What Is The Tea Party and What Do They Stand For?

Beezer, and others who seem to know about the Tea Party this question is for you...

Can you all please tell me more about them including their stances on the situation in this country?

Also, how do you respond when people state that it has been taken over by the GOP?

I am asking for knowledge and not supposition.

The TEA Party was started by this Rick Santelli rant over the continuing bailouts.

The original anger of the TEA Party was directed at TARP which began under Bush. At that point, we were all at the calling stage, burning up the switchboards as it were. TARP should not have happened. Yes, it would have been painful, but those businesses should have been allowed to fail and go into bankruptcy rather than being bailed out. It ballooned out to auto bailouts and Obamacare which are further examples of a government stepping where it has no business being.

What the TEA Party wants, as I understand it, if a return to the Founding principles as much as possible when it comes to the Federal government. We want a fiscally responsible government that only pays out what it takes in and stops taking so much from its citizens. We'd also like to see many of the Federal alphabets removed. Partially because they create a vastly top heavy bureaucracy that wastes a lot of that money and partially because many of them are really unconstitutional.

I don't know how much you pay in tax burden, but we're approaching 40% (in a low tax state) between all our various obligations and we're not in 6-figure land which means in terms of time worked that my husband doesn't actually make any money to support us until sometime into Wednesday. And yet, if you ask most Americans what a "fair share" is they are thinking no more than 30% at most. And this is just the overt tax burden we have, this is not counting all the hidden taxes imposed when we pay at the gas pump or in cell phone/cable bills or on any other product we buy or what you never see in your salary because the employer figures it out as part of the cost of doing business and hiring the first place. Ever wonder what the true cost of all those taxes actually is? Therefore, we also want a drastically simplified tax code with either a fair or flat tax rate for all, every entity, individual and business. That would eliminate all the tax code games being played now.

We also would like to see some massive entitlement reform. As they stand, Medicare and Social Security are going to go bankrupt. We are in the unpleasant situation of either ignoring the situation and leaving everyone high and dry or making some massive changes which means that some will have to cope with some losses somewhere. I feel for people because there were promises made that simply cannot be kept, but it's either we make some changes or no one will have anything very soon. Which is worse and who will be asked to give up something? I don't know, but it won't be easy no matter how we do it. As for the rest, I'm sure you agree it's needed, but people are going to have to learn how to make do with less and change the way things are done. There is just no way around it.

And yes, we also need to revamp the military and the way it does business. I've heard that talked about in the TEA Party. There is a divide on what and how. However, make no mistake. It will NOT be going away. All agree that of all Federal expenditures, the military is one thing expressly defended and demanded in the COTUS. We need to it to ensure that we have the luxury of dickering over everything else. Now, whether or not we need it in Germany? Yeah, I think that's up for debate.

I'd also like to add that they're really more a set of ideals and principles than they are an actual organized force with leaders.

I identify more with them because they're the "get the heck out of my life and leave me alone sorts."

I don't need or want the government hanging out over my shoulder directing my business. If I wanted that I never would have left my parents' house.

reply to post by ketsuko


Do they have an actual plan as you know it? A well written and well thought out proposal to hand to our elected leaders that all the ordinary people can agree to, a plan that says where the cuts should come from and exactly what reforms need done, or are they just complaining rather than offering solutions?

I think it's a little too late to try and rebrand the tea party. They should have stood up against the crazies when they had the chance.

reply to post by OpinionatedB


You keep saying "they". The TEA party consists of general American citizens attending grass roots rallies across the entire US against taxation. T.E.A. Taxed Enough Already. It's not an official party with an official leader and official purpose statements. It's ordinary Americans who are fed up with the ridiculous tax structure of the US. There are many politicians who try to be a part of what the TEA party espouses in the efforts of getting votes, but not all make the cut by the voters.

reply to post by jjkenobi


Therefore what you are saying is that it is a bunch of people who want to get together and complain without offering solution?

OpinionatedB
Beezer, and others who seem to know about the Tea Party this question is for you...

Can you all please tell me more about them including their stances on the situation in this country?

Also, how do you respond when people state that it has been taken over by the GOP?

I am asking for knowledge and not supposition.

