The Value of the Tea Parties

I haven’t personally attended a Tea Party event, but I’ve done some related tracking. To this day, there has not only not been much integrated organization for that group in general beyond some Internet linking; there hasn’t been an explicitly dominant guiding philosophy. As Ayn Rand indicated, simply opposing a position doesn’t fulfill the obligation(s) required of having a positive normative philosophy. In other words in this case, for the Tea Party movement to be anti-status quo in government in some superficial way isn’t nearly enough of a surrogate to carry the prospect for American freedom forward. Make no mistake at best, supposed American renegades are merely coasting currently. The Tea Party supporters have some idea of what to oppose, but they have little idea of what to be united by. They really don’t understand what they should be fighting _for_.

America was founded by an explicit guiding philosophy as elaborated in the Charters of Freedom. We haven’t seen anything along those lines in decades as far as the general populace has been concerned. In recent years, a faction of Americans have come to realize that there might be some political benefits to the ideas inside Ayn Rand’s _Atlas Shrugged_. Still, it’s a long way to go from being merely aware of a potential value as against becoming throughly versed and immersed in a broad-based ideology. Whether someone is involved in the Tea Party movement or not, those Americans who seek greater freedom need to not only become more pro-active in politics, they also need to be more mindful as to the type of ideas that they subscribe to and promulgate.

Though the Tea Party has not been a movement which has had a major power vacuum or usurpation as of yet (since there never was an established intellectual leadership), the movement is becoming ripe for manipulation to outside forces. Coincidentally and recently, former Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has been in the news for courting the Tea Party movement. This may be unsurprising, but it’s certainly disturbing. It clearly indicates that Palin is looking for a vehicle to express her ideas; at the same time, it further reinforces that the Tea Party movement hasn’t been particularly aware of how it should be intellectually guided. If any political movement can so readily and easily be influenced by an outside interest which is expressly part of and representative of the very establishment which is supposed to be opposed, then that movement is to be questioned for its motives. The problems inherent of the movement in support of Ross Perot some several years ago come to mind here....

Likewise, it has been mentioned in the news that there may actually be a Tea Party in the form of a political party running in competition of the Democrats and Republicans. This is a decidedly different focus for the Tea Party movement to take. Again, it’s unsurprising that this movement would eventually seek to actualize and manifest ideas into practical reality. Still, the aforementioned intellectual vacuum makes for a further troubling turn of events given the potential rise of a related political party. It benefits no one for yet another political party to be raised if that party hasn’t even clearly differentiated itself in a way that would offer positive benefit to Americans.

The over-arching background for all of this of course is that the Republican Party continues to be bifurcated by the religious conservatives and everyone else who’s been left sidelined. The fact that this division has not been addressed by Republican politicians shows that the GOP hasn’t made any real headway since the days of Barry Goldwater running for the Presidential office. It used to be needless to say that if the Republicans didn’t stand up for individual protection, then no one would. Today, no one in politics stands for individualism or individual rights. This cavernous vacuum still stands as the greatest American issue to be dealt with today.

The recent news about the Tea Parties reveal ongoing issues that need to be dealt with if these organizations are to actually benefit American people. It should be obvious by now that the religious conservatives are overwhelmingly responsible for America’s demise. It is just as obvious that no appeal to that same faction will save or salvage America in any way. As per usual, what Americans must discover is that the very nature of their way of life depends on the identification of the virtue of independence. Americans must realize that to be American _is_ to necessarily be politically free from government tyranny in any shape or form. Americans have had a track record of knowing how to fend for themselves in an economic context. What has left those same people vulnerable to internal political turmoil is their lack of understanding of the importance of intellectual ability in the more fundamental context of rational politics.

Where the Founding Fathers failed to identify the proper intellectual nature of freedom, Ayn Rand managed to single-handedly succeed. She was the very person to signal to Americans what they must to do in order to protect themselves and their general way of life. Neither religion nor Socialism has ever offered the political benefits that the Founding Fathers hoped to leave behind for their successors. Still, the Founders were themselves disarmed by the very people who disarm us today: the philosophers. If Americans are ever to seriously resurrect their country, then they must realize that it is in rational philosophy that they must significantly start investing their time and energy into. The increased reading of _Atlas Shrugged_ is the one true bright spot in our current political landscape, but that book is a work of fiction that contends with politics in artistic terms. Americans must embolden themselves as colonists of early America did by studying the humanities. The important difference that new rational revolutionaries must be mindful of is that an adherence to reason in politics is not an expendable option.