Friday, January 01, 2010

1994? Or 1964?

At KPC, we distort, and you deride.

Still, feel free to comment, on my view on the question in the title of this post....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the fact that there's an ad for "mighty leaf tea" next to your essay. Maybe the tea baggers could become the "mighty leafs"

Seriously though, an effort to create ideological purity will only lead to a smaller party (e.g. NY's special election), as the party continues to lose those inside will blame each other for a lack of ideological purity, and the party will be reduced to a cult.

Also, the ability of a party to win requires that they expand. In 1992 Perot crated a new party, after the election many of them (who were not politically active previously) moved into the R party. The party base increased, whereas now the base is rapidly decreasing (e.g. munger and his "ex" status).

The result is a party based on extreme positions, like abortion, that a majority of Americans do not share. And combined with the other extreme social positions, the party is becoming one that is more concerned with what is going on in your bedroom, rather than what the government is doing to your wallet. This is the polar opposite of the Reagan revolution and 1994.

Tom said...

Anon, above, should be aware that "tea bagger" is an epithet, a term to use when you don't care whom you insult.

Also "an effort to create ideological purity" can also be viewed as an effort for a party to mean something... something besides "not quite as socialist as the Democrats (sometimes)" that is.

ZombieHero said...

I love the Tea Party. I personally hoped that it would lead to a viable third party. (that's my ex inner Democrat talking) Of course now I dont think that will happen. I'm hopeful that a combination of 64 and 94 takes place. Where Republicans take over the House and gains seats in the Senate and the new Congressmen aren't as wishy washy as the last batch going out. I hope more than anything the populist Tea Party revolt makes the politicians at least marginally more accountable for their action by the voting public.
I think one of the biggest problem for the Democrats (besides their whole platform) is that they lost touch with even some of their base. I know the last Pew poll I read had Dems on Dem approval at over 80%, I think that is more an indication of brand loyalty than anything else. But Dem hatred for anything not Dem prevents them from having any sort of intraparty reform.
In contrast I see conservatives/libertarians much more willing to walk away from the brand if it doesn't represent their views anymore, as can be seen with Dr. Munger and all those poor GOP saps that voted for Obama.
So I think the Tea Party does represent a reform of the Republican party to get it back on track at least economically. But then again who knows, another Black Swan could come flying by and completely change the whole environment in the next 4 months...which coincidently is when I think we are going to see another wave of housing trouble and the second half of the W recession hit.