Was the Tea Party Really the Problem?

Mainstream (heavily liberal) media and the liberal pundits are furious at the Tea Party House members who, in the end, forced the administration to agree to (a token) cut in spending. They have been described as terrorists, extortionists, petulant children, wild-eyed extremists, and the like. But are they?

The Tea Party caucus in the House is about 60 members, who were elected in competitive elections by voters who approved of their message, which was that we as a nation can't continue to go deeper in debt. So in fact they are doing just what they are supposed to do - represent those who elected them.

The issue on which they were so stubborn was the size of the debt. They think that a nation cannot continue to function if it is borrowing almost half of what it spends each year, however laudable the programs it is trying to support. That seems to me a perfectly reasonable position. Indeed, it seems far more reasonable than the liberal position that we ought to keep going into debt, and in fact ought to even increase the rate at which we are going in to debt -- which is what the President's last budget proposed.

So despite the loud and vicious liberal attacks on them, I think the Tea Party members are doing just what they were sent to Congress to do, and just what needs to be done for the long-term health of the nation. Yes, some of them have non-mainstream views on other subjects, like abortion or climate change. Yes, some of them are pretty outspoken. Yes, most of them aren't interested in playing the Washington game of "go along to get along". But on this issue, I think they are right, and I think they have done an admirable job of sticking to their guns.

I don't think the Tea Party members were the fundamental problem in this debt fight. I think the fundamental problem was that liberals are still in full-fledged denial about the debt problem. They are still arguing for yet more deficit spending, and they are unwilling to acknowledge that their beloved entitlement programs - especially Medicare - face a looming fiscal crisis and are simply unsustainable. The issue isn't really whether government is good or not -- the issue is what government services can we afford and what services are we willing to pay the full price for.