Not sure that I agree with you on this one, g2c:
As many will probably attest, I am one of the liberals on this board (some have claimed I am one of the biggest liberals). But I, for one, applaud the Tea Party.
Don't get me wrong: I am very much a liberal, but a TRUE liberal. As we have seen (in dramatic fashion the past few years), there are many in government who claim to be liberal, and are not liberal at all. They are AUTHORITARIANS. There is a big difference. A TRUE liberal abhors any limits to free speech. A TRUE liberal eschews the notion of gun control. A TRUE liberal loves the concept of liberty. There is nothing liberal about authoritarianism, despite any claims to the contrary.
This is much the same thing in the GOP. Many in the GOP claim to be CONSERVATIVE, but they are not - they are elitists and corporatists (i.e. this whole bizarre infatuation with Ayn Rand and her Objectivism). Many TRUE conservatives have had enough, and have started the Tea Party movement as a means of taking back the party.
Now, I may not subscribe to all of their beliefs (especially on social issues), but more and more I find that - at their core - they share my love for liberty and fiscal responsibility. They see the lack of consistency with respect to immigration as less of a racial or xenophobic issue and more of a rather successful attempt at creating a permanent underclass to be exploited. They understand that healthcare reform was the legalization of an oligopoly. They are beginning to understand that endless wars translate to endless profits. They are doing what I would love to see the true liberals do: take back the term liberal, and push out this authoritarianism from the Democratic Party.
Given this, I could never ridicule a group of people who are fighting back. I CAN, however, ridicule the fake Tea Partyers who are seemingly attempting to neutralize the movement (i.e. Sarah Palin and in some ways Newt Gingrich).
But that is another topic of discussion. If the TRUE liberals and TRUE conservatives ever discover these similarities and unite to work for these common goals, they could change history.
To the Tea Partyers, I sincerely hope that you "do not go gentle into that good night" - to usurp Dylan Thomas (
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377 - copyright information can be found here).
Losing a battle does not mean you have lost the war.
Regards g2c, hope you and yours are well,
BiR