Topic: Who’s Afraid of a Free Society?

[Ray B.]

All right, thanks for the good words, but let's stop taking our hat off to each other, fellows, it will get people wondering.

I find your answer to American Exceptionalism a good reminder, MG. For the last twenty years maybe, I paid less attention to what was happening in my own country and turned my gaze more and more towards any other place. Citizen of the world suits me.

And, by the way, even if Americans are often rightly criticized  for seeing the oher continents like through a mist -you know, Europe like a place with princesses and castles, Africa like a nice destination for lion hunting, etc - we Europeans shouldn't be in such a hurry to teach you lessons in curiosity: As I thought that what happens in Wisconsin is important (and reflects the ideas of many European politicians too), I searched the french newspaper, and I couldn't find a single line about it...

[Ultra]

The "Tea Party" has no literal meaning because there is no one organization that can be called the tea party.  The Ron Paul internet money bomb and a tax protest are generally credited with creating the Tea Party movement.  The Tea Party can basically be thought of as a grassroots attempt at forming a coalition of people who want to reduce the size and power of government.

The neo-cons are the establishment, imperial republicans who wish to project American economic and military might overseas as well as increase the size and scope of government at home.  There are many elements within this power structure attempting to co-opt the grassroots Tea-partiers in order to neutralize the less-government agenda.

Libertarians fall into two basic groups

The "inside the beltway" types who claim to wish to further the goals of liberty by working within the halls of power.  They are represented by the likes of Cato and are often funded and controlled by folks who are comfortable within establishment republican corporatism.

The outside the beltway libertarians are the ones who completely reject the use of power not specifically prescribed by the constitution.  They are best represented by Rep. Ron Paul and the folks at www.Mises.org .   I consider myself fitting in well with this group.

[MG]

but let's stop taking our hat off to each other, fellows, it will get people wondering

AHAHAHAHAHAH!   

You are a keen observer of the human condition, Ray.    There is a well known saying that goes like this: 

What you don't know won't hurt you as much as what you DO know that ain't true.

  In other words, most of we we say we know are merely assumptions based upon what we have heard and read. Or been told to hear and read.

For instance, Americans love to mock the French for being, in the words of Bart Simpson, "cheese eating surrender monkeys". Germans are all cold and calculating. Greeks are specialists in anal sex. Arabs are all terrorists who have now been dubbed in American popular culture as little more than lowly "sand niggers". The Irish are all incorrigible drunkards. And so forth and so on.

All of us needs to open our eyes and recognize the ways in which we are all similar rather than focusing on the things that separate us into clans. Our governments thrive on highlighting the differences between us. We The People need to learn how to stand up to our governments and tell them all to go shit in their hats and pull it down over their ears!   

I would gladly do this, if I didn't know that doing so here it the Land Of The Free would get me arrested as a suspected terrorist and shipped off via private CIA jet to Jerkajerkastan for a close encounter with a cattle prod......

[Otto Puzzell]

Bart didn't say that about the French. Groundskeeper Willie said it to classroom full of America students, when he was a fill-in French language instructor.

[DeAutogids]

Not only carnut, but Simpson connoisseur as well?

[Otto Puzzell]

 

Don't forget music.

[MG]

I sit corrected!   

[Ray B.]

Thanks to Ultra for his answer to my questions and the clear definitions of neo-cons, tea party and libertarians. Sure, we in Europe had also heard that the said "party " was no real political party, and was to be understood more like in the Boston "surprise party".
Besides this, I will say that:

If the Koch brothers are neo-cons, and have financed the tea party movement, which was largely influenced by Ron Paul's ideas, Ron Paul being a libertarian... it would mean that, if the differences between  those three movements may be thicker than I believed, at times they certainly seem to share common interests.

But I still have to study those two breeds of libertarians that you mention, Charlie before I close the question.