Tea Parties, Cont'd.

My buddy Hu had some comments re: my mild defense of the Tea Party movement. Essentially, he couldn't believe that I would say anything mildly positive about a movement pitching nothing more than a "hissy fit," and he felt that they lacked ideas. I responded as follows:

Here are some ideas:

--stop spending so much of my money
--stop raising taxes
--stop regulating, bailing out, or outright taking over businesses to the point where they won't hire anybody

Notice I said all of that without throwing a hissy fit or making personal insults. Those are the basics of the tea party. The fact that they are angry (many months of unemployment might do that to me, too, but still) is a big reason why I'm not joining any damned movement.

To which Hu responded:
 

Who could argue any of those points?

...but change just a few words and those concepts get incindiary, and elitist.

-- only spend money on what I want
-- make me lose weight, but not in a way that I can notice

Firing back...

Well, I'd rather they just spent less, period, but that's just me. Again, no hissy fitting required. And it's very difficult to act politely toward a president who displays ostentatious luxury in a time of high unemployment and speaks disdainfully of large numbers of his fellow citizens. As with the Tea Party, so too with the president: it's how they say it.

So there ya go: my little discussion on the Tea Party. I'm not that gung ho to convert anybody. I'm just trying to explain where I'm coming from in the current political mix. Does this mean I'll vote for a Tea Party nominee in my district? If they're the Republican option, yeah. If my local GOP candidate is an "establishment" type, I'll vote for them. As Haley Barbour puts it, "When the Republican voters of a state choose a party nominee in an open process like a primary, we Republican leaders must support the nominee."

We shall see what we shall see. The point is to stop the current government-centric, high-tax, increased-regulation policies currently enacted. I shall calmly and rationally exercise my voting franchise without throwing a hissy fit or wearing a tri-corner hat. Such things are still possible in America, despite what you might have heard.