A Meditation on the Tea Party Movement
I have yet to read an account of the Tea Party movement which makes any sort of comprehensive sense. What passes for “commentary” on the subject is mostly ideologically-driven spin from the “left” or “right,” both of which see the movement as a handy rhetorical device they can mock or co-opt to make their same old tired “talking points.”
My own sense is that a coherent account of the Tea Party movement must be far more nuanced and historically informed. The standard-issue pundit/commentator’s ignorance of American history is so abysmal that it is little wonder that commentary on the movement is so threadbare.
To the frustration of those MSM pundits and Party ideologues seeking a sound-bite summary, the Tea Party movement is neither fully formed nor monolithic. There are Democratic Tea Party types, quasi-Libertarians–an entire spectrum of causes and emotional drivers loosely bound up under the one banner.
The comically self-serving frenzy of the Democrats and the blatant desperation to co-opt the movement by the Republicans are less reflective of the Tea Party than they are of the parties’ own fears and failures.
Harold
Too many Tea Party members, despite their good Patriot intentions, appear uninformed.
For example, when I recently attended a political function I found that few Tea Party Members were aware that Sen. McCain on March 4th introduced S.3081, The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010”, a bill that if passed, would allow U.S. Government to arbitrarily pick up and indefinitely detain Americans on mere suspicion with no probable cause, and interrogate U.S. Citizens without right to an attorney. While several Tea Party people I spoke with appeared shocked upon learning about S.3081, none made the connection to ask why their beloved Sarah Palin supported Sen. McCain’s reelection after he introduced this legislation. Nor did any Tea Party members consider that McCain’s legislation could be used by a corrupt government to crush the Tea Party Movement. I don’t want to sound harsh but wouldn’t common sense cause Tea party members to raise questions about Palin supporting McCain? Under provisions of S.3081, Tea Party Groups could be arrested and detained just for attending demonstrations if Government charged a demonstration “materially supported hostilities.” The “supporting hostilities” provisions in S.3081 are so broadly written, Government could arbitrarily use “suspicion” to detain U.S. corporate executives on the premise their corporations “supported hostilities” by providing goods or services to a nation engaged in hostilities against the United States. (Make Your Own Determination If The Analysis Herein Is Correct) See McCain’s 12-page Senate bill S.3081 at:
assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/ARM10090.pdf