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This is from a debate currently going on at George Rebane's blog.
"So are we then done with the debate as to whether the tea party, per se, has/promotes a social agenda?"
not so fast.
Is the Tea Party, per se (Latin for through itself) merely the words of the tenants on paper?
Or is it the living breathing life spirit of all it's members and their own multiple agendas, which share many points in common?
If you wish to comparmentalize the Tea Party as being merely a few abstract words written on paper, then maybe you are correct. But, if you wish to capture the living breathing essence of the Tea Party movement, then you must add in the additional constellations of attitudes that most hold in common, along with their avowed allegiance to those few written words.
So which is it George, Todd, Dave, Mickey, and the rest:
The Tea Party is merely an allegiance to three to four lines on paper?
or:
The Tea Party consists of many fully faceted humans who share far more in the way of belief systems than just those 3 or 4 lines?
"Hump or Die"
~ Mel Brooks ~
For an in depth look at the sociology of the Tea Party, please read this article:
http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2011/07/11/scenes-from-the-tea-party/
Kudos to Michael Ballachey, and his dad, a prof at UC Berkeley, in the Sociology Dept.
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While I believe that the influence of the Tea Party on our national politics (and economy!) is extremely pernicious and destructive, I tend to agree with Thom Hartmann, who claims that we should consider emulating their tactics. Here's how Hartmann explains it:
"I have a mission for you - and it's not impossible. Progressives shouldn't just be FIGHTING the Tea Party - we should be LEARNING from the Tea Party too. No - not learning from their bizarro economics - or selfish morality - or destructive idealism - but instead learning from how they took control of the Republican Party and forced the entire Conservative establishment to lurch so far to the Right that they've even dumped people like David Frum. If progressives hope to have any shot at influencing today's Democratic Party - and kicking out the corporate Blue Dog Democrats and replacing them with real-deal progressives - then we need to get to work right now - and do exactly what the Tea Party did a year and a half ago to take power. And it starts in our own backyards. Let me introduce you to the Concord Project - a right-wing organization in charge of getting out the vote for Republicans. Last year - the Concord Project expanded their get out the vote strategy beyond just traditional phone banking - canvassing - and putting up "vote Republican" signs - they decided to infiltrate local politics by encouraging Tea Partiers to become Precinct Committeemen."
See http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/thom-hartmann-mystery-concord-project-you-need-know
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