Tea Partiers and Libertarians

Libertarians and Tea Partiers

At the Minnesota State Fair this year, I made it a point to visit a couple of curbside political booths to try to get some clarification of who is who in the current political discussion.  They were not far from each other on the fair grounds, but that was about where any similarity ended.  

It has been hard for me to understand which political group stands for what.  I think I know who the Democrats are.  The Republicans are a little harder to get a handle on.  A lot of them seem to be opposed to some stuff, but it is more difficult to get what it is they are really in favor of.  Today's Republican Party web page is attacking two women, featuring a "Fire Kathleen Sebelius" rant and something in opposition to Hillary Clinton.  The Democratic web page was promoting women in office, trying to get out the vote, and trying to explain the health care law.

Not liking either of the major parties very much these days, I thought I would look for an alternative, so I visited the Tea Party and Libertarian booths.  What I found was intriguing.  The Tea Party group was four strident men in suits and ties.  They seemed very intent on convincing anyone they could of the need to "preserve the constitution."  It has been awhile now, but I think that was about scaling back government except for the military.  They denied affiliation with either major party, which I found interesting.  They quickly entered into debates with guys (no gals while I was there) who wanted to talk about the specifics of their policy points, but showed little interest in discussing the basic ideas behind their positions with me.

The libertarian booth was staffed by one young college aged man dressed more appropriately, I thought, for the fair.  He was more friendly, not looking for a fight.  He was glad to discuss the ideas behind the party -even less government than the Tea Partiers.  Some of the implications of his positions were a little too scary for me, but I gave him credit for having a set of ideas and sticking to them consistently.

I am following Sarah Palin on Facebook and like a lot of what she says as long as she is sticking to ideas.  When she drops into her Rush Limbaugh imitation, she loses me.

I will continue to remain unaffiliated and make my calls as time progresses, but as always I won't vote for someone because of a party endorsement.  I will be like the ancient Greek Diogenes, searching for an honest person, hopefully one with a workable notion of what the government should and should not, can and cannot do.