So, the main-line establishment GOP – apparently seeing the writing on the wall and determined to make themselves even more irrelevant – is now going to go all-out against Tea Party sympathetic candidates in the next elections. They have seen the enemy and they is us … that is, us small-government, strictly-Constitutionalist, fiscally-responsible, and free-market advocates, who were the means of ensuring certain outcomes in hotly contested races, and that Mitt Romney even had a ghost of a chance in the last round. Nope, obviously those partisans who feel that our government should be guided by strict adherence to the Constitution, not spend more than it takes in, and not be rick-rolled by crony capitalists and the lobbyists who do their bidding, are – to put it frankly – dangerous radicals who must be excised from the GOP organization.
Because, you know, it is so much better to be a meek and polite little opposition party occasionally allowed to dip a snout into the trough. Insisting on a degree of fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution, and truly free markets is apparently just too dogmatic, too radical, and un-collegial within the rarified inside-the-beltway establishment GOP.
Seriously, this is an amusing development and not entirely unforeseen. When we first started up a local Tea Party and realized how many people out there shared a certain degree of exasperation with the establishment GOP, as well as the devotion to fiscal responsibility, fidelity to the Constitution, etc., we vigorously rejected also any input from any establishment GOP politician, organization or consultant, although this was not for want of trying on their part. We had our belly-full of listening to those guys, now it was their turn to listen to us, although the Establishment GOP remained touchingly hopeful for quite a while that all that Tea Party energy, enthusiasm and contributions had created for them a brand new pony, saddled and bridled and ready for them to ride. No, as I remember telling some drone from the national GOP HQ who called me once to touch me up for a donation; I certainly would not, I told her – I would make donations to individual candidates who campaigned on a platform of fiscal responsibility, etc. The national GOP could go pound sand, as far as I was concerned.
We also rejected any notion of encouraging Tea Party sympathizers to form a third party, although there had always been a strong Libertarian component in the organization whose interests lay in that direction. Nope, we agreed, that way was counter-productive in the extreme. Better to take over one of the existing parties, working from the precinct up, from local to state to national. And we knew it would be a long and arduous process. I think most of us were inclined towards the Republican Party; anyway, we agreed that it would be an easier mark and generally a slightly less ill-fit for our principles. We did acknowledge to ourselves that there would be plenty of candidates who would cheerfully mouth the right words, take our contributions and our votes, and swan right off to Washington, where they would be absorbed into the squishy establishment. In that case, we would just have to vote them out and elect someone who meant what they said and said what they meant.
So, I have to be at least a little amused at the Establishment RINOs trying to stay ahead of the curve; the curve that is slowly turning against them, like dinosaurs ignoring the nimble, fast-moving and motivated proto-mammals running around between their feet. Rove, Boehner, McCain – all the rest of them seem to be going through the motions, protesting against the darkness falling. In trying to neutralize those committed Tea Party Republicans, they likely will ensure their own extinction; the passion, the energy, the involvement and the money are on the Tea Party side. All the establishment GOP has is habit and money. YMMV, of course.
Well they are part of the “Ruling Class.”
Someone made a very interesting comment in re: thew Reagan Revolution a few weeks ago. It got me thinking.
Those of you who could remember – after Reagan left office – the political landscape was his.
He had forged a coalition of conservative republicans and blue collar democrats.
And over time, his coalition became dispersed.
And the caller said that it wasn’t the Left who destroyed it but the Republican establishment.
Historians have said that George H.W. Bush had won “Reagan’s Third Term”.
You can look forward to a long time in the wilderness. The GOP broken by bickering, just leaves the Democrats the field.
Excellent.
PenGun never ceases to draw ignorance from wisdom. Way to go, big guy !
