Wes Mantooth

I think everyone understands the concept of less intrusive government (which on the list in question is actually worded "intrusive government stopped" nothing to do with less and what I was initially referring too) but what isn't understood is why its often touted as being a major part of many conservative platforms. To me stopping intrusive government means you want the government to both stay out of matters it shouldn't be involved with as well as not being overbearing with matters it should be. When a group like the Tea Party places this on a list of major, non negotiable beliefs (they certainly aren't the first) and then seemingly supports legislation about marriage, reproductive rights, a national language and what people can and can't do with their own property (the mosque issue discussed on page 4ish) people rightfully get a little confused about where they actually stand. Its as though they want the best of both worlds.

It seems to be a major sticking point with many conservatives but (as Will wrote above) "it's "less government we disagree with and more government we agree with"". That's what practically every member of every party in the US ultimately wants, yet the Tea Party (and many conservatives) seem to be tossing it around as a sign that they are somehow anti big government. If this was the case they and other like minded conservatives wouldn't give a damn about most social issues because it shouldn't be any of the governments business (and in turn theirs) in the first place. They should be up to the individual (in most cases) but at the very least they should have no real business on a national platform.

Its an interesting point for me because it should give us a great insight into how they stand on social issues and yet somehow it doesn't. The Tea Party has been vague at best on where they stand on social issues and to be honest from what I've seen they are nowhere near as oppressive as some other groups on the right, at least so far. But its hard to pin down what they stand for socially when they seem to be talking out of both sides of their mouths about what the government's role in these issues should be.

All of that keeps leading me back to the party just being a mess over what it actually stands for and they're all over the place trying to reel in as many right wing voters as possible in an attempt to increase their national presence. In the meantime the rest of us will be left scratching our heads and wondering what in gods name they are really trying to do and what kind of political change they really want.

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