Concerning Strange Bedfellows (repost)

I am reposting this as I have noticed many crazies have once again grabbed the coattails of conservatism.

Concerning Strange Bedfellows

In my daily attempt to shed light on the liberals statist agenda that seeks to convert our fine republic into a socialist doormat for the world, I come across a great many characters with quite a few interesting viewpoints.

Throughout 2009, as President Obama and the liberal congress made it increasingly obvious that the oath they swore to uphold the Constitution of The United States meant nothing to them, a movement began which has been dubbed the “Tea Party Movement.” As the movement grew and gained popularity as a strong attempt to reclaim conservative values based upon the Constitution, fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets, many different viewpoints and, in some cases “fringe” elements have attempted to attach their causes to the coattails of this movement. Let’s examine some of the different schools of thought I come in contact with daily:

Those that contend the President and the liberal-run congress support policies that are socialist in nature, and therefore are not supported by our Constitution. I would say the vast majority of conservatives, myself included, believe this is true.

Those that contend the President and the liberal-run congress are enacting reckless spending policies on purpose in order to cause a catastrophic failure of the free market in order to enact a new socialist government…see Cloward/Piven Strategy. Quite a few are beginning to accept this theory, and I consider it to be a possibility. Whether you believe this is true or not, the problem here is that this thought process begins to lend itself to the conspiracy theorist crowd, which loves to take a small fact or truth, and run with it to the point that it becomes laughable.

The libertarian school of thought has been more widely accepted as of late, and a great many conservatives find themselves having “common ground” with the libertarians’ strict views of limited government and personal liberty. The problem with becoming too cozy with libertarian philosophy is the broad spectrum it encompasses. Some libertarians take limited government and go so far as to desire the abolition of the state completely. This school of thought seems to vilify all government representation as evil and an enemy of individual rights. Their “live and let live” philosophy is a close cousin to pacifism, which is typically espoused by liberal fringe groups…thus, completely perverting the initial belief system 180 degrees, and allowing persons who do not represent conservatism in any way a perceived voice in the discord.

For example, I have made many friends in the last year writing my blog and have utilized facebook as a mechanism for keeping up with these alleged like-minded thinkers. I recently witnessed disturbing articles and videos from some of these self-avowed fellow tea party patriots which were in no way based in conservatism or the Constitution. Everything from anti-war veterans speaking of how evil corporate fatcats forced them to take part in unjust wars to schizophrenic 9/11 “truthers” were included. Needless to say they are no longer on my friend list.

Overall, the Tea Party Movement has done a great deal to fight the statist policies that threaten to bring this wonderful republic to its knees. I am a staunch supporter of it and would march in every event they coordinated if my status as a U.S. Marine allowed for it. My concern in this article is to point out that as this movement continues to grow at such a brisk pace, it will be important to ensure that the leaders of the movement are policing the ranks for those that would misrepresent the principles the movement stands for.