| | P.S. Would you describe the Tea Party movement - overwhelmingly populated by self-described conservatives - as statist?
I can't speak for the Mainland Tea Party movement. I haven't met enough of those individuals to form an impression of them. I did go to a Hawaii Tea Party event, and what I saw was anything but a monolithic bloc of people all thinking alike. I know quite a few of the people who attended, so this isn't just idle speculation about their political views. There was a center-right skew, especially relative to the hard-left skew of people in Hawaii on average, but the Tea Party attendees were hardly "overwhelmingly" conservative, and they were a mix, from people with quite a bit of statism in their outlook, to a few people arguably more radically anarchist than me. Here is my writeup I did for the Oahu Libertarian Party newsletter:
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Scenes from the 2010 Tea Party Tax Day Protest Rally
I didn’t know what to expect at the 2010 Tea Party Rally at the state capitol,
never having been to one before. I’d heard liberal commenters and reporters
derogatorily describe "teabaggers" as a bunch of racist old white Republican
men, but confirmation bias is a bitch – people tend to see what they want to
see, point the cameras at the people and signs in a crowd that match their
preconceived narrative, and block out inconvenient bits that cause cognitive
dissonance and wreak havoc with their most cherished beliefs.
So, when I arrived at the rally, I meandered through the crowd – the entire
crowd – trying to see them as individuals, and not bit actors in a collective
narrative.
The first impression that struck me is that this was a flag-intensive bunch.
People carrying flags – people wearing flag shirts – flag hats –-flag pants --
flag ties, some with little flag tie tacks in case you somehow thought they
might be ambivalent about the whole patriotism thing. Mostly American flags, but
some yellow Gadsden “Don’t tread on me” flags. No rainbow flags, though. Not
that kind of a crowd.
People gave speeches about flags. I talked with (well, more like “listened to” –
politicians loooove to speak) Representative Kim Pine, who had gotten into a
pissing match that day with Senator Will Espero over the cause of the demise of
Pine’s flagpole bill, though I was distracted by her stylish and
expensive-looking snakeskin (?) shoes. I'd heard Will Espero give his side
earlier that day. Apparently there are two eerily similar but parallel universes
existing in Ewa Beach, with no apparent points of overlap between these two
separate realities. Flagsflagsflags.
But enough about that rot. Let’s go down the MSM liberal talking point
checklist, “a bunch of racist old white Republican men”:
“A bunch of” – maybe so. I’d guess there were perhaps 1,000 attendees, jammed
solid into the area from the Capitol steps by the Father Damien statute out to
the roadway, with people overflowing on the edges, and hanging out at the
capitol railings overhead.
“Racist.” No visible indications of that whatsoever. No racist signs, no ethnic
slurs, nada.
“Old.” Nope. The crowd ran the gamut, from the adorable pre-teen kids waving
signs to passing cars honking back, to elderly people, and every age in between.
“White.” No again. An ethnically diverse Hawaii crowd, perhaps more Kailua than
Kalihi in average melanin levels, but a crowd that would look conspicuously out
of place at, say, an Iowa cornfeed.
“Republican” – quite a few. Definitely a center-right skew. Lot of Charles Djou
T-shirts, Republican politicians, a blue and red Reagan T-shirt with the slogan
“Right” mocking the Obama “Hope” poster. But also libertarians and objectivists
(a black “Who is John Galt” sign, a speaker quoting from “Atlas Shrugged”) and
Constitutionalists (an Oath Keeper T-shirt on someone with a military-grade
physique and haircut).
“Men.” Men, women, and at least one T-girl.
The speeches: hmmm, how do I put this tactfully? Rick Hamada – quit hogging the
damn mike. Seriously, STFU. Let other people speak. OK, not so tactful. One does
one’s best. ;)
The Tea Party movement is supposed to be a grassroots, leaderless
non-organization. This lack of top-down, command and control order was most
noticeable at the microphone, where allegedly 2 minute speeches often ran waaaay
over, blatantly ignoring the moderator who kept breaking out an orange “Wrap It
Up” sign. It’s not Congress, folks. Give a speech, not a filibuster.
Applause lines: mentioning the flag (natch), Glenn Beck, homeschooling, cutting
taxes, cutting spending, cutting taxes AND spending. Did I mention taxes or
spending? If not, my bad. ;)
The three best speeches IMHO were all delivered back-to-back by the three
teenagers who took the mike (disclosure: I’m not totally objective, since one of
them was my daughter). They wowed the crowd, especially the freshly scrubbed,
insanely articulate and polished homeschooled kid, Ryan something or other, who
is clearly Going Places. And, if my normally tomboyish daughter’s gushing
comments on the car ride home was any indication (“He’s sooo cute and smart! And
such pretty blue eyes!”), Ryan is on the verge of getting himself a new
girlfriend, whether that’s his intention or not.
Ryan, if you’re reading this, four words of advice: Run far. Run fast. The
Rasmussen women, once they put their crosshairs on a man, are
Terminator-strength relentless. They do not stop until they have fulfilled their
objective. Unless you like tall smart blonde sassy Valkyrie tomboys, in which
case slow down and let her catch you.
That is all.
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"Also invariably critics on the left accuse libertarians of being "selfish" and "greedy" and being for rich people and against ordinary people. This charge is so far off the mark and beside the point it is almost impossible to respond to. It’s like accusing a computer of being short. It has nothing to do with what a computer is."
