Don't Listen To The Tea Party

Conor Friedersdorf points out that while the intentions of the Tea Party may be good, the group really likes clowns who are more concerned with lining their own pockets than with fixing our governmental problems:

 Says Continetti, "The Tea Party's moral vision... explains why it has been reluctant to embrace Mitt Romney's presidential candidacy." He conveniently skips over naming the succession of candidates that the Tea Party has embraced. There is Sarah Palin, the unreflective Alaska governor who blew $150,000 on clothing during her VP run, quit her post in the middle of her term to become a reality television star, and isn't anyone's idea of reflective. There is Newt Gingrich, for whom thrift, responsibility, and frugality are not strong suits. Herman Cain stumbled on fidelity, while Rick Perry's support would seem to cast doubt on Continetti's assertion that Tea Partiers insist "the business of government is not to help anyone's profit margin."

Perhaps the Tea Party doesn't actually subscribe to the values that Continetti says. Or perhaps its adherents do, but tend to elevate politicians bereft of those qualities. Does it matter? Neither Mitch Daniels nor Jon Huntsman nor Tim Pawlenty nor Gary Johnson are perfect candidates, but the average Tea Partier prefers Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Donald Trump to all of them. This is not a movement to be trusted, regardless of its core values, because it has proved totally incapable of identifying some of the most obviously irresponsible charlatans in American life. (Remember Glenn Beck? Continetti once called the broadcaster one of the Tea Party's two founders.)

Near the end of his essay, Continetti invokes Thomas Jefferson, one of the few libertarians spoken about favorably in the pages of The Weekly Standard, to warn against concentrating too much power in Washington and extol the importance of checks and balances (lest we find ourselves oppressed). It is therefore worth noting that Rand Paul aside, the Tea Party has done almost nothing to protest the extraordinary expansion of executive power and brazen flouting of Madisonian checks and balances that have been instituted in bipartisan fashion since 9/11.

Amen.  I would like to see some more thoughtful leaders come out of the Republican Party, but the Tea Party seems specially able to pick the dumbest candidate in most primary elections.  In non-Presidential elections, they tend to win out.