It's an agenda outside the big 3 the tea party claims are its agenda. That's the point. Maxiep has gone to great lengths to construct a thread to extract this admission (the big 3 agenda items) from people who somehow don't understand the tea party.
You asked me what "they stand for." Everything after that is subjective and thus not "right or wrong" like you said. I believe they stand for their interests and their rights, just like everyone else.
Keep government out of medicare! Out of my cold dead hands! Whatever the koch brothers tell me! In jest of course...
Yep, that's what most Ron Paul Libertarians love. It's why I'm not Libertarian. I'm not a Republican either. Instead, my philosophy cuts across political parties. I'm a man without a political home. However, the basics of the Tea Party does appeal to me greatly.
From its inception in February 2009, the Tea Party movement has focused on three core values: •Constitutionally Limited Government •Free Market Principles •Fiscal Responsibility from http://www.oregonteaparty.org/
The Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah Witnesses, Baptists ...... all subscribe to the same text and its values, but interpretation varies substantially. What Constitutionally Limited Govt, Free Market Principles and Fiscal Responsibility mean to you are not what they mean to me, and not what they mean to others. Interpretation is left up to the individual, and so the tea party has become filled with wing-nuts.
What if the government required you to sire and raise a child on your 21st birthday despite your personal plans for your life?
Exactly. Everything else is just noise. The Tea Party doesn't have a position on abortion or gay marriage or any other social issue. The individual members may have their own points of view, but not the Tea Party. Most people haven't been able to grasp it. It's a view of the Constitution as a series of negative rights (i.e., what the government can't do to you) rather than a view of the government as a provider of rights, entitlements and benefits. It believes that the free market (not unfettered, mind you) is the best and most efficient way to provide the citizenry with wealth and economic growth. Finally, it believes we should live within our means. That means balancing the budget and eventually paying off the debt or bringing it to a reasonable level. Given this platform, exactly what is the beef about the Tea Party? Again, not individuals, but the platform of the Party. Given those three principles
