The hate-mongering in this thread shows that the GOP is truly dead, killed by its own hand, and in rigor mortis. Just because someone calls himself liberatarian, doesn’t make it so, just as someone who does not call himself libertarian, doesn’t mean he isn’t. The impulse behind the Tea Party is essentially libertarian, which is part of the reason the GOP establishment is trying to destroy it, and some of you hate-mongers are helping. If you don’t believe in Consitutional government, you have no business calling yourselves conservatives.
I think you make a fascinating and very important point…and I’d like to echo and add: The genesis of the tea party movement was absolutely limited government reaction to obama care and mortgage fraud and so on… I won’t go thru the Feb 2009 santelli-rush-drudge-NBC-Robert Gibbs-obama time table here, but that’s clearly the spark that lit a huge town hall anti obama care anti government kindling pile that had been buidling for a while.
EVen if you joined without knowing that’s how it came about, that’s still how it came about.
Now, most of these people were also soc conservatives, but that was NEVER the reason for the TP in the beginning…but some TP groups have sort of been hijacked by a social focus. Some have been hijacked by a sort of anti religion hard core libtard focus (libtard NOT quite the same as legit liberty type). Some are more true to the original intent and idea. Not passing judgment here, just stating what has happened.
And of course, the GOPe hates all of it…the limited gov types, the soc cons type, and the liberty types. This civil war, or set of wars, is raging now…..
On the one hand they believe the libertarians owe their votes to republicrats like McRomney. Then the proceed to call libertarians every name in the book, insult libertarians, and prepare to blame us for the loss of the next McRomney, Krispy Creampuff.
Winning hearts and minds with insults won't work.
I hear you, but you have to admit: Some folks who call themselves libertarian are dumb as a box of rocks. Not all, of course, but some.
69 months of driving the unclean from their temple and then 3 months of begging for their vote. And shock at the results.
Wrong.
The impulse behind the tea party is Constitutionalism, period. Any attempts to conflate the tea party to Libertarianism is only found in those of the Libertarian party to hang on for the ride. This latest debacle shows this especially when you listen to the Texas Libertarian group leader who sent $150K to McCauliff. At the end of every question answered by him came the expected issue of legalization of all drugs for whatever use; the idiot who believes in such is obviously on.
If he wants to wander around in la-la land, great, just lock himself up so he does not infringed on my rights of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness because he is too stupid to realize his actions affect anyone around him in a willing capacity or not.
He said he was once a Republican but he never said in any way he was a Constitutionalist. He just found a convenient horse to ride to advance his agenda, to his ultimate detriment, along with the rest of us he is dragging into the morass.
Their issue was legalization of drugs, not smaller and extremely limited government, unless legalization of drugs is attached to it.
As for the GOP establishment, it is nothing more than shades of grey when considering Constitutionalism. We see all these hearings from them on all of the countless Obama scandals and even with obvious perjury committed daily in those high and might halls, nobody is being held accountable. The reason is the GOP just cannot wait until they might, for some unknown reason, think they will ever get control of the wheel again to use just as it was used against them.
I supported Rubio mightily but will not do so going forward. It is not that he lied to us about immigration, he lied to us from his heart, not a prepared written speech by some staffer. He didn’t have flunky staffers when he was campaigning before he won the primary, because of the tea party support.
A pox on all their houses. There are the exceptional few, but as long as Carl Rove and his acolytes control the GOP, nothing will change, except for the letter in parentheses next to the leaders names when making public recorded appearances.
Need a waaah-mbulance?
Actually - you need a clue. The Tea Party is essentially libertarian?
You need a BIG clue.