A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found that the tea-party movement has emerged as a potent force in American politics and the center of gravity within the GOP.
In the survey, 71% of Republicans described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea-party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections.
“These are essentially conservative Republicans who are very ticked-off people,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.
If the Republicans win control of the House or Senate this fall, Mr. McInturff added, the survey shows “enormous amounts about how limited the interest is going to be in those new majorities to try to seek negotiation with the president or the Democratic leadership.”
All of which leads me to ask, what do these people want? According to the report they want to cut federal spending. Guess what, that’s not radical. We all want to cut spending. The question is where to cut? Tea-partiers want to cut entitlements. I’m for that. How about we cut the defense industry’s entitlement to half of all the taxes collected in this nation?
Tea-partiers are for small government. Again, that’s not a radical position. Topics like efficiency and productivity are truly not political. There may be a bureaucrat or two quaking in his boots at the thought of a smaller federal government, but downsizing is the trend, everyone and everything is moving in that direction.
Ultimately, I think many on the left and in just as many in the middle share the frustration and anger at “the way things are” in Washington, DC. But anger and frustration do very little for the nation. Frankly, it’s time to rise above. It’s also time to realize that two political parties can not possibly represent the plurality that is America.