I fully support the core idea of a rash of “tea parties” across the country on April 15th in opposition to bailouts and the stimulus. Not that I necessarily agree with a lot of the thinking behind them, but I’m all for the principle of the thing. Protest is a beautiful thing.
What sucks is that it appears that lots of extraneous crap is being inserted into the agenda of the parties by the group that has appointed itself leader of the “movement”. Check out these items that are supposed to be part of the protest, from the TEA Party homepage:
- want to take away the right to vote with a secret ballot in union elections?
- refuse to stop the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into our country?
- appoint a defender of child pornography to the Number 2 position in the Justice Department?
- want to force doctors and other medical workers to perform abortions against their will?
What this suggests is that this isn’t a populist uprising against taxation and government spending… it’s just one more skirmish in the Republican Culture War. How underwhelming.