Feb 18, 2010

The Tea Party Folks

They are a great public blessing. I think of them as a backfire shielding the citizenry from the grossest manifestations of current government stupidity and tyrannical intent.

I also hope I am being realistic in hoping the movement has a grounding in the Constitution and an informed dedication to repairing the abuses against it. Would these folks fight for ending no-knock entry? Civil confiscation of property? Traffic checkpoints? Would they reject substituting "reasonable suspicion" for "probable cause" in Fourth Amendment matters?

I purposely omit mention of gun control, abortion, classroom prayer, gay marriage and similar three-alarm issues.

Discussing the lower-temperature matters first might lead to greater clarity on where they stand on the crucial point: Government by laws which do not offend the Constitution and which are administered by men and women who take their oath of office seriously and literally.

Detesting the works of President Barack Obama and most of our current legislators is an admirable stance and a good start. But it is not a substitute for policy.

1 comment:

TJP said...

To expect that is putting a lot of weight on their shoulders. I'm thankful that they're simply out there demanding that the public trough be downsized.

The lifeforms of Planet DC are arguably human, so we may hold a reasonable expectation that, like us, when they have a choice between payola, entertainment and sustenance--with only enough to pay for one--they'll choose survival.

The New Deal was the tail end of a hostile take-over, and its legacy an unconstitutional parliamentary kleptocracy which is the sole sovereign power of this land. It abuses the election cycle to screw different segments of the population in alternating years, using the stolen money to bribe the temporarily favored in exchange for votes.

The electorate believes there is progress when their issues appear to be addressed, only to be angry again when the progress is destroyed when its their turn to get screwed. The cycles occupy decades, but the general trend is greater concentration of power in the central government.

Considering the central government's thirst, it would be awfully hard to find volunteers to corral or slaughter the tax cows should the flow of milk get too lean.

Time's a-wasting while we debate trivia such as whether or not this is a "Christian nation", or what defines a conservative or liberal. Apparently an ability to trim away irrelevant parts of an argument is now a rare skill.

I do not understand why many people want to take the most peaceful, most immediate solution to our dilemma, and trade it for violence, poverty and wide-scale destruction at a later date. I will grant them this, though: they're consistent with history.