The tea party strikes

Another moderate shown the door

The spirit of compromise has become fatal to Republican politicians

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Readers' comments


Paul Marks










I think the Tea Party is a Democrat conspiracy.

Obama is secretly raising funds for the Tea Party, pushing the moderates out and making the Republicans unelectable.

From the presidential line up to the next Congress elections... this can only strengthen Obama's position.

Liberty Blues





Liberty Blues in reply to Konker



PKW7S6XNpx in reply to Liberty Blues




Paul Marks in reply to PKW7S6XNpx

Interest rates in the United Stated (and in much of the rest of the West) are artificial - pushed down (yet again) by Central Bank (Federal Reserve - in the case of the United States) credit-money expansion. Sadly the Fed has responded to Alan Greenspan's many years of monetary expansion (bubble making - see Thomas Woods "Meltdown") by yet more credit-money expansion. This mess will collapse in 2013.

On the fiscal side - Federal government spending on Welfare State programs is vastly greater than military spending. However, YES such things as the Iraq war were wrong (I opposed the Iraq war - and I wish I had opposed the "nation building" enterprise the Afghan war turned out to be). But it is not military spending that is driving the United States to bankruptcy (back in the days of Ike and Jack Kennedy, BEFORE the Vietnam war, military spending was about 10% of GDP, it is about 4% now).

Monetary policy (such as the fake interest rates you cite) is on the same destructive track it was under Alan Greenspan. And fiscal policy is a mess of ever growing entitlement programs (added to by both Bush and Obama). This (not the resistance to it) is the "hubris" and the nemesis will be very soon.







thispaceforsale in reply to Katerayder

You appear to be playing a shell game. The DOD may be less than 5% of US GDP (which is still insanely wasteful). But that figure does not account for nuclear weapons, which goes under the DOE, it doesn't account for defense spending for Homeland Security, or the DOJ, the NSA and CIA, debt financing for the portion of the debt this all represents, as well as the pension and healthcare burden of these units, which get rolled into the "entitlement spending"
If the Tea Party welcomed across (and above) the board austerity, it would be a legitimate platform, and one that should be taken seriously.

SomeDude in reply to thispaceforsale

Exactly. If you include all of the other 'goodies' you mentioned actual defense spending leaps to well over $1T last year. Closer to $1.2T actually.

Medicaid/Medicare are what really are challenging because no country in the world has found a surefire way to keep healthcare inflation below actual inflation for a prolonged period and it will have to involvement rationing of one sort of the other for Medicare. Even gov't does it by setting aside a pool of set money for it or the individual does it as we largely pass the risk back on them.

I respect a lot of what libertarians have to say but let's not for a minute confuse the Tea Party for representing libertarians/Ron Paul. The only thing they primarily agree on is low tax rates and no/low taxes on other things including capital. Tea Party is just fine with waging unlimited war, not cutting the defense budget, and reforming entitlements as long as it doesn't affect Boomers who are 55 and older in any way.

It is a huge reason why most of the people who identify with the Tea Party movement are older and much closer to retirement while Ron Paul drew his strong support not from seniors/Tea Party folks but people 30 and under and college crowds. Tea Party folks are fine with waging war as long as they don't have to fight in it, pay for it, and feel its effects directly at the home front.

Why I think most of the self-identified Tea Party members are pukes. Fine with dishing out harsh medicine/policy options on others as long as none of it is inflicted upon them. Worst of the worst among Boomers.



The_Prof in reply to lordlovat

Just thinking that the best solution going forward is a constitutional amendment instituting a unicameral parliamentary system. Would also allow 2/3 majority to over rule SCOTUS rulings.




Dick Lugar was nothing more than a progessive liberal who was allowed to call himself a Republican for his entire career. He didn't just compromise with radical elements trying to take the country down; he actively supported them. He was long on the wrong side of issues that the majority of Americans care about. Americans care about their Constitution and the limits , which it imposes on their government. Mr. Lugar had a long record of trying to weaken gauranteed rights in Constitution. He should have been thrown out of office, years ago. That it happened belatedly, after he had already done so much damage, is still a good thing.
A 'victim' he is not!

Liberty Blues in reply to splittercrack

Read the outcome of the most recent elections. Incumbent Lugar 39% Mourdock 61%. 2010 elections wiped out liberals giving control of the House to Republicans and teeing up the Senate for a change in control in 2012. Over 700 elections nationwide reflected the trend the original post implied you should have been aware. To understand the big picture you may want to expand your sources of inputs. I do hope your lack of understanding does not result from a lack of analytical skills or any clinical issue. In that case all the explanations in the world may do nothing for your understanding.






"...the average Indianan..."

People who live in Indiana are not Indianans; they are Hoosiers.

Plus, putting average and Indianan or average and Hoosier together is redundant.


The tea party people are on way to destroy the the Republican Party by punishing their well respected Senators and others for not being enough conservative! Mr.Lugar is the latest victim.
However,Lugar should not be dis-heartened.It was expected.He should fight now as an independent candidate.Indiana Voters will surely re elect him as their senator.The large number of real Republican voters in Indiana along with the undecided independent voters of this state will surely ensure the re-election of Mr.Lugar for another term.

Drifter1 in reply to creativemind

It doesn't have to be destroyed so much as reborn, in a more conservative vein. Looking at his record, Mr. Lugar is someone who needs to be punished. If he does have a successful third party run, he won't be running as a conservative. He could run as a Democrat...

creativemind in reply to Drifter1

Why one has to be a conservative to fight an election successfully as a nominee of the Republican Party?Mr.Lugar is a republican and will continue to remain a republican.He need not run as a Democrat.He should run as an independent.The Tea Party people may not support him but the voters who matter more will support him.He acted as a bridge between the two parties many times.
A newborn always runs the risk of getting sick if looked after by a untrained nurse.Let us not forget this fact.





Stuki in reply to cclusn





Drifter1 in reply to JohnDaniels

The Republican Party is another big government party with only stylistic differences. They started going that way, quite a few years ago, as a response to trying to fill the void (with a 'big tent'), when the Democrats started moving farther to the Left.
Conservatives were thus left with no party to represent them. If the Republicans were far right, as you suggest, they would not be facing Tea Party challenges...

Stuki in reply to Drifter1

Artistic license.




JohnDaniels in reply to cclusn

No - BOTH parties have shifted to the RIGHT
There is no extreme left in american politics.

JohnDaniels in reply to Drifter1

So you have:
Tea Party - Extreme Right,
Republican party - Right,
Democrats - MIddle

Paul Marks in reply to JohnDaniels

Ronald Reagan reduced (not increased) the top rate of income tax - from 70% to 28%. He also regarded trusting the Dems on securing the border (what he was promised in return for the amnesty of the few million illegals there then were) as "the worst mistake I ever made".

Obamacare (with its government financed "crony capitalism" - at least till the "private providers" go the same way as the student loan providers) is nothing to do with "personal responsbilty" - and everything to do with the government (yet again) increasing cost with yet more subsdies and mandates (adding to the web of subsidies and regulations that have been pushing up costs for DECADES). With the objective of pushing real private medical cover out of the reach of most people - companies are already dropping their coverage of employees (as the increased costs mean it will be cheaper to pay the fine). This is the INTENTION behind Obamacare - to push more and more people into government financed care (administered by "private providers" at first...).

As for Barack Obama - I suspect we both know what his real political background is.


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