Tom Campbell, a former assistant state treasurer and
host of NC Spin, laments emerging voices that don’t accept the status quo and
have the audacity to speak their minds.
Statist, like Mr. Campbell, look upon the Tea Partiers as past
generations looked upon children: seen
but not heard. Here is an excerpt from
his article:
Republican
Congressman Robert Pittenger, home for the summer recess, has been holding Town
Hall Meetings in his district. In a recent one, a Tea Partier rose to ask
Pittenger what he described as an easy question, requesting a simple yes or no
answer. Would Pittenger vote to defund Obamacare, he asked?
When Pittenger asked the Tea
Partier if he was willing to listen to the thoughtful answer to his question,
he was abruptly told, “No.” So just as quickly Pittenger responded “No” to the
question.
The Congressman’s very thoughtful
reason and the debate over repealing or defunding The Affordable Care Act is
worthy of more conversation but the vehemence in which the question was posed
and the refusal to hear anything but a black-or-white response illustrates the
growing schism between the mainstream and Tea Party extremists in the North
Carolina Republican Party, a schism more threatening to continued GOP control
of North Carolina than any threat posed by the disorganized Democrats
Mr. Campbell thinks Tea Partiers are uninformed
brats. The reason this citizen wanted a
yes or no answer is because we are already living the ramifications of
Obamacare. And most informed Americans
know that establishment Republicans are big government advocates. Here is an excerpt illustrating just that:
Those who identify
themselves with the Tea Party apparently have as poster boys, Barry Goldwater
and Grover Norquist. Some still remember Goldwater, in his acceptance speech
for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination, saying, “Extremism in the
defense of liberty is no vice.” The extreme element’s definition of the defense
of liberty is to be unyielding, anti-government, in fact just about
anti-everything. Am I wrong or do they appear to have no use for any government
program, public infrastructure or the common good? It seems they define liberty
as the freedom to be able to do what they want without question, obligation or
responsibility for others.
Mr. Campbell has no
understanding of our federalist system, or the United States Constitution; he,
like many of his ilk, look upon the government as a sugar daddy with bottomless
pockets. Compassion and the common good are
equated with loose monetary policies, confiscatory taxation and rampant
regulations. As for public
infrastructure, a little knowledge of history will answer that question.
And the Tea Partiers
are the bullies?
Tea
Partiers are using these same tactics to effectively silence and make impotent
those within their own party who are willing to seek consensus and compromise;
leaders who heretofore have included the likes of Jim Broyhill, Jim Holshouser,
Jim Martin and others. Today’s mainstream Republicans are conservatives but
they are also pragmatist,s willing to include others, to get far more
accomplished with cooperation than by being unyielding, threatening or
mean-spirited.
One doesn’t have to be a
political expert to understand reality. The continued domination by those on
the far right is a sure recipe for defeat. They do not speak for the majority
of North Carolinians. Both political parties have large numbers of members
neither far right nor far left in their convictions, and the fastest growing
registrations come from unaffiliated voters, now consisting of 24 percent.
The question North Carolina
Republicans face is whether they will allow this extreme hardline element to
dominate their party or whether they have the courage to stand up to them and
regain control. They need to know the bullying will continue until someone
stands up to the bully. The mainstream’s response will determine their party’s
future and will impact our state
This is
laughable! If recent memory hasn’t
failed me, I do believe the IRS targeted and harassed Tea Party organizations. And it doesn’t stop there. A concerted effort by federal government
bureaucracies has also targeted and harassed Tea Partiers as well. And we’re the bullies?
Hey, Mr. Campbell,
why don’t you travel to Missouri and ask a recently unemployed rodeo clown
about being bullied. You might want to
reassess your definition.
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