Tea Party

Seated is Bill O’Brien – Speaker of the NH House – signing the first bill of this session (and the first bill as Speaker).  Mazel Tov!

But what was more interesting was the picture Gadsden Flag (the adopted icon of the TEA Party movement) behind him.  According to Seth Cohn, the signatures are of those new folks from the Liberty & Freedom wing of the Republican Party (among others) that helped to vote him into the Speakership.

I’ve listened to the jounalist based pundits here in NH that stated that most people here in NH voted for anyone with an R after their name (as opposed to D in 2006 & 2008), yet, they admit that these "less conservative voters" certainly did vote for candidates that espoused much more conservative (and in many cases, much more libertarian) than themselves.  I wondered about that statement – was it true?  Or whether this was part of the TEA Party movement ramifications that has, in part, caught up the general public?

No, not in the overall fervor and sturm und drang, but more in the question of "where is this country and state headed?".  Is this our heritage – what ARE our founding principles?

And a backlash NOT just against Democrats, but the overall sliding of the Dems to the Left (aka, Progressive socialism) even as many Republicans didn’t move to the Right but burrowed down to bedrock fundamentals like archeologists seeking buried truths (or miners, seeking that shiny gold and sparkling diamonds of limited govt, individual freedom, and self-reliance)?

Read more

TEA Party: Taxes Enough Already.  A general philosophy that Government has become too enthralled with using other peoples’ money.  That it has become too big, too intrusive, too cumbersome, way too inefficient, and too far removed from the principles enshrined in our Founding documents: protecting individual Rights and property and a limited government.

Earmarks have certainly been in the news – those "small" incidentals added by our Federal legislators that tack on costs and direct spending. While small only in comparison with the humungeous Federal spending overall, they became a focal point as an indicator of the crass indifference to what most TEA Partiers believe to be the jobs to which these folks are elected.

First there was "November is coming".  Now, it is "Hold them Accountable", and indeed, we shall.  Especially true in the case of those legislators that have self-identified themselves aligned with TEA Party philosophy. 

In this case, of calling for "no earmarks" yet asking and receiving such.  Smooth move?  Not really, Jackson.  Sure, there are those within this caucus that have called for no earmarks and have walked the talk:

But alas…

Read more

Fist Bump, please!

 Most of The NHPoliticalScoop is behind a paywall of $400 / year.  Most of what is there can be seen (after googling a bit) a bit later and for free unless it is exclusively by James Pindell.  The following was sent by a loyal reader who knows of the Seacoast Republican Women Post Election Panel. James kept insisting that the upcoming (and now, almost settled) race for NH Speaker was going to be between the old vs new House GOP members.  Both Jeff Chidester and I kept trying to hammer home that the reason WHY there were so many New Republicans in the NH House was not because of the electorate response to the Democrat overreach.  Most of these new folks are there for a reason – and more TEA Party sympathy than not.

Thus, the battle was not going to be Old vs New, but rather Establishment wing vs New TEA Party / Constitutionalist / 912er / Libertarian wing. 

I feel vindicated.  Jeff – fist bump (emphasis mine)!

Analysis: Why O’Brien’s probable rise to Speakership is the biggest victory for NH Tea Party movement

There has been a lot of discussion about the role that the so-called Tea Party movement has played in politics this election year. Around the country Tea Party supporters can point to a number of high profile victories. In New Hampshire, however, it has been much harder to point to a single high profile Tea Party win over the establishment.

On this point, I would have to mostly agree with James.  The biggest reason was the disasterous decision by the NH TEA Party Coalition to not do what many other TEA Party groups did around the country did.  They adapted from the protests, sign waves, and rallies to getting ready to make a difference by organizing, vetting candidates, raising money, and then pushing for like minded candidates.

However, what saved the day is the decentralized nature of the movement…

Read more

I did not write this – but YOU need to go read this; the whole thing at Stop Shouting. Emphasis mine.

My Rebuttal to a Progressive who Admonished Me to Play Nice ….

…I am tired of being told to sit down and shut up.

I am tired of being told what I can and can not say.

What is “acceptable”, while my ideas and values are mocked and trampled.

Enough. I have had enough.
…
I have been silent long enough. I have bent, I have yielded, I have endured slander, dishonesty, ad hominem attacks and actual physical threats.

Anger is a powerful motivator.
…
I was called a liar.
…
I was called naïve.
…
So we took your tools and began to employ them against you. And you don’t like it very much. Except we don’t have to pay anyone to come to our rallies, and that just infuriates you further.
…
I donated money to outlier Tea Party candidates who were mocked by the “all knowing” media and had been dismissed by the Establishment. Some of them actually won. They are the hired mercenaries of the Tea Party. Do not underestimate or misunderstand their mission and their support.
…
You have seized the public schools and the universities and conducted a purge of any non-compliant conservatives; a massive re-education for the faculty was in order. You believe you can turn our children against us. Unfortunately for you, all it takes is one look at their first paycheck as working adults for them to question the validity of your wealth redistributive economic policies. Homeschooling, constitutionally upheld, is on the rise; Ron Paul now fills college auditoriums, while the Won struggles to fill them without piggybacking on the coat tails of a free pop concert.

Your side knows you can not prevail on the battlefield of open and honest ideas, so you retreat behind the fortification of expanded regulation, unelected czars who rule by decree and diktat, and a boy-king who is being urged by the janissaries to complete the transformation to a totalitarian state by executive orders.
…
Your side has chosen to engage in a low-level, asymmetric campaign for decades. Deceit, dishonesty and exploiting the mechanisms of state have been your weapons.

Unfortunately for you,…

Read more