Well, actually I recently attended the Henderson County Tea Party meeting that was held on March 9th. I was surprised by the number of people that had level heads, but they were unfortunately marred by the two or three people that insisted on making every argument about God and race. By the way, I was one of only 16 people at the meeting. That excludes the speaker that was present along with his family.
I try to get every view point I can. Thank you for the suggestion. I tried looking up a liberatarian meeting in the area, but to no avail. The closest meeting of that party was in Murchison near Dallas.
That's the one I really wanted to attend, but wasn't available at the time.
If you really want to know what they're all about Rick and I'm not saying this in a smart allec way; go to a rally. Seriously, go covert or go politics wide open. I went to an event in DC where Tea Party participants were obnoxiously mocked at every block and while it was irritating as all hell no one of the 100 plus thousand people reacted violently. I'm just saying that may be the only way you get a true feel for what the movement is about.
While I consider myself a part of the movement I do not associate myself with any one group and have never looked at any enrollment requirements to do so. If it says anything I don't agree with every single item the groups stand for and even when I've challenged fellow tea partiers I've not been harassed or asked to leave. I go as I am and support what I believe in and I know there are a lot of tea party members that share that view, not all of them obviously but a good number.
I have to say it would probably make for a more intersting and navigable interaction if the most recent comments were listed first. Don't get me wrong, the current layout works for me, but I do like to see the more recent comments displayed simply because it would be more convenient. Not to mention the commenter is more likely to return to continue the debate.
I could live with my facebook account being hacked, but I've had my wallet stolen before. Despite immediately cancelling my credit cards there was still the issue of having to apply for a new driver's license, and god forbid if I had kept something like my SS card in my wallet. Of all the things you can change this unfortunately is not one of them. If someone had gotten this there's no telling what they could've accomplished with something that personal. For me it just would've been the hassle of having any form of I.D. reissued and any of my credit cards.
Well, while I agree with a lot of what you stated Ryan I noticed for example that every site I visited, democratic, republican, tea party, and libertarian that the Tea Party was the most difficult to assess simply because you have to state that you agree with all of their policies and referendum in order to be approved for membership. Otherwise you have VERY limited access. It just begs the question. Why? What does this political party have to hide? And why is it necessary to agree with every single political view in order to be approved. I stated that I did not by the way. I only want to learn more about the parties, but it seems as if they have a problem with anyone who doesn't totally agree with their views. How can you move forward on any issue when you are seemingly so opposed to compromise in any form? This is just my take on my experience thus far. If you have any opinions or views please share. Thanks.
While I haven't read the mission statements I will offer my opinion on it. From my perspective, libertarians are pretty straightforward in their beliefs.
They believe in minimal government while acknowledging that some government is a necessity or they would be damn near anarchists. Both the Tea Party and libertarians (generalizing, some small minority might) believe the Government is the source of the problem and not the solution to our problems.
Just by looking at Ron Paul you can see he certainly looks very conservative anytime fiscal policy is discussed but where his true libertarian roots show up is his foreign policy.
(Generalizing) Libertarians and a small minority in the Tea Party believe the Governments primary responsibility is to defend the Borders and not proactively nation build.
That's where I sway away from the conservatives as I'm frankly sick of the wars, the deceased men and women in uniform, and the ridiculous amount of money being spent, printed, and borrowed to fund these never ending wars. It would seem a lot of conservatives want to pretend President Bush did everything right when were blatantly lied to about WMD which I as one of the gullible Americans admit to being wrong at the time.
Is isolationism the answer as Ron Paul would advocate I'm not convinced but I would much rather give a less aggressive approach to foreign policy a try.
(Generalizing) I would believe that libertarians and tea party members would agree on the idea the the federal government has greatly misinterpreted the commerce clause which has been the master key to opening the doors to all of the big governments intrusions.
In regards to the racism within the tea party; as previously mentioned I have been to several rallies and can say there is a very small (probably 1%) of the attendees that are dumb redneck trash that blurt out stupid ass comments that have the majority of those attending shaking their heads in disgust.
I can think of one such redneck twenty something gal that shouted out this is America not Amexico. I remember thinking someone please gag this !**&& Again this is a ultra small majority as I can attest that most of the people I have interacted with are very respectful, educated on all of the issues, and are there on their own dime and time.
