Can someone explain to me what the Tea Party movement actually is

reply to post by mryanbrown


Constitutionalism is NOT a far-right ideology. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. It should be followed and respected as such.

reply to post by projectvxn


I agree, but they're associating constitutionalism to the "far-right".

reply to post by mryanbrown


They used to call it the Far-Left when Bush was in power raping the Constitution.
I was called a Liberal traitor for the last ten years, now I'm a Neo-Con rightwing racist...

It all depends on who is in power.

Originally posted by projectvxn
reply to post by mryanbrown

 

Constitutionalism is NOT a far-right ideology. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. It should be followed and respected as such.

Sadly, the Right has hijacked the Constitution. Anything the president does is somehow "unconstitutional." As for the liberals acting this way when Bush was president, at least they had valid reasons:

Patriot Act
Assaulting Gay Rights
Invading Iraq and Afghanistan and putting US Soldiers in harm's way for Oil and Greed
etc.

Originally posted by SeventhSeal

Originally posted by projectvxn
reply to post by mryanbrown

 

Constitutionalism is NOT a far-right ideology. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. It should be followed and respected as such.

Sadly, the Right has hijacked the Constitution. Anything the president does is somehow "unconstitutional." As for the liberals acting this way when Bush was president, at least they had valid reasons:

Patriot Act
Assaulting Gay Rights
Invading Iraq and Afghanistan and putting US Soldiers in harm's way for Oil and Greed
etc.

I think I had it down and still do when it comes to Constitutional abuses.

Obama's American Citizen Assassination program(see signature), the continuation of Afghanistan and the continued incursions into Pakistan, incursions into Yemen, incursions into Somalia, so forth and so on. Obama's biggest legislative victory is a product of ignoring the Constitution's commerce clause' original intent(I'm all about original intent). The Patriot Act...Etc.

The problem here isn't whether there are or are not any constitutional abuses going on We've unequivocally established this as fact long ago..My problem is the hypocrisy in both parties when it comes to these issues. No one seems to be willing or able to stand on principle. The Constitution is just a tool for these people to use when it is politically expedient to do so. Myself, and most of my fellow tea partiers advocate and stand for strict Constitutional limits on government power.

It's sort of like a bowel movement, but smellier.

Seriously, it started out as (T)axed (E)nough (A)lready. But it has morphed (mutated?) into a neo-con breeding ground. There are some good people involved in it, like Herman Cain, but there are some real wing nuts like Christine O'Donnell. The best thing about the TEA Party is the in-fighting with the rest of the Republican party. Maybe the Libertarians will gain ground in 2012!

/Q

reply to post by Newbomb Turk

Star for you man.

I completely agree with your perspective. Absolutely agree.

Tea-Party members (Republican, Democrats, Independents, and Libertarians) love their country. Even though the United States has its political issues, the idea is to remove the corrupt establishment. If things were spun a little differently, I am sure it would have happened to any other party. It just so happened it occurred to the Republicans. It is being rebuilt from the ground up. Even though the entire party will not be retooled, enough of the party will be affected to make a difference. You have to start somewhere. I absolutely agree. Since the Republican party was the weakest, the opportunity just presented itself. What also helped drive the Tea-Party was a series of defiant politicians, which stemmed from 'both sides of the spectrum'. Obamacare and government bailouts pushed everyone over. Even though the anger started before his election, those two pivotal moments triggered national anger. Immigration law defiance was the tip of the iceberg.

My friends I am here to shine light on those who do not see the tea party for what it is.

You are fortunate who have an someone here who was involved in the groundwork for what led to the tea parties. Many of us ended up voting for Obama, believe it or not, we hated McCain and Obama. Our choice was Ron Paul.

Many of us didn't even vote because we recognize the situation for what it is, Obama = McCain there is absolute no difference between the two it makes no difference. The two party system is an illusion loop they draw you into very successfully, this has been going on for a long time. It is exactly like WWE wrestling, they aren't really fighting guys.. behind the scenes they are the same organization and they are laughing their asses of at Americans, you don't know the names of these people they are the Illuminati.

