From Sipsey Street:An Open Letter to All Tea Party Activists.
(With a request to spread it far and wide.)
The Tea Party concept has caught fire and swept the country, culminating in the September 12th March on Washington. Yet where do we go from here? The GOP, using the convenient cutout of Dick Armey's organization is trying to bend this powerful popular movement and channel it into the same old losing political dynamic. Let's face it, the GOP is at least half of the reason we are in the fix that we are in.
Yet here they are, acting like the guy who figured he had the right to run the train forever, who found himself left at the platform by the passengers who got tired of waiting for him to get off his dead butt. He is now trying to parachute into the engineer's seat in the locomotive to take his "rightful" place as the train boss. As long as the GOP feels it can count on our votes for lack of a credible alternative they will continue to act with arrogance toward us and with the same cravenly stupidity toward the Dems.
For their part, the Democrat Party tries to delegitimize us by calling us "GOP astroturf" and pawns of the RNC. There is a solution that will answer both these problems.
Vote with our feet.
That's right. Withdraw from the GOP by marching down to the registrar's office and changing our party affiliation from Elephant to independent. The national GOP has presumed to act in our name on everything from amnesty for illegals to education bills written by Teddy Kennedy to growing government and the deficit.
Well, why don't we publicly and loudly WITHDRAW OUR PERMISSION?
The GOP will not change until we give them good reason to. Let us give them that reason. Go down tomorrow and withdraw your previous permission to them to act in your name. If they want our permission back in time for the next election, they will have to earn it. Again, they will not change until we give them a darn good reason to do so by voting with our feet.
So, let us get their attention.
Let us refuse to cooperate in our own oppression.
Let us withdraw our permission.
Respectfully,
Pro Bono Publico
A Member of the Alabama Tea Party
Reminds me of the old joke:
Q: What do you have when you sink 100 politicians up to their lower lips in raw sewage?
A: A good start.
I got one of those lame GOP surveys from them the other day. I wrote in big magic marker "No thanks, I'm a Conservative, not a Republican. Piss off." and dropped it right in the mail, postage prepaid of course :-).
ReplyDeleteThe only issue with your idea is that you then (at least in my state) do not get to vote in the primaries. Leaving the choice up to to ther people.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, a great idea.
It is a great idea...until you consider the "unintended consequences." What happens when a large number of people associated with one of two major parties in a political system either stays home or votes for a (new or established, it doesn't matter) third party? Simple: the other of the two political parties wins BIG.
ReplyDeleteThird parties simply don't win. Even a tremendously popular former President, TR, couldn't win as a third party candidate. Note that Taft and TR together got over 50% of the popular vote compared to 42% or so for Wilson. Wilson would have been crushed by a unified Republican Party. OK, so Taft and Co. got crushed, maybe a goal of the Bull Moose guys...but Wilson got in for 8 years, and we got an income tax and Federal Reserve system that we still can't get rid of or control over, and a bunch of dead and wounded soldiers to save the worthless ass of the Froggies. Wow, what a victory!
Here's my solution: work within the system, which is to say, work within the Republican Party. Target a few very well-known RINOs like Lindsey Graham. Even if they win in the primaries (and some of them WILL lose to real conservatives/libertarians), the Party oligarchy will be shaken to the core. Changes WILL start. No, the Republican Party won't start emulating Washington and Jefferson overnight, but it will begin to change - and when more genuine conservatives win and have a voice, then it will change the national debate.
Full disclosure: I USED TO BE a "broken glass Republican" but haven't been for a long while (since Bush the Elder, who lied about being Reagan's 3rd term, repeatedly). I still have (like most of you) far more in common with the Republicans than the other side, and would like the 'Pubbies to return to their roots. I just think that cutting the Republicans down to 25% of the Congress is not a recipe for change in DC, not for a long time thereafter...time that this battered Republic doesn't have.
Nice idea Paul, well spoken, articulated and prescient. The rub here is that I don't think we even have time for that. This clock is running down and messing with obvious wackos like McCain, Graham etc. is naught but a time and energy waster. They will burn up our energy over the years. Lie to our faces to save their seat and burn us in the end.
ReplyDeleteIt will be either submit or. . . well, you know. You believe this is a political deal here but it is ideological.
Their agenda isn't about the status quo or even about winning seats. It is about changing the actual form of government.
As we inch toward November, watch as their activities get increasingly more frenetic. Purposeful and blunt.
We've seen and heard clues already.
Our elected servants don't read bills. They think that laws don't apply to them as they make this stuff up as the go along. etc.
What do you think they are telling us. You friendly, secure, live in a nice suburb or maybe country home types with good jobs and families, an Excurision or Escalade, Beemer parked in the driveway. Still have to much to loose to face facts.
What comes next will be a real wake up call for you "we'll vote em out in November and change it all back" types. This will not have the happy ending you are anticipating.