ipscshooter: Based on replies and information in another separate thread (Tea party crimes), the impression I have is that the abstraction "tea party" as it is used by liberals is sort of a like a bag into which they stash everything the do not like about politics. Thus, it is very likely Maxine Waters has stashed her buggaboos into her personal "tea party" abstraction -- Jim Crow laws from the bad old days, Mr Potter from "Its a Wonderful Life," Strom Thurmond, the KKK, and others. No wonder she says the Tea Party can go to hell!
On the other hand, so far I have not heard anyone articulate a consistent set of Tea Party principles -- other than those I ennumerated -- that can be argued to be fundamental and common versus just particular. For example, I am a Republican, and I disparage wearing striped pants with patterned shirts. Does this meant that it is a plank of the Republican party that wearing striped pants with patterned shirts should be verbotten? Probably not.
As far as I know, the only common principles the Tea Party espouses are to constrain spending (preferrably at or less than revenues) and to govern according to the limitations that the US constitution places on the government. It may be a corrolary that the Tea Party also espouses not increasing taxes, but I'm not sure that is really a principle or rather a policy grounded in the present context of both the economy and the abnormal levels of spending that we currently have (26% of GDP since 2009 versus 19% on average for the previous 40 years -- you don't cure a spending caused illness with increased taxes, you cure it with reduced spending).
But people want to pile on other notions, such as an increased role of religion in government, suppression of gays, and I don't know what else. I don't know how many of these are positions of individual Tea Party members and/or candidates for political office and how many are positions of the Tea Party per se. There is a distinction, and I'm sure our well educated adversaries are perfectly capable of wielding the fine analytical skills to distinguish between these things.
Now, I wonder what the mainstream media would have said if some Republican or Tea Party congress person had said the Democrats can go to hell and they are going to help them get there, or Nancy Pelosi can go to hell, or Harry Reid can go to hell, or Barrack Obama can go to hell, or Barney Franks can go to hell, or Charles Shumaker can go to hell . . . and they are going to help them. Can you imagine?
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