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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Country Party

       Estase has been observing that in many ways the current situation bears resemblance to 18th century Britain.   During the reign of Queen Anne, the Tories started to self-destruct by their open Jacobitism.  As a result, there was no longer a real Tory/Whig conflict anymore.  As someone once said, in the late eighteenth century the two parties were the Whigs and the fools.  The real conflict became one between Court Party Whigs, who tolerated expansive government, and Country Party Whigs, who did not.   Another terminology was "Real Whigs" or "Commonwealthmen," as denoting people who were old line Whigs of the type of Locke and Collins.
           The term "TEA Party" has become current in contrast to the mainstream Republicans, who basically want an economy version of the liberal agenda.   Such conservatives revile John Boehner and his accomodationist version of Republicanism, which has little to say about hot-button issues like immigration, other than a willingness to grant amnesty.  To use the language of the Elegant Eighteenth, John Boehner is a Court Party politician.  Expansive executive power bothers him not a whit.  Other than the fact that Robert Walpole was a genius with money, and John Boehner pours it out like water, John Boehner could be the reincarnation of Flimnap.  
            Many conservatives like to point out the elitism of referring to middle America as "flyover country."  How appropriate it would be to rename the TEA party the Country Party.  A counter to the unchecked power of the executive is just what the doctor ordered.

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