If liberal fearmongers are correct, the Tea Party is at the very height of its power. Yet so many elected Tea Party Republicans have failed to rein in the federal government. They were elected on a promise none of them have been able to fulfill:
In the American scheme of government-by-special-interests, the instinctive conservative sympathy for states’ rights and business interests can be a dangerous trap, leading even the most ardent champions of limited government and economic freedom to embrace policies that violate both. Even now, lawmakers elected with Tea Party support are being waylaid by lobbyists armed with quaint mid-20th century economic nonsense about how “public convenience” justifies limits on competition for this or that special-interest group.
The problem with modern politics is obvious: special interests have strong voices. The only interest without a voice is the general interest: the one based on truth, justice, conviction—you know, the stuff that made this country great.
Many in the Tea Party believe the federal government is bullying corporations or state governments. They get trapped into expanding state power or serving corporate interests merely to restrict or resist further over-reach by the federal government. It would be better for the Tea Party to attempt to repeal regulations at every level it can—state and federal. It would be better to do this without listening to lobbyists. At all.
Many will say that a removal of regulations will mean that corporations run rough shod over the little guy. First off, let’s ask ourselves a question: have the glut of regulations kept corporations from abusing the little guy? No. So what are we so afraid of? In most cases, corrupt corporations are hiding behind government protections and plausible deniability. Remove the weight of regulations, and it’s possible that real competition would thrive.
Wasn’t that the dream of freedom that our forefathers envisioned? Was it risky? Yes. It requires courage to live in a free world. But there’s no other world worth living in.