# In the long run, does the Tea Party do more to help Dems or Pubs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422 "2010-10-17T07:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/61 "2010-10-19T14:59:07Z")
Well obviously we can’t blame people for stuff they did that a toddler can’t remember. Seriously now kids, “that was two years ago” is not a valid argument against “it was Republican policies that created this mess.” If you want to argue that this mess could reasonably have been cleaned up since, I’m gonna need some actual suggestions of what should have been done in two years, with evidence of efficacy. I’ll wait. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/62 "2010-10-19T15:00:09Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Well obviously we can’t blame people for stuff they did that a toddler can’t remember. 😕 WTF?! ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/63 "2010-10-19T15:04:14Z")
I just meant that blaming people for the shit they do doesn’t _have_ an expiration date. If you’d like to test that theory, try asking Shodan how Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton have effected lasting change for the worse on the world. ---
**Author:** ![G-SE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@G-SE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-SE)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/64 "2010-10-19T15:05:04Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Well obviously we can’t blame people for stuff they did that a toddler can’t remember. Ahh.. the good ole “Gary Glitter” defense. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/65 "2010-10-19T15:38:27Z")
Part of me hopes the Tea Party candidates all win, and the Federal budget gets slashed. Then, of course, the portion of the general public who thinks their tax dollars are all going to foreign countries or illegal immigrants will find out how things actually work, and not doing anything so stupid again. On the other hand, I’ll have to live through the resulting depression. > [@Kearsen](#): > > We are making lots of assumptions already but if they were frugal with their money, a land line is typically cheaper than a cell phone, no? Usually. But for people for whom telephone service is a significant expense, probably not. For one thing, they are likely to have poor credit, and/or to have had their service cut off in the past for nonpayment. So they’ll have to put down a large deposit ($300, in the case of my local Baby Bell). That’s not the case for a cell phone; you can walk into 7-11 and get a Tracfone or Virgin Mobile prepaid cell, _sans_ contract, for $30. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/66 "2010-10-19T15:44:57Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Was that the same memo that said while W was President, protesting the government was the highest form of patriotism, but under Obama, protesting the government is racist, extreme, fringe, radical, dangerous, etc.? I don’t know what you’re reading. I’m comparing the current protesters waving the race-baiting signs and guns with the ones who used to be corralled into “free speech zones” and got arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts. ---
**Author:** ![G-SE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@G-SE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-SE)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/67 "2010-10-19T16:37:04Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I don’t know what you’re reading. I’m comparing the current protesters waving the race-baiting signs and guns with the ones who used to be corralled into “free speech zones” and got arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts. Well it’s nice that you get to pick and choose which groups to compare. To pull out the 5% radical extreme and blame the entire group for it sounds a lot like what people accuse the “racist” Republicans and Tea Partiers of doing. By that measure, I guess all protestors on the left are Bush=Hitler, flag burning, mask-wearing, violence inciting, looting, drug ingesting, police fighting hooligans. Thanks for clearing that up for me. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/68 "2010-10-19T16:45:06Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > To pull out the 5% radical extreme… A student and former member of The Cato Institute takes photographs at one rally, and you assume that this is enough to determine that there is only a 5% radical extreme? I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/69 "2010-10-19T17:25:01Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Well it’s nice that you get to pick and choose which groups to compare. To pull out the 5% radical extreme and blame the entire group for it sounds a lot like what people accuse the “racist” Republicans and Tea Partiers of doing. Look, this is [the nearest thing the Tea Party has to a stated agenda:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_party_movement#Tea_Party_agenda_.22Contract_from_America.22) > [@](#): > > The Contract lists 10 agenda items that it encourages congressional candidates to follow:[69][70] > > 1.Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%) > 2.Reject emissions trading: Stop the “cap and trade” administrative approach used to control carbon dioxide emissions by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of carbon dioxide. (72.20%) > 3.Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification. (69.69%) > 4.Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the Internal Revenue Code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words – the length of the original Constitution. (64.9%) > 5.Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities. (63.37%) > 6.Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%) > 7.Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (56.39%) > 8.Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation. (55.5%) > 9.Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%) > 10.Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend current temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011. (53.38%) Pretty stupid, on the whole – also, pretty “radical extreme”. And for lagniappe, [here’s](http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/republicanquotes/a/Sharron-Angle-Quotes.htm) the 10 Most Ridiculous Sharon Angle Quotes. This isn’t O’Donnell, mind you, this is a candidate who actually has a serious shot at winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. ---
**Author:** ![G-SE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@G-SE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-SE)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/70 "2010-10-19T18:04:34Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Look, this is [the nearest thing the Tea Party has to a stated agenda:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_party_movement#Tea_Party_agenda_.22Contract_from_America.22) > > Pretty stupid, on the whole – also, pretty “radical extreme”. > > And for lagniappe, [here’s](http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/republicanquotes/a/Sharron-Angle-Quotes.htm) the 10 Most Ridiculous Sharon Angle Quotes. This isn’t O’Donnell, mind you, this is a candidate who actually has a serious shot at winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. Yeah, those stupid, radical ideas like a balanced budget, reducing tax burden, and limiting spending.. OH THE HORRORS! WE’RE DOOMED! ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/71 "2010-10-19T18:14:39Z")
> [@](#): > > 1.Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%) You know, if they’d all sit down together and just READ the Constitution, that should keep them out of trouble through the next couple of election cycles. Yes, I’m going to go ahead and assume they’re very slow readers. ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/72 "2010-10-19T18:51:00Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Yeah, those stupid, radical ideas like a balanced budget, reducing tax burden, and limiting spending.. OH THE HORRORS! WE’RE DOOMED! Conventional economic policy, the kind a big chunk of the United States and the vast majority of the rest of the world argees with, sya that you actually run a budget deficit in times of recession. American attempts to run a budget close to balanced, partiicularly after 1929, didn’t work out so well. Exactly who would you reduce the tax burden on? Which quintile of Americans would you reduce the tax burden on and how do you think this would affect the budget deficit? And what spending would you limit? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422/73 "2010-10-20T09:53:23Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Well it’s nice that you get to pick and choose which groups to compare. To pull out the 5% radical extreme and blame the entire group for it sounds a lot like what people accuse the “racist” Republicans and Tea Partiers of doing. > > By that measure, I guess all protestors on the left are Bush=Hitler, flag burning, mask-wearing, violence inciting, looting, drug ingesting, police fighting hooligans. > > Thanks for clearing that up for me. The 5% are just the overt racists. I didn’t even mention the Obama=Hitler crowd or the Obama = Muslim/Kenyan/Marxist/Socialist ones, which push the numbers up considerably. And yes, the left has their loons but by and large they have the good sense not to vote for them for Congress. I note you conveniently ignored the other half of my point. I’m not one for Hitler comparisons in general but if we’re measuring on a continuum I think comparing the guy who started a war on manufactured pretenses, authorised indefinite detention without charge, approved torture and extraordinary rendition, imposed arbitrary restrictions on free speech and detention of those voicing opposing views, permitted illegal wiretapping, suspended some rights of habeus corpus, heavily politicized the Justice Department and created a “shadow government” to take over in the event of an emergency to Hitler has a smidge more justification than doing so to the guy who, at his worst, has failed to stop doing some of the above\*, especially when the righteous indignation over such behavior suddenly appeared when the new guy got into office. But hey, you keep playing the “your guys are just as bad as our guys” card and maybe one day it’ll work. - and no, it’s definitely _not_ OKIADDI. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-does-the-tea-party-do-more-to-help-dems-or-pubs/557422.md?page=3)