Don't listen to Dick Morris.
Americans are rejecting Democrats today not because the people are embracing libertarianism, but because they are rejecting socialism.
But Dick Morris, the guy who gave us Bill Clinton, is telling us something different – something radically different.
He writes in the National Review: "The libertarian strain in the American electorate has long been neglected by the mainstream media. But, through the tea party, it has gained ascendancy on the right. Those who want the government to stay out of both boardrooms and bedrooms have come to dominate the party and its nominating process."
But Dick Morris is not telling you the whole story.
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Yes, there are some elements of the tea-party movement fixated on "economic" issue exclusively. Yes, there is a well-funded effort by some groups, such as the misnamed "Freedomworks," to strictly limit tea-party activism to "economic" issues. Yes, this facet of the tea-party movement gets all the media attention.
However, there are other facts getting buried.
Did you know, for instance, that every single tea-party candidate for the House of Representatives is pro-life?
Not 80 percent. Not 90 percent – 100 percent.
That's the side of the tea-party movement that is being overlooked – intentionally, I believe, because of a concerted effort to constrain the people who are on the verge of radically shaking up this country.
They understand you cannot fix America's fundamental root problems with purely economic solutions. And, by the way, that's not what libertarians actually prescribe. Many libertarians actually share a radical social agenda with the left. They're fine with same-sex marriage. They're fine with abortion on demand. They're fine with eliminating any vestige of biblical morality from the public square.
How long do you think America will last with that agenda?
That is a major point of my book, "The Tea Party Manifesto," which stands in stark contrast in every imaginable way to another book, written by Dick Armey of Freedomworks, "Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto."
Read them both. Compare and contrast the visions. Which do you think more accurately reflects the motivations and mission of the millions who have been mobilized under the banner of the tea-party movement?
I don't just want to see short-term victory in November.
I want to see a movement that sweeps across this country in the form of a new kind of eternal vigilance – the kind our forefathers prescribed for a healthy constitutional republic.
I don't just want to see taxes cut and debt reduced. I want to see Americans learn, once again, to govern themselves.
I don't just want to see today's rascals thrown out. I want to see Americans learn discernment to keep the new rascals accountable – in 2011, 2012 and beyond.
I don't just want to see us roll back Obamacare. I want to see Americans demand that every bill passed by Congress in the future takes into account the limits on its power under the Constitution.
I don't just want to see Americans go home after Election Day smug and satisfied that they did their part to restore freedom. I want to see Americans learn that the fight for freedom, morality and justice is a never-ending fight.
Don't get me wrong. Dick Morris and I both want to see a big election victory for Republicans in November. Dick Armey and I both want to see a big election victory for Republicans in November. But I'm looking way beyond November right now. Our work doesn't end on Election Day. That's just the beginning of the process of Taking America Back.
One last thought: America's founders were not libertarians. Furthermore, there has never been a successful, righteous political movement in the history of the world based on economics alone – no matter whether it was a free-market movement or a socialist one.
Let's remember what made this country great. It wasn't just free enterprise. The values that made it great far transcended economics. And that's the kind of movement we need today to restore America's greatness.