I went to a tea party last night with my friend Molly. We're both conservative and we both enjoy following politics. Thought we'd see what they're all about.
It was on the U of M diag, of all places. For those of you familiar with Ann Arbor you know that this is the heart of Ann Arbor left wing politics. It's the site of the annual hash bash, for instance. You get the picture.
There were counter protesters-- mostly juvenile elitists trying to disrupt the speakers. Ann Arbor, always patting itself on the back for its love of diversity, is notoriously intolerant of anything conservative. It's almost comical.
So what did I think? I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was just this tea party. There were some great ideas expressed, but there were also some speakers who seemed to be stretching toward the extreme. It had a very libertarian feel. There were also several examples of very careless wording of ideas (that could be misinterpreted) and times when I thought I might not want to be too closely associated with these people. I don't know. Maybe it's because it's a loosely gathered movement of lots of different types of people. I hope they have the effect of moving the republican party more toward the right, rather than destroying it altogether (by forming a third party.) We'll wait and see. I may attend another one to see if I get a different impression.
9 comments:
I added a bunch of tea-party-ers on Twitter and got the same impression-mostly good solid conservatives, but some teetering on the edge of libertarianism. And I also am sort of worried they'll try to be a third party instead of joining Republicans as one party to oust Obama!
There's definitely a risk, isn't there, Maman.
That is what we need to pray against..a third party..gosh, I hope we don't get so mixed up and mess things up even worse. I went to our Tea Party too..we live in a very liberal univ. town too, but actually, the surrounding area and parts of our town are very good conservatives, but at any rate, there was only a small protesting group for the liberals. That was the best part. Good you went.
PS This is Suzanne, btw..not anon. :)
I'm all for more parties...but then I'm Canadian, I'm used to having choices. ;-) But seriously, I don't understand the American propensity to hold the nose and vote for undesirable major party candidates rather than the candidate (independant/third party or no) who best represents you. Especially when you STILL get a direct vote for President regardless of your other votes. What motivation do the Republ-ocrats have to shift policies when there isn't any competition?
Kate..If it weren't for all of the mess concerning pro-life issues, I'd be right there with ya, I think, but when you water down the votes around someone like the president we have now..well, its very much taking chances, having said that...the Republican Party needs to be stronger in the pro-life area as well..much improvement needed there, as well, but Libertarians don't seem to have much in the way of conviction regarding strong pro-life views from what I understand.
Thank you for praying for us here..if you will..boy its a mess!
At the tea party I was at, Suzanne, there was no mention of the life issues. Although someone did mention that Jesus is the redeemer. I just kind of had the feeling that these are not exactly my people. You know what I mean? I agree with them on a lot of things but no mention of the life issues, some comments that were a little off the wall (here and there) and just a rather superficial take on a lot of very important principles...
Yes, I know, Rosemary..I know.
I read a very interesting article recently about the split in the Tea Party between more libertarian voices and values voters...which I think actually reflects the Republican party and some of why it has been so disappointing. The Republican party itself attempts to enfold libertarian rhetoric, big defense spending, pro-family pro-life rhetoric, pro-business rhetoric, corporate interests, and a mess of other lobbies. As a result, no one gets a clear voice.
I haven't figured out how to add you to my google reader and sometimes forget to check in but this post struck a chord with me because it reminds me of my experience.
My husband and I attended a Tea Party as well. It was held nearby and we decided to check it out. I did agree with alot of what I heard but some things I also found myself getting defensive about and some things seemed down right crazy. We left early and hoped our faces wouldn't be on the evening news :-)
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