Thursday, March 4, 2010

Tea Parties Should Limit Themselves to State and Local Politics


Sarah Palin thinks that Jefferson sang this song.

It has become increasingly evident that the Tea Party lacks any national leadership. D. Eris of Poli-Tea and I have debated a related point a couple of times, with Eris claiming the desirability of third party candidates. That may be the case, but Eris's claim still begs the question as to who a charismatic and capable national leader might be.

Sarah Palin is great looking but lacks the intellectual foundations to be a leader. Reagan was no genius, as Chet of Snyder's bar pointed out last night, but he had an intuitive grasp and appointed some good people (not good enough in my opinion but better than any Republican since). Palin does not know anything about the history, political ideas or ideology of freedom. She thinks Jefferson is an African-American dry cleaner in Manhattan who "moved on up to the east side." She doesn't know why anyone might question the Fed, or who in American history favored doing so. In fact, she would be surprised if she found out. This is not to disparage her as a person. We are all members of what Kant called the Kingdom of Ends and so Palin deserves the same respect I give to Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson. But as a presidential candidate she is too unread, and I definitely fear that the special interests may have gotten to her by now. I would make the same observations but to a lesser degree about any of the conservative media people, specifically including all of the announcers on Fox.

The fact that the Tea Party people have tended to congregate around Fox says that the movement is too green to support a national political candidate. The Tea Party needs to start from the local level and there needs to be a core coalition that starts to read, read, read about the ideas that built America. Anyone who does not know what Andrew Jackson stood for or why he would not have liked Abraham Lincoln does not know enough about American history to make sense of what is going on today.

Thus, I urge the Tea Party to develop a relationship with the Foundation for Economic Education. That fine institution has quietly served as a fulcrum on which the freedom movement has rested since the 1940s. Without the support it gave to many freedom oriented scholars through the years, the ideas that are alive today would have died. How many in the Tea Party have taken the time to educate themselves? To develop a relationship with the Foundation for Economic Education? To read about the substance of American history, including the banking controversies that were never resolved?

Moreover, none, I say not one, of the national figures in the Republican Party has the intellectual background nor the moral sense (and I specifically include Newt Gingrich) to represent a freedom movement. Thus, the Tea Party has no leadership and does not know where to turn.

It is only at the local level that freedom oriented candidates can be developed. It is time for the Tea Party to develop candidates who will evolve into the leadership of the coming nine decades. This must be done at the local, not the national level. I do not even think it can be done at the state level. A state like New York just appointed Richard M. Nixon's son-in-law, Edward F. Cox, a Wall Street attorney, to head the state's GOP. Is a Wall Street attorney the direction in which a party corrupted by massive subsidies to Wall Street ought to turn?

6 comments:

Phil Orenstein said...

I think you're underestimating Sarah Palin:

"On Friday, July 10th, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin signed House Joint Resolution 27 (HJR27), sponsored by State Rep. Mike Kelly. The resolution “claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.”

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/07/13/palin-signs-alaska-sovereignty-resolution/

Mitch, I just finished her amazing book, "Going Rogue" and I'm quite impressed. She impressed me as a meticulously honest and ethical person, not only ethical in her own offices, vetoing 80% of the pork requests, refusing fed $$, refusing the state jet, auto, cook, etc. but moreover standing up to even her own GOP party bosses even to the extent of conducting FBI investigations of party collusion with big Oil and having some Repub cronies arrested. She booted out the "Corrupt Bastards Club" of the GOP and was loved by all as one of the people. She stood up to the threats and lawsuits of big oil and overode their defunct contracts for the natural gas pipeline, and started the biggest private industry project in the US.

During the campaign she was severely compromised by the McCain machine thugs who blamed her for the election loss and prevented her from saying what she really beleived during the campaign. I beleive she would have had the conviction to oppose the first TARP bailout but was forced to tow the party line. The MCain camp helped launch the subsequent media nightmare attacking her and her family with not only wild pornographic conspiracy theories, but an avalanche of FOIA requests and ethics violations that all were ultimately thrown out of court.