Finally more are awakening and these are the ones who started the tea party. The establishment is scared, those who believe that the tea party is a GOP creation are being deceived. The GOP wants you to believe this, CNN wants you to believe this, CNBC FOX NEWs wants you to believe this, the Illuminati wants you to believe this. You will realize this is all one serpent and many of you are playing right into their plan, you are so easily mind controlled by the Republican/Democratic party illusion. Turn your TVs off.


Obama, McCain, Clinton, Edwards, Romney, Huckabee, --- it made no difference, as long as it was one of these they are in control.

Ron Paul they were scared of 100%

Dennis Kucinich they were scared of 50%

Wake up my friends, we must awaken quickly. You have no idea how much is riding on your understanding of this situation.

reply to post by SeventhSeal


You can't hijack the constitution until you've hijacked the supreme court. We're actually pretty moderate as a country when it comes to use of the constitution. If you don't like hatred toward gays, just wait until some of these cases work their way up into higher federal courts, it'll be a constitutional basis when discriminatory laws are finally wiped away.

And yea, Bush did abuse the constitution just like Obama and every other President in the modern era has stretched its bounds. If the members of the TEA party weren't mad at Bush as well then there wouldn't be a TEA party there'd be McCain as president or at least an openly Republican TEA party.

The problem with how we view the constitution in this country springs from the imperial presidency, not which side of the aisle has control of the dialogue. What we've seen for decades is a seemingly never ending expansion of the power of president. I believe the TEA party sprang up out of desperation that there was literally no political 'home' for people who believe in constitutionalism, and while they may have a conservative bent on what that means - the TEA party wouldn't exist if it wasn't for frustration with Bush making the GOP equally as hostile to limited powers and restraint as the TEA party members already viewed democrats.

Originally posted by SeventhSeal

Originally posted by projectvxn
reply to post by mryanbrown

 

Constitutionalism is NOT a far-right ideology. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. It should be followed and respected as such.

Sadly, the Right has hijacked the Constitution. Anything the president does is somehow "unconstitutional." As for the liberals acting this way when Bush was president, at least they had valid reasons:

Patriot Act
Assaulting Gay Rights
Invading Iraq and Afghanistan and putting US Soldiers in harm's way for Oil and Greed
etc.

Quite a few gay liberals feel they have valid reasons for acting out against the current president. There was an uproar over Rick Warren's invocation, grumbling over the President's stance on gay marriage, and now concerns over coupling the DREAM Act with DADT.
Many radical gays on the Left now realize that this president, aside from the occasional stirring speech, is not representational of their views, at all.
There may be some question as to exactly whom is hijacking what when it comes to movements and political parties..

Yey. It's the 20% of the Republican base who can't stand Democrats whether the Dems are in power or not.

They are the 50+ white people demographic who are only concerned about God, Guns and Gays

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
reply to post by whaaa

 

I liked about 2/3 of those signs.

Should we show the signs of a Bush era anti war rally?

Considering comments by the regular posters from the anti-Tea Party-Republican crowd, I do think its best to post a representative sample of signs from the Bush era:

Bush Posters

How soon they forget.

As far as The Tea Party is concerned, their strength, or lack of, will be quite evident on the night of November 2nd. I feel it's a good time for the detractors to "clear their baffles" and hedge their bets.

It may be a definitive statement on the voter's sentiments towards their current elected representatives.

reply to post by projectvxn


I don't think the Tea Partiers have any clue about the Constitution...especially the ones who feel the 14th Amendment needs to be modified...

They stick up for the Constitution itself but most of the time, forget what it's about.

But...You're entitled to your opinions and that's the glory of this country

reply to post by 23refugee


No, you're absolutely right. Obama hasn't done much with equal rights. Especially with Don't Ask Don't Tell. However, he didn't start a campaign to prohibit human beings to get married like our former moronic president did...

I do wish Obama would stand up for human rights more, but sadly he hasn't done much.

reply to post by Oldnslo


Yep, the Righties bashed the Liberals for calling Bush hitler when he invaded TWO countries and had over 500,000 Iraqis slaughtered and when he lead the campaign against gay rights. Oh and let's not forget about wiretapping.

What are the same conservatives doing now? Calling the current president a Nazi...and a Communist...and a Socialist...and Fascist..and a Marxist.

Pick one already you morons!

Originally posted by sequoyah
My friends I am here to shine light on those who do not see the tea party for what it is.

