Tea Party: A Genuine Small Government, Free Market Movement

Tunku Trumpets Tea Parties

Tunku Varadarajan provides an heroic defense of the Tea party movement, while dissecting the psychology of those on the left and right who sneer at the movement.

His article is a thing of beauty.  Go read it, memorize it, copy it and distribute it.  This man has summed up our sentiments better than any DC GOPer ever could.

Is the Tea Party Movement anti-elitist, as the critics charge? 
Yes, Tunku concludes, but what's wrong with that?  Especially when the elitists have made such an abysmal wreck of everything (Wall Street, Washington), while arrogantly maintaining an air of superiority?

Big Business is not Synonymous with Capitalism or the Free Market

Yes, the populists fear and hate the big businesses and Wall Street; but—and this is the heartening thing—they have not let this turn them against capitalism and the free market.

They seem truly to have taken in the point, long emphasized by libertarians and others, that big business is not the same thing as capitalism or the free market, that it is in fact often their enemy.

Perhaps the Obama administration has finally driven this point home, as it has been an object lesson in how the party of big government is really in bed with big business, giving it all the bailouts and favors.

A Genuine Anti-Big Business, Anti-Big Government, Free-Market Party

So by this reckoning, the Tea Parties would be a very serious development in which anti-big business forces would finally join with anti-big government forces to create a genuine free-market party that would maximize the opportunities of the little guy.

God bless Tunku Varadarajan and let freedom ring!

It Takes a Village of Angry Taxpayers

We just taught the local politicians a lesson here in our little city at the foot of the Rockies

They threatened to fire policemen and lay off firemen if we didn't vote them a big tax increase.

We resoundingly turned them down.  

On top of that, a citizens group has started a recall petition for gross financial incompetence (they were funding current operations with new construction fees), and for threatening voters.

Nevermind about those threats!
Guess what?  The council just announced that, tada!  They found other ways to cover the shortfall.  They may have to close city pools and decrease bus service.

Why is the city running pools (at a loss)? 

Sell them to the private sector and they will turn a profit while still serving the public.

Buses?  They are privatized in Socialist Latin America.  And they are more user friendly

Latin America does buses much better than the US.  They go where people need them, when they need them.  No labyrinthine routes and complex schedules it takes a college degree to figure out.  Each bus has a specific run, back and forth with the names of both ends of the route on the front.  A city will have numerous crisscross routes like that, providing transportation to thousands.  And it's all privatized!  In socialist Latin America!

Community Centers:  Turning Wangsters into Gangsters

Finally, the city council gave the municipal community centers 6 months to find private funding, and the liberals are screaming.  What good do community centers do anyway?  I think they just give junior criminals a place to exchange tactics and plot their depredations on the populace. And they probably carry out many of their crimes slouching to and from the community center! 

It Doesn't Take a Village

Kids get bored.  I got bored one time and threw rocks at the neighbors' car, when they were in it, driving.  Papa Silverfiddle beat my ass with a belt.  I learned the value of finding non-criminal activities to entertain myself when bored.

It doesn't take a village.  It doesn't take a community center.  It takes a society that won't tolerate criminal behavior, from kids or from politicians.

And an angry dad (or voter) with a belt (or ballot) bringing down the wrath of God upon a little hooligan (big elected hooligan) doesn't hurt...

Revolutionary Indicators

We are living in revolutionary times. Institutions that we have taken for granted are being completely revamped. People's perception of government is radically changing. Power is escaping its Constitutional cage.

I believe the form of the future is always around us -- the seeds of which were planted yesterday, are quietly growing today, and ready to bloom tomorrow. The key to being ahead of the curve is to be observant of those small shoots. I'll present some of them here.

Indicator 1: Massive Washington Tea Party

While the probable count was around 1.5 to 2 million, each individual who attended represented ten to twenty people who could not.


Indicator 2: Internet search terms

I subscribe to a bi-monthly digest of top Internet search terms. In the past, I just took a quick look through the search words (mostly pop culture and porn) but this year began to take a closer examination. I compiled conservative search terms with their ranking in the list. Interesting.

Indicator 3: American's attitudes toward traditional seats of power



I am not aware of any recent President falling so fast, so soon. And the Main Stream Media? Time to pull the plug. The brain died years ago.

Indicator 4: 2nd Amendment purchases

Far from mere talk, these people are laying down cold cash to support their beliefs even in the face of a severe economic downturn. It is estimated that two billion extra rounds of ammunition have been purchased this last year over and above the seven billion usually sold. Gun sales mirror this increase. NICS background checks only cover a portion of 2nd Amendment sales, the actual volume is likely significantly higher.

Indicator 5: Abandonment of houses and debts

Strategic default is the term used for those who bail out of a house to preserve what capital they have. Couple this trend with those who are maxing out credit cards without any intention of paying - credit charge off rates are approaching 12%. It seems as though the cost in a ruined credit score is not enough to stop them - like there is no tomorrow.

Indicator 6: Tenth Amendment assertion by individual States

Each point represents a state that has explored in some degree their 10th Amendment rights in defiance to an expanding federal government.

Indicator 7: Civilian law enforcement by military personnel

Despite the traditional prohibitions of Posse Comitatus, these are some of the verified law enforcement-like activities of the US military within CONUS over the past year, usually under the aegis of NORTHCOM:

Pittsburgh
The Kentucky Derby
Samson, AL
San Bernardino County, CA
Boston
Indianapolis
El Paso
Interstate 35 in Texas
Whiteville, TN
Kingman, AZ
Newport, KY
Washington, D.C.

Taken together, these indicators seem to say it's not 2009. It's 1764.

-Hugh Farnham