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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Bill Press
It's time someone told the truth about the tea party.
First, there is no such thing as the tea party. There are, instead, at least 2,300 different organizations across the country that loosely identify themselves as "tea partiers." But they have no leader, no central organization, no platform, and don't even stand for the same goals.
Immediately after the midterm elections, for example, one group released a letter warning Republican leaders that tea party members expected them to support "traditional moral values." A week later, a different group advised party leaders to forget social issues and stick to fiscal issues. Which is it? Nobody knows.
Second, despite all the media hoopla, tea partiers were not all that successful at the polls. Yes, Rand Paul won. But Sharon Angle, Ken Buck, Joe Miller, Carl Paladino, and Christine O'Donnell lost. In fact, had not tea party candidates been successful in so many primaries, Republicans would easily have won control of the
Third, there is no coherent tea party message. They say they want to balance the budget, yet they support borrowing
Tea partiers rushed into Washington this week proclaiming they were out to change the world. No more business as usual. No more out-of-control federal spending. No more budget deficit. How were they going to accomplish this? By getting rid of all earmarks.
And, what do you know? They succeeded. Sort of. They humiliated chief porker Mitch McConnell into doing a flip-flop on earmarks. First, he was for them; now, he's against them. Then they cowed the Senate Republican Caucus into adopting a moratorium on all earmarks. They even got President Obama to sign on.
Now, on the surface, that's an impressive victory for tea partiers who haven't even been sworn into office yet. But what did they accomplish by banning earmarks? Absolutely nothing. It is a totally meaningless, empty gesture. All form, no substance.
For starters, the moratorium applies only to Republican senators, while placing no restrictions on Democrats. Not only that, it's not binding on Republican senators, either. They're free to pork happily ever after, with impunity.
Even if it did tie the hands of all senators, however, the moratorium is still a joke. Why? Because the significance of earmarks is vastly exaggerated. As congressional budget experts repeatedly explain, all House and
But here's the most important point: Just because it's not done by earmark doesn't mean a program won't be funded. Earmarks are used by members of
And that's a significant difference. Because the Constitution clearly puts
For one more example of tea party lunacy, consider freshman Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland. Like many other Republicans, he campaigned by promising to repeal "Obamacare." Yet when he showed up for freshman orientation, he was suddenly singing a different tune.
Harris not only rushed to sign up for the "socialized medicine" he receives as a member of
Available at Amazon.com:
The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
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