Kiss The Tea Party’s Ass?

By Dan Jacobson, Originally published in the July 28th, 2011 edition of the triCityNews

I’m running as an Independent for the state Assembly. And I’m not about to kiss the Tea Party’s ass. No way.

But they shouldn’t be offended.

I’m not kissing anybody’s ass. I’m just calling it like I see it in this campaign – exactly as I’ve done at this newspaper for over a decade.

So all you Tea Party types, here’s what I’m about. Make your own call.

My beliefs are united by one thing – a knee-jerk reaction against the concentration of power, wherever it may be found. That includes government employee unions who use mandatory dues to elect those sitting across the bargaining table. That includes powerful corporations that get government favors instead of competing in the free market. It also includes big media – my disgust with the Gannett-owned Asbury Park Press is well-documented. And it includes political parties who order elected officials what to do. I recoil against it all.

Some key issues? I think school vouchers should be tried in poor urban school districts. I want competition between the public and private sectors to better the education system. And I support the recently-passed pension and health benefits reform bill as a step in the right direction, although its supporters in Trenton overstate its impact. (Of course, the bill – surprise, surprise – leaves unstated who will pay the taxes that it clearly requires. Wow, what courage. No wonder the pension system has been underfunded for 15 years.)

The mainstream media has tagged the Tea Party with such divisive figures as Sarah Palin (an idiot) and Michele Bachman (a wacko). The media calls them Tea Party favorites and Tea Party darlings, suggesting the movement is narrow, extremist and divisive. I just don’t see it that way.

The Tea Party movement has done a great service to this country by forcing the Republican Party back to its limited government principles. Voters need that option. The best example? Had the Tea Party been around before 2006, when the Republicans lost control of Congress, it would be a much different country today.

In 2006, conservative Republicans stayed home because the GOP was spending like crazy liberals – and that delivered the House and Senate majorities to the Democrats. That gave us Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. The Tea Party movement would have prevented that. Under Tea Party pressure, Republicans would never have strayed so far from their limited government roots. Those that did would have been defeated in Republican primaries by Tea Party candidates. In that scenario, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would never have come to power. Conservative Republicans would have voted in 2006, continuing House and Senate Republican majorities.

Two years later, I voted for Barack Obama – John McCain simply didn’t have the temperament to be President. But it was a grim choice. I predicted in this space that a Democratic Congress with a Democratic President would be disastrous. Turns out I was right. What a different story it would have been – and a very good one – if Obama had faced a Republican Congress from day one in dealing with the economic crisis.

Think about that for a moment. Had the Tea Party been around before the 2006 election, the Republicans may have kept control of Congress. None of the nonsense we endured under Pelosi and Reid would have happened.

Obama and a Republican Congress from the start would have been great for this country. I love that we elected an African-American President whose father was a Muslim. You won’t see France doing that. Obama’s problem is his utter lack of experience in the private sector or feel for free market economics. Yet he had tremendous potential as a leader with a Republican Congress – they’d be a check on each other’s excesses. After all, Bill Clinton soared after Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took over Congress. Obama should have been a success. It’s a shame what happened.

Look, the Democrats are idiots on economic policy. We all know that. They’re clueless on how to fix a free market economy. Democrats are around to make sure this country doesn’t turn into a theocracy. That’s why we elect them. I’d rather not live in Iran, thank you.

So I blame the Republicans as much as anyone for today’s economic mess by straying from their limited government principles – and handing the Congress over to Reid and Pelosi back in 2006. That was a complete disaster for this country. A catastrophe. What a shame the Tea Party movement wasn’t around back then to stop it.

In that context, the Tea Party movement certainly doesn’t look extremist to me. Quite the opposite. I think the broad majority of people in our area, and in this country, would agree with my analysis: President Obama and a Republican Congress from the start would have been great for this country. Certainly much better than what we got.

The local people I know who support the Tea Party principles of limited government are almost all self-reliant, self-employed types who can’t stand political bullshit. Definitely my kind of folk. It’s a streak of economic libertarianism we share. (I also have a libertarian streak on social issues.)

As for endorsements from local Tea Party groups, I doubt I’ll get them. Nor do I particularly care – I want voters and groups to do whatever the hell they want. I know there’s one Tea Party group in Colts Neck, which is in the new 11^th District where I’m running. We’ll see what they do.

Unfortunately, my suspicion is that the Republican Party will eventually co-opt these groups, which would be a shame. In addition, movements like this often collapse under their own weight as egos, personality conflicts and downright bizarre people end up dominating them. That’s when the political pros move in to defang or co-opt them. And finish them off.

But back to my campaign.

It’s not endorsements that are important to me. What I find very cool, however, is the positive response to my candidacy from people ranging from Tea Party supporters to Green Party supporters. That’s a helluva range. I love that!

It demonstrates an anti-establishment current that’s alive and well around here. It’s certainly right for these times. People want their elected to just tell them the truth – and not give them a line of bullshit to cover up some other political agenda everyone knows is being followed.

So Tea Party people, whoever you are, there you go. Make your own call in the voting booth!

(The 11^th District where I’m running includes: Asbury Park, Long Branch, Red Bank, Ocean Township, Neptune, Neptune City, Interlaken, Deal, Allenhurst, Loch Arbour, West Long Branch, Eatontown, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls, Colts Neck, Freehold Township and Freehold Borough.)

Bloggers note:  All candidates for any office are welcome to submit material for publication to MMM.  So is anyone else.  Send to Artvg @ aol.com.

Posted: July 28th, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

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