The Whigs did not have a clear program, and were somewhat ambivalent about the libertarian origins of the country. Their core of manufacturers and merchants is strikingly similar to the Establishment GOP. While opposed to Jackson’s strong presidency, they wanted the same powers for Congress. Today, the general Tea Party rebellion is much more like 1775 than 1860. The current Washington based rules and restrictions are more like colonial era British controls than the tariffs of the Whigs. Slavery and Expansion drove the early GOP which were truly libertarian and persisted into reconstruction, but the Whigs co-opted the rest.
Just as the Progressive Left has captured the Democrats the Tea Party can (and will) recapture the GOP
So what you’re saying PenGun, is that we can look forward to becoming Detroit writ large?
What I suspect the establishment GOP has just now begun to sense and which has horrified them to the toes of their little cotton socks, is that the Tea Party is like an ichneumon wasp … cheerfully eating out the establishment host from within. The brain and what passes for the autonomic nervous system are the last to go. Likely this realization accounts for the shrillness of their response in this respect. There will be a Republican Party for the foreseeable future, but I am pretty certain that tools like Karl Rove and the other establishment RINOS will no longer be at the apex of it. This prospect does not thrill them in the least, but likely it is already too late.
The Whigs favored commerce and built canals when that was the preferred method of transport where available. Just look at the cities in the Midwest. They ran afoul of slavery and were unable to see the moral issues. This is not that different from the divide on the GOP over immigration. The rent seekers have sold their souls long ago but the dilemma now is illegal immigration.
Exactly, Mike – the Whigs waffled on the great and contentious issue of the day … and so they were overtaken. The establishment GOP tried to make nice and avoid taking any kind of meaningful stand. There’s a price to pay for that, which I suspect they are now discovering.
Until the Tea Party has the capability to identify candidates for precinct committeeman and run them in a large majority of precincts, they will be handicapped. Some of this work is already done but it certainly is not enough.
Pengun, in addition to being still snared in his Leftist/Statist world view, still seems to believe that there is a real difference between the Democrats and the Institutional Republican Party. One of the prime grievances of Conservatives is that the Institutionals cannot conceive of anything being worth resisting the Democrats over. The difference in effect between the Democrats winning everything by fraud, extortion, and bribery and doing what they want with the purely token opposition of the Institutionals -v- the TEA Party taking away the heart and soul of the Institutionals electoral effort and them not being able to even pretend to oppose the Democrats is akin to enumerating angels doing the electric bugaloo on the head of a pin.
Despite the lies being spread by the Institutionals, in the main the TEA Party swallowed its disgust, and worked and voted for Romney, in order to oppose the greater enemy. And the Institutionals and Romney gave the campaign away to Obama.
Right now, to oppose the Democrat Statists and fight for the Constitution, we first have to defeat [and be attritted by] the Republican Statists on any issue. That is a sure loss, and the results so far prove it.
I do not know how it will shake out, but an independent TEA Party voice at least will not have to let the Republicans stab us in the back as they are wont to do.
The Institutional Republican party is many things, but a defender of the Constitution and opponent to the Democrats is not included in there. Consider this, which I wish I had compiled, but a gentleman named HerbN beat me to it:
Subotai Bahadur
The enemy is that part of America which does not wish to be in government or part of it as crony or dependent.
Oh and there’s just not enough for everyone…when you want everything.
The Repubs are the loyal opposition, so reliable the Kremilin would have embraced open elections if they could just had the GOP.
The Tea Party is going to have to face facts, no election fixes a government when less than 1% of it faces elections or consequences from elections.
This is not democracy, and it’s not a representative republic.
The GOP – being Human – will defend their interests. They are part of the State.
we’re doing our part. My wife ran for and was elected township clerk and is now getting her signatures for Republican precinct chair in the next election. Quite a few more TEA types are doing the same in Will/Grundy counties.
“So what you’re saying PenGun, is that we can look forward to becoming Detroit writ large?”
Well Detroit is a special case … but yes.
Although many seeds were sown before 9/11, that is what put you into the weeds. The Afghanistan adventure was understandable and expensive, very expensive. Iraq was just stupid and orders of more expensive.
