The Ideal Future of the Tea Party

It is August 3rd, 2011. The deadline for extending the debt ceiling has come and passed, with no compromise on either side. The House's Tea Party Caucus has successfully blocked the extension of the debt ceiling; their Cut, Cap and Balance Act, unpassable in the Democratic Senate, has done its job and sabotaged Democratic efforts. It is Wednesday morning, and reports are coming in that the U.S. credit rating has been lowered to A. The currency markets of the world shake and rattle; the financial stability of a world dependent on U.S. dollar reserves is at risk.

The leaders of the Tea Party come to the public to announce their success. Finally, an end to the welfare state! Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps, Planned Parenthood, foreign aid; all of these programs and more now must be slashed and burned so that America can survive! The announcements by Boehner, Cantor, Bachmann and Palin are welcomed with cheers across the nation. This is a great day to be an American!

It is August 4th, 2011. The President now addresses the nation. The United States Congress has failed to raise the ceiling on the debt limit. Now, the nation will go into default; interest and inflation rates will skyrocket, the cost of living will be out of reach of the ordinary American, the military will be unpaid and essential services will be shut down across the country. This is not acceptable; the House has failed in its duty to the American people, it has stood in the way of the preservation of the American Way of Life. By Executive Order, the President is extending the debt limit according to his original compromise plan. The Cut, Cap and Balance Act, never approved by the Senate, is overridden by this Order.

The response sweeps the continent; Tyrant! Dictator! The call to arms is given; now is the time for all patriots to rise up against a President who has rejected the will of the people, who rules the country according to his own whims and disregards democracy! Militias and vigilantes and rebels mobilize their resources, while the Tea Party leaders advise caution and discourage violence.

It is December 12th, 2011. For three months, explosions, shootings, and gas attacks have rocked America. The targets were not only federal government buildings, but buildings and employees and members of both political parties; by discouraging violence, the Tea Party Caucus brought itself into the crosshairs of the militias, as well. One month ago, as the waves of attacks intensified, the President had enacted a virtual martial law. Now, the attacks are waning, and the majority of Americans are relieved. Now, opposition to the martial law and to the decrees of the President intensifies; the Tea Party, reinvigorated by these assaults on liberty, grows in numbers.

The GOP in Congress, consistently blocked by the Senate in its legislative efforts, dedicates itself to preventing any Democratic initiatives from succeeding. Congress grinds to a standstill, and the President is increasingly forced to rely on Executive Orders to break deadlocks one way or another. He regularly informs the American people of the necessity of these Orders, of the breakdown of American democracy into bitter partisanship. He implores them to support his efforts, and they, for the most part, accept his reasons. Congress is more unpopular than ever.

It is November 4th, 2012. A hard fought campaign has come to this, and it is not clear who will win. Backed by vast corporate funds, the President's campaign has overwhelmed the opposition in media coverage, but its message rings hollow, over-produced. The economy has not recovered, nor has it weakened. The Tea Party reminds the American public of this fact, and that the extraordinary, undemocratic measures taken by the President have done little to help Americans and much to destroy the ancient institutions that protected their liberty. Polls suggest that the President will win re-election, but it is not certain.

The election results come in; the Democrats have won even fewer seats in the House, the Tea Party a narrow majority in the Senate. The winner of the Presidential race, by a small margin, is the Perry/Bachmann ticket. There is much rejoicing, and the Democrats go into a panic, sensing that their time has gone.

It is January 20th, 2013. On his first day as President, Rick Perry issues a slew of Executive Orders. The previous President is repudiated, and many of his Orders revoked. The new President issues the longest Executive Orders in history to this point, outlining the need for strong leadership tied to strong patriotism. The debt limit is severely lowered, social programs are drastically cut, and income tax and Federal Reserve are abolished as unconstitutional. These Orders are unanimously confirmed by the Republicans in Congress and the Senate, and are welcomed by the businessmen of the nation.

Social Security, Medicaid, Interstate Highways, the Department of Motor Vehicles and many other government agencies, assets and departments are privatized. Only the military remains as a significant public institution and expense, maintained by a new tax required of all citizens to provide for the protection of the nation to which they owe their livelihoods. By Order, the military now enforces the new laws designed for the protection of the homeland from domestic and alien threats. Police forces across the country, when not privatized, are subordinated to the National Guard, and the National Guard to the Pentagon. The military it itself incorporated into Homeland Security, the only remaining Federal bureau. Morality, immigration, and treason are strictly monitored and offenses are severely penalized.

By the end of his second term, President Perry is the most popular U.S. President of all time and the liberal elite have fled for other countries, or else denounce their former convictions. Unopposed, the Tea Party unanimously repeals the 22nd Amendment, and President Perry is re-elected to a further five terms. America becomes the home of utterly free enterprise, Christian morals, and security.

This sounds more like a short story than a prediction.
President Perry?

Originally posted by survivalstation
This sounds more like a short story than a prediction.
President Perry?

The title is the IDEAL future of the Tea Party. I kinda forgot that while I was reading but the story makes sense when you take that into account.

I have a feeling the real future of the tea party ain't so pretty. If(And there's a pretty good chance of this) they are responsible for an economic downfall, it won't be pretty for them. For a day, there will be some cheering in the streets, then the people who aren't getting food will kill the people cheering.

I want the Tea Party people in the house and senate to form their own party prior to 2012 and Ron Paul to jump to it. People are terrified of voting for someone other than an R or a D because of popularity. If suddenly 10% of congress is in a new party then it'll change the entire public discourse for the election.

[edit]
I wouldn't mind seeing the people on the far left like the Naomi Wolfe's joining either. We need a liberty / anti-war / anti-global elite party.

