4 ms·

This is why the Tea Party wave was so devastating: not because of their ideology, but because they swept into office with little experience in policy or the top

by bsanr2 7y ago

This is why the Tea Party wave was so devastating: not because of their ideology, but because they swept into office with little experience in policy or the topics they were then appointed to committees to govern. Compare to, say, AOC: much maligned, but who sits on an economics committee and has a degree in... economics (albeit a BA). It's really, really important that our representatives have at least a modicum of knowledge, or else you get a rubber stamp machine instead of a republic.

r00fus 7y ago
The rubber-stamp nature is why those corporatists were courted (and funded) to run in the first place. When money is allowed to essentially buy elections, then a race-to-the-bottom is an obvious outcome.
pc86 7y ago
I'm no fan of them, but this paints the incorrect notion that the members of Congress in the Tea Party are a bunch of uneducated rubes and is pretty blatantly false. Current members[0] have the following degrees: * BA, Finance + MBA * BS, Journalism + JD * BS, Political Science + JD * BS, Computer Science * BA, Forestry * BA, Accounting + MPA * BA + MS (no major listed) * BA, Political Science * BA, Political Science + JD * BA (no major listed) That's only about half of them but I got tired of listing them out. Only two of current Tea Party Caucus members do not have a degree, both of them at least attended college, and one of them was actually in an honor society before leaving. My point isn't to defend them, but to point out the dichotomy one can easily reach from reading your comment (Tea Parties are farmers that can barely read, similarly or less experienced legislators on the opposite end of the spectrum are not) is false. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Caucus#List_of_current_members https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Caucus#List_of_curre...

by bsanr2 7y ago

r00fus 7y ago

The rubber-stamp nature is why those corporatists were courted (and funded) to run in the first place. When money is allowed to essentially buy elections, then a race-to-the-bottom is an obvious outcome.

pc86 7y ago

I'm no fan of them, but this paints the incorrect notion that the members of Congress in the Tea Party are a bunch of uneducated rubes and is pretty blatantly false. Current members[0] have the following degrees: * BA, Finance + MBA * BS, Journalism + JD * BS, Political Science + JD * BS, Computer Science * BA, Forestry * BA, Accounting + MPA * BA + MS (no major listed) * BA, Political Science * BA, Political Science + JD * BA (no major listed) That's only about half of them but I got tired of listing them out. Only two of current Tea Party Caucus members do not have a degree, both of them at least attended college, and one of them was actually in an honor society before leaving. My point isn't to defend them, but to point out the dichotomy one can easily reach from reading your comment (Tea Parties are farmers that can barely read, similarly or less experienced legislators on the opposite end of the spectrum are not) is false. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Caucus#List_of_current_members https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Caucus#List_of_curre...