There isn't a viable 3rd party because the two that run the show do everything they can to keep it a two party system. I'll concede that the people deserve to shoulder some of the responsibility, but don't sit and pretend that the government isn't doing anything to preserve the status quo and keep new ideas and fresh leadership from rising to power.

Actually, Ron Paul is the one guy on that list that DOESN'T serve the same masters. That's why he's marginalized and his supporters branded loonies.

Here's the thing, sure 56% didn't like this healthcare reform. 13% because it wasn't liberal ENOUGH. Are those guys voting republican this fall? Hell no. So at the end of the day only 43% hated the healthcare reform beause it was too liberal.

because no one votes 3rd party. Whose fault is that? The same people bitching about the government.

Of course the two parties put roadblocks in the way of a third party rising to a position of power...that is a given...and is understandable...but I repeat the power lies with the people and the reason there isn't a viable third party is because the majority of the people are satisfied enough with the status quo...that they will not exercise their power.

You could have a viable third party, but they would have to have at least as much power and influence as the dems and republicans. If the house and senate were each made up roughly of 1/3rd democrats, 1/3 republicans and 1/3 third party members each party would have to work with the other to get things done.

With that attitude nothing will change. It's sad and pitiful that people are too fucking lazy to try to change the system and instead think that getting a gun and starting a militia so they can attack the government is a better way.

typical tea militia member "Fuck voting, just shoot. That'll change things"

Whats important is that Obama know the people are paying attention and don't like what he's doing and he's going to loose his power with a controlled house and senate soon and he better take notice. You're telling me that once a person gets in office he can do what ever the hell he wants?

No, what I'm saying is that it's irrelevant, the poor don't pay federal taxes, so any tax cut is for the rich, it's all bullshit and propaganda
If you think the whole country isn't up in arms, then you need to get out more, away from your bubble, people are pissed, the Tea Party has grown alot in just the last month



The Swiss don't need a militia
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/754.html+

Actually...yes they can as long as it is legal...until they come up for re-election. BTW...the President has already stated that if he is a one term President...so be it.

The Tea Party has a few thousand "members"...when people start taking to the streets in the tens of millions...then you will see some attention paid to them...but even then...whatever they are demanding will take years to accomplish...as demonstrated by the Vietnam Conflict protests and the Civil Rights protests.

I agree fully.

I'm sure it has grown a lot, but it is still made up mostly of republicans and conservative independents who have a favorable view of the republican party. I'm not saying everyone form the middle left is happy, but the entire country is far from behind up in arms. Most of the country would rather watch American Idol then worry about what their leaders are doing.

The tea party is bigger than you think
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ... arty_movement

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Twenty-four percent (24%) of U.S. voters now say they consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That?s an eight-point increase from 16% a month ago.

Another 10% say they are not a part of the movement but have close friends or family members who are.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters say they have no ties to the Tea Party movement. Eleven percent (11%) more are not sure.

The rise in Tea party support is perhaps not surprising at a time when more voters than ever (58%) favor repeal of the national health care plan just passed by Democrats in Congress and signed into law by President Obama. Most voters remain convinced that the health care plan will require an increase in taxes on the middle class as a time when 66% of voters believe America is already overtaxed.

Forty-two percent (42%) of Republicans say they are part of the movement, compared to nine percent (9%) of Democrats and 24% of voters not affiliated with either major party. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Mainstream voters view themselves as Tea Party members, while 84% of the Political Class say they have no ties to the movement.

Actually i thought you were making a joke!
Reality- US troops will NEVER be out of iraq, this is not obamas fault and shouldnt be his problem but when he starts talking about troop withdrawl etc...just look at the weekly iraqi death tolls, its really a nightmare.

I think it is pretty hard to say just who makes up the party. There is this CBS poll http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/po...;contentB ody that says most of the Tea Party is made up republicans and that 62% of them see the republican party in a favorable light.

To me this isn't a new movement, it is mostly a branch of the republican party.

I'd be willing to bet there are probably not many more Tea Party members then there were those who opposed the invasion of Iraq.

Even if the Tea Party movement is growing and getting bigger and bigger, to what end will it bring us? They are simply going to vote for republican candidates most of whom helped get us in the shit sandwich we are now in.

I will be impressed by the Tea Party when I see them put an actual candidate for an office that runs under the Tea Party banner, not under the republican banner.

Here's the misconseption, it's not a party, it's a movement, it will support the candate they believe best fits the conservative, less govenment, less taxes stand point. Yeah less people are paying less taxes this year, but with the debt we have, they know that won't last, do something like value added tax lke they do in several other countries

theres all that as well, and it will always be a case of "holy shiite here comes the sunnis" or vice versa. no peace thru fanatical religion.

Sure, it is more of a movement then a party, but here is the fundamental problem with it; they will elect republican candidates who claim they are for spending less, balancing the budget and creating a smaller government. Yet, no republicans actually do this. Just like the democrats they raise the debt, they spend like crazy and ultimately then end up raising taxes one way or another and most of them grow the government.

