Tea Party Conservatives Alive and Doing Very Well, Thank You!
A lot of liberals have lulled themselves into thinking, wishfully, that the TEA Party is no longer a serious threat to their dreams of expanded government. Nothing could be farther from the truth. First Texas, from the WSJ:
AUSTIN, Texas—Houston lawyer Rafael “Ted” Cruz easily won a runoff election Tuesday to become the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Texas, underscoring how tea-party activists are upending this year’s GOP primary contests.
Mr. Cruz, a Tea-party favorite, defeated Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the candidate backed by most of the state GOP establishment, including Gov. Rick Perry. He led by 57% to 43%, with 96% of the state’s 7,957 precincts reporting.
Mr. Cruz will hold a commanding advantage in the general election in heavily Republican Texas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994…
Mr. Cruz’s win “is the biggest victory for the tea party to date,” said Tom Jensen, director of Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. A May poll by the firm showed Mr. Dewhurst with a 17-point lead, but a July 29 poll of likely GOP voters found a complete reversal, with Mr. Cruz ahead by 10 points…
Mr. Cruz, 41 years old, is a Harvard Law School graduate and the son of a Cuban immigrant father. He won the backing of Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. He favors allowing states to pass Arizona-style legislation targeting illegal immigration and has called for reducing income-tax rates and federal spending, including shuttering agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
The WSJ article details the rest of Mr. Cruz’ very impressive resume. Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul will have an equally formidable ally in the Senate nest Januaray.
Next, Georgia, where voters in yesterday’s primary election soundly defeated a 10 year, $7.2 billion metro Atlanta area wide tax hike, purportedly to be used for transportation purposes. From the AJC:
Distrustful of government and riven by differences, metro Atlanta voters on Tuesday rejected a $7.2 billion transportation plan that business leaders have called an essential bulwark against regional decline.
The defeat of the 10-year, 1 percent sales tax leaves the Atlanta region’s traffic congestion problem with no visible remedy. It marks failure not only for the tax but for the first attempt ever to unify the 10-county region’s disparate voters behind a plan of action.
“Let this send a message,” said Debbie Dooley, a tea party leader who early on organized opposition to the T-SPLOST tax measure. “We the people, you have to earn our trust before asking for more money.”
Kasim Reed, who fought years for the referendum as a legislator and as Atlanta mayor, rallied supporters gathered at a hotel in downtown Atlanta. “The voters have decided,” Reed said. “But tomorrow I’m going to wake up and work just as hard to change their minds.”
The TEA Party may not be in the headlines or on the evening news nearly as much as in the past, but that hardly means they’ve gone away or given up. On the contrary, last night’s wins show that they’ve been working harder than ever. Politicians from both parties should take note.
Tags: Politics, tea party
