How to Win, and Not to Win, in 2014

Lately there’s been a growing chorus of calls for the Tea Party and the Republican Party to unite and find a way of compromising over their differences in order to achieve their common goal of defeating Democrats.  This scares the heck out of me because many in the Tea Party may think it’s a good idea.

The Tea Party is NOT (yet?) formally a political party, but a group of people whoshare certain ideas about political philosophy.  True, for various reasons they tend to support Republicans more often than Democrats, but the basis for their support of any candidate is the extent to which his INDIVIDUAL political ideas meld with THEIRS. 

The party label is NEVER the essential point. It just HAPPENS to be Republican most of the time because INDIVIDUAL Republican candidates agree with the Tea Party’s ideas more often than individual Democrats or Independents do.  IE, the Tea Party is a movement based on a loyalty to PRINCIPLES, NOT to political parties.

“YOU come to US” is what the principled Tea Party says, “from ANY political party,” and “if you do share our IDEAS, then we’ll support you.”  The Tea Party is not “into” party loyalty.  What it is “into” is INTELLECTUAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, and MORAL & ETHICAL LOYALTY.

I responded to the latest organization which sent me an email pushing for the political compromise mentioned above.  A paraphrase of that response follows just below.  It provides the reasons whythis strategy is a great way for us NOT to win the political battle. Following it, I offer the positive side of the coin, a suggestion on how to win.

HOW NOT TO WIN

Here’s the essence of my response to those who advocate the Tea Party “compromise” with the Republican Party to “iron out their differences” and “find a way to unite” in achieving the defeat of Democrats:

“The RNC is loaded with Democrats in Republican clothing.  It makes no sense to unite against the content of a particular book with the authors of that very book simply because they’ve given it a different cover or a new title.

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