If anything good comes out of the tea party it will be that maybe they can help support a candidate here and there who will actually do what they say they are going to do and not just lie to our faces then do as they please. Maybe they will end up helping the republicans recapture the house which will force Obama and the democrats to curb their spending to some degree, but I fear the are just the same old thing calling themselves by a new name and we will get the same old candidates that do the same old shit.

The day we stepped across the border into Iraq we offically got ourselves involved in something we have no way of ending. There are groups in that country that hate each other and want to kill each other, there is no way we can 'help' them lead a peaceful existence. Bush opened up a can of worms that will probably never be able to be closed.

I don't disagree with you about the reasons we went there, but I don't think we should have gone. We had no hope of winning this fight. That part of the world has known nothing but unrest and turmoil since the beginning of written history and there is no reason to believe that will ever change. If we pulled every troop out of Iraq today it would only be a matter of time until there was a civil war or a coup and another dictator was put in place.

As for terrorist, sure, we killed some there is no questioning that. I feel for every terrorist we killed we created three. We forget that throughout the middle east the press and media are predominately controlled by the government. We also forget that the education divide and separation of wealth are enormous. So many people there are taught from day one to hate us and they have no way of knowing otherwise. Now they are taught to hate us and they are given the example of us invading a sovereign nation as proof for their hatred. We killed many terrorist and we have others on the run and in 10 years we will be dealing with the hordes of 15 year olds that have spend the last 7 years being taught every day why to hate us and how to kill us.

We can't win in the middle east. You can't reason with people who feel that God loves them and wants them to kill you. You can't spread democracy through the barrel of a gun. We had no chance of winning this and never should have gone. When I hear people say, "We chose to fight them in Iraq instead of on the streets of Baltimore," I laugh. We have had terrorists attacks against this country before and it will happen again. I think they will come at us harder now than in the past because they have a shining example for their hatred.

Thats because the poor either don't pay tax or don't pay much. The rich pay your way for you.

There are multiple definitions for winning...your definition...some other individuals definition...the government's public definition and then the real definitions. As long as we have a need to keep the oil flowing and we keep the oil flowing...we are indeed winning...using one definition of winning. When the oil in the mid east is gone then they will go back to being nomad camel jockeys and we will not have a need for the mid east or a presence there. Our government is like all governments and only does what it perceives to be in its best interests. We do not...and never have...worn a white hat...but have worn several shades of gray...and on some occasions pretty dark gray.

divide and conquer sheep.

This is the best thing we can do. Invading won't work. Wars don't work. We need to identify those who are more progressive and western friendly and support their efforts. Afghanistan is a good example of this. We helped them push the Russians back, but we fucked up the endgame and we failed to support them and provide behind the scenes support for those leaders and the Taliban ended up taking over.

Iran has the largest percentage of population under the age of 35 of any country in the world. Many of those young people want change and want the old guard removed from power. We need to support them and empower them. When other countries see people standing up for themselves and demanding rights and a new government it empowers them. When they see us invading countries it makes them angry.

It wouldn't surprise me TBH.. Most seem to be low educated and easily persuaded to follow the crowd with out doing much "thinking". This is why the same group of people went from being Bible Thumping Pro Govt Right Wingers to Tea Bagging Anti Govt bad spellers.

The GOP is changing, they know they have to or the party will die, they seem to be listening, they have a simple agenda now, lower taxes, smaller government, repeal health care, both parties know that the Tea Party has changed things

The US has become a country of entitlements, if you work hard to make a good living, the government takes more from you, but if you are lazy, uneducated or just unlucky, they will fund you, not what the founding fathers envisioned

The Tea Party is pretty diverse, don't listen to the left media in the branding of them, they are afraid of them, if they weren't, they wouldn't attack them

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rSdFIDygFwM

Guns and crazy just don't mix.

Your second argument, I've always found, is the weakest of them. "We are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."

That is such total BS when all it takes is 19 guys with box cutters to bring us to our knees. After that we had the shoe bomber(1 guy), the DC sniper (1 guy and a kid), the Virginia Tech shooter(1 guy), the anthrax mailer(1 guy) and many more. It has always amused me when people put that argument forth. It's even more amusing and even scary when people say that there weren't any terrorist attacks on us during Bush(WTF?! as if 9/11 never happened and Bush wasn't the president during the worst attack on us. See: Cheney, Liz Cheney, Hannity, Rudy, et al).

Ohhh lol, my bad. Yeah for sure we will always have some presence there.. like in germany and japan etc.. but he plans to carry out what was originally president bush's time table for withdraw of combat troops.

Thing is, many people conflate or confuse that Obama said he wanted to end all wars or something, when he actually always said he wanted to bring more troops to afghanistan.

Basically all of this is just too early. Presidential election is so far off right now, and it's not even clear if the right will gain back seats. There's just lots of speculation. Those are the only polls that matter.

The right figures that if they repeat a lie enough times people will believe it. Or at least the dumber half of Americans that only get their news from one single source...i.e., FOX.

I have no doubt that some republicans will win in the upcoming election. Whether they win back the house or senate remains to be seen. The big question is will they really change. Will they really work on lowering taxes, shrinking government, balancing the budget and spending less money or is it just lip service.

They have been saying that the party stands for these things for the last 30 years. They say this every time they are not in power. Then when they get elected and are in power they fail to follow through.