Translation: Let me tell you how it is.

You are fortunate who have an someone here who was involved in the groundwork for what led to the tea parties.

I am content to let people think for themselves as to how fortunate they are for your presence here on ATS.

I am glad the virulent members have come to the thread and espoused their standard rhetoric.

Vilify, chastise, name calling and the like.

Does anyone see the correlation?

Now that the progressives have power, war is good.

They do not mind war, it was only Bush that they hated, because he was not one of them. They wanted the power. You can hear it in their rhetoric. It almost has a sentient presence when they go off.

When was the last anti war rally? See, the Neo Cons and the Left are pretty much the same. They both want totalitarian control.

That is why the Tea Party is growing so much. Those that actually have eyes see the correlation, those that do not see or cannot see can only attack, they cannot debate.

The Libertarian movement will only increase in size due to the virulent attacks. They see that neither the Neo Cons or the Progressives can handle power. They are tyrants.

edit to add-Look at the ONLY rally or protest of any size they have had or planned in the last two years, what is it about, HATE.

Hate for those that do not follow their beliefs. Hate for those that call for freedom and liberty in both social and economics.

Well, the more they show their true colors, the better.

As far as I can see in the US, we have two corrupt major parties tied into Wall Street, big corpoartions and wealthy donors, then the Tea Party, which wants to turn back the clock to the 19th Century. Most of them will end up voting Republican no matter what they say.

I note None of the Above and would prefer some other alternative that really represents the ordinary people.

reply to post by davespanners


Its an astroturfing grass roots movement of outraged american companies and republicans who have nothing better to do than whinge (yes i said WHINGE) about paying too much tax.

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower


What are you talking about? We (concerned Americans) are as angry with Obama as we were with Bush about the war in Afghanistan AND Iraq. Obama is decreasing the amount of soldiers in Iraq (thankfully!) but only increasing the amount in Afghanistan.

It's funny how Conservatives are against that decision when they are the ones who rooted for the invasions. Funny how things work out.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
I am glad the virulent members have come to the thread and espoused their standard rhetoric.

the virulent members are usually easily identified. One can usually pick them out of a crowd by the poisonous beasts that they adopt as symbolic imagery for their avatars

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
I am glad the virulent members have come to the thread and espoused their standard rhetoric.

Vilify, chastise, name calling and the like.

Does anyone see the correlation?

a correlation to name calling, vilifying, and chastising will soon be made...

The Libertarian movement will only increase in size due to the virulent attacks. They see that neither the Neo Cons or the Progressives can handle power. They are tyrants.

Tyrants (usurpers of sovereignty) = Neo Cons (a former Liberal) = Progressives (a former Republican)

Vilify, chastise, name calling and the like.

Does anyone see the correlation?

Definition of LIBERTARIAN
1: an advocate of the doctrine of free will
Merriam-Webster Libertatian

By definition Neo Cons are former Liberals.
By definition Progressives are former Republicans
By definition definition Libertatians may indeed be... future Neo Cons

name calling doesn't work for the long term when people keep changing the definitions of what those names and labels actually mean according to the definitions that evolve or change.

Need to change a law? Change the definition of the words that make up the laws Interesting strategy, me thinks

as far as the political atmosphere is concerned, it may just be a distraction from the important facts, meant to keep people in the dark as to their true intent and coupled with gray ops psychological warfare tactics impimented during times of civil unrest and focussed on martial law priorities of maintaining public order and safety, or at least promoting the illusion of it.

I'm trying to comprehend your view point and key points saltheart foamfollower, I just feel as though some military and politically motivated individuals have infultrated, peturbed, and have served as caustic entities within the T.E.A. Party/Movement, corrupting it's true original intent, and the intentions of it's members.

it has happened in the past...

Useful information:

The CNN and NPR Interns Incident
In the 1990s it came to light that soldiers from the 4th Psychological Operations Group had been interning at the American news networks Cable News Network (CNN) and National Public Radio (NPR). The program was claimed by the Army to be an attempt to provide its PSYOP personnel with the expertise developed by the private sector under its "Training with Industry" program.

Wikipedia's Psychological Operations (United States) Article.

Just some stuff I take into consideration when attempting to quantify the current political climate, saltheart.

-ET