Tea Party surges in U.S. Republican primaries

The grassroots Tea Party movement - which favours tax and spending cuts - emerged as a force in American politics only last year.

B92

I don't think ordinary people are fooled by the facade of grass-roots activism because beneath this movement hide the super-rich who systematically avoid contributing to their own country and instead hide their loot in tailored made off-shore bank accounts.

I don't recall those pseudo-tax libertarians protesting against Bush when he doubled the national debt by running seven consecutive budget deficits? What about Bush's $trillion bailouts of the Wall Street crooks?

The funny thing is the so called tea movement is not only in favour of the wars in Iraq and Afganistan but also in favour of expanding the US military presence all over the world.

Were these nutters ever to succeed getting elected the world will face many calamities.

They've been accused of trying to restore the America of the 1950s in which white men were firmly in control.

They've also been accused of having no real answer to America's problems -- only complaints and stupid ideas about making the country better.

Personally, I find it hard to even pay attention to what they're trying to say because Sarah Palin is a leading spokesperson for them. She doesn't exactly project worldliness and intelligence so it makes it really hard to take any of her followers (ie, most Tea Party members) seriously.

I think the reason such a movement has gained any type of notoriety is that there is a complete lack of productivity in Washington. Seated politicians are said to be spending way too much time out of office attending fund-raisers, meeting lobbyists, etc. Given all the voter discontent over the numerous issues facing the US, a lot of politicians are probably having to fight to hold onto their offices like never before, so their attention is highly diverted from doing what they're there for: law-making. Add to this the Republican strategy of obstinacy against any Democratic legislative initiative and you have complete gridlock.

It certainly seems as though the Obama administration has worked fairly hard to get America out of its current rut, but the effort has sadly been largely wasted. Now, the Republicans are on the verge of regaining a lot of the seats they lost over the past 4 years and America will be likely be voting back in the party that initiated at least one and arguably two unlawful wars (at the very least, they undoubtedly mismanaged the retaliatory campain against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan), did nothing meaningful to tackle global warming or to improve America's crumbling infrastructure, turned a budget surplus in 2000 into a glaring deficit, implemented tax cuts that do little for the vast majority of Americans but help the wealthy and corporations, and allegedly sponsored legislation that has rendered it legally impossible for the Obama administration to ever prosecute Bush, Cheney and others for war crimes.

These are but a few of the many abuses of which Republicans are roundly accused, abuses which have seemingly left Democrats with an impossibly deep hole out of which to climb.

As I see it, the Tea Party exists by default and is a testament to another huge problem facing America that the Republicans of the 2000s likely did little to address: ignorance.

Restore America??? If America is down and out, how is the rest of the world doing? My God...

The grassroots Tea Party movement - which favours tax and spending cuts - emerged as a force in American politics only last year.

B92

I don't think ordinary people are fooled by the facade of grass-roots activism because beneath this movement hide the super-rich who systematically avoid contributing to their own country and instead hide their loot in tailored made off-shore bank accounts.

I don't recall those pseudo-tax libertarians protesting against Bush when he doubled the national debt by running seven consecutive budget deficits? What about Bush's $trillion bailouts of the Wall Street crooks?

The funny thing is the so called tea movement is not only in favour of the wars in Iraq and Afganistan but also in favour of expanding the US military presence all over the world.

Were these nutters ever to succeed getting elected the world will face many calamities.

They've been accused of trying to restore the America of the 1950s in which white men were firmly in control.

They've also been accused of having no real answer to America's problems -- only complaints and stupid ideas about making the country better.

Personally, I find it hard to even pay attention to what they're trying to say because Sarah Palin is a leading spokesperson for them. She doesn't exactly project worldliness and intelligence so it makes it really hard to take any of her followers (ie, most Tea Party members) seriously.

I think the reason such a movement has gained any type of notoriety is that there is a complete lack of productivity in Washington. Seated politicians are said to be spending way too much time out of office attending fund-raisers, meeting lobbyists, etc. Given all the voter discontent over the numerous issues facing the US, a lot of politicians are probably having to fight to hold onto their offices like never before, so their attention is highly diverted from doing what they're there for: law-making. Add to this the Republican strategy of obstinacy against any Democratic legislative initiative and you have complete gridlock.

It certainly seems as though the Obama administration has worked fairly hard to get America out of its current rut, but the effort has sadly been largely wasted. Now, the Republicans are on the verge of regaining a lot of the seats they lost over the past 4 years and America will be likely be voting back in the party that initiated at least one and arguably two unlawful wars (at the very least, they undoubtedly mismanaged the retaliatory campain against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan), did nothing meaningful to tackle global warming or to improve America's crumbling infrastructure, turned a budget surplus in 2000 into a glaring deficit, implemented tax cuts that do little for the vast majority of Americans but help the wealthy and corporations, and allegedly sponsored legislation that has rendered it legally impossible for the Obama administration to ever prosecute Bush, Cheney and others for war crimes.

These are but a few of the many abuses of which Republicans are roundly accused, abuses which have seemingly left Democrats with an impossibly deep hole out of which to climb.

As I see it, the Tea Party exists by default and is a testament to another huge problem facing America that the Republicans of the 2000s likely did little to address: ignorance.

Restore America??? If America is down and out, how is the rest of the world doing? My God...