Why I am not a Tea Partier

In theory, I should be a great candidate to be a Tea Partier.  I am fiscally conservative.  I am very reluctant to create new government-supported entitlements.  I am very annoyed at the Republicans for the large deficits of the W. Bush years.  I even voted for Perot for president and I voted for fiscally conservative Steve Forbes in the 1996 primary, so I am relatively open minded to “off brand” political products. 

So why am I not a Tea Partier?

1. Third parties are a bad idea.  Perot got Clinton elected.  Nader got Bush elected.  Heck, Teddy Roosevelt got Woodrow Wilson elected in 1912.  
2. I am suspicious of overly emotional movements without a strong theoretical base. I don’t mind some emotion but if a movement consists of a bunch of political neophytes with an unclear platform and emotional, rabble rousing leaders, I become concerned.  The Tea Party appears to be hesitant to declare an explicit platform and I think it is because they are scared that if they did they would fall apart.  The conservative movement was helped greatly by the groundwork laid down by William F. Buckley and Russel Kirk years before Reagan's 1980 victory.
3. I think the best plan for 2010 is to support moderate republican candidates.  What does “moderate” mean.  Well, I can tell you it doesn’t mean supporting cap and trade, card check or Obamacare.  If you support any of those in my view you are a Democrat and you should come out of the closet.  A moderate Republican, to me, is basically someone who wants to cut taxes and balance the budget, is willing to put everything on the table (Medicare, Social Security, overseas defense commitments) but is not going to campaign on divisive social issues like abortion or gun control.  I think abortion could be a huge blocker for Republicans in 2010 and 2012. 

It is hilarious though how everyone believes that whatever they and their friends talk about represents some sort of universal consensus.  Dan Riehl, with whom I would probably agree on a lot of things, says (here) of Orrin Hatch, who is discouraging Tea people from trying to organize a Perot-style third party flub up for 2012, “Hatch doesn't seem to have a clue what's going on at street level in America today.”  Hmm.  Really?  Well I do know that Scott Brown was pretty moderate, I do know that Perot was huge disaster and I basically think Hatch is giving great advice.