To be totally honest and fair to any members of this website I want to clarify that I do not claim to everything about either party. I have however, visited both American websites and read both mission statements and policies as decided by party leaders. Here's some of what I have found, though it does not in any way conclude how every member feels. This is just what I have learned from visiting both sites and my interactions with party members in the past.
TEA PARTY:
The main theme of the American Tea Party apparently seems to be the motto which includes its name, Taxed Enough Already, which is to say they believe in lower taxes. They also believe in downsizing the government. Another theme also seems to be gun control. While I will try not to label anyone in the Tea Party as a "conservative", they do seems to exhibit quite a few of their traits. Almost every site I have visited concerning Tea Party protests show signs of disdain toward the current government, gun control issues, big government, and of course some racial and social issues. While I understand never to judge a book by its cover or that a few rotten apples shouldn't spoil the whole bunch it seems there are a lot who believe it is okay to use the "n" word and that God hates ?%$%% Now, I am not proposing that every Tea Party member feels this way, but it seems like the majority do in fact encompass this belief or else it would not be so prevalent among the party. Let me clarify that the American Tea Party site does state that it does not believe in racism, and in fact does not condone it on any level, but if this is the case why does it seem as though such a very large part of their base does? If you are a Tea Party member I would like to hear your feedback.
Libertarian Party:
This seems to be the most confusing party of them all. I just don't understand how a group that claims to love the Constitution and all that it stands for, but completely contradicts most of its foundations. I mean the very beginning of the Constitution itself lays out the foundation and intent to form a governing body, yet most Libertarians claim they want less government. You want things to get fixed, but you just don't want it to be the government that does it. Or at least not the Federal government. From best I can tell the Libertarians believe in a more conservative side where the economy is concerned, but a more liberal approach where social issues are concerned. Yet it is funny that most Libertarians I've met have no problem with labeling people as *@@!@ How exactly does this party work? I'm not sure. Just looking for opinions. Let me know how you feel about these issues. I welcome any comments.
Libertarians have a very solid voter base and a fairly universal platform, far more so than the tea party.
I've attended several tea party rallies and while there is a lot of common beliefs there is no universal platform. One group may support one candidate while the other may wholeheartedly oppose them.
The reality is though if any party, movement, or political organization agrees 100% with one another that is not a good thing. It's a lot like hearing an old married couple telling you they've been married for 60 years and they've never fought. The problem with that is the they are either lying through their teeth or one of them is a conforming pawn that has no voice. The same holds true for politics. If you're so wrapped around your political party and their rhetorical slander that you don't stop and think for yourself then how are you any better than the lying spouse or the pawn with no voice.
(Speaking Generally) You don't have to agree with me but at least think for yourself instead of letting your party think for you.
My input: I don't know why it hasn't crossed my mind before but it would in my opinion make sense to at a bear minimum change the direction comments are displayed. Instead of oldest to newest | Newest to Oldest. Just about every other website I know of does it this way and in doing so places the most recent and likely most relevant content in front the users.
With that change a drop down Add a Comment box would be appropriate at the top of the comments section to make adding new comments more convenient.
Everyone please consider this rivalry to be a completely open discussion on the rivalry comments layout. If you like the way things are right now, would like to see changes, or just have a suggestion please lace this rivalry with all of the above.
I spend a lot of time developing features for JealousBrother.com and want to make sure I take it in a direction our users would support. Thank you all for supporting our website and I look forward to any and all feedback.
I try to get every view point I can. Thank you for the suggestion. I tried looking up a liberatarian meeting in the area, but to no avail. The closest meeting of that party was in Murchison near Dallas.
That's the one I really wanted to attend, but wasn't available at the time.
While I consider myself a part of the movement I do not associate myself with any one group and have never looked at any enrollment requirements to do so. If it says anything I don't agree with every single item the groups stand for and even when I've challenged fellow tea partiers I've not been harassed or asked to leave. I go as I am and support what I believe in and I know there are a lot of tea party members that share that view, not all of them obviously but a good number.
