Tea Party: "Limited government, Curb Spending"

Many in the media have been portraying the Tea Party Patriots as wild eyed radicals, but what do the Tea Party folk really ask for? If you look past all the noise and drama, you might not think they sound so crazy at all.

The core principles of the Tea Party movement are hard to isolate, because it's a decentralized entity, but the basic opinions most hold in common seem to be limited government in general, and to curb spending in particular.

Said one protestor at a recent event: "Stop out-of-control spending and stop government takeover and intrusion in our lives. They're here to protect us and beyond that, get out of our way."

How accurate is their perception of current government policy could be debatable, as many would say the measures taken by the Obama administration are fairly moderate so far, and not worthy of the extreme reaction seen from Tea Party supporters. In fact many left-wingers are deeply disappointed in Obama for NOT being a true left winger, and making far too many concessions to the right and basically being another moderate Democrat just like the ones we already had before. And it is fair to say that for SOME, the degree of anger and fear towards the Obama administration is likely explained by some prejudice, though the people involved may not even be conscious of how this influences their reaction.

But at the end of the day, even if you disagree with the way they send their message, and whether they are reading the current landscape correctly, the principles Tea Party people uphold like limited government and curbing government spending are not, generally speaking, anything crazy, there is a long tradition of conservatives and libertarians holding similar beliefs.

Tea Party: "Limited government, Curb Spending"
cnn

Armed with signs reading "no taxation without deliberation" and "stop bankrupting America," tens of thousands of people spent national tax day at organized "tea party" demonstrations across the country, protesting what some view as excessive government spending and bailouts. Crates of tea were dumped into Massachusetts' Boston Harbor during a "tea party" protest Wednesday."If you look at these nine little beautiful grandbabies, I'm here for them. Our government's out of control with spending and their future's being robbed," said Mary Wojnas, whose sign had a photo of her grandchildren next to the phrase, "Stop Generational Theft..."

Tea Party: "Limited government, Curb Spending"