How the tea parties are leading the revolution astray. by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Friday, September 24, 2010
A lot of people have placed a lot of faith in the tea parties. A lot of other people look down their noses at the tea parties. The tea parties, particularly organizations like the Tea Party Express and Tea Party Nation, have claimed numerous victories during the 2010 primary season, knocking off incumbents in their primary bids.
So why am I down on the tea parties? Because the tea parties are leading the revolution astray.
Contrary to media claims, the revolution began with the Ron Paul presidential campaign of 2007-2008, not with Glenn Beck's 9/12 movement or any other well-financed upstart. Unfortunately, since the Paul campaign ended, the revolution has been usurped by Republican social conservatives wanting to knock moderates out of the party. The libertarian values within the revolution of small government, monetary change, and freedom for all have been replaced by the values of the religious right.
As an example, take the email message that went out today from Tea Party Nation. It's entitled, "Liberals Screw Americans (Again)". If you click the link in the email, it takes you to the fuller article on their website which basically claims that there are two ways to stimulate the economy: lower interest rates, or lower taxes. Since interest rates are already at rock bottom, the article claims, the only option is to cut taxes.
Now I favor tax cuts as much as the next guy. Probably more, in fact. I'd like to keep all the income I earn and not have to turn 25-50% (or more) of it over to the government (depending on one's income level). But Tea Party Nation is wrong, wrong, wrong. Tax cuts will not save the economy. At most, they'll create a temporary reprieve, but the end result of a collapsing economy is inescapable until we fundamentally change the monetary and banking system. The reason is that taxes are not what drives the monetary and banking system.
Of course, Tea Party Express, Tea Party Nation, and the other leading tea parties aren't talking about any significant tax cuts. They'd be happy if taxes got cut 5% or some ridiculously small level like that. But even if taxes were cut 95%, we still wouldn't be saved. There'd be a short-term improvement, a classic economic "boom", but the following bust would be just as bad...even worse...than the one we had in 2008. Here's why.
Without income from taxes, the Federal government is completely able to finance itself using the monetary system. The price would be very expensive for the rest of us, but it can still do it. How, you ask? Debt, I answer. Our entire monetary system is debt-based. Money is created by going deeper into debt, and the number one debtor in the world is the U.S. Government. So the solution, from the government's point of view, would be to simply go deeper into debt. And the deeper in debt we go as a nation, the closer we come to economic collapse.
No amount of tax cuts can stop this trend. Nor will tax cuts be permanent. The deeper in debt we go, the more pressure there will be to remove them later on. The notion that we can somehow, permanently, substantially, and dramatically reduce taxes on a permanent basis without also removing the menace of debt-based money is ludicrous. It simply can't happen.
So what does all this have to do with Tea Party Nation, Tea Party Express and the rest of the tea party movement? The answer is to look at the websites of their darling candidates. Look at the websites of Joe Miller, Christine O'Donnell, Sarah Palin's PAC,Sharron Angle, Tim Scott, Carly Fiorina, Rick Scott, and all the other candidates they and the other candidates the tea party has supported. Of all of them, only one, Rand Paul of Kentucky, even mentions the banking crisis anywhere on his website. The rest don't hardly even mention the word "bank", unless it's to talk about a phone bank or their own bank accounts, with an occasional, general swipe at the bank bailout bill of 2008. Notice also the conspicious absense of Ron Paul from any of the rhetoric pouring out of the leading tea parties. And not even Rand Paul's site mentions the term "debt-based money".
Given the fact that the financial crisis was caused by the monetary and banking system itself, one might expect that the tea party's leading candidates would not only understand that fact but would actually trumpet it in their candidacies, screaming about how we need to completely revamp the monetary and banking system away from debt-based money and legalized fraud. Certainly some tea party supporters understand this. So why don't their candidates? Simple. They don't want to.
The purpose of the leading tea parties is not revolution. The purpose of the leading tea parties is to usurp a revolution and turn it into the new, Republican Party, to be based on social conservative values with just a hint of libertarian ideas to attract the support of libertarian voters to their coalition. In other words, the current tea party movement and the 9/12 movement aren't really about revolution, or liberty, or freedom at all. Rather, like all Republican-based platforms of the past, they're about sounding good on liberty in order to dupe libertarians into voting for them, while their real agenda is social conservatism.
And if the tea party's candidates are elected, will there be real change? No. The economy will continue to founder. We'll get a few, token, short-term tax cuts that won't amount to a hill of beans, and the locomotive that is rushing toward us in the form of ultimate financial collapse will continue to gain speed.
