Thursday, October 17, 2013
Tea Party Republicans Are not a Tiny Extremist Group
Dear readers, we have been subjected to a barrage of the media and President Obama and Democrat Party leaders like Harry Reid calling tea party Congress members extremists, terrorists, Taliban and wildly conservative right-wingers. Why? Because these tea party Republicans have dared to disagree with the Democrat tax-and-spend agenda and with Obamacare as it is currently enacted into law. Let's examine the reality of tea party Congress members. (1). There are 80 tea party House members. Each one was elected in a congressional voting District with an average population of 717,360 Americans. So the tea party Republican House members represent 56,867,910 Americans, or 18% of the 313,900,000 American population. (2). The Senators who voted against the budget deal represent approximately 66,000,000 Americans, using the US Census Bureau total population for states where both Senators voted against the deal and 1/2 the population for states where one Senator voted against the budget deal.* This is 21% of the American population. ~~~~~ So, 39%, or 122,867,910 Americans, sent one or more tea party representatives to Congress with a clearly-stated set of goals -- reduce spending, lower the national debt, no tax increases, update the US tax code, and oppose Obamacare. In fact, the tea party members of Congress is the only group in Congress that has actually created, run on and been elected with a set of defined legislative goals. They are not a Taliban right-wing minority. They are, in fact, larger that the 33% of Americans who are registered Republicans, although the two groups overlap significantly. So, rather than engaging in vicious name-calling, the President and his Democrat Party congressional leaders should be trying to do business with the tea party, which is not going to be tossed out - because they come from rather safe Republican-majority congressional districts. And, we can guess that in the Democrat-majority districts there are Democrat and Independent voters who agree with most of the tea party agenda. Don't think that the battle is over or that Barack Obama and Harry Reid have won. What must happen now is that GOP Senators and House members have to find a real leader and a unified position on all the key issues waiting to be settled in the coming negotiations. Tomorrow we will look at the issues. >>>>>>> (*The following is a list of Senators who voted against the budget deal on Wednesday : Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. Sen. David Vitter, R-La. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.).
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Of the average Congressional Voting District how many of the 717,360 are registered voters? And of the registered voters what percentage votes? Then you will see a truly impressive number for the the Tea Party Representatives.
ReplyDeleteObama wants to place a fine on people who do not have health insurance under Obamacare or AHA. Why doesn't he do some thing really patriotic and fine people for not registering and voting.
ReplyDeleteThe comedy of errors that we were witnessed to yesterday was mind boggling. It was certainly not what the Founding fathers had in store for us.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world can the people that we sent to Washington DC to do our business and bidding come up with such nonsense. What we got handed to us yesterday was a stop gap debt ceiling bill that was to but the US Treasury back on solid ground so we could pay our bills. Folks it did do that temporarily ... IT ALSO INCREASED OUR SPENDING WITH APPROXIMATELY $8 BILLION IN NEW SPENDING that was created to simply garnish votes.
Senator Mitch McConnell took $3 Billion for a new bridge/dam in Kentucky.
How much of this insult are we expected to take from these professional politicians that just love to spend OUR money.
I accept all that Casey Pops says and her math with the percentages, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe human factor here that we, us, them, all of us have managed to greatly underestimate the power, dedication, belief in winning elections with candidates that represent the views of our Founding Fathers an our Constitution.
I have never doubted them, maybe a few of their candidates were less than expected. They (Tea Parties) are one (2014) possibly 2 (2016) general elections away from having more elected officials in the House and senate than the GOP and quit possibly the Democratic party.
It's time for the GOP to go to the Tea parties with hat in hand and make peace and good politics. After all they believe just what the "core" of the GOP does...maybe only slightly more vigorously. And there is nothing wrong with "vigor" in your political beliefs.
There has been all kinds of talk lately about how the GOP needs to become more diverse and open ourselves up to African Americans, Hispanics, etc.
The door was never closed to these peoples - it just didn't come with the expected, continuance of all the freebies that they have become accustomed to getting from the Democrats. In the GOP we all earn our way with performance, endurance, and devotion to country and the Constitution.