The Palin media circus exploded into a critical mass and kept her from governing and she was thus forced to resign spending all her and her staff's time just to answer all the complaints. But I think she is a true limited government free market activist whom the leftist media demonized and destroyed. If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. Unfortunately, the perception is reality.

Having said that, I believe she has her flaws and cannot be president or the leader of the freedom movement as you have expressed, sicne I beleive it to be a decentralized movement and having a national leader is contradictory. I don't beleive we will ever find such a perfect package but we can get close. We need to be thankful that some folks like Allen West have appeared and are a positive step in the right direction. Just had to get all that off my chest, my friend.

Mitchell Langbert said...

Phil--what book did Pailin write before she had the resources to hire ghost writers? Not that I can have an opinion on that, but might the Republicans be able to find candidates who have accomplished a few things of importance before they are nominated for national office? The current crop of bird brains and thieves is discouraging indeed. Nor, in reality, need I be convinced that Pailin actually wrote the book.

Cindy said...

Mitch - And who would you have written it for her? I'm suspect of all the "machine" but I don't see Palen as one of the parts of that "machine". You can't dispute the facts of the book - what she did to the party bosses - and how she was attacked. If anything - Sarah is the closest thing we've seen to Ronny Reagan in a long, long while. To have seen her get manipulated and then blamed for the loss is enough to make me want to quit all party affiliation. There are NO perfect answers - there is NO ONE out there who will be everything to everyone. But the constant bickering about all the faults is getting a bit rediculous.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Mitchell Langbert,

The last few months you blogged on subjects that made me cringe a bit but I didn't complain, I also pampered the ones who complained to me about you.

I am so embarrassed to my family, my friends, and to all the other believers of me on my intelligence of what's going on in the White House, Senate, House of Reps', States, Counties, Towns and the World who trusted me on telling them to read your blog and how smart you were. I've promoted your blog since mid June 08.

But this last post about Sarah is where I draw the line!

"Pailin thinks Jefferson is an African-American dry cleaner in Manhattan who "moved on up to the east side"
"Pailin does not know anything about the history"
"Pailin does not know anything about political ideas"
"Pailin does not know anything about ideology of freedom"
"Pailin does not know why anyone might question the Fed"
"Pailin does not know who in American history favored doing so"
"Pailin in fact would be surprised if she found out"

You would make the same observations but to a lesser degree about any of the conservative media people, specifically including all of the announcers on Fox?

YOU CAN'T EVEN SPELL HER NAME RIGHT and your an expert on her? Her Name Is Sarah Palin!!!!! And don't even say typo, typo, typo, you spelled it wrong 4 times!

Mitchell, this is not to disparage you as a person. We are all members of what Kant called the Kingdom of Ends and so you deserve the same respect I give to Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson.

You suck@! Egg on MY face!

Mitchell Langbert said...

I correct the spelling. If you need to worship a hero, why not read Greek mythology? The news you get on television is about as realistic. As far as Palin goes, where did she stand on the bailout? And if she supported it, why on earth would you believe a word she says?

Mairi said...

I am beginning to think that Sarah, in trying to be "all that she can be", has lost sight of who she really is! I do NOT want a "comedian" in office. I am not looking to elect someone who follows party as a favor. Sarah has dropped the ball.
Appearances on late night TV will not add to her persona. I think, in fact, they may detract from it.
She owes JMcC NOTHING! When his "people" attacked her after the campaign, and tried to make her look like the reason behind John's failure, any question of "loyalties" to that clown evaporated! Knowing he is opposed to her thinking in more ways than just the drilling in ANWR, she should have shown her "stuff" by turning her back on his Senate candidacy. If she is really as "Rogue" as she would like us to believe, she should have walked away, and maybe even intervened for a more "Constitutionally qualified" candidate. Her acquiescence to McC does not elevate her, IMHO, it diminished her and her claim to take on even those in her "own party". Really? Then why choose to support McAmnesty?
I find Sarah has made herself unbelievable.
Anyone is entitled to make a mistake.....she's just made too many. I am not sure if the mistakes are Sarah's, or if they are being made for her by "handlers". But whatever the case, I no longer view her as the young, conservative upstart we were introduced to.