Contract From America

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

While it could be a backlash against both parties, their views, "principles", and rhetoric are mainly aligned with Republican ideology. There's no question about that. I would also ask myself, where was the Tea Party when the previous administration grew the size of government, passed legislation (namely Medicare Part D) without paying for it, and funded the Iraq war almost entirely through debt and budgetary supplements? All of which added significantly to the current deficit. So for them to suddenly come out and rail against big governement, the ballooning deficit, and universal healthcare is curious at best.

On a separate but somewhat related note, it appears as though Sarah Palin is making her bed with the Tea Party, which is just fine by me. The only problem -- a major problem -- with that strategy is that at some point she's going to have to tact to the middle on some issues be considered a serious candidate.

I honestly think it is a backlash against both parties. I think while GW was in office during his second term, there was a sense of you cant really do anything right now except wait for him to leave. There was a lot of disgust and outrage by republicans while he was in during his second term because of the over spending, privacy intrusions, and his foreign policy intervention.

I think the start of the Tea Party stuff can be linked to Ron Paul's success during the Republican primary's. Because he was saying so many things that resonated with Goldwater type Republicans. I also think that by some states banning his participation during the primaries (i think S. Caroline), and by conservative media personalities largely dismissing him it helped flame the fire.

So while nowadays the Tea Party movement can be called a backlash against Obama's spending spree and socialist ideology i think it all started as a backlash against the Republicans because they embraced what GW was doing and offered GW Jr. type candidates for the 2008 election, all the while dismissing a fiscally conservative and socially liberal candidate that struck a cord with Goldwater Republicans and young people.