Not Interested In Politics
This is about the best take on the Tea Party participants (as opposed to the "leaders") that I have read so far.
Beyond their fiscally conservative principles, the ideology of the people involved in the tea party movement tends to vary dramatically. So far, tea party activists "haven't been interested in politics," Fitton said.Which reminds me of an experience I had last week at a Tea Party. I met some old friends of the family who are involved in Rockford Pro Life and asked them pointedly if they were interested in any way in laws banning abortion. Their position was that the Federal Government should stay out of the issue. Neither banning abortions nor paying for them. That is a position I can support. And it fits with the smaller government theme of the Tea Parties. So I visited their www site and found it a little too Christian for my tastes. But let me re-iterate that I like their position. Are there any secular anti-abortion groups that hold that position?
And I really like the idea of conservative groups that understand the difference between changing the culture and changing the laws. There are limits to what law can do. Did I mention the Drug War?
Cross Posted at Classical Values
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3 comments:
The federal government staying out of the issue would entail the government ceasing to fund Planned Parenthood and reversing Roe v. Wade, thus devolving the issue back to the states. Most pro-lifers I know would be perfectly happy with that solution. It is Ron Paul's position if I'm not mistaken.
The two components drive each other. The Culture drives the law, and the law drives the culture. (Up to a point.)
They are in a mutually driven feedback loop.
Jehu,
Yes. I like 99.9% of what Ron Paul has to say. The .1% though is a deal killer.
He is a foreign policy idiot. If he was in charge he would get a lot of us killed. We are getting an object lesson in Ron Paul foreign policy though.
R. Dave,
Culture is more powerful than government and can do many things government shouldn't do.
When you mix the two the combination is evil. An evil that never sleeps.
C. S. Lewis:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.
That is the big danger of conflating culture with law.
Some Jewish carpenter had a few things to say about that some time back. The man's actual words are unavailable (the video camera hadn't been invented yet) but there are stories.
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