Keep your eyes open for the headlight.
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Posted By: ericdondero
Date: September 24, 2010 04:35:03 PM
The reason none of these candidates mention banking issues is because they're a major snooze. The public doesn't want to be put to sleep. Your arrogance and snootiness shows by your highlighting such obscure issues as important to the regular voter.
Why not talk about meat and potato issues like tax relief; making the schmuck neighbor who has mooched off of unenployment for 2 years and sitting on his lazy ass watching TV all day long go out and find a job; or getting rid of affirmative action quotas as the local community college; or repealing seat belt laws so the cops will stop harrasing guys going to work every day.
These are practical issues that the Working Joe (or Jane) care about on a day-to-day basis; not some arcane matters about banking and the federal reserve.
Posted By: ericdondero
Date: September 24, 2010 04:37:10 PM
BTW, it's awfully funny that you forgot to mention that Joe Miller up in Alaska has the support of a significant amount of Libertarian Party members in the State; that Christine O'Donnell was the guest speaker at the Kent County Libertarian Party meeting in Dover in June and told the audience that she opposed the war on drugs, and that Sharron Angle was a recent guest on "Libertarian Politics Live," and expressed support for libertarian ideals.
Guess that doesn't quite fit your extremely biased against Republicans template.
Posted By: gede
Date: September 24, 2010 06:31:37 PM
banking issues are a "major snooze"? maybe that is the problem, folks fall asleep while the non productive portion of society, not the one you mention sleeping on their couch but the ones in the 40th floor penthouse suites, stick their fingers in your wallet. what the unemployed get as a stipend, the financiers feeding at the public trough wouldn't accept for pocket change.
and tax relief is going to fix everything? that's nice, but didn't we just receive tax relief a few years before the big crash? did it fix everything?
the tea party is not "meat and potatoes" at all, it is a few well worn slogans and absolutely no concrete ideas. what we need is an entirely new menu and they haven't even got around to changing the dessert list.
Posted By: Walt
Date: September 24, 2010 08:11:49 PM
The reason none of these candidates mention banking issues is because they're a major snooze. The public doesn't want to be put to sleep. Your arrogance and snootiness shows by your highlighting such obscure issues as important to the regular voter.
When it comes to snootiness, I don't hold a candle to you, Eric. You love war, you love imperialism, and you love calling it liberty. But all that aside, I don't think Americans are at all put to sleep by banking issues. To the contrary, the one positive thing that came out of the Fall of 2008 was that Americans finally woke up to how damaging the banks can be to the fortunes of average Americans like themselves who are now out of work, seeing their housing values plummet, and noticing that their 401K plans now look more like 101K plans. Perhaps that explains why my novel, The Money Suckers, has been downloaded over 25,000 times during the past 11 months online, despite the fact that it's had no paid marketing to back it and only minimal promotion on this site and a few posts at various forums. I guess those 25,000 people are all asleep, eh Eric? Imagine how many people would download it if I could actually afford to back it with paid marketing!
As for the LP supporting Joe Miller...I could care less about the LP.
Posted By: Darren Wolfe
Date: September 25, 2010 07:56:41 PM
My experience with the Valley Forge Patriots- Tea Party Conservatives would indicate that they're not libertarian. I got kicked out for advocating peace & liberty on their Meetup mailing list. Here's a good sampling of the debates:
Posted By: Bentree
Date: September 26, 2010 10:55:00 AM
Walt,
I'm sitting here trying to figure out if Libertarians actually believe that if it wasn't for wars the banking system and George Bush we would all be one big happy family. In the defense of Libertarians, wars are horrific and George Bush was a one world kind of guy as was his father ,Bill, Hilliary and Jimmy, Progressive or progressive look-a-likes all.
The only shot we have of restoring this country to a representative republic is to refocus on the Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Lets win the battles that we have a shot at first. Ordinary citizens have no peaceful chance of getting rid of the banking and existing monetary disasters except through their representatives on the state and federal level.
Ron Paul was a rung on an de-evolutionary ladder, a very important one, but just one rung. A rant by a wall street guy got more attention and has had a greater impact on the next election than Ron Paul ever dreamed of. Patriots whether Libertarian, Conservatives, Evangelicals or non-affiliated lovers of Liberty better stop arguing over the deck chairs.
Personally if you believe in the Rights and Responsibilities of the individual "Citizen" and you make every effort to respect mine then lets go for it and quit the tantrums and whining because someone has a different approach or might get the credit.
If not then we will never have the opportunity to correct the "errors" of our fellow travelers and we will all have an abbreviated I told you so moment.