As much as I've always hated the Code Pink people - I find myself agreeing with them more and more - so I think there is an opportunity for the far left and far right to reach around and join hands. Lets agree to utterly ignore social issues for 10 years and get the country back from being owned by elitist, war-mongering, bankers.

of course, there's a major flaw here.

Tea partiers aren't going to do squat. They'll sit on their sofas and expect someone else to go do something. The small handful who try, get cracked in the face by police batons. Rather than staging an insurrection, they'll just scream at the TV. The more proactive ones will come to places like ATS to screech and howl. And we won't be able to tell the difference, because that's what they do anyway.

The "tea party movement" is basically a populist movement for the self-absorbed who feel the status quo should be maintained. Aside from a few walleyed herp-derpers, they're about as threatening as an overweight pomeranian.

I admire and respect you Smedly,
and I have been far too intimidated by your intelect to respond to your posts or threads before.
So allow me this oportunity to disagree with you,
even while my palms are sweating as I type this.


My response to your fictional speach in the future...

Only a democrat would crash and entire nation
because they couldn't find the breaks on government spending.

Entitlement programs were started by democrats,
the legislation contained zero exit strategy,
zero limits, and zero plans to do anything but swallow the whole GDP.

Blame the furtive reclusive republicans if you wish.

If I had my way I would endorse a military take over of the country.

/runs and hides
David Grouchy

p.s. star & flag

I predict the President will play 450 days of golf between now and election day and will suck as much at the end as he did at the beginning. That is about all that our esteemed leaders will accomplish between now and election day.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


Ah, but the wall-eyed herp-derpers are the Jared Loughners and the apocalypse-junkies and the Mad Maxes and the militias of the country. They are ready, willing and able to take the fight to the Man when society finally breaks down. There are enough of them to be a long-term nuisance, if not an actual threat to the majority. My narrative does say that the actual TP will distance themselves from the crazy anarcho-libertarians!


reply to post by davidgrouchy


Please don't be afraid, I am just a small-time armchair analyst. This is what I do when I am sick of ATS and bored of politics.

I don't think that the welfare state will inevitably die. I think that it seems that way now because it is experiencing a financial bottleneck. The biggest generation ever, the baby boomers, are beginning to retire and use their income and medical benefits provided by the state to hard-working citizens who have paid their dues over a lifetime of service to the American economy. They are entitled to these pay-outs because they paid-in over decades. It is their money.

The shortage of money is happening because America just waged two extremely expensive wars to create new markets for American products, capital, and human resources - Iraq and Afghanistan, two nations with vast natural resources that American businesses will get first dibs on. The investments made into Iraq and Afghanistan haven't paid off yet, and probably won't pay of for another few decades (think about Japan and Korea, and the booms in those countries decades after American occupation ended).

When those booms happen, there will be great new opportunities for American businesses and workers, and by that time many of the baby boomers will have died off and left their enormous wealth in the hands of their heirs or the state. I think that the future is extremely bright, if we look ahead twenty years. Think 1960 versus 1940.

how about the tea party caucus march right into hell ....... let Bachmann & her closet case husband lead the way.

Originally posted by SmedleyBurlap

When those booms happen, there will be great new opportunities for American businesses and workers, and by that time many of the baby boomers will have died off and left their enormous wealth in the hands of their heirs or the state. I think that the future is extremely bright, if we look ahead twenty years. Think 1960 versus 1940.

That would be grand.

But everyone I know who was successful had some larger entity come in and buy them out or force them out.
From what I can tell no one believes that this country is a meritocracy any more. It has become some kind of elite feeding ground where the priveledge of wealth gobbles up what ever great invention or acheivment the little worker ant produces.

In other words, to the creative and inventive people I know America has become hell.
It doesn't matter who the spokesman is.


David Grouchy

reply to post by davidgrouchy


The rumour mill here says the same thing about these buy-outs, but they've been happening for decades in this country. When NAFTA came into effect, it was easier for big corporations to do business across international borders. American companies bought up many old and upcoming Canadian corporations in the following years because they had a larger amount of capital to invest in these companies than any of the Canadian owners did. America is experiencing the same sort of thing now, as the Chinese and European markets become more and more wealthy and buy up more and more American assets.

(Incidentally, I think that this is because of the World Trade Organization coming into effect in 1993, opening up America to greater foreign investment, driving the 1990s economy. I also think that the World Trade Center was struck in 1993 because it was a vital link in the WTO chain).

If Ron Paul was elected President, then the Tea Party Presidency would have a very different character from the watered-down Bachmann/Cantor/neo-conservative party that I predict will win. Ron Paul places enormous emphasis on finance and the control of the money supply. The moderate Tea Parties in Congress only care about revenue (taxes) and will never make radical reforms.

Ron Paul would take serious action to 'liberate' America from foreign investors, who have sustained America's economic growth for a century. He would obliterate the economy and force most Americans out of work as the source of all of their incomes is legislated out of existence. Smuggling, crime and corruption would be out of control because previously normal economic activities have been outlawed. It will be like post-World War I period, during which the Prohibition and Great Depression began and became worse and worse every year. The Republicans of that time thought that enormous tariffs on imports would save America's economy, and they too opposed the Income Tax. These tariffs had the opposite effect then, and they would have the opposite effect now.

The moderate Tea Partiers and the remaining Neo-conservatives would preserve the Welfare State in a weakened form so that they could provide bread and circuses while the plutocrats establish a feudal state. It will be a more gradual decline into the instability and anarchy that Paul would deliver to America, and it would never reach the same lows nor the same heights as a post-Paul America.