# What policies or practices of the Tea Partiers would the Founders likely decry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 25, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275 "2010-10-25T13:15:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/1 "2010-10-25T13:15:08Z")
In the same vein as [this other question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582983), I’ve kind of flipped it around to imagine what the Founders (yes, I know, not a monolith, kind of my point) might decry when casting an eye on the groups that call themselves Tea Parties. The same disclaimer stands for this question. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/2 "2010-10-25T14:28:54Z")
I’m guessing a group of philosophers and general Renaissance men aren’t going to be too impressed with the systemic anti-intellectualism of the Tea Party supporters. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/3 "2010-10-25T14:54:02Z")
Given that the Founders were opposed to a standing army, they might be surprised: (1) At the level of expenditure on the military by the Federal Government, and (2) That cutting this expenditure is off limits for a group of people who say that they want a balanced budget. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/4 "2010-10-25T15:41:45Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > I’m guessing a group of philosophers and general Renaissance men aren’t going to be too impressed with the systemic anti-intellectualism of the Tea Party supporters. And as many of them were Deists or Unitarians or otherwise not-strictly-Christian, they would be nonplussed by the Tea Partiers’ religiosity. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/5 "2010-10-25T17:07:11Z")
Probably the Teabaggers failure to be sufficiently trenchant on the enslavement of Negros. Their unwillingness to repeal the Thirteenth Amendment would be anathema to many of the Founding Fathers. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/6 "2010-10-25T17:10:33Z")
They also might not be too happy with the number of politically active women in the organization, particularly in leadership and candidate positions. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/7 "2010-10-25T18:13:59Z")
The very idea of a popular mass movement trying to control the government. The founders felt that the government should be run by the “better elements” of society not the mob. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/8 "2010-10-25T22:46:35Z")
They would generally decry the existence of a “party”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-policies-or-practices-of-the-tea-partiers-would-the-founders-likely-decry/558275/9 "2010-10-26T00:28:16Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > They would generally decry the existence of a “party”. And, of course, as soon as the Constitutional Convention adjourned, parties emerged and most of the Founders joined one or the other.