Tea Party Patriots Mission Statement and Core Values
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 about these core values. Other issues, however worthy they may be, have their own advocates and their own place.
Do not be fooled by the propaganda.
I have been to several tea party rallies and have yet to see a sign about social issues.
A fair number of the SA Tea Partiers I knew were a trifle hung up on them – so it was kind of interesting when the traditional Christian values people ran head on into the political libertarian/socially liberal elements. Basically, we all agreed that the fiscal, constitutional issues, and free market issues were gonna crash us first. Get that sorted out, and then when the dust settles, we can quibble over the social issues.
“Constitutionally limited government” means the restoration of my Constitutionally protected right to freely exercise my religion. That includes speaking out in agreement with God on issues like using my tax dollars to pay for the shedding of innocent blood of the unborn, the imposition of abominable indoctrinations through public education, and restoring freedom to pray in public, to pray in court, to pray in government councils and any other appropriate time and place. These are not “social issues” they are Constitutional protection issues that have been broken down by unjust court decisions and congressional failure to uphold their obligation to impeach judges who legislate from the bench and impeach presidents who usurp their Constitutional authority through bypassing congress with the use of executive orders.
Sherry, if you want to play it that way, count on political failure.
Sherry should back the devolution of power to the states as per the Constitution, so that we have multiple centers of power where people can express their beliefs. If she is really opposed to some government programs, she can refuse to pay taxes that support those programs. As a principled person, she will of course have to accept the outcome of this course of action, ie jail or fines.
Meanwhile the most irritating things I hear in Tea Party meetings is “hands off my Medicare” or SS. I have a lot of patient explaining to do on this topic. I HAVE seen signs about this. How do we get over the feds/media illusion that the Ponzi scheme of SS or Medicare is an entitlement? They are TAXES and the federal government has NO legal responsibility to anyone to pay out anything in return,even if there were actually money there. We have a lot of education to do even among our own folks.
Fiona, no one said it would be easy.
The Tea Party is a big group, without central direction, and it cannot possibly be fully coherent in it’s message or image.
Odds are Obama will campaign as the defender of Medicare and be reelected on that basis.
The GOP will say: Jobs.
The Dems will say: Medicare.
One will be the most compelling to the most voters.
It is a straight-up conflict between generations. Will the young have opportunities, or will the old eat the lives and wellbeing of the young and destroy their prospects, in order to secure themselves?
Smart money is on the old.
The Intrade odds have Obama ahead by a hair.
That is probably correct.
In other words people who agree with the Tea Party core values printed above are probably going to lose both in 2012 and in the larger struggle, at least at first. At some point the government will be bankrupt, which will be a disaster. We may only see serious reform efforts then.
But it will be sad if it comes to that.
Lex,
Hard to be a optimist when you’re giving up early. There certainly is a generational aspect to this conflict, but if the discussion can be framed more like “taking care of your children,” many if not most grandparents will be willing to to reassess the level of benefits they are taking. We must reframe the argument so that it is not old versus young, but rather sage mentors leaving a better world for their family.
Our human nature is to take all that is given to us. But our rational nature also understands the golden goose story. We must make a clear and compelling case for fiscal restraint and forward planning. Our Founders gave us the basic tools in the Constitution, it is up to us to find a way to use them.
Intrade dynamics do change over time. Not more than a few months ago Dems were a shoo-in. Now they are within the margin of error.
Lex, Ramesh Ponnuru has been discussing the entitlements vs. spending issue in NRO lately, and has made some good points. He’s convincing me. The immediate fiscal problem is the trillion bucks Obama borrowed on our tab and gave to his cronies, not the entitlements. And of course the largely unmentioned issue of the almost 2 trillion annual tax of the regulatory burden on the economy, which the Obama administration is busy increasing as rapidly as possible. Although the entitlements issue hangs over our head and will explode in the not-too-distant future, it is not what is killing us today.
The logical conclusion is becoming more and more evident. The forces of good should run with a platform of fixing what is killing us today — discretionary spending and regulation. Once investment is flowing, people are working and starting businesses, and growth rates are heading back to something proper for America, that is the time to work on a general solution to defuse the entitlements bomb.
I see no purpose in spending the next five years saying “but we were right” while the Second Obama Administration runs the economy even further into the ground. Can he piss away another trillion a year? Yes he can.
VikingTX: Not giving up. Just looking at the lay of the land and trying to be realistic.
Jim: There are a lot of things the GOP might do. But the Ds snd the MSM are going to try to make it a referendum on Medicare. That is their best hope of pulling off a win.
Lex,
I really appreciate your analysis and well worded posts. I am not really disagreeing with you, I’m just saying let’s not be so realistic that we become disheartened and discouraged. That is part of the Progressive playbook.
If the lay of the land is not beneficial to your cause, then change it. Fight the battles elsewhere. Both Perry and Palin seem to have studied “maneuver warfare.”
(A fairly good short description from wiki: “a concept of warfare that advocates attempting to defeat an adversary by incapacitating their decision-making through shock and disruption brought about by movement.”) Rommel was known for not being where the allies expected him to be until Patton read his book.
The MSM will attempt to control the narrative. We must not let them win that battle. We can take the fight elsewhere; to the internet, to talk radio, to our elected representatives, and door to door with our neighbors. We must constantly point out how wrong the media has been since they caught the vapors for Obama. MSM credibility is in the gutter; the hurricane hype is just the latest example. We must continue to reinforce the notion that you can’t believe everything you hear on TV these days, and that “it’s too bad, but you just have to do your own homework to really know what is going on.”
Rick Perry has already noted that the MSM really isn’t on our side, so he has been able to speak more freely because he isn’t expecting fair treatment by the talking heads. His polls show that it is working, and you can actually feel the desperation in the tenor of the leftist trolls on the blogs.
Sarah Palin has raised the concept of making facebook comments to an art form. She can create more buzz in 140 characters than all of the Newsies on all of the networks can in an entire news cycle. (And the spectacle of having them chase her bus halfway across the northeast was hilarious.)
Mitt is, well, Mitt. He seems to be listening to his polls, though, and has been a little more forceful of late.
We have more than 14 months to steer the course of the conversation. Ideas and common sense are on our side. Fear and name calling are on the other side. We can win easily if we focus on our strengths and continue to make sure the real story is told.
VikingTX: Thanks for your comment. “… disheartened and discouraged….” Nope. Not me. Never happen. But I am coming at it from the other side: Let’s not get cocky. “We have more than 14 months …” Agreed. Lots can happen. Great things can happen.
Rommel was known for not being where the allies expected him to be until Patton read his book.
Sherman was probably the greatest practitioner of maneuver warfare but never seems to get the credit.
I like Perry because he seems to be getting underestimated. Now, of course, we have to see if we are correct. Being a Medicare and SS recipient, I am very aware of the fact that my mid-40s children do not expect to see a dime of Social Security. That’s why I like Ryan’s approach. Tell the over-55 group that nothing will change, except COL raises but the younger group will see changes that ensure they get something.