Vote Today, But Beware Of Tea Party's Confused Agenda

OK, so the polls are open and the conventional wisdom is that the Democrats will take a serious bath tonight as the results roll in. Losing the House is a foregone conclusion by many—and the Senate is also in play. Governorships are heavily favored to shift Republican tonight.

ANGER is driving this election. Anger over the state of the economy, anger over the deficit, health care—and on and on.

The Republican Party will be the beneficiary of all this venom, but we should be clear on the following point:

Americans, by and large—are angry and distrustful of BOTH parties. Their dislike of Republicans is about as high as Democrats. However, being a Democrat is most definitely a liability this political season.

I’m re-posting the lion’s share of a blog I first published in May about the Tea Party. I have read SO much and heard SO much about the so-called “Tea Party Movement”, that I was curious re: their “Platform”. I mean, I get the whole “anger” part. They’re pissed off, feeling disenfranchised and generally mad as hell about everything to do with government, taxes, etc.

This anger is an appropriate fuel to initiate CHANGE---the Tea Party kind, not Obama’s.

That said, there must be something BEYOND THE ANGER—principles, ideas and plans that transform meaningless platitudes like “create jobs” or “cut spending” into CONCRETE decisions. That is, the actual decisions which cannot possibly be universally popular but those which must be made.

What are they?

I’m no expert on the so-called “Tea Party” movement, but those who align it with the Republican Party are misguided, I think.

From what I’ve seen, the Tea Party movement is party-neutral. Since fiscal conservatism and strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution-literally interpreted –as well as support for state’s rights are a cornerstone of the mantra, the vast majority of Tea Party “members” are probably Republicans.

Many of them, however, are disenfranchised GOP people who are looking for anything that they can align themselves with and be enthusiastic about. Nothing happening out there right now speaks to them-from either party.

Incumbents in both parties are being targeted for ejection from their seats. Maybe this is all well and good. After all, they are the problem, no? They are all corrupt, no?

I Google’d “Tea Party” to find a platform—an uniform set of beliefs that would somehow define what this “movement” stood for. What I uncovered was a fair amount of contradicting beliefs, alignments, goals and aspirations.

So, is that a “movement”? Or is it merely an umbrella term for “throw the bums out”?

The closest thing to a Tea Party Manifesto was the so-called “Contract With America”, listing ten points:

1) IDENTIFY THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF EVERY NEW LAW- I think that this is already done when drafting legislation. While implying that recent laws violate the Constitution, no law is drafted without undergoing a “vetting” process for constitutionality. If laws passed do indeed cross the line, they will be challenged in court. In short, this is a largely useless “objective”—as it is already in place.

2) REJECT EMISSIONS TRADING- Stop “Cap and Trade” I don’t know enough on this to offer an informed opinion. I wonder how many Tea Party people are versed in the pros and cons of this approach. Hmmm.


3) DEMAND A BALANCED FEDERAL BUDGET- Great concept, but at least one of a couple of distasteful scenarios appear. To accomplish this objective, Congress must either a) raise taxes (which I think violates #10 below), b) reduce entitlements like Social Security (which I’m thinking won’t be popular with the Tea Party crowd, many of whom are collecting same) and/or c) permanently stop the practice of prosecuting wars (like Bush did) without actually accounting for the cost within the budget framework. President Obama has at least made the accounting for war transparent, placing it in the Federal Budget where it belongs. Previous Presidents conveniently leaving it “out of the budget” didn’t mean we weren’t deficit spending. OK, Tea Party people—which will it be?

4) SIMPLIFY THE TAX SYSTEM- I am completely on board here. Complexity of the U.S. Tax code favors the wealthy, who use their accountants to evade taxes by using loopholes that ongoing rulemaking means to close—and yet, ends up having the opposite effect. In fact, I support the “consumption tax” proposed by then presidential candidate Huckabee.


5) AUDIT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENGIES FOR CONSTITUTIONALITY- This advocates creating ANOTHER bureaucracy-a so-called “blue ribbon commission” (are you SERIOUS?) that puts everything the Federal government does under the microscope. I could support this if I felt it could root out waste, inefficiencies and have teeth. How many “blue ribbon commissions” have the force of law? Zero, maybe?

6) LIMIT ANNUAL GROWTH IN FEDERAL SPENDING-Again, a great concept. This strives to limit the growth to the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. A worthy goal-perhaps attainable.


7) REPEAL THE HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION- Not only unrealistic, but regardless of the claims of “government takeover” of healthcare, to say so is factually incorrect. The free market system was simply not working—mostly because the medical ethic of NEVER DENYING CARE to those without insurance only meant that this cost was ALWAYS shifted to those who DID have insurance—and did so at a much higher cost, as a disproportionately high number of these uninsured patients received their care through the avenue of the local Emergency Room—the highest cost possible. The independent GAO determined that the Health Plan as passed was not only “deficit neutral” as was proposed, but would actually reduce the Federal deficit. Time will obviously tell, but all evidence points to this legislation as being both fiscally and socially positive over the long run. In short, don’t make as an “objective” the repeal of something that could not be defeated politically as legislation. Removing an existing law-one that benefits millions of Americans—will be nearly impossible. When the Tea Party controls both houses of Congress AND the White House, then we’ll talk.

