[timmac]

I notice most the arguing on the site with regards to controversial topics is between 2 crowds. The first being the trust authority, facts, details and hard evidence crowd. The second being the critical thinking, big picture and mostly circumstancial evidence crowd.

Anyway, just thought I'd point that out.

Us Tea Party folks fit into your 1st crowd, not sure where the Obama supporters and Pstarr fit into..

[PrestonSturges]

The only real Tea Party people we knew were thieves, swindlers, child abusing drug addicts who stole the morphine from their dad who was terminal with cancer so he died screaming in pain. They were on the internet pretty much all the time except when they were touching children, out looking for drugs, or telling strangers how much they loved Jesus.

[timmac]

The only real Tea Party people we knew were thieves, swindlers, child abusing drug addicts who stole the morphine from their dad who was terminal with cancer so he died screaming in pain. They were on the internet pretty much all the time except when they were touching children, out looking for drugs, or telling strangers how much they loved Jesus.

Well either your a fat liar or the people you know are your neighbors in a old trailer trash mobile home park..

Which is it PrestonSturges...

[PrestonSturges]

That's just life in the Bible Belt, and I have mentioned that many times before.

I don't think the Tea Party would exist without prescription drug addiction. The reddest congressional districts just happen to have astronomical rates of lethal drug overdoses. Rush Limbaugh is a drug addict, and his loud stupid mean drunk personality is a drug addict personality. It's exactly how prescription pain killer addicts behave. Do Tea Party types just imitate Rush, or is there drug addiction involved? Well, the drug overdose rates in Tea Party strongholds suggests actual narcotics play a part.

Care to discuss your medications?

[Lore]

This pretty well explains why the Tea Party must and will die.

The Tea Party Luddites

Ask Tea Party adherents what inspires them most and many will say their reverence of history. Indeed it's not unusual at Tea Party rallies to see bands of self-referential patriots dressed up in Revolutionary War garb, wearing tricorn hats and carrying their defiant Don't Tread on Me flags.

But there may be a more appropriate historical analogy for the Tea Party movement: the Luddites, who traveled around northern England in the early Nineteenth Century smashing and destroying the machinery of the emerging industrial age. Whatever their grievances at the time, historians view their anger as a reaction against change and an unwillingness to accept a world that was passing them by.

We live in a media culture that magnifies conflict and breathlessly interprets every pitched battle as a sign that our nation is irretrievably divided and can't be healed. But perhaps a longer historical perspective may be a better lens to view our current political rift, and that's where the Luddite comparison applies.

Rather than see the Tea Party's divisiveness as a sign of politics to come, it may simply be the final spasm of rage for an increasingly shrinking cohort of citizens who refuse to accept that our culture and country no longer resemble the "real America" embedded in their historical imagination -- the churchgoing, picket fence, Norman Rockwell, pre-60s society in which everyone knew their place, father knew best, and few challenged the social order.

Whether that America ever existed is certainly open to debate, but what's clear is that it no longer exists today, there's no turning back, and as with so many cultural movements that claim to represent a golden age, history will pass them by and their relevance will diminish.

Now that doesn't mean they won't continue to disrupt and distract us from the march of history, as they are doing today with the government shutdown and threat of default. Nor should they be trivialized as a political force given their over-representation in Congress, a result not of national preference but of gerrymandering and the way congressional districts are drawn.

But they are the wave of the past, not the future, and in time their voices will fade to a loud whisper and their machinations will be seen as more curious than relevant.

Much like the viewers of FOX News Channel, Tea Party advocates skew old, and that alone is the best indicator that their influence is short-lived at best. Virtually every survey of younger Americans -- the new and emerging generation known as the Millennials -- documents that they categorically reject the Tea Party worldview and perspective.

Whereas the Tea Party takes a hard line on immigration that borders on xenophobia, most Millennials embrace the immigrant pursuit of the American Dream and overwhelmingly favor policies that open pathways to citizenship.

