To take a “libertarian” e.g., they hate borders, hate protectionism, hate taxes, hate gun control. But take you average “Real Life Living” libertarian on the average local/state tax initiative, if it is worded and advertised well enough he will vote for it. Ask that same person if we should dismantle the social support umbrella of programs, he would say “in theory yes” but instantly rationalize “why they can’t just go away”. And then you have the hilarious “national defense libertarian”. The whole thing is just a huge laugh.

The same can be applied to any other political identification. It’s a matter of both normalcy bias, and that of self-compromising of principles/practice. I realized this and have pretty much distanced myself from political identification and political expectation over the last couple of years.

I think it’s fair to say that there are many “flavors of tea” in the Tea Party movement. I believe the movement was started by grass roots true believers in small government but I think a whole lot of big government astroturfers have since joined and distorted the message. How did Sarah Palin become a ‘leader’ of the Tea Party movement?

The article from where I got this quote stated that 52% of Tea Partiers don’t support gay marriage nor civil unions. Others are anti-free trade and probably wouldn’t have the slightest clue who Milton Friedman was.

How many really want to end the war on (some) drugs?

How many want to stop sending troops everywhere for the sake of nation building and empire building?

What about the sacred cows of Defense, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security?

I think the next few years are going to be very interesting for the Tea Party. Will they hold their candidates accountable if they fail to do as they promised in the 112th Congress? Who will they support for 2012?

I’ve actually found Palinites to be open minded on Marijuana policy. And the Ron Paul minority of tea partiers are of course generally libertarian on this issue. The ones that hoot at rallies are the talk radio conservatives who see everything as an Us vs. Them cultural issue (Pot: grrr…Hippies!)

Gary Johnson is the one candidate who is closest to Palin and the tea party on spending (his record blows Palin’s away, in fact), so I remain optimistic that he can get a following.