I identify as a Republican even though I lean more towards small government and social liberalism than the current GOP. For years I've been upset at the GOP's catering to far-right evangelicals and its expansion of government power/spending. I was initially excited by the rise of the Tea Party, which is increasingly looking like the first viable third party to arise this century. They greatly influenced the 2010 elections and the debt ceiling debate, and now they're holding special "Tea Party debates" in addition to the regular GOP candidate debates. They still exist within the GOP, but it's almost like they're separating themselves from the Republicans entirely, which I would see as a good thing if they were the small government "libertarian-lite" conservatives I identify with. But of course, they're not. They're people who see the GOP as not evangelical, socially conservative, or red-state-populist enough. The only positive difference seems to be that they're more fiscally conservative. So my question is, do you think the Tea Party will ever formally break from the GOP over ideological differences, and if so, how will the parties adapt? Could you ever see the GOP becoming a libertarian-esque small-government Ron Paul type party if enough of the Michelle Bachmann types went to the Tea Party and then stopped calling themselves Republicans?
Doesn't matter what they are or what they say they stand for. Once people get in power, they are told what to do, and they do it.
If the Tea Party is able to split the GOP it will because the GOP won in 2012 and continued to spend and inact legislation like liberal democrats. That might piss enough conservatives off to leave the party for good. But I doubt it. I don't people realize yet that both parties are run by the same puppetmasters.
According to how the tea party was founded, it should in theory be the tea partiers who would become libertarian-esque. Not so sure if that would happen, though. If they split, I would think the tea party would be more likely to go libertarian than the republican party, though. Unless the shift away from its origins was entirely completed.
Well, the idea of a major political party founded on libertarian ideals that sold out just enough to actually win elections is basically my wet dream. The Tea Party was supposed to be the realization of that dream, but once word got out that a group of Republicans was angry with the performance of GOP elected officials, old people who are outraged by tattoos and "the price of things these days" jumped on board and the Tea Party never looked back. There are still many within the movement who are more concerned with cutting spending and reducing government oversight, and they're the ones who helped elect Rand Paul (or rather, they elected Rand Paul's campaign promises). But I think the Tea Party will be taken over by the people who endorsed Christine O'Donnell. I'm hopelessly optimistic that once all those people identify themselves more strongly with the Tea Party than with the Republican Party, the GOP can stop pandering to them and adjust its platform to accommodate moderates and Libertarians. Maybe they could even get some of the urban, minority, gay, and youth voters who vote Democrat by default because they aren't in the Republican base. It would be nice...but not in my lifetime
There's no such thing as core party values, at least not anymore. The special interest donors made sure of that. Thanks to them nobody knows what a republican or democrat really stand for, we just keep playing the game.
Its a little unfair to tie the Tea Party to the republicans, yes they may relate the most on certain things, however keep in mind they're very much so independent. Its a reactionary group to Obama's socialistic measures. Not a Republican spawn.
Enlightening. I'd like to think that they're separate, but most Tea Partiers consider themselves Republicans and they almost exclusively endorse Republican candidates. Until they're a declared political party, they're basically a scion of the GOP.
Fuck the Teabaggers. Bunch of right-wing, delusional, bible-thumping, brainless, thorns in the side of Lady Liberty's ass if you ask me. Truth be told, I believe they stand for a cause that they have the knowledge of a kindergartner on.
The internet is full of brave souls, risking life and limb to make gay-sex jokes about political groups they disagree with. I don't like the Tea Party either, mainly because many of its members reduce political discourse to name-calling, shouted slogans, and sweeping generalizations about their opponents. Things like that are ruining this country. The birther movement comes to mind, as does the term "teabagger".