Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Primary School for the Tea Parties (Lessons Learned from June 8 Primary Election)

http://www.intellectualactivist.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1183

The one big thing everyone wants to know about Tuesday night's primaries is: what about the Tea Parties? What effect are they having on the actual outcome of political races?

There are some political spin-masters who have been trying to present this year's elections in terms of an "anti-incumbent" sentiment, but being "anti-incumbent" is a non-essential, and those who raise this issue are largely using it as a smokescreen. What they're trying to obscure is the role of political ideas. They don't want us asking: why are voters against these particular incumbents at this particular time? Why do they support the incumbent in some races, even while they reject the incumbent in others?

For example, why did Arkansas voters support incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary last night�even while this very same incumbent is 20 points behind in the polls going into the general election against a Republican challenger?

The answer, of course, is that this year's big political trend has been clearly ideological: the Tea Parties are driven by opposition to the runaway growth in the size and power of government. Those who join the Tea Party movement or sympathize with it generally believe in the ideas of individual rights and constitutionally limited government. But the question is: how big an effect is this movement actually having at the polls?

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