The Tea Party (for me) started right after TARP and George Bush. Bailouts, spending stupidity. And it has been carried over with the Obama Administration.

Now the Tea Party got branded as racist by weak-minded progressives who didn't have an argument against higher spending and no responsibility.

The GOP saw the popularity of the Tea Party increase and tried to hitch their wagon to it's rise.

Some faces, voices have given the Tea Party a bad name bvy attaching certain personalities to it.

The Tea Party simply stands for;
Smsaller government
Less spending
Personal responsibility


At least, the group I belong to believes in.

reply to post by OpinionatedB


What solution do you want? If we hand a one-size-fits-all solution to the government, by definition, it goes against the principles of personal freedom and responsibility. You know best what solutions work for you, certainly you know better what fits your situation than any bureaucrat sitting behind a desk in Washington. Why would ever think they could fix your problems better than you can? The best they can do is attempt to create an environment in which you have the best chance to seek your solutions freely. Right now, we are all dreadfully hampered and burdened.

But I listed some solutions above - Flat or fair tax for starters. Return to Constitutional governance. Abolishment of many of the Federal alphabet agencies.

reply to post by beezzer


This is something my boss at work told me when I first started in his employ. Do not come to me with problems come to me with solutions. I told him its your place of business and I am in your employ how can I tell you what to do? He said, if you have a problem with something, find the solution to it, or what you believe would solve the problem and then we can discuss it and decide together how best to solve the problem.

I have, since that day never again come to my boss with anything but solutions... and it works, he listens, and we have made the business better as a result in many areas.

If I do this at work.. why are we not doing this with our government?

Why are we not telling our government the solutions to the problems? Apparently most of us have a higher intelligence than the people running this country, we are business owners, managers and workers... and economics is business...

All they are doing is spending our money frivolously, like a bad wife who does not care.... I say its time to reign in the wife and give a list of demands before we divorce her and replace her with a better wife!!!!

reply to post by OpinionatedB


For one thing, the government is not a business. If it were, it would have been out of business a long time ago, and we would not be having this discussion, or it would be running more like we in the TEA Party wish for it to run at least fiscally (as to whether or not it would be respecting basic rights, who knows?) and we would not be having this discussion ...

And people have been proposing solutions on both "sides" if you will for a long time.

One side thinks that the government should just say "To heck with all of you!" and take control of everyone and everything and run us all like so many pawns on a board game.

The other side says that we should have a giant sand box created where we are completely free to make of this what we will even if it means we end up dying on the street through our own incompetence at life.

In the US, this is how the axis of power traditionally runs, between those two sides, and this has created the resulting mess that is our system. Right now, the locus of power is swinging very far toward the first end. I and most TEA partiers tend to lean toward the opposite side with varying stopping points on that our way toward complete anarchy. True libertarians go the furthest.

What you will consider a solution depends very much on where you fall out on that axis.

reply to post by ketsuko


So why are we not sitting down as people together, and hammering out these problems and what might solve them?

If a flat rate tax would be better economically, then why not say ok, this works and the majority agrees, and make this demand #1.

We The People Demand:

#1 - Flat rate taxation

#2 - Abolish the Department of Homeland Security

#3 -

etc etc (just for example) as we hammer out the problems and find workable solutions we should be handing our government demands, which if not met within a certain time frame... we write in vote at the next election...

Writing out the people who are not doing their jobs...

reply to post by ketsuko


government is not a business perse, but it has most of the cogs of one... You have money coming in, and you have money that needs spent in order to keep things running smoothly.

There are certain things money should be spent on, and certain things that should not.

The only difference is our government apparently prints money and drinks it like water, not caring about the results.

OpinionatedB
reply to post by beezzer

 

This is something my boss at work told me when I first started in his employ. Do not come to me with problems come to me with solutions. I told him its your place of business and I am in your employ how can I tell you what to do? He said, if you have a problem with something, find the solution to it, or what you believe would solve the problem and then we can discuss it and decide together how best to solve the problem.

I have, since that day never again come to my boss with anything but solutions... and it works, he listens, and we have made the business better as a result in many areas.

If I do this at work.. why are we not doing this with our government?

Why are we not telling our government the solutions to the problems? Apparently most of us have a higher intelligence than the people running this country, we are business owners, managers and workers... and economics is business...

