I feel it is important to remember that as the silent majority is learning to stand up and be heard, it takes time to get the heart, mind and soul on the same page with the words that come out or one’s mouth!!! Let alone united with other people on the specifics of the issues. It is a process and we need to be patient with each other. And stand up to say if someone is too out of line, representing an undesirable perspective of our cause of liberty and constitutional freedoms. But not divide and conquer…that will bury the cause quickly!

Absolutely! And I’d go a step further too, noting you can’t even get 2 people in a room who will agree 100% on everything! Let’s be real here … libertarians argue with libertarians, conservatives with conservatives, on and on and on …

As far as I’m concerned, the Ideological Puritans on the right (or however you wish to describe them/yourself (because there isn’t 100% agreement here either)) are every bit as much to blame for Leviathan in Washington, as anyone else!

Tea Parties too populist? Perhaps. Too much GOP influence? Probably. But all the same, the people in the crowds represent to libertarians, traditional conservatives, miniarchists, et. al., the unique opportunity (target market) to teach them why limited-government makes more sense, and act upon it too.

Brad is right, “The Silent Majority is speaking up.”

Keep attacking them and we lose. But hey … when we’re all bending-over for our Overlords inspection, at least you can brag about staying Pure!

PS – Libertarians attacking Tea Party protestors is like giving a sales rep one of your biggest corporate accounts, but since he doesn’t get along with everyone over there, he refuses to do business until the account is lost to someone else.

Or … a new prospective client moves into town, so you advise your new sales rep to go over there and start sellin’ … but he declines saying, “Nah … they’re not gonna listen to my ideas … they’re stupid anyways.”

I agree 100%, Brad is to be commended for using that good movie.

Doug,

I agree. The tea parties are something, just not libertarian. I would argue in fact that populism is a greater threat to liberty than Barack Obama on his worst day.

We do not ahve to agree on every item to understand that the train has, in fact, derailed, and that it is time for a concerted move towards smaller government, less taxes, and more liberty.

After reading your post, and Kevin’s, as well as other coverage of the 4/15 and 7/4 tea parties, it seems clear to me that the tea parties are populist in nature, rather than libertarian.

They’re more a 21st Century version of the type of Middle American rage that manifested itself in the candidacy of George Wallace and the Nixonian “Silent Majority” that you refer to in your post.

Sounds like a kindred spirit.

I knew several people who attended the (4000 people, when organizers were expecting 1000) April 15 Tea party.

And my sister and her husband live in NC and have now attended two of them.

These are being attended by crowds of people who have NEVER gone to a political rally, let alone a protest, in their entire lives.

Even if they end up being a complete waste of time and energy, that, in and of itself, makes these events unique.

“Would your typical mainstream Republican be happy being associated with a radical atheist anarchist who wants to legalize all drugs, let gays get married, and thinks Sarah Palin is the worst thing to happen to the Republican Party since the atrocious George W. Bush?”

Answer: Probably not. But the attendees have, in large part, NOT been forced to rub shoulders with atheist Palin haters. So that is pretty much a non-issue, it would appear to me.

I don’t know about the Tea Partys you’ve attended, but the ones I am familiar with, are mostly populated by mainstream political conservatives who disliked McCain, were greatly disappointed in Bush and felt betrayed by him, but who like Sarah Palin, and hope (probably foolishly and naively) that she may bring back the party from the ashes, and be a Maggie Thatcher/Reagan…..and NOT people who will eventually flock to Ron Paul or Bob Barr or become Libertarians. Even if you do end up “converting” your boss. But keep on keepin on with that wishful thinking of yours.

I do agree with you 100% on this, however:

“But all that doesn’t change the fact that what is animating these protests is not birthers, or truthers, or Joe the Plumber. The animating force behind these protests is a latent hostility to big activist government that has been piqued by bailouts, stimulus, and the understanding that you must have confiscatory taxes or widespread inflation down the road to pay for it.”

In addition to the protests not being generated by Joe the Plumber, birthers, or truthers, the people I know who are attending are not going because of Rush Limbaugh or Fox News either – in spite of claim to the contrary from the MSM, a/k/a Ministry of Truth.