What the Tea Party is Missing

What the Tea party started with isn´t going to be enough to turn it into a positive movement. Being against government spending and government regulation after having it trend to unacceptable levels doesn´t convey what can be done to correct the situation other than simply not doing it. If by some stroke of miracle Congress did say,"No more spending" what then would continue to get things done that the government has relegated to itself, such as road building, stamp selling and food inspection, etc.?

The CPAC convention was a good example for trying to meld conservatives, libertarians and Republicans but nothing came out of the conference except a little rejuvenation from the fact that the Democrats have been put on the run. This is hardly the foundation for a political movement. There was too much talk of compromise and sacrifice and bipartisanship to clear up what has put America on a downhill slide. As long as the premise is accepted that the government should be allowed to confiscate and redistribute nothing will change. Compromising with this premise is the kiss of death. This is the faulty premise that allowed the government to get started spending and confiscating. It is the premise that must be rejected to get the country going in the right direction. How can you do that?

To destroy that premise there is plenty of evidence to show the results of government spending. There is the national debt, the future generation burden, the waste and the corruption. After that premise is destroyed it must be replaced with a positive system that will prevent it from reoccurring and will function to get things done. That requires a premise that will lead to a different result. None of the "solutions ' offered at the Tea Party qualifies. We have seen the Republicans spend by way of the road of compromise and the Republican speaker Newt Gingrich offered nothing different. He spoke of working with the Democrats which has been a cauldron of soup that no one should touch. That approach will get us the public option which will turn over a sixth of the U.S. economy to that entity that spends until hyperinflation ruins us all. The Conservatives which CPAC is all about presented a compassionate Conservative in the presidency of George W. Bush and that precipitated a spending spree and a housing crisis that practically collapsed the financial markets. A compromise between Republicans and Conservatives didn´t get us on the right track. What makes anyone think the same combination will produce something different? The Republican Ron Paul who claims Libertarian affiliation is willing to "be" a Republican albeit he is not in major agreement with them most of the time.

This leaves the Tea Party with schisms and a lack of direction. The Tea Party needs a standard and that commonality must be as a movement that will direct the country toward more freedom and a limited government. This is where the Tea Party needs to understand that what they sorely need is an understanding of capitalism and why it should be the banner they stand for. Capitalism is the only system that maximizes individual freedom by adamantly protecting individual rights and limits government to the function of protecting individual rights. How much did you hear at CPAC about capitalism? Did you hear any speaker say, " The government should be a voluntary funded agency? No and you won´t. The people who are tied up in the system don´t want it to change radially enough that they would lose their privileges and power. They don´t mind slamming and punishing the unarmed private sector but they are so arrogant that they can´t imagine that a fundamental reform of their status is what is called for.

If one recalls how ineffective anti-communism was as a battle cry it is easy to see that anti spending and taxing will not be enough to posit a positive direction. Communism collapsed when the Soviet Union realized only a blood bath would preserve it. The regimes of Zimbabwe, Cuba and Venezuela see no opposition offering a rational alternative and remain stagnated. Should the United States collapse into Socialism opposition without a positive coherent rational alternative will leave the United States stagnated also?

It is not another party that is needed but the embracing of an ideological system that contradicts socialism at the core. This ideological system is capitalism. For the Republican party to embrace capitalism it must reexamine the many erroneous views of capitalism it has accepted. It must understand that capitalism is the proper system for the elevation of individualism. It must understand that profit is good and sacrifice is abhorrent. It must understand that compromise with the evil of socialist ideas is a death knell leading to eventual socialist domination. This requires a deep conviction based on understanding all the requirements for capitalism to exist. This will not come from cliches and sound bites.

If what the American people want is a simple solution to the plague that is spreading throughout the land they will not find such a solution by hoping. They will not find it from a foundation of faith. They will certainly not find it by making charity a major virtue. To turn from this triumvirate that has been the mantra of centuries will take more than most Americans will be willing to stomach. These Americans are emotionally tied to this trinity. Emotional clinging will not solve the issue at hand and the spread of the disease of socialism. The socialist proponents have an emotional wart also but they don´t have a basis from reason to verify their stance. The capitalist movement does. It was outlined by Ayn Rand and has all the answers that this combat requires. It was she who identified capitalism as the virtuous system and the antipode of socialism. It is her voice that must be heard.