The Tea Party and Political Change

There is no question that a political avalanche will happen next Tues. as many Democrats, some long standing in elected office, are voted out of power. Election polling is never certain, however by all indications Tues. will be a rout.

A great danger exists that America will shift too far to the right, over compensating for what has proven to be disastrous efforts at reviving the economy by Democrats. The mounting national debt and extremely high unemployment continue to cause great stress for American society in spite of at least 2.5 trillion dollars being spend on fiscal and monetary efforts to turn things around. The most recent news of quantitative easing II, to the tune of perhaps $500 billion, is more likely to raise commodity prices rather than put people back to work. The public is angry and there is backlash against intellectual, political, and economic institutions from significant majorities in the middle class based on the belief that experts are no longer able to make the best decisions.

All too often in American politics, constituencies with a public mandate take political action to an extreme. This was true in 2008 as Democrats took a broad legislative path on progressive social issues including national health care and I believe that it will be true again in 2010 as many Republican candidates with Tea Party backing have taken what I consider to be poorly thought out, radical positions. Some of the public statements attributed to Tea Party backed candidates for office are truly amazing, calling for the abolishment of the Dept. of Energy, the Federal Reserve, and the purging of "liberal" CEO's in major corporations, including General Electric. Some of the Tea Party positions appear to have no basis in Republican or conservative doctrine.

For example, the following quote reflects a shifting position that diminishes the distinction of party and political philosophy, an ongoing development of great concern to me for many years:

"Underlying all of this is a deep tea party suspicion that big government is in cahoots with big business and Wall Street, against the rest of America. This has been the conventional view among leftist conspiracy theorists for years but it's now emerging full-throttle on the right."

Reich, Robert B., 2010. Why business should fear the tea party. The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 29.

For the GOP to be successful in leading America to prosperity, there must be moderation and a concrete plan of action that resists the forces of radicalism. I am not convinced that such a plan exists.

This could be disastrous to the Republican Party and the voice of loyal moderates who wish to see less government, a reduced national deficit, and economic prosperity while avoiding extremist positions that can only have the unproductive outcome of enraging the minority Democrats and independent voters.