Regardless of whether or not the Republicans take over the U.S. House of Representatives and/or the U.S. Senate, some very interesting ramifications are possible because of the present growth and insurgency of the Tea Party into the Republican Party.
Or, maybe we should just forget about all this and worry about the lives of celebrities, like normal people. I wonder what Paris Hilton...
Nah...
* It should first be noted that the Tea Party and its quite often bizarre gaggle of candidates are running in Republican primaries and intend to win as Republicans in the November election.
Question: Are they so smart as to realize that third party candidates have a snowball's chance in hell of winning? Is it to their credit if they understand this? Or, are they pretending to be sheep, obeisant to Republicans, while they are actually toothy wolves looking for an opportunity to devour hapless Republicans once and for all?
* After the 2008 election debacle for the Republicans, preceded by the dismal failure of the G.W. Bush presidency, Carl Rove's dream of a Republican hegemony obviously crashed and burned. The Republican Party and its iteration of conservatism was said to be dead.
Question: Is this what happens after death? Is the Tea Party insurgency into the Republican Party a phoenix rising from the ashes or what happens when death throes take over a movement before it goