What is the Tea Party?

[Andy A]

If those of you knocking the Tea Party movement can't garner that is a diverse, leaderless group with many who have varied opinions on many subjects there is nothing to be further said. It is not a political party and many, many of its members are former military personnel, not that that makes any difference, but it is indicative of the values they see in the Tea Party. No one is being forced to participate in any Tea Party functions anymore than one would be force to participate in any organization. Hopefully, the Tea Party will continue to promote its agenda. It is up to those who support it to determine what parts of that agenda they will favor and promote.

 

[Henry Apfelbach]

If those of you knocking the Tea Party movement can't garner that is a diverse, leaderless group with many who have varied opinions on many subjects there is nothing to be further said. It is not a political party and many, many of its members are former military personnel, not that that makes any difference, but it is indicative of the values they see in the Tea Party. No one is being forced to participate in any Tea Party functions anymore than one would be force to participate in any organization. Hopefully, the Tea Party will continue to promote its agenda. It is up to those who support it to determine what parts of that agenda they will favor and promote.

So you mean to tell me that when this "party" tried to have legislation passed this year that kept me from being able to pay union dues they were protecting me? I have news for you I had to sign a card saying I was ok with my dues being taken out of my paycheck. No one forced me to join. I joined for the same reason these people joined the Tea Party, they think it's the right thing to do. So, do me a favor and quit trying to stop my first amendment right of freedom of association. I don't throw stones at you while your getting together and I'm not about to lobby for legislation that makes your affiliation illeagle so stay out of my business and I'll leave you alone.

If you don't know what I'm talking about you need to see what your local reps have been trying to pass as what they call the "paycheck protection act". Yeah, like we need protecting form ourselves. Tea Party was huge in trying to get this passed.

 

[30ashopper]

If those of you knocking the Tea Party movement can't garner that is a diverse, leaderless group with many who have varied opinions on many subjects there is nothing to be further said. It is not a political party and many, many of its members are former military personnel, not that that makes any difference, but it is indicative of the values they see in the Tea Party. No one is being forced to participate in any Tea Party functions anymore than one would be force to participate in any organization. Hopefully, the Tea Party will continue to promote its agenda. It is up to those who support it to determine what parts of that agenda they will favor and promote.

IMHO, the petition links page needs to go Andy, there's stuff there that has NOTHING to do with the Tea Party. It's just a bunch of evangelicals pushing their social conservative agenda which, IMHO, is anti-equality and hence, very Un-American.

 

[Bob Wells]

I did have have one person on here who said they were Tea Party but thought the pay check protection BS was not right.

 

[Jdarg]

IMHO, the petition links page needs to go Andy, there's stuff there that has NOTHING to do with the Tea Party. It's just a bunch of evangelicals pushing their social conservative agenda which, IMHO, is anti-equality and hence, very Un-American.

I think the local tea party website is a good example of the "hyper-localness" of tea parties- they seem to differ by community. Some are still focused on the original fiscal conservatism and constitutional issues, but many have been commandeered the ultra-conservatives in their communities and diluting the original message with stuff like the Home Depot chain email crap and maintaining that Americans must be Christian to be true patriots.

 

[Bob]

I love the fact that they love the constitution and appear to use it like a weapon, but do they remember it is not a perfect document as history has shown us over and over. I also love all the Thomas Jefferson quotes. Here is one that sticks out to me. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". He wrote this but yet did nothing about slavery. What does that say about him as a person? If you look at our history the founding fathers created a nation with a giant flaw. They created a constitution that allowed slavery among other things. We needed a war just to fix that flaw. But we also have a short memory as a country. We hold our founding fathers high on a pedestal but they were not perfect as we are not perfect now. I believe Abraham Lincoln said it best. A great battle was fought so that “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from this earth”. 150yrs later and we are still kicking. I don’t really understand what the Tea Party thinks has happened. Is it just a fad?

yes, it's 50's nostalgia

 

[Bob]

Nothing says you have to agree but I was asked what the Tea Party is about. It makes perfect sense to me but then I've been around long enough to see many things happen in this nation so I'm sure my inclinations and observations are without merit because they have been formed by time and not elite intelligence.

elite intelligence as opposed to low intelligence?

 

[30ashopper]

I think the local tea party website is a good example of the "hyper-localness" of tea parties- they seem to differ by community. Some are still focused on the original fiscal conservatism and constitutional issues, but many have been commandeered the ultra-conservatives in their communities and diluting the original message with stuff like the Home Depot chain email crap and maintaining that Americans must be Christian to be true patriots.

IMHO two links on the entire web site does not characterize the entire group. But I agree stuff like that can be misconstrued, hence if the folks maintaining that site know what's good for their cause, they would not allow stuff like that to show up.

 

[30ashopper]

So you mean to tell me that when this "party" tried to have legislation passed this year that kept me from being able to pay union dues they were protecting me? I have news for you I had to sign a card saying I was ok with my dues being taken out of my paycheck. No one forced me to join. I joined for the same reason these people joined the Tea Party, they think it's the right thing to do. So, do me a favor and quit trying to stop my first amendment right of freedom of association. I don't throw stones at you while your getting together and I'm not about to lobby for legislation that makes your affiliation illeagle so stay out of my business and I'll leave you alone.

This statement is a completely false characterization of the legislation in question.

 

[Henry Apfelbach]

Andy A, I did not see that above quote when you first posted it. I hear things like that all the time about experience and being around for things, implying that this automatically gives you wisdom. That is a bunch of garbage. Everyone experiences life differently. Just because your old does not make you wise or smart. It just makes you old. You are the sum total of your life experiences and that is it. In your analogy none of us would be able to make an informed judgment on slavery because we were not around to see it. I have news for you intelligence or not I know right from wrong and I knew that slavery was wrong by the time I left first grade. American history is not really even taught in school these days nor is any type of history thanks to the FCAT. How can we stop ourselves from repeating our prior mistakes without knowing what has happened in the past?

I have something for you, go read up on President McKinley and see how closely what happened during his time as president parallels President Bush and the aftermath of the economy and how all that was solved. You would probably be surprised at what Teddy Roosevelt did for labor in this country.