Leo Linbeck III, from a comment he left in response to this post at Belmont Club:
The good news is that we can fix our nation’s problems. How? Well, the first step is to reverse this trend toward centralization and scale. We have to stop concentrating power, and start dispersing it. Corruption and regulatory overreach are political pollution, and the solution to pollution is dilution.
And, believe it or not, voters in both parties support the idea of moving decision-making closer to the people. Republicans call this “federalism,” and Democrats call this “local control.”
The media tries to divide us, but we’re really together on the need to move money and decision-making closer to the people. The Ruling Elite don’t want this to happen, of course, so they try to convince us that we are enemies of each other. Don’t believe it.
Yes, we disagree on policy. But we agree on governance, we believe in self-governance, and it is the current governance system that is broken.
There is lots of room for disagreement and political fights. But those fights must be engaged at the local level, because they’re the only level at which we can come to consensus. The problems are literally unsolvable at the federal level.
The genius of the Tea Party lies in its emergent ability to concentrate voter attention on a common political denominator of core public-finance issues.
The problem is that those in power – especially in DC – have zero interest in that outcome. They are primarily interested in accruing ever more power and monetary control(but I repeat myself) to themselves and maintaining that power for as long as possible. This is a far cry from the citizen legislature the Founders intended, but here we are.
I find myself wondering if we have experienced a sufficient level of crisis where the voters will support – demand! – change, and fundamental, sweeping change at that?
The divide and conquer strategy of both the left and right has been surprisingly successful at achieving the power maintenance goals of the political class. The tax code, regulatory policy and enforcement, and spending bills for special interest’s pet projects are just three examples of the pitting one group against another in a zero-sum, your loss is my gain, competition for political favors.
Only elections can break the vise lock. Can the Tea Party prevail against that poisonous brew? I have hope, but we’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, the Tea Party, at both the local and national level, need everyone’s financial support. So do those candidates who support these goals. One thing we CAN all do is see they have sufficient money to get their message out and make their case. And then it’ll be up to the voters.
I don’t believe that “both parties agree” on decentralization.
What do you think “Obamacare” was all about?
The TSA?
On and on….
The left believes in centralization and big government and – well, some of the right – believes in smaller govt.
I like what Mark Steyn said – “The bigger the govt the smaller the citizen”.
When you talk about “The Media” it isn’t like it was 40 years ago when the big newspapers and TV networks disseminated the news.
Agreed. One of my old geology profs once remarked, “Pollution is synonymous with concentraion”.
There’s the left that are ideologues and who don’t have to live with the consequences of those theories and those who still vote on the left, think of themselves as liberals, but are damn sure they could run the world better than those in charge. When it finally dawns on them that no one is going to die and make them king, they may be quite happy to settle for merely making their own garden a better place. The series of deflating bubbles are likely to reduce the cushioning and make more and more people have to live with the consequences of their actions. Experience is a great disciplinarian – it teaches us what works.
Rick Santelli did his Chicago rant, and the “Tea Party” was born. “We the People” got our voice, for a bit. 70% want less government, lower taxes, according to Rasmussen, a year ago or so.
So of course the east coast elite set hate to let the unwashed masses speak up in “their church”, and have settled on the strategy of splitting the 70% by claiming the Tea Party is far right and radical. Then they pile on racist, ignorant, uncompromising, violent, anti-government, etc.
Then there is the Christian subset of the tea party, that is also sort of claiming the brand as their own. Palin, Bachmann, Perry even. But the real Tea Party “founded” by Santelli is about limited government, no morally hazardous bailouts. Trying to glom on with abortion or anti gay marriage or other issues dilutes the brand.
The popularity numbers are already down for the Tea party, thanks to the organized leftist strategy of labeling and marginalizing the brand. “New Coke” doesn’t taste right. Bring back Original Coke … The tea party is about less government, lower taxes, stop with the partisan subsidies. More power to the states would seem to flow naturally from less big government.
Another powerful motivation of the BigGov Dem’s and some Repub’s is they may fear investigation. A sweep of real reformers would bring investigation, and half the DC power brokers should probably be bunking with Bernie Madoff.
“The tea party is about less government, lower taxes, stop with the partisan subsidies.”
See the Tea Party Patriots Mission Statement, including inter alia:
Mission Statement
The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.
Core Values
* Fiscal Responsibility
* Constitutionally Limited Government
* Free Markets
The Tea Party is not about God, Guns, Race, Homosexuality, Religion, or many other important and interesting subjects.
Do not be fooled by the propaganda.
thanks LG, good to see at least one group is sticking with the simple mission. I’m not fooled by the propaganda, but even FOX usually labels the Tea Party as the further right arm of the Republican party. I think the average Joe is being taken in by the propaganda, to some degree at least.