All they are doing is spending our money frivolously, like a bad wife who does not care.... I say its time to reign in the wife and give a list of demands before we divorce her and replace her with a better wife!!!!

Government knows better. Somehow, politicians got it in their head that they had become smarter than the rest of us.
THEY get to determine;
How we act
How we live
How much money we should have
How much money they can take


Government is mainly a large group of stupid people who came to the consensus that they were smart.

And the American people bought it. They ate it up. They believed it. Government could not have gotten so out of cocntrol without the help of the American people.

The inmates are running the asylum.

And they got the keys willingly.

reply to post by OpinionatedB

What Is The Tea Party and What Do They Stand For?

To be honest, I am not sure that there is any one single set of beliefs or political leaning to define them. I attended a local gathering once and these folks couldn't even agree on why they were there to begin with.

My best guess is that they are just basic conservatives fed up with politics in general and that they have simply become the play-pretty target of the left because of that vulnerability.

reply to post by OpinionatedB


Because it's like herding cats. There are a lot of people who still see this as a "my team"/"your team" sort of game. They see what little letter you're registered as and go from there. Or they see which guys your ideas seem to look like and go from there with their assumptions. Most people will brand me a Republican, but I'm not. I'm not registered to any party. When it comes to making laws, I lean libertarian, but I'll argue a socially conservative position all day ... I just don't believe most of them should be codified in law just chosen as a way of life.

And when it comes to voting for politicians, you can see the national polls. Anti-incumbency attitudes may be at an all-time low, but did they track how that extends to people's own incumbents politicians? I'll bet they didn't. I'll bet that people in Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Boehner, and John McCain's districts all loath incumbent politicians and I'll bet that all of them get returned. Further, I'll bet that if any of them do get voted out it won't be the first two. Reid and Pelosi will likely stay in office until they want to leave or die.

The tea party got branded racist because a boatload of them were racists. Now by the same token you can't blame all tea partiers for that. Just like can't say they are all stupid but there are an awful lot of them that are dumb as a mud fence.

reply to post by beezzer


Do you agree its time to take the keys away?

I mean, I don't allow my grandson to have crayons if he decides its ok to color on the walls with them. After taking them away a few times he gets the point....

Apparently we need to take these keys away... they started scratching up the nice kitchen table with them!

reply to post by OpinionatedB

The Tea Party was formed by Ron Paul supporters who objected to the big government, anti-Constitutional polices of the GOP under Bush.

Many of these people were Republicans soon to become Libertarians.

However, this true Tea Party movement which began under Bush, was co-opted by different groups and individual like the Koch brothers who portrayed it as an anti Obama movement.

The GOP did not want the general public to realize that the voting public had awakened to the fact that the GOP was only slightly less liberal than the Democrats.

There is a difference between the original Tea Party and what we have today.

While there are some similarities (smaller government, lower taxes, fewer regulations), today's Tea Partyers are generally foreign empire neocons and supportive of the Military Industrial Complex. They think that the Constitution should be applied selectively. Example would be the "Ground Zero" Mosque. A Libertarian would support someone's Constitutionally protected religious and property rights. Today's Tea Partyer would never support such a thing, regardless of the Constitution, individual liberties or rights.

Ron Paul to Sunshine Patriots: Stop Your Demagogy About The NYC Mosque!

The debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the building of the mosque.

Instead, we hear lip service given to the property rights position while demanding that the need to be “sensitive” requires an all-out assault on the building of a mosque, several blocks from “ground zero.”

OpinionatedB
reply to post by beezzer

 

Do you agree its time to take the keys away?

I mean, I don't allow my grandson to have crayons if he decides its ok to color on the walls with them. After taking them away a few times he gets the point....

Apparently we need to take these keys away... they started scratching up the nice kitchen table with them!

Yes. I believe it's time that we rein in the power that government has awarded itself.
Ideally, we need to do that at the ballot box and grass-root protests.
I can't agree to a call for an over-throw of government because;
that rarely works out well
people get shot
I don't want to get shot

Government gets mean and nasty when you take their toys away, and they do try to shoot you or call you nuts, or jail you, or intimidate you.