americans, who currently rely on emergency room visits for their safety net. And seldom are hospitals paid for these visits. How much does a trip to the emergency room cost? On average six times more than a traditional doctor's office visit. Hospitals increase their rates substantially to pass this cost on. The currently insured are pocketing the entire cost of this insanely inefficient system through higher health care premiums. It stands to reason to me that if we can lower the cost of health care for 34 million Americans by six times, we might just benefit. Also, the 34 million currently uninsured who are able to pay, are required to pay premiums under the new bill. This much larger premium/actuarial base should have a positive effect on lowering insurance costs. Only the truly indigent would not pay premiums.