So there is absolutely no one but religious authoritarians in this at all? These is no merit in any of these ideas here?
http://www.teaparty-platform.com/
I'm sorry but I grew up learning that there are two sides to an issue. These kinds of generalizations just kill me when anyone uses them. People can shows crazies all in a group but you shouldn't generalize those actions onto the group as a whole. You need to look at that group's core values to make those judgements. Anything else is unfair and why we have so many people fighting feminists, atheists, and the religious nowadays. It's a mess and not something we should justify in any way.
Of course, all these groups and parties have wonderful and delightful ideals right up until the very moment they start trying to actively implement them, and you realize what those ideals really mean.
As we can see by now, the Tea Party movement is defined in turn by extreme ignorance - ignorance about history, about fiscal policy, about women, about the constitution. About
everything. And when you actually look at how they're applying these so-called "ideals", it's hilarious.
Let's just take a look at a bare handful:
8. Believe in the People - The American people, given their guaranteed freedoms, will thrive in a democratic, capitalist environment which allows individuals to strive toward ever greater achievements, innovations and the efficient production of needed and valued goods and services.
“Industry need not wish.” --Benjamin Franklin
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” --Abraham Lincoln
“The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.” --Abraham Lincoln
Wow, I think believing in people is cool too! The Tea Party must not be so bad! Up until you realize that "believing in the people" really means pretending immigrants are bad and take advantage of everyone, that anyone on welfare is a social drag who deserves damnation,that gays shouldn't have the right to marry, that women shouldn't have rights to do with their body as necessary, that - surprise of surprise - the tea party brand of goverment is actually in many ways just the religious right movement re-branded. The White American Ideal. It's bullshit, "believe in the people."
They may not put "homosexuals shall not marry" as one of their movements "platforms", but that doesn't matter since 90% of their members support that and actively push that agenda, and it is associated with the vast majority of high level individuals within the movement.
You may say "aha, so there is still a certain percentage that wouldn't agree with that! See, you there are two sides to every story", but the point is the energy of the organization consistently bends toward these ends and it uses its considerable might and energy to nominate candidates that are actively destructive toward social progress and a million other essential things. Ask why Michelle Bachmann became the de facto lead Tea Party representative in Congress when her husband ran an "gay re-education" clinic and when she herself says things like this:
"If you're involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it's personal bondage, despair and enslavement."
"You have a teacher talking about gayness. That's child abuse."
"Marriage was created by the hand of God. No man, not even a Supreme Court, can undo what a holy God has instituted."
"It isn't that some gay will get some rights. It's that everyone else in our state will lose rights."
And this is just what came to the surface in five seconds! It's far rarer when you have someone high up in the movement that actually supports not discriminating against this group of people just for being who they are, like when one of the Kock Brothers said he supports gay marriage.
9. Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics - American politics is burdened by big money from lobbyists and special interests with an undue influence on the peoples’ representatives. The Tea Party movement is seen as a threat to the entrenched political parties and thus is the continual target of smear campaigns and misrepresentation of its ideals. We choose not to respond to these attacks except to strongly and explicitly disavow any and all hate speech, any and all violence as well as insinuations of violence, and any and all extreme and fringe elements that bring discredit to the Tea Party Movement. We are a peaceful movement and respect other's opinions and views even though they do not agree with our own. We stand by the Tea Party beliefs and goals and choose to focus our energies on ensuring that our government representatives do the same.
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” --Abraham Lincoln
“Honesty is the best policy.” --Benjamin Franklin
“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” --George Washington
Wow, another wonderful ideal! I support this, we all should respect others opinions even when we don't agree with them! America
is burdened by lobbyists and special interests and big money!
Which is totally awesome, right up until the very second you realize the Tea Party is practically defined by big money, that the entire movement is basically been hijacked by the Koch Brothers and pointed in whatever direction they feel will cause the maximum damage to whatever cause they don't like. Money from within this money from HUGE rich donors has gone to fund tons of horrific candidates that ended up in office and immediately set to work actively pushing anti-intellectual agendas which simultaneously just so happened to ALSO do things like limit women's reproductive rights.
And let me not even get started on how little the Tea Party actually respects opposing views. Holy fucking shit. It may not be in their platform, and you may be right that 100% of all tea party members are not like the "bad" I'm implying, but most are, and that has been demonstrated by their behavior at rallies, on talk shows. The Tea Party movement is
frequently made fun of for being
precisely as exclusionary as anyone with more than one brain cell to rub together have already concluded: they can talk their high ideals, but it's really about disenfranchising anyone who isn't WHITE AMERICA. The few individuals they trot out to show "see, we like blacks and latinos as well" are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Why do you think this happened?
5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States - The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and must be adhered to without exception at all levels of government. This includes the Bill of Rights and other Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and their provisions designed to protect states’ rights and individual liberties.
“A general Dissolution of Principles & Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than the whole Force of the Common Enemy.” --Samuel Adams, 1779
“The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon.” --George Washington
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” --Abraham Lincoln
I wanted to include this one because it's on the other end of the list spectrum... not objectionable per say, but just absurd and if anything just continues to contribute to the low idea about the tea party.
I mean, this is a thing? They need to state this in their platform? How fucking absurd is this, anyway? The idea that they actually completely fucking misunderstand the founders intent with the constitution is hilarious enough, though, without even needing to evaluate further .
You see, it's not actually about the constitution. Neither is their bullshit about the free markets actually being about the free market. What it's about is branding. By draping themselves in the American flag and pretending to hold a monopoly on what the founders true "intent" was (even though I've literally never seen a single case of a member of the tea party accurately describing what a founding father thought on any particular subject) is a way of disarming your rivals. It says "see,
we're the patriotic ones, after all our groups tea party name has the word Patriot on it!" It says "I told you our movement has the American spirit at heart, I wear a tricorne and hold copies of the Bill of Rights!"
This gives their message an underlying core value that many Americans can associate with and, by extension, be brainwashed by.
Nothing the tea party does is in any way sound. All political groups like this are seriously suspect, but I don't engage in false equivalencies - the tea party is by one of the worst.
