If you listen to CNN, MSNBC,CBS,ABC or even FOX News, the Tea Party is a fringe party with extreme right wing views.  While some on the liberal left have made outrageous charges of racism etc. for the most part the main stream media views the Tea Party as a harmless distraction.  But, they also consider them to be naïve amateurs. 

But to other people the Tea Party is the best thing to happen to American politics in a long time.  To them the Tea Party is a grassroots movement fueled by people who are sick and tired of politics as usual.  The principles of the Tea Party are really quite straight forward.  They want a solid fiscal policy.  They want the government to lower taxes and cut spending.  They want a government that abides by the constitution and does not intrude on personal freedom.  They also want a free market where there is much less unnecessary governmental regulation.

To the main stream media these Tea Party core values may be radical, but they are not radical to most Americans who understand them. 

Something amazing is going on in Washington today.  In spite of tremendous pressure from the political establishment and from the main stream media, including Fox News, the Tea Party candidates are standing their ground.  The results are astonishing.  They would not give Boehner the votes to pass an increase in the debt ceiling without including a balanced budget amendment provision.

To RINO’s like John McCain and commentators like Bill O’Reilly these Tea Party Republicans are committing political suicide.  I am not so sure.  Every poll that I have read shows that the American people are tired of the spending, they are tired of tax burden, and they are tired of politics as usual in Washington.  They are also tired of people who always find a way to break their promises for the greater good of compromise.  They are very supportive of a balanced budget amendment.

This one is hard to call.  It sure looks like the Tea Party candidates are going to call everyone’s bluff.  I don’t think they are going to compromise with Harry Reid to save Obama’s bacon.  That means there are two show downs coming right now.  The first is in the U.S. Senate.  There are two and only two proposals that have passed the house.  While Democrats hunger for some compromise legislation to support, it doesn’t look like that option is even on the table.  That means they either vote against the only two pieces of legislation that can solve the problem, or they vote for them.

If nothing is passed and Tuesday passes with no financial meltdown, Obama loses the last shred of credibility.  I doubt seriously that he will unilaterally raise the debt ceiling because he will be risking impeachment.  Part of the problem is that he personally said he didn’t think he had the authority to do that.  He might declare a state of emergency and do it anyway, but that would be very risky.  That is particularly true when he rejected Republican plans that could have avoided the problem.

The only thing certain right now is that the Tea Party is standing tall and not backing down.  They said if we sent them to Washington they would change things permanently.  They were right.  Now we are about to learn the full extent of that change.

TDM