Whereas the Tea Party hails from mostly monochromatic communities that mirror the white dominance of generations past, Millennials are the most inclusive, least prejudiced, most diverse, and what one writer called the most "accepting" generation in our nation's history, and they fear not what makes most conservatives cringe -- that America will become a majority-minority country by mid-century.

Whereas the Tea Party recoils at gay rights -- one poll shows that 84 percent of Tea Party supporters oppose gay marriage -- surveys of Millennials find that upwards of 80 percent support marriage equality, and even a plurality of young Republicans favor it.

Whereas many in the Tea Party ground themselves in conservative Christianity, only 17 percent of Millennials call themselves religious conservatives, by far the smallest percentage for any generation, according to the Public Religion Research Institute. In part because they view religious moralists as divisive and unseemly, Millennials are fleeing organized religion -- a third of adults under 30 have no religious affiliation.

Tea Partiers deride climate science; Millennials embrace it. Tea Partiers pray at the altar of free market ideology; Millennials sympathize with the impulse behind the Occupy movement and more than seven in ten want politicians to address income and wealth inequality.

Tea Partiers view government as too powerful and oppressive; Millennials more so than any other generation look to government to solve our problems. Tea Partiers see Obamacare as imminent socialism; Millennials want government to ensure that they can obtain health care coverage -- a 2011 Pew survey found that 67 percent of Millennials wanted either to expand Obamacare or leave it as is.

Even younger conservatives who prefer limited government grow nervous with the Tea Party's rage against diversity, gay rights, and environmental protection. In a July 2013 Pew survey, those 18 to 29 were the only Republican age cohort to reject the Tea Party message -- and by a significant number.

Perhaps no one better symbolizes the generally diverse and progressive Millennial America than the president so many young people supported and helped to elect -- Barack Obama. Denying Obama's legitimacy -- even denying he was born in America -- embodies the Tea Party's unwillingness to accept that America has changed.

If the Tea Party represents a particular state in America, it's the state of denial -- they refuse to believe that their America is no longer the "real America." Or as Senator Ted Cruz defiantly said in response to recent surveys that show massive public displeasure with the GOP and the Tea Party, those polls are "not reflective of where the country is."

But once the political torch is passed to a new generation, there will be fewer and fewer hardcore Tea Party districts, fewer supporters of Tea Party candidates, fewer of them elected, and far more acceptance of an America written in the image of the Millennial worldview. Our country will move beyond their anger and fear, just as it has done on race, gay rights, and countless other issues.

To be sure, it may not make today's toxic political culture any easier to endure. But it should give pause to the doomsayers who say our democracy is broken and the future will be forever bleak.

Those who mistake the tantrums of today for the society of tomorrow ought to remember the lessons of yesterday. The Luddites faded and life moved on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonard-s ... 10784.html

[Ibon]

This pretty well explains why the Tea Party must and will die.

Here is the irony. The time and the culture that the Tea Party is nostalgic over would be utterly shamed at their behavior.

I agree that this party is a passing phase along the arduous road of weaning ourselves from the tit of privilege.

This does however apply equally to many of the political left's expectations on what they feel entitled to receive from the government.

There is no shortage of whimpering and tantrums that span the political spectrum.

[Lore]

This does however apply equally to many of the political left's expectations on what they feel entitled to receive from the government.

There is no shortage of whimpering and tantrums that span the political spectrum.

I agree, political ideology has and will be transient depending on events. There always seems to be a group however that remains resistant to any change. Futile as their efforts ultimately are, because change happens with or without them.

[americandream]

Ironically, successful capitalists invariably embrace globalism and a metropolitan market, as the essence of success is market penetration.

On the other hand, entrepreneurs who fail to penetrate the market and thus are consigned to average performance invariably promote nationalism. Fellow travellers who have similarly failed at job opportunities or have just plain old failed are also quick to hop on.

