Hillarysworld

As an avid reader of FireDogLake, and of course all things political that is (at least seemingly) grassroots, lol, this sure caught my attention.

==============================================

Some of My Best Friends are Tea Partiers

Why some liberals can't seem to resist the new bad boys of American politics.

Mark Schmitt | April 5, 2010

Excerpts from the opening and closing paragraphs:

During the ugly late days of the debate on health reform, a minor skirmish broke out when a savvy journalist-of-the-right, David Weigel, got an organizer of a Tea Party event protesting the legislation to acknowledge that she'd been working with Jane Hamsher, who through her blog firedoglake had become one of the sharpest critics of the legislation from the left.

[] the real America is at least as likely to be found in the 205 million voting age adults who aren't Tea Partiers as the few hundred thousand who are. And the rest of that real America, with its own passions and anger and economic pain, is probably a more fruitful area to look for allies on real liberal goals that include inclusion and fairness.

While it is very true that the Tea Party movement has many from all political linkages, orientations, and true indepedent and foot-loose, what the article does not go into is the fact that prominent GOP leaders have embraced the Tea Party as their own to gain from the movement.. Now, of course, they will immediately not want the party to do anything remotely like come up with its own leader (see Dan Quayle's latest article) but they have no qualms at all of the Tea Party movement forming its first convention on the day of President Ronald Reagan's birthday ... that in itself not wrong .. rather that being INTERPRETED as the group as right wing.  Media both from the right and the MSM has acknowledged that Tea Party is by and large a Conservative movement to "take back the country" and I keep asking, "from what"? The current? How far back do you want to take the country.

The original concept of "taxed enough already" as "TEA party" has gone on the way side. As Tea party has become the right-wing movement, the "Coffee party" has evolved as the "left wing" movement.

There is no longer that independent spirit in either of them when the activists took a side.

Moderates are unable to group as moderates as there is no real driving force that binds us together. There is no deep yearning to form into a community. Moderates are what we are because we are not so polarized on issues in general.  That is what sets us apart.  It is also the reason why we get viewed as "too liberal" by the right and as "too conservative" by the left.  But truth be told, most of the country is somewhere in the center.

I wish there was a more centrist movement.  One that demands that the two parties work together for the common good.  If not, then what?  There really is no third party. And, at the rate at which TEA party has been going, I really do not see it as representative of the Center, let alone of the Left.

The article urges liberals wanting to join TEA party to consider linkages that are more into "inclusion and fairness" and on that I have to agree.  TEA party will happily "include" you as long as you will go with the conservative ideas.  It is like what a friend of mine once said: Voting for McCain does not make me a Republican. LOL.  But they embraced you quickly for it, and started pushing Republican ideas to you.  That is what happens when we join a party/follow a leader not because of the principles they stand for.  And, that statement applies to all parties and leaders.