Ron Paul was great. He was witty, cynical and most importantly, extremely consistent. I loved his ideas as much as anybody, particularily states’ rights on social issues with free market economics. It was a respected platform that had been reminiscent of Barry Goldwater’s ideology to, in essence, keep the government out of our decision-making process within our respective communities and states. Of course, I’m talking about Libertarians. I used to be one, and then I woke up. There is a rather dark side to this ideology in that many of its arguments can be used to cover up discrimination and other reasons for wanting complete privacy. Lets face it —not everyone who wants privacy is a pothead. The unintended consequence of the reemergence and popularity of his ideals is that once again they have been skewed and exploited by the Tea Party.
?If you take what Libertarians believe and layer it side-by-side with a Tea Party candidate, there is a lot that matches up, until you come across the social issues. The far right has combined with what remained of the religious Republican-voting havens such as Texas and very much of the South. The frightening part is the Tea Party is doing much better than Ron Paul ever did. They have numbers, grassroots mobilization and a giant middle finger pointed towards government and its beneficiaries. Is this the legacy that Ron Paul had envisioned? It’s much more than a party reacting to a poor president. Without the ideas of libertarian economics and states’ rights arguments, they would not have a platform.
?I look directly at the potential Republican nominee Rand Paul as almost a timeline of the Tea Party evolution. What’s interesting about Rand is that he took a completely different approach than his father by having both Libertarian views and stricter social ones. After all those years of Libertarian blood and ideology flowing throughout his household, he turned out much different than I would have expected. Which says something about how the politics have changed. Rand knows he wouldn’t stand a chance on his father’s platform or by running on the Libertarian ticket.
All Libertarians know that. It’s up to them, however, if they want to believe it. As time goes on, Rand will continue to become more conservative to rile up his base for primaries. Where does this leave us? Basically screwed. The Tea Party represents all that is wrong with our principles toward one another living in the same country. Never before have we had a time where our politics were so polarized, where we were so far apart from one another. We are losing our connections as Americans, all because half of the country has bought into the idea that they do not have any moral obligations to other Americans whatsoever.
Even a Libertarian should have some feeling of social financial safety whether it is a negative income tax or something else. It’s these feelings the Tea Party lacks which is poisoning the veins of the Republican Party that is still so important to our political party system.
They have created something where you don’t have to feel bad for anybody and where all you care about is yourself. And that’s not what built this country; there’s no way around it. Our greatest times of growth and prosperity came when we had passed laws out of compassion for other Americans, not in spite of them.
This combination is lethal to our American system of politics. There’s a reason congress has the lowest approval ratings ever. There’s a reason we have such dissatisfaction with our government. Fortunately, the people responsible need only look in the mirror. “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” – John Kenneth Galbraith.
Do you agree with Jeff in thinking the Tea Party is poisoning American politics and the Republican Party? Does the Tea Party have any redeeming qualities? We would love to hear what you think. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
