14 January 2011
Ralph Nader comments on the new Republicans
In an interview on FOX News, Ralph Nader suggests that the "Tea Party" Republicans will not necessarily follow the party line of the Republican establishment. He believes they will "go after the Federal Reserve," the military budget, and corporate welfare.
I remain skeptical. In my experience polticians who arrive in Washington seem to regress toward the mean, and tend to join the establishment rather than shaking it up. Time will tell.
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doubt it. It would be great, but while the new Tea Party may have emerged as a Libertarianesque anti-tax, anti-government intrusion initiative run largely by socially liberal conservatives, it has been hijacked by the social right.
ReplyDeleteSo it's going to be more of a pro defense budget, pro God, pro government spending an in everything but social programs and intrusiveness in everything personal.
Ralph Nader is a sharp guy. I totally reject a lot of his ideas, but you have to respect his commitment and ethics. He's pretty darned close to the mark on this and I salute him for it.
ReplyDeleteIt's been pretty clear from the beginning that a good portion of the Tea Party likes the idea of small government, until their Medicare/Medicade is threatened. Or the war on drugs. Or the War on terror.
The moment is very divers, but the common trend is that most individuals within the movement have a big government blind spot. If they didn't they'd be libertarians and wouldn't need to use (or want) the Tea Party label.
There are some libertarians who use the TParty because it has political inertia, but few true libertarians really trust the movement.