Then your bankers went way over the top and you had to bail out the financial industry. The years of Helicopter Ben’s QE have created an artificial stock market among other things and you are just waiting for a serious crash.
I’m not sure Detroit is an extreme enough model for what is likely to come.
PenGun is a troll, but it is useful to see how he “thinks”. Blue cities and states that have been run into the ground by generations of Democrat leadership will end up like Detroit. Other places will flourish in the future a la America 3.0.
I still chuckle as he thinks that any adjustments in the future that US has won’t affect his pristine home land of Canada, like they exist in some sort of economic vacuum in spite of the US being their biggest trading partner by far.
I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago on my blog a thttp://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2013/10/is-it-1854-yet.html
I would hate to see a third party movement that would ensure continued DNC rule and misrule, but it might just be time to consider it.
“I still chuckle as he thinks that any adjustments in the future that US has won’t affect his pristine home land of Canada, like they exist in some sort of economic vacuum in spite of the US being their biggest trading partner by far.”
The entire world has been in a depression since your bail out. This affects everyone. Why you think I believe any country will not be hurt by the crash of America is beyond me.
It will be time to move on from American domination at that fast approaching point but that is a good thing. You have abused your status as the currency of record and removing that will make you a normal country financially and less able to destroy the worlds finances.
pengun, our wealth will ensure economic domination of the world for many years to come.
It’s all gone Joe. The Chinese own your ass.
“You have abused your status as the currency of record and removing that will make you a normal country financially and less able to destroy the worlds finances.”
I tend to agree with you here, PenGun. The difference between us is that Democrats and the “ruling class” Republicans did this. That was the origin of he Tea Party.
Obama managed to cripple the Tea Party after 2010 with the IRS but his ability to dominate his opponents will probably be fatally weakened by Obamacare.
If all that you know about the United States, the Tea Party, the downside of Obama-care, immigration, ordinary working-class American lives, or the challenges in running a small to middling business is what you have gathered from the establishment media (especially the international version of it) … then I have to say … you don’t know much at all, and that is very likely to be wrong to the point of being delusional.
(Enable extreme sarcasm mode.) Of course, this is no challenge at all for the dazzling intellect of our friend from the Great White North, who casts his orbs southwards … such is the piercing brilliance of his intellect that it pierces all veils, and he just … knows. (End extreme sarcasm mode.)
“You have abused your status as the currency of record and removing that will make you a normal country financially and less able to destroy the worlds finances.”
Expanding upon what W. C. said, It’s the worst currency, except for all the rest (although Washington seems to be doing its worst to make it like the rest).
“It’s the worst currency, except for all the rest”
Indeed that is the crux of the problem. I think something like Bitcoin, based on mathematics, could be a good way to do this. It’s not a simple problem.
The previous comment by PenGun “the cougar whisperer” about Bitcoin and currencies is the most hilarious, uninformed piece of commenting I have seen in a long time. For everyone replying to her, things like this are why you needn’t comment to her directly, rather take her comments as a reflection of what the mainstream/leftist media is telling her to say. Which is actually a pretty good source of information since most of us don’t typically hang out in cesspools of shallow thought such as Kos, etc.
pengun, the Chinese house of cards is not long from their own 2008 style meltdown. When that happens the commies will be way too busy trying to hold down the hatches on a major rebellion.
Dip,
“I would hate to see a third party movement that would ensure continued DNC rule and misrule,”
Me too, but then the third-party movement has to happen at the right moment, but if it does hit the right moment then all bets are off. Remember, the Whigs collapsed and Lincoln won the election.
Wow, Dan.
Oh well … one thing … I travel now with my Manfrotto Art 290 Pro, AKA “The Cougar Swatter” as I spend a lot of time out in their territory these days. You can click on my name to follow my adventures photographically, it’s pretty well chronological after the moon picture.
Link whoring on ChicagoBoyz? For shame, PenGun.
Just for you Dan.