Tea Party

Who could fail to resonate with the Tea Party desire for less federal spending, a smaller government, and a balanced budget? Who would disagree that many of the elected officials in Washington are crooks, chiselers, beholden to special interests, or otherwise unworthy? Because of the widespread popular agreement with these views, and the strange inability of the Obama administration to present its own relatively sane programs coherently and persuasively, the officials who will be elected or retained in office with Tea Party support will constitute a majority of the House, and perhaps of the Senate as well. And then what will they do?

People like Kelly O'Donnell and Sharon Angle seem to have no ideas at all; those with ideas, like the "young blood" Republicans who sympathize with the Tea Party, have ideas that either cannot be implemented, or would destroy the country. The leading idea seems to be to repeal the healthcare reforms. Presumably over the dead bodies of the healthcare industry that crafted and supported them, not to mention the liberal Democrats. But for the most part, the "shrink the government" movement has no ideas at all. We all want to shrink the government. But how? There lies the rub.