Thus it goes without saying that the Tea Party and other promoters of nationalism (limited market availability) will always lurk in the fringes, behind any of those parties (conservative or social democratic) who recognise and embrace this globalising tendency.

[KaiserJeep]

In spite of the uninformed opinions expressed here, there is only one plank in the TEA Party platform, and that is Fiscal Responsibility. TEA Party members include Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, AIP's, etc. etc. The TEA party will support a candidate from any other party as long as that candidate will sign a pledge to support a balanced budget in whatever Local, State, or Federal office they are running for. Nor do these candidates have to declare themselves "members" of the TEA party, because it is not a traditional political party, nor do they renounce membership in any real party they belong to.

TEA = Taxed Enough Already. That is all that the populist TEA party movement is about. They take no position on abortions, immigration policy, racism, unions, gun control, crime & punishment, education, or anything else. If you interview a TEA party demonstrator on camera, you are likely to get an ear full on any of those topics, which does NOT mean that such beliefs are part of the TEA party platform or policies.

It's all about reducing the intrusion of Big Government into people's lives by reducing the funding available for politicians making mischief. That may well be a radical, even revolutionary idea. Certainly it is one that will increase personal freedoms.

[americandream]

@KJ

All capitalists are concerned with is the ability of a manager (politician) to understand the nature of business and that does NOT primarily mean cutting back on overheads (although that is a second plank), BUT enabling him or her (the business person) to do whatever is necessary to expand his or her market. That is where the Tea Party has lost the plot and where for example Bush, and Obama excel AND Clinton excelled. Reagan was a good military strategist for the Cold War era but Thatcher was his business brains.

In other words, it all boils down to profit at the checkout (market penetration options) and then at the next level, minimising costs. There is certainly no appetite for hillbillys but rather well turned out and efficient plus business minded managers. The owners (capitalists) do the rest.

And in case anyone thinks I am singing the praises of capitalists, I am not. This is just the way it's done and that is what I as a market maker look for in a country. If it's run by an arsehole, I am not interested.

[KaiserJeep]

Your perception is your reality, obviously - no matter how mistaken.

[americandream]

Your perception is your reality, obviously - no matter how mistaken.

You need to explain your criticism, point by point. Bald statements are essentially meaningless when you purport to stand for free markets (and thus would be expected to know what they represent as well as their dynamics).

I have stated my understanding of the markets and what I look for as a participant in the markets as do many other competent dealers in liquidity (which after all is what business is all about).

[PrestonSturges]

TEA = Taxed Enough Already. That is all that the populist TEA party movement is about.

TEA = I WANT FREE STUFF

But we've been down that road before.

And they aren't "populist" any more, they continue to drift in a Nativist direction.

[Keith_McClary]

In spite of the uninformed opinions expressed here, there is only one plank in the TEA Party platform, and that is Fiscal Responsibility.

You should pop over to WackyPedia, (the Encyclopedia that anyone can edit):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement
and straighten them out.

[PrestonSturges]

As I was saying, without loud mouthed narcotics addicts, there is no Tea Party.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/bund ... e-24554733

Cliven Lance Bundy, 34, said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he knows he's named in a contempt-of-court warrant issued July 8 in Las Vegas for failing to appear before a Clark County District Court judge who oversees a drug diversion program.

"I'm trying to get ahold of my counselor to see what I'm supposed to do," said Lance Bundy, who is not currently represented by a lawyer.

Bundy said he underwent outpatient surgery the day the warrant was issued and has been recuperating at his parents' home in Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The court record shows Bundy missed several previous hearings, and that officials said they were unable to reach him to notify him of court dates.

He could face two to eight years in state prison if he is found in violation of terms of the five years' probation imposed after he pleaded guilty in February 2013 to felony burglary and weapon theft charges.

Bundy attributed his conviction to an addiction to opiate pain killers, and said he has been getting counseling.