We're All The Tea Party Now
By Noel Sheppard | November 07, 2010 | 08:48
Pollster Frank Luntz has an absolutely must-read op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post about what Tuesday's elections really meant, and what the real temper is in the country right now.
In it, he listed the governmental priorities held by 60 percent of the nation:
(1) Balance the budget as quickly as possible through meaningful spending reductions, a hard spending cap and a constitutional amendment so that it never gets unbalanced again.
(2) Eliminate all earmarks until the budget is balanced, then require a two-thirds vote by Congress for future earmark legislation.
(3) Keep taxes down by requiring supermajorities for increases, and eventually enact tax reform with a simple, low, fair rate that drastically reduces the length of the IRS code.
(4) Create a blue-ribbon task force that engages in a complete, line-by-line forensic audit of federal agencies and programs to end waste and reduce red tape and bureaucracy.
(5) And require Congress to provide specific constitutional authorization for every bill it passes so that the government stays within the boundaries imagined by the founders.
One more thing: Voters want their representatives home in their districts and holding monthly town halls. The worst strategic mistake House Democrats made this year was canceling scores of public meetings, denying their constituents the chance to be heard. Hell hath no fury like a voter silenced, so the voters spoke in unison on Election Day.
Read the entire piece to fully understand where Luntz's polling shows the nation truly is at this moment in history.
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Comments
Fair Tax and Enumerated Authority
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 9:24am.
These are definitely high up on the right-thinking American's wish list.
of the people and for the people
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 10:44am.
I know we all here know the Gettysburg Address but it went through my head as I read this article because we are in a new civil war fighting for the direction of this country. Lincolns words are an immortal reflection for all who love liberty.
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure
. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this
. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract
. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Don't get distracted
Submitted by Mike S on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 11:40am.
And DO NOT get distracted from this agenda with social items such as don't ask - don't tell, gay marriage, abortion, school prayer, etc. When we have a healthy economy and a healthy level of government in this country, then we can address some of those issues. Generally, the American people prefer the status quo on all those issues, and will punish either party for distracting from the smaller government agenda by bringing them up.
Coulter said it first, and best.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 11:41am.
She said "We're all racists, now!"
Part of the Tea Party Agenda
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 11:57am.
Coming soon to a television near you: Congressman Allen West will either sit with the Congressional Black Caucus, or be turned away at the door, much like the black Central High School students in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1950s. Either way, it will make for great journalism as West breaks a similar "color barrier"..
Check out this interview. West is determined to sit with the Congressional Black Caucus. He's going to find out where they meet, and insist he be allowed to join the group. He says he meets all the qualifications!
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama