Tea Party, Authoritarian or Libertarian?

Question

It has been long discussed as to where the Tea Party aligns itself in the broader spectrum. Now most would agree that, yes, they are Republican, but like all smaller sects of a broader picture one wonders where else they could be aligned to.
Some on the right would refer to a Progressive as a Socialist/Communist (although they are different on paper, the best is the Socialist/Communist/Fascist, which is a whole contradiction politically).
The Tea Party seems to try to align to the "Libertarian" title because of the Libertarian view on taxes and the Federal government, but there's one big thing that completely clashes ideologically with that statement.
As anyone with half a brain knows, the Tea Party is a party that does wear their Christianity on their shoulders. That's the big thing with where the Tea Party and the Libertarian group completely separate, Libertarian's want less government intervention in all aspects of their lives, ie. abortion, gay marriage, drugs.
Social scientists, Robert Puntam and David Campbell, ran an Op-Ed in the New York Times about this issue. He stated the obvious:
"...More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 – opposing abortion, for example – and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government."
Robert Altemeyer, who's often referred to as the expert on Authoritarianism from his years of studies, has often discussed how Authoritarianism and Religion effect people. They believe that Religion has precedence on moral standards, therefore adhere to that in their political beliefs.
In his work he has come to some conclusions:
"Here are some items from another scale. How would you respond to them on
a -4 to +4 basis?

1. There are entirely too many people from the wrong sorts of places being admitted into our country now.
2. Black people are, by their nature, more violent and “primitive” than others.
3. Jews cannot be trusted as much as other people can.
4. As a group, aboriginal people are naturally lazy, dishonest and lawless.
5. Arabs are too emotional, and they don’t fit in well in our country.
6. We have much to fear from the Japanese, who are as cruel as they are
ambitious.

I’ll bet you have figured out that I use these to measure prejudice. You may be taken aback however to discover that these prejudices usually show up bundled together in a person. But social psychologists found long ago that people who are prejudiced against one group are usually prejudiced against a whole lot more as well. Prejudice has little to do with the groups it targets, and a lot to do with the personality of the holder. Want to guess who has such wide-ranging prejudices? Authoritarian
followers dislike so many kinds of people, I have called them “equal opportunity bigots.”

Now I apologize for the long post, but before jumping down my thoat at least skim it, and please tell me in an educated way why you disagree with that, or how you agree that the Tea Party does have very apparent similarties to Authoritarian priciples.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/08/17/new-data-tea-party-is-authoritarian-not-libertarian/

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I agree with you. The Tea Party functions under the banner of "small government" but they want to force their religious beliefs and practices on everyone through federal control...a contradiction if you ask me.

Jimbo · Answer

I love it when people try to put labels on something like the TEA Party and don't have a clue.  First of all, there is no structure, hierarchy, leaders appointed, funding, or membership roll.  The TEA Party is an IDEOLOGY.  Each individual person who claims "membership" isn't actually a member per se BECAUSE there is no way to join any thing.  You just participate in gatherings, meetings, and ideology.  Those in attendance may be Republican, Conservative, Democrat, or Libertarian.  Party affiliation isn't a concern or even a requirement and no one really cares where you fall along party lines as long as you support the IDEOLOGY.  All of you on the left, for some reason, try to figure out something so simple and the problem is that you look at it with one eye.  That one eye is the eye of suspicion, prejudice, bigotry, party ideology, and hate of something that you cannot comprehend.  Every single bit of the TEA Party ideology is taken DIRECTLY from the United States Constitution, a document that is anathema to most far left wing liberals.  We take the Constitution LITERALLY and we don't read into it or even PRESUME to read into it what our founding fathers would say if they had been left wing socialists.  They weren't.  And that is the problem with the left wing attempt to understand the TEA Party.

rock · Answer

the tea party..... Are a tiny group of people, with a growing popularity.... As a outsider to it all, i can look on and comment unbiased. I would say the u.s.a. Is a mixed up place at the moment looking for a strong leadership, which it has not had since bush's first term (he was not perfect, and pissed the rest of the world off) but he was not a diluted leader, as things get worse in the u.s.a. People will look for a different option..... And the tea party, have the same principles as the republicans..... With a twist, anyway.... I dont think they are either liberal or authoriterist. I would say they are pretty unique, and maybe a stepping stone to get the u.s.a. Away from its two party political system....... The problem with u.s.a. Politic's is your either rep or dem or your vote dont matter...... Hopefully, it will change in the future, i think the tea party are good guys at heart, who have the countries best interests at heart, but sometimes they come across either strange or scary..... As they try and appeal to most people, i would say they are pretty socialist yet still republican......

Anonymous · Answer

TEA Partiers are typically the most extreme members of the Republican party, and far and away adhere to the Reagan ideal as it's been distorted by radio talk hosts. This includes a prominent role for religion, particularly evangelical Christianity, in political discourse and policies, as well as reduced social programs and increased defense/military spending. Libertarians only agree with the reduced social program part of the platform. Most take the "live and let live" line of thought on social issues. Gay rights, abortion, marijuana, and more tend to be much more in line with the Democratic platform. Also, most libertarians view extensive law enforcement and a standing army as a threat to liberty, and so typically support a shift away from federal law enforcement and surveillance and a smaller military in favor of state/local police and national guard/reservist/militia models of military readiness. Libertarians are really the bastard children of politics. No one really likes them because they don't neatly identify with any dominant ideology, but they're becoming more developed and prominent as time goes on, typically drawing from the Republican party's members who are... turned off by the Republican social platform.

? · Answer

The best answer I can give is this... The original Tea Party when it formed was about taxes. Revenues, spending cuts..etc. This is not a bad thing.

Once the party gained momentum (thanks in no small part to Fox News), it was hijacked by those with more of a social regressive stance and disguised as spending cuts. Litmus tests were put in place for very solid candidates / incumbents. Failing even the tiniest little detail meant you were getting primaried.

This stance is still continuing today and is more authoritarian than any party in history. The "My Way or the Highway!" stance is proving it's failure in government though and the more moderate Republicans are trying to shake free from the influence.

As an Independent, I've always felt like the best solution is somewhere in the middle (Once you wade through the partisan rhetoric)

? · Answer

Let's leave opinion out of it and count some of the ways you are FACTUALLY wrong:
> Communist and fascist are both "flavors" of socialist. 
> No one has yet seen "the TEA party" suggest even a trivial relationship between their faith and the law - unless you dishonestly and intolerantly see ALLOWING religious people to hold positions as an "authoritarian" idea.
> You are personally unaware of ANY WAY your day has ever been balked by "TEA party type" law.
> Likewise, you know you have never - ever - had a day without encountering LIBERALS' CONTROLS.
> Following your link (most of which you redundantly copied) one needn't go beyond the TITLE for the first LIE. (Except in the title, there isn't even any CLAIM that actual data exists - becasue it doesn't.)

gcbtrading · Answer

The left desperately wants to depict the Tea Party as something it isn't, to deflect those who might align themselves with it if they understood what it is really about.
The Tea Party is about fiscal responsibility from government....period.
A view shared by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Agnostics and Atheists alike.

Of course, you use the tactic "As anyone with half a brain knows..." to lure in those who probably don't have half a brain. Which is what makes up the base of the Tea Party detractors.

The Tea Party is made up of concerned citizens with a myriad of views on unrelated issues.
Do Pro choice advocates want fiscal responsible behavior from government? Certainly some do, just as certainly as some pro life advocates do.
Are there fiscally responsible gays? Well of course there are.
Are there loathsome racists who think the government is bloated and spending out of control? Yes. 
Does that make the Tea Party racist?  No more than calling blue eyed  people serial killers.

Anonymous · Answer

Authoritarian

Ari · Answer

Libertarian.

? · Answer

Neither.

The Tea Party are as crazy as a box of frogs.

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Tea Party, Authoritarian or Libertarian?

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