Valentine's Day Special: Seeing red with the Republican Party (with special comment on Tea Party)

If you pay any attention to American politics these days, it's hard to see the Republican Party as anything but the Party of Obstructionism and Opposition. Far from defending the freedoms of the American people by limiting the reach of government, they seem to have a few other goals in mind by halting almost all legislature and Congressional decision-making: keep the status quo on policy and governmental establishment, and make Obama look bad for having accomplished nothing. So far, their plans appear to be working all too well.

Obama's continued call for bipartisanship, which I commented on in my last post, is to blame for much of the hold-up on anything getting accomplished. It's ironic, given Obama's purported claim of wanting so badly to get things done with health care and financial reform. He really wishes he could do something, but those Republicans keep twisting his arm! If only they could all work together... My response is, if Dubya could make things happen, so can you, Obama.

With a barely-held majority (if that) in the Senate, George W. Bush passed insane amounts of policy changes that threw the country for a loop- trust me, I'm not saying just because Bush was effective in changing policy that he took it in the right direction. But Obama's griping that he only (sic) has 60 (now 59) Democratic Senators?! It's crazy, and if Obama was serious on health care reform, he would have passed a much stronger bill than is currently being presented through the legislative process of reconciliation. Bush did it all the time, sometimes even when he had persuaded countless Democrats to join his side (in fear of losing their seats for being against popular opinion), and no one argued that he was abusing the process- even in the instances that he was. Now, reconciliation is linked to abuse of power any time it's brought up- the mainstream media outlets (purportedly outrageously liberal) have done a great job of reiterating this Republican talking point.

It's also been claimed by Republican politicians (and again, the media picking it up) that the American people are fearful of some kind of government takeover, an overreaching of government authority, and that's why Obama's approval numbers are dropping. That's complete crock. A vast number of Republicans were never on Obama's side and therefore never contributed to his approval numbers. He's losing support from the people that voted him in and more specifically from the progressive liberal base that has been ignored and alienated by this administration the entire time Obama's been in office. It should be no surprise when the President doesn't do the things he promised to do.

So the President should get tough on the Republicans, not plead with them to no end. I think I've gone on long enough with that rant. That said... on to the Tea Party!

Various Tea Parties and Liberty Movements of one stripe or another have popped up around the country over the last few years. The beginning to this recent phenomena came with Ron Paul's campaign for President, and it was largely based around grassroots organizing and appeals to the college-student age group. Since Paul's campaign, the Tea Party platform has been picked up by Republicans and Independents alike, and the message of liberty, limited government, and the Constitution has been used to represent different ideals. While the Tea Party continues to show growth and excite people nationwide, it's become rather difficult to say just what it stands for now. And with some Tea Party candidates winning in polls over Democratic and Republican candidates throughout the nation, it appears that ambiguity is somewhat of a winning strategy here (the same polls asked how many knew what the Tea Party stood for, with 75% totally in the dark). Reassuring, much?