They believe in minimal government while acknowledging that some government is a necessity or they would be damn near anarchists. Both the Tea Party and libertarians (generalizing, some small minority might) believe the Government is the source of the problem and not the solution to our problems.
Just by looking at Ron Paul you can see he certainly looks very conservative anytime fiscal policy is discussed but where his true libertarian roots show up is his foreign policy.
(Generalizing) Libertarians and a small minority in the Tea Party believe the Governments primary responsibility is to defend the Borders and not proactively nation build.
That's where I sway away from the conservatives as I'm frankly sick of the wars, the deceased men and women in uniform, and the ridiculous amount of money being spent, printed, and borrowed to fund these never ending wars. It would seem a lot of conservatives want to pretend President Bush did everything right when were blatantly lied to about WMD which I as one of the gullible Americans admit to being wrong at the time.
Is isolationism the answer as Ron Paul would advocate I'm not convinced but I would much rather give a less aggressive approach to foreign policy a try.
(Generalizing) I would believe that libertarians and tea party members would agree on the idea the the federal government has greatly misinterpreted the commerce clause which has been the master key to opening the doors to all of the big governments intrusions.
In regards to the racism within the tea party; as previously mentioned I have been to several rallies and can say there is a very small (probably 1%) of the attendees that are dumb redneck trash that blurt out stupid ass comments that have the majority of those attending shaking their heads in disgust.
I can think of one such redneck twenty something gal that shouted out this is America not Amexico. I remember thinking someone please gag this !**&& Again this is a ultra small majority as I can attest that most of the people I have interacted with are very respectful, educated on all of the issues, and are there on their own dime and time.
TEA PARTY:
The main theme of the American Tea Party apparently seems to be the motto which includes its name, Taxed Enough Already, which is to say they believe in lower taxes. They also believe in downsizing the government. Another theme also seems to be gun control. While I will try not to label anyone in the Tea Party as a "conservative", they do seems to exhibit quite a few of their traits. Almost every site I have visited concerning Tea Party protests show signs of disdain toward the current government, gun control issues, big government, and of course some racial and social issues. While I understand never to judge a book by its cover or that a few rotten apples shouldn't spoil the whole bunch it seems there are a lot who believe it is okay to use the "n" word and that God hates ?%$%% Now, I am not proposing that every Tea Party member feels this way, but it seems like the majority do in fact encompass this belief or else it would not be so prevalent among the party. Let me clarify that the American Tea Party site does state that it does not believe in racism, and in fact does not condone it on any level, but if this is the case why does it seem as though such a very large part of their base does? If you are a Tea Party member I would like to hear your feedback.
Libertarian Party:
This seems to be the most confusing party of them all. I just don't understand how a group that claims to love the Constitution and all that it stands for, but completely contradicts most of its foundations. I mean the very beginning of the Constitution itself lays out the foundation and intent to form a governing body, yet most Libertarians claim they want less government. You want things to get fixed, but you just don't want it to be the government that does it. Or at least not the Federal government. From best I can tell the Libertarians believe in a more conservative side where the economy is concerned, but a more liberal approach where social issues are concerned. Yet it is funny that most Libertarians I've met have no problem with labeling people as *@@!@ How exactly does this party work? I'm not sure. Just looking for opinions. Let me know how you feel about these issues. I welcome any comments.
I've attended several tea party rallies and while there is a lot of common beliefs there is no universal platform. One group may support one candidate while the other may wholeheartedly oppose them.
The reality is though if any party, movement, or political organization agrees 100% with one another that is not a good thing. It's a lot like hearing an old married couple telling you they've been married for 60 years and they've never fought. The problem with that is the they are either lying through their teeth or one of them is a conforming pawn that has no voice. The same holds true for politics. If you're so wrapped around your political party and their rhetorical slander that you don't stop and think for yourself then how are you any better than the lying spouse or the pawn with no voice.
(Speaking Generally) You don't have to agree with me but at least think for yourself instead of letting your party think for you.
With that change a drop down Add a Comment box would be appropriate at the top of the comments section to make adding new comments more convenient.
I spend a lot of time developing features for JealousBrother.com and want to make sure I take it in a direction our users would support. Thank you all for supporting our website and I look forward to any and all feedback.
Sincerely,
Ryan Kazinec