Upon the Stoa this day, I again feel the Wall Street Journal Itch. It comes on when a news organization, one that I try to trust on a semi-daily basis, disappoints me yet again.
They again have an article about the Tea Party, written by TWO people no less, that has me doubting if the people of this supposedly conservative leaning (read Hard Right if written by the NYT) publication really know anything at all about the Tea Party, or perhaps human nature.
This article, by Douglas A. Blackmon and Jennifer Levitz, details the fragmentation of the Tea Party Movement, its hardening, and possible ruination, of the GOP. It starts off by scratching their collective heads about why the Tea Party is not ecstatic with their participation in the debt ceiling debate. The way they shaped it, moulded it, and really drove Boehner nuts...heck, they are SHAPING the modern debate.
No, the Tea Party movement failed, in this instance. They are not there to SHAPE the debate. Shaping the debate does not stop the spending. Shaping the debate does not bring rationalization to our budgetary process. Shaping the debate is empty without victory.
This is the Tea Party's early showing. It will take time to tip the scales, remove the parasitic liberal RINOs from its ranks and then drive policy. It is nothing more then that. In these first few years, the hangers on and the ones that think it is all just so "cool" will drop away, now that the serious business of actually accomplishing something comes at hand.
"These are the times that try men's souls." That was not written necessarily about the difficulty of the times so much as it was written to describe the "put up or shut up" moment of realization that victory or defeat now was upon you and you either rose to the occasion or you fell. On this occasion, about half of the Tea Party backed Representatives voted to approve the debt ceiling and crippling cuts to our national defense and Medicare. I doubt that those individuals will be back after the next election.
The Tea Party is intentionally fragmented. Those people who left their cells/branches were right to leave them. The Tea Party movement is not about abortion or gun control. It is about taxation, spending, budgetary restraint, and Republican Principles. They understand that EVERYTHING descends from principle. Individuals of moral restraint, judgement, and justice will allow the system to work out all of those other issues. Read that last line again. Now, read it again.
Going after those other issues is a waste of energy and time. Focus on our founding principles and all else will resolve themselves. New Tea Party groups will rise to replace the older ones that have lost their pole stars. It is natural and desirable. At least the founders of that group that disbanded recognized their deviation from their guiding star and disbanded the group before they could waste too much time or energy. They will likely find another group to join. If not, then they were of the "fair weather" variety of patriot.
PEOPLE, read your Thomas Paine. Those people who threw the tea into the harbor were protesting a tax that was less invasive than the current Federal or State tax system. It was not so much the tax they were protesting as the PRINCIPLE of that taxation. There is that word again, principle.
When one has lost their principles, they have lost their guiding star. Once principle is no longer a barrier to deal making, then all sorts of Faustian deals may be struck.
So tell me, who won and who lost in this deal. Each side is complaining. The Democrats (C) complain that there is too many cuts and not enough new taxation. The Republicans (c) complain that the Tea Party is poking them in the ribs and whining about it. The Tea Party is complaining that the discussion about the national debt has actually increased the national debt, will increase the national debt, and has done nothing concrete to pull down spending, unless the hostages (Defense and Grandma) suffer.
The Tea Party members, those that voted, "NO", by the way, are right to be ticked. There are NO real cuts, only cuts in baseline spending; a baseline that was bloated by Obama already in the last two years. Real spending will actually climb by 4.6% or so this year over last, so there are no real cuts there. Our debt will go up faster then it has ever gone up in our nations' history (three record breaking years in a row) all on the heels of a debt debate that was designed to bring down our ruinous spending curve.
Mission accomplished, Democrats. Mission accomplished Republicans. You have now set the stage for one of two historical events.
The first, a line where historians can point to in the future and say, "here was their last chance to save themselves and the failed to grasp the importance of the event. Here was where the Tea Party members became disillusioned with the whole process and gave up. Here is where America the Republic truly died." The other historical event, told in the same class in the future would go like this, "this is where the GOP became irrelevant. In the 2012 elections, most of the liberal wing of the GOP was swept aside. Many of the Senators went as well in that election and the next. This is where America did the hard things needed to redeem the blood debt of their forefathers who gave their lives, their tomorrows, and their sons to the cause of liberty and freedom. This is the point where America turned aside from the global socialist polices that had crippled so much of the rest of the world. We live in a better place today because of the sacrifices made by those Tea Party patriots."
Which future do you desire?
The choice, as I have always said before, is YOURS to make, and yours to make alone.
Chose wisely.
--Zavost
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