8) PASS AN “ALL OF THE ABOVE” ENERGY POLICY- Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources. Reduce regulatory barriers. With the exception of that last sentence (given the oil spill in the Gulf), I think we can all agree on this point. How we arrive at this objective will differ. I’m assuming that Federal tax incentives to invest in such alternate energy projects would be agreeable to all, but am I right?

9) REDUCE EARMARKS- Place a moratorium on ALL earmarks until the budget is balanced—and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. I can agree with this, but as a percentage of the Federal Budget, all earmarks together comprise such a small percentage of the total amount spent—that it is largely window-dressing. When our local Congressman or woman scores Federal funding for a local project, he or she is hailed as a hero at home—those not benefiting from it (in other states) call it “pork”. The ability to deliver pork to the home folks is a prerequisite for re-election. In short, we love OUR pork, hate the pork of others.

10) REDUCE TAXES- “Permanently” repeal all recent tax increases, including those to the income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes. Again, who ISN’T in favor of decreasing taxes? I am. You are. The problem is that such consensus evaporates when discussing which programs go away.


So, there you have it. Ten goals, of which maybe only 3 or 4 have a realistic chance of achievability---even among Tea Party “members”—who could not be counted upon to agree on the so-called “tough choices” they advocate for. No consensus? Gridlock? What happens on Capital Hill may be a reflection of the lack of the same in our population.

When considering the hacking of Federal Programs, let’s “do away” with the following big wasters of cash—your cash:

1) SOCIAL SECURITY- Here is the biggest waste. Who cares if Grandma cannot support herself now? Let’s slice that entitlement in half. After all, the extended families that are such a part of other cultures are a social benefit, no? Granny will move in with you and your family.

2) MEDICAID- Wrought with fraud and waste, this too should be on the chopping block. Our refusal to deny medical care will simply move these costs, many of which constitute nursing home care—to the consumer in the form of even higher health insurance costs. But hey, it’s a free market system—and the capitalistic way to solve the problem, no?


3) ELIMINATE THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION- No barriers to keep companies from bringing drugs to market. Without all that pesky testing for safety, not only do we eliminate a huge bureaucracy, but maybe drug prices will go down as the pharmaceutical companies will not need to spend nearly as much to bring a drug to market. The tens of thousands who may die as a result of using untested drugs are merely the collateral damage that any free capitalistic society must endure.

4) ELIMINATE THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION- Like the FDA, think of the savings! We’ll be able to increase our imports of dangerous Chinese goods without the threat of federal intervention. In fact, we’ll be able to make our own dangerous goods right here in the U.S.A.!


5) ELIMINATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY!- Repeal those oppressive laws that restrict companies from dumping raw sewage into our water and carcinogens into our air and soil. These laws seriously diminish the profitability of these job-creating industries.

6) ELIMINATE THE FAA- Without the stringent regulations that require companies to perform regular safety checks on their airplanes and restrict a pilot’s flying time, maybe the airlines will become profitable again!


7) ELIMINATE THE SEC- Hey, we don’t want to further burden the Wall Street companies that almost brought us to the brink, so why not wipe out ALL consumer protection with regard to investments? Publicly held companies that need not publish a prospectus or adhere to accounting principles that guarantee the viability of their businesses to prospective investors will be able to raise a lot more capital.

8) ELIMINATE OSHA- Worker safety on the job is over-rated. Companies have the best interests of their employees at heart anyway, right? Think of the savings!


Those are just a few—I could go on! Who needs all that oversight, all that regulation?


In our justified frustration, let’s be careful not to demonize everything that smacks of government. Let’s not paint the scene with so broad a brushstroke that we lose sight of what life could be like WITHOUT these awful services that are paid by our taxes.

Excesses? Absolutely.
Inefficiencies? Without a doubt.

Sheer indignation and a “throw the bums out” mentality without some thought to whatever their replacements COULD accomplish is immature and unrealistic.

If Sarah Palin is the face of the Tea Party movement, that fact alone should send shudders up your spine.
By gosh, by golly.

It’s often said that the government we have is the one we deserve. Be careful what you wish for. Just as there is “no free lunch”, there is a consequence to all attempts to achieve the objectives that we say we want.

Sacrifice—and in some cases, profound sacrifice is the only alternative. And, no matter the candidate, promising “shared sacrifice” never got anyone elected—even a Tea Party candidate.

So, today, before you vote, think hard about the efforts throughout our history that have promised to “restore integrity to politics/government/Congress”. Have any of them worked?

Think about what you WANT as well as what you DON’T want. Tossing all the bums out will make you feel good for a minute---until we collectively realize that they’ve been replaced with OTHER bums---some of whom may have “incompetence” as added feature.

Let’s hope for the best—and vote our dreams, not our fears---or our anger.


If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm..com