Tactics vs policy – a meme that has been floating around this primary season as various politicos and talking heads try to rationalize the difference between the Establishment and the TEA Party wings of the Republican Party. It is their attempt to try to soften or blur what is a rather sharp edge between the two. After all, now that the primaries are over (in some states), we hear the upper echelon of the Party already trying to do the smooch up of the grass roots and play that old Beatles song “(“Come together – RIGHT NOW!“, emphasis on the last two) over and over and over again. Exhibit one here for a NH example (with more coming). We all have to be UNITED! We all have to be TOGETHER! We all have to STAND together! United we are stronger! We must be an ARMY! How Collectivist is that? I dunno if I’m in a Right side organization or a union meeting.
Ben Domenech has a newsletter (note to self: get signed up!) that talks about that it is NOT TACTICS that separates the Establishment from the base – funny, but with a sharp knife to it. First up, the Establishment:
“Let’s do immigration reform, we should be honest about addressing climate change, (pick your entitlement) mend it don’t end it, let’s find state level solutions to make (Obamacare’s) Medicaid (expansion) work for working families, let’s show we love the poor by giving them something (but don’t worry not your something), let’s not be so lockstep on gun violence, premium support, capital gains, let’s protect our critical Pentagon budget, let’s invest in our future with Common Core, you know TARP made sense at the time, let’s build needed infrastructure we can be proud of, compassion, even Ronald Reagan…”
Now the TEA Party:
“no more bailouts, no more Obamacare, no more Common Core, no more Congress living by different rules, no more welfare, no more food stamps, no more pork, no more subsidies, no more tariffs, don’t trust drones, Big Banks Big Business Big Government, George Washington, raw milk, open carry, why is Eric Holder not in jail, buy gold, the NSA is listening, Benghazi.”
…It’s about real differences in priorities and policy
And now the WHY? One is only about winning – the other is about WHY we want to win. One is happy just to win and then coast (principle wise) – the other is happy to win for now it is time to get to the REAL work. It goes back to the origins of the TEA Party itself – WE saw that the country was going off the rails and in a direction that will only lead to its destruction (and the trip ain’t gonna be all that nice, either). Unpayable debt; loss of The Rule of Law; the loss of real returns of hard work, willingness to take a risk, and personal initiative and moving to an environment of “who do you know politically” instead; no longer being seen as Citizens but as mere people to be told “you don’t live right”, and assaults on personal values that once made this country great to ones that we know will cause failure and misery. We see ignorance of and a betrayal in no longer standing up and defend our Constitutional foundation. Most importantly, we see a loss of a future for our offspring – and theirs as well.
The Establishment prattles on about doing this and doing that – earning the monikers of “the Jr. Partners of the Democrats”. We see them mouthing off on values during the campaigns and then not acting congruent with those words. But they want us to vote for them – unwaveringly and without complaint.
Gosh, after 5 years of the TEA Party, you’d think they’d a figured it out. How ’bout the absolute EXPLOSION that just happened in Europe??? Can you say TEA Party with a British accent? A French accent ( you know, that place that is at where Obama wants to take the US to – not anymore in France!!!). The people in Europe are rising up and saying “No, Non, Nein” to the EU bureaucrats and elites that wish to dissolve all national borders and history for some amorphous new “united” European Union. They’ve been living through the high immigration, the high debt, the elites telling the middle and lower classes what to do, the futureless vision where only the connected and rich will par-tay though the decades to come.
“..by the consent of the governed.” The elites, happy with the current direction (good for them, apparently) are awakening to an absolute nightmare – may they all have visions Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Jim DeMint, and Nigel Farage laughing at them loudly. Every single night.
(H/T: The Corner)
