Canada needs a sip of Tea

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After reading Rand Paul?s The Tea Party Goes to Washington, you?ll wish the Tea Party was heading to Ottawa.

Since its emergence in early 2009, the unofficial gathering of small government activists known as the Tea Party has been the source of a lot of controversy. Its members have won heated election campaigns, most notably Rand Paul himself, a current Republican senator for Kentucky. This book is Paul?s account of the ragtag group?s formation as well as his campaign journey to the Senate.

The movement has been smeared, with little grounds, as the party of ?angry old white men.?

But, as Paul argues, they are a diverse group who simply believe debt is out of control and government has expanded to invade every facet of life. They follow Reagan?s pronouncement that ?government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.?

It?s no surprise many in the establishment ? Republicans and Democrats alike ? write off the Tea Party and spread lies about them. If Partiers get what they want, they?ll end the pork barrel party for everyone, regardless of political stripes.

While a lot of the book focuses on American policy, many of the philosophies apply to Canada, too.

Pork Barrel Paul recounts meeting the president of a university who said being promised special funding wasn?t his key priority, but rather balancing the books of the entire nation.

This inspired Paul that ?maybe it was time to elect someone who is not just a rubber stamp for earmarks.? The special interest group mentality encouraged by politicians in the U.S. and Canada must end.

Military Paul is a supporter of the troops but has no problem challenging expenses.

In fact he challenges the whole trillion-dollar price tag of Iraq and Afghanistan. He advocates decisive strikes ? go in, kill the enemy, get out ? but doesn?t like nation building. Curiously, his father, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, has received more donations from active servicemen than any Republican or Obama.

Similarly, in the case of Canada?s contentious fighter jets deal, Canadian fiscal conservatives shouldn?t be sheepish about demanding to see the final bill before we sign off on it.

Politicians Paul reprints pundit Ryan Lees: ?Though not the mainstream today, Rand Paul reflects a different age when professionals lent their expertise to government; when our officials were successful privately and applied their skills publicly as a civic virtue.? Both Pauls are doctors by profession.

There are too many career politicians in Canada. And because they have a stake in the political class, they all focus on self-preservation and let government grow.

The one place Paul seems inconsistent is that, while his fiscal and foreign policy values are libertarian, his social values permit the state to wade into private lives. One would think he wouldn?t care who marries whom, like Republican libertarian Gary Johnson advocates.

Endorsing these specific goals isn?t, of course, an endorsement of everything ever spoken by the Pauls. At the time of this writing, many pundits are scratching their heads about a series of newsletters written in the pre-Internet era in which Ron Paul is linked to egregious racist comments. The long-time congressman has denied authoring these statements, although many still doubt his explanation.

Now that Paul is a frontrunner, his past is facing greater scrutiny. Of these contentious facts, only time will tell.

But regardless, the Pauls? message of constitutional conservatism ? that every government decision must be conducted with a view to whether or not government should be making such decisions to begin with ? is a lesson every Canadian politician could learn from.

Here?s hoping they received a copy under their tree Christmas morning!

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Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/06/canada-needs-a-sip-of-tea

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