Why the tea party lives on
Fault them if you will as primitivist monomaniacs. Question whether they are sincere enough to surrender their own Social Security and Medicare as well as everyone else’s. But many tea party-affiliated members are true believers who have a long memory of Republican betrayal as well as enmity toward the Democrats. They know that despite the “Reagan revolution” three decades ago government has only grown bigger; that the various eruptions of conservative rebellion since the Reagan era, including the Gingrich-led takeover of the House in 1994, each amounted to little more than one step forward, two steps back. (Remember David Stockman and The “Triumph of Politics”?) They know that George W. Bush blew the budget out entirely, loading up the deficit with two wars, tax cuts and Medicare spending without paying for them. …
A 2006 study by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis showed only small growth from 1792 until World War II (with a spike during WWI), but then a relentless steady rise since a brief fall-off in war spending in the late 1940s. By 2004, the federal government was spending $7,100 per capita, nearly 55 times more than was spent per capita in the 1910s, the Fed said.
Sorry, but I think the drama is far from over. The rebellion against the size of government is a true populist movement, and it’s not going away. The debt limit is still the biggest card the tea party has. They’re going to use it.
Blowback
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The Tea Party movement must become the GOP WOMEN’s MOVEMENT
The GOP must be taken over by – and led by – CONSERVATIVE WOMEN.
The men of the GOP are complete failures — at all levels.
The future of the GOP is with WOMEN.
jake-the-goose on January 3, 2013 at 8:53 AM
Of course we won’t surrender our own Social Security and Medicare! Why should we? We were forced to pour money into that Ponzi scheme all our working lives, and we want as much of it back as we can get.
That’s why no responsible plan changes SS for anyone near collecting. Anything else would be immoral.
S. Weasel on January 3, 2013 at 8:55 AM
Don’t be sorry. There’s some sort of rebellion brewing out here and at the least it’s going to be a mass withdrawal from the economy. The ‘rats aren’t going to be left with much once a great number of producers stop producing, stop purchasing, stop creating though it’s the “what” that scares me.
Bishop on January 3, 2013 at 9:02 AM
Hey jake-the-goose, take your identity politics elsewhere.
Living4Him5534 on January 3, 2013 at 9:10 AM
LMAO – at you
jake-the-goose on January 3, 2013 at 9:12 AM
It is to laugh at really, that some of the comments to this article talk about wealthy people using the Tea Partiers as Puppets. No one can control a Tea Partier, you can’t even get them to get on a bus, because everyone wants to organize it their way, and the individualism is rampant!
We all (conservatives, Tea Partiers) think for ourselves, and think we have found the truth, and do not distract away from our own opinion very easily. A perfect example: The “tea party” unable to decide on candidates in primaries.” If it was being dictated by a wealthy agent, it would be like the powers coming in and saying that Liz Warren will be the candidate or that Ed Markey will be the candidate or that no primary will happen, as long as Barney Frank is the congressman, um, exactly the way the democrats dictate, winning being more important that political expression.
Fleuries on January 3, 2013 at 9:15 AM
Primitivist monomaniacs? Crazies, nihilists, nut jobs?
The libs get everything they want and they still have to resort to hyperbole and name-calling. And they are supposed to be so smart. Amazing.
DaydreamBeliever on January 3, 2013 at 9:18 AM
Free stuff wins. Free iPad with every EBT card!
John the Libertarian on January 3, 2013 at 9:22 AM
Sorry. You were ripped off and lied to. To repeat my comment from the other thread:
Social security is a tax. The law was written as such and was found by the courts to be such. You are entitled to no more return on social security taxes than you are on any other tax. Yes, the government is lying to you, but you should have known better. There is no trust fund, it doesn’t exist.
At this point, people asking for “returns” on their social security taxes are asking other peoples’ children to fund their retirements. It’s not going to happen. Get used to it, and use the time you have now to get prepared.
Doomberg on January 3, 2013 at 9:46 AM
The problem is that the government has lied to us for many years. Most people seem to think that they put money into the system and then when they retire they get their money back.the way it actually works is that the money being paid out is coming from those paying in now(and from the surplus built up over the years) The problem is simple math. When it started there were I think 8 people paying in for every payout. This makes a surplus. We are headed for a point soon of 2 people paying in for every person withdrawing. People living longer (by more than 10 years )combined with the boomer generation retiring are going to eat up the surplus quickly. After that you need to start borrowing to make the payments.At this point(estimates differ on when it will happen) it collapses and combined with the debt of the rest of the government say goodbye to any payments. Like you said – it is a ponzi scheme that is unsustainable. We have a choice to make – Either fix it now or eliminate it for future generations.
Medicare is all that x 100
Corsair on January 3, 2013 at 9:57 AM
If we don’t organize we get destroyed.
The media and education system must be taken head on.
The Tea Party has massive power IF they organize and fight together.
Ghettos organized and they got Obama.
What are you doing to fight? Boycott, throw out you TV? Why not?!
GardenGnome on January 3, 2013 at 10:47 AM
The Tea Party lives on because it never died. The group of angry people has not gotten smaller.
The abuse that got them angry is so excessive, there is no trust, which is why the GOP cannot harness the Tea Party. You can’t kill anger by inciting anger.
The GOP can work with the angry group, or make a work-around as they are currently trying, or ignore them, but they can’t kill them off.
The newest tactic by both parties is to make them disappear by cutting MSM coverage, and pronouncing the patient dead
entagor on January 3, 2013 at 12:15 PM
Also from the other thread:
cptacek on January 3, 2013 at 12:28 PM