Our Congress is not a body of representatives from differing and antagonistic interests, which each must maintain and continue at any cost, against all other representatives in Congress. Our Congress is a body of men and women, white and black, professional and employees, patriots and everyday citizens … a purposeful body of 1 country with 1 concern … that of the entire nation, not a specific group or ethnic sub-division. Congress is a body that should not be concerned with local particularities, but instead with the general good of the nation. Once elected to this body a member is from a certain district, but he or she should also be astute enough to see the larger picture and how it affects the entire republic.
ReplyDeleteThere are local issues of importance, certainly. But when dealing with the continuance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, when issues deal with financial responsibility, when the issue in front of this Congress is that of our involvement in foreign affairs, and our assistance to the oppressed citizens of the world we should speak and act with one voice … the voice of the nation, the desire of the nation, the best will of the nation. Not the voices of the few that control this elite body.
Our Congress is a representative assemblage of the people, not of the congressmen/women or senators interest or desires. They represent us. And should one or all of them fail in doing this they need replaced or recalled. The United States of America exists by the WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
This last few weeks saw just the most recent round in a continuing battle that started decades ago. The struggle between limited and unlimited government forces in America arguably began with FDR but took on an entirely new dimension under LBJ. Conservatives regularly charge Richard Nixon with being too liberal. But Nixon’s strenuous attempt to cut government spending was a major – perhaps THE major — behind-the-scenes factor driving Democrats to seek his impeachment.
ReplyDeleteRonald Reagan fought the battle for spending control far more successfully than any GOP president or congress of the big spending era before or since. The Gingrich House and Dole Senate fought it well, too, and, with the cut in the capital gains tax rate they passed over Clinton Administration resistance, were responsible for the budget surpluses of that period.
The fight will continue if only because the levels of on-the-books and off-the-books debt the nation has assumed during the Obama presidency will crush the economy and the government as we know it – and with it our freedom, prosperity and security. Enough of the American people understand this alarming fact that the issue cannot go away.
The Tea Parties will not allow the issue to go unchallenged. And thereby the Republican Party will come to the fight with all the support and enthusiasm that they can muster.
The association of the Tea Parties and the GOP is not one of convenience or duplicity. But one based on commonality and respect.
If we give to the Tea Party what is the Tea parties, and they give to the GOP what is the GOP's. And if we respect and treat each other fair and decent. And if we agree to at times disagree on matters, but all the while striving for the same goal of good, solid, sound economic policies, taxation which is fair and painless, the least possible federal government to protect the fabric of our great nation, government by and for the people, protection for the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
ReplyDeleteIf we can do all this we will be the dominate political party for years to come. And we together can fix the ills that Obama has created.
Where there is a will, there is always a way. We have been challenged before ...
"If not us then who ...If not now then when" - Ronald Reagan
As the gentleman/woman (The Americanist) said in their comment - there is room in the GOP for all the Tea Parties and various other center right political groups that are seeking like people to be with.
ReplyDeleteIndividually we can both make some progress. certainly the Tea party has proved the ability to push the envelope down the road. But collectively we could do so much more , so much faster and get to the end goal of better government through better representation. And obtaining these two goals would get us the less government in our lives we all want, get us a STRONG economic package that we all need, and get us back to our days of world leadership (not dictatorship) helping lingering nations move on towards democracy, human rights, self sustaining GDP's.
Maybe working together we could simply progress on our plans and render the democratic party to 3rd place for a very long time.
All the political guru's are in lock step offering the GOP & Tea parties advice on diversification and how we must widen our base. If we followed this advice what would be become ... yet another democratic party. A party of no core values, a party that reaches out for people as votes not humans, a party that would also promise anything and everything. An other party would be rushing to destroy the United States of American quicker than the Democratic are right now.
ReplyDeleteIf the GOP and Tea Parties start down that path there will NO need for us, because the democratics are expert at destruction and alienation of people from each other.
We are here for people of somewhat like minds and thoughts. we don't stand against individuals or groups of Americans ... we stand for them and with them.
Look at the major civil rights and human rights programs passed in this country - it all had the power of the Republican Party behind it. the party of Lincoln is not a party of division ... it is the party of inclusion.
We have strong center right core values. We do believe that less government in your life is better government. We do relive in a fairer tax code.