Tea Party

[Consultsone]

Just curious what people think of the Tea Party.
With all the grass root movements out there seems like the Tea Party makes some kind of difference and has an influence.
I make this comment because if you think about it ... if it wasn't that big of an influence why would the media vilify it so much.
They actually make a case for the movement.

[mgint]

hey maybe if people would stop worrying about what party you belong and start worrying about our country than things might improve. The democrats try to blame the tea party for everything now that they can't blame Bush when do we get real leadership from anyone from any party.

[kapeh12]

One of the most beneficial things I see about the Tea Party is due to the press it's getting, hopefully it's showing people in this country that we don't have to be just a 2-party government.  Statistics are starting to show more and more people claim to be "independent" for their political choices.  I'm at the point where I see the traditional Republican and Democratic parties as rival siblings who only serve to oppose one another,  and thus always stalemate and resort to "name calling".  It's time we have a 3rd party (or more) to start getting our representatives back on topic - really discussing/debating issues vs grandstanding to be re-elected.

I miss the days where when you saw a political debate, the candidates actually responded to the questions with a clear plan and explain why they came up with that plan.  The past decade or two, all I've seen during debates is that candidates don't know how to debate - they just state what the "other" person will/won't do.  And when they do talk about their stance, it's always a commercial bite about what they intend to do, but they never back it up with what their plan is to achieve it (if they even provide a direct answer to the question at all).

Perhaps the Tea Party will inspire other people with opinions for what's important for this country to become more outspoken as well - to get the average citizen thinking about issues and consequences of taking or not taking certain actions.  In my research during the last presidential election, I found more information on the issues and well thought through plans of actions on the various "3rd" party campaign sites - their platforms were clearly listed, and there were sections presenting their intended approach for implementing the agendas.  I didn't agree with 100% of all stances (as there was a wide variety to choose from, more than I realized) - but I did find a candidate who's overall campaign I felt was a reasonable balanced agenda the country needed - and that's who I ultimately voted for (I didn't vote for either of the "big 2").

I think it'll be a great day in this country when a 3rd party candidate actually wins some of the electoral vote in a presidential election.  We've already seen some representatives and I believe at least one senator being voted in as a 3rd party candidate.  I will see this as a sign that people are getting back to roots and really researching the issues for themselves, and voting "for" a candidate again vs voting "against" one of the 2 "popular" candidates (ie, voting for the lesser of 2 evils - but really don't like either one...).  I'm not saying people should not vote for one of the "big 2" - but only do so if you truly believe in what they are campaigning.  If not, don't be afraid to do your homework and find a candidate who has a stance you do support.