The Tea Party

[Sinophile]

I hear more and more about this particular party, not only from the internet, but from family members. It seems that the "Tea Party Movement", is gaining momentum. Quite frankly, I don't hold a high opinion of them. My question is, do they gain a lot of media attention because of their misguided and radical views, or is this a dangerous new trend in American politics?

[Vagrant0]

Both.

 

Who they are is a more difficult question however. On one side of things, you have people who mean well, are angry, and who are looking to get behind whatever they can find that makes sense. On the other side of things you have a group of leaders who are using the diverse, angry, non-cohesive mass behind them to push their own agenda and who has been using misinformation, hate speech, and just about everything in their arsenal to keep the movement together. It's not a political party as it is just a tool to stir up trouble. The obvious slant towards fanatical values and ideas which are seemingly accepted by everyone in the movement only makes it more alarming.

[Deleted1217574User]

Perhaps it's just me, but I would say that all of your options for voting sound kinda biased against the TP. While I may have voted "Yes," in the interest of fairness, you may wanna make the choices a bit more neutral.

[Kendo 2]

Is the Tea Party movement dangerous? If wanting the United States of America to be a Representative Republic, if wanting ALL politians to be accoutable for their actions while in office, if wanting the three branches of Government to abide by the United States Constitution is dangerous, then YES by all means they are dangerous.

[ub3rman123]

Just judging solely by their ads, they seem to want to impeach Obama because he got elected. Do they even have any other goals?

[Retribution]

Is the Tea Party movement dangerous? If wanting the United States of America to be a Representative Republic, if wanting ALL politians to be accoutable for their actions while in office, if wanting the three branches of Government to abide by the United States Constitution is dangerous, then YES by all means they are dangerous.

this

 

Also, how exactly could the tea party movement be dangerous? Left wing protesters are much more violent than people involved with the tea party.

[Kendo 2]

Just judging solely by their ads, they seem to want to impeach Obama because he got elected. Do they even have any other goals?

 

 

'Contract From America' is the platform.

 

The Contract lists 10 agenda items that it encourages congressional candidates to follow:

 

1. Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.

 

2. Reject emissions trading: Stop the "cap and trade" administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.

 

3. Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification.

 

4. Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words -- the length of the original Constitution.

 

5. Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities.

 

6. Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.

 

7. Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

 

8. Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation.

 

9. Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.

 

10. Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011.

 

All of that sounds like a sound plan to me, though they did leave out Term Limits. Reich Führer Obama should be concerned.

 

As a side note, it seems from the Poll Questions asked here the intent of this thread is to discredit the Tea Party movement without leaving any room for positive feedback or an opposing view. That basically makes this a hate/bash thread against the Tea Party and most likey anyone who doesn't have Socialist Progressive or Liberal leanings. That's not much of a debate.

[ginnyfizz]

If the Tea Party are dangerous, and their contract doesn't sound outlandish, Lord knows what we should make of Mr President:

 

Some Thoughts On Obama And Human Rights

Civil Liberties Advocates Dismayed

Rachel Maddow on Obama

Obama threatens Britain

Could Obama be breaking the law?

Obama and transparency

 

No wonder he's slamming the Tea Party, has he something to fear from their Contract if implemented?

[Vagrant0]

If that's their agenda... then why promote all the hate speech? Just going back to what I had said, on one side, it's a movement made by people with good intentions, on the other side it's leaders who are using that movement to make sure their own personal message is heard. All the misinformation and inconsistencies both within the movement and how the movement is being reported just leads to confusion and accomplishes nothing.

[Retribution]

What hate speech? Are you implying that they're racist? I'm sure there are members of the movement that are, but that is a very small minority.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN67KJdd6Mw

 

So, Vagrant, what do you think of this? This is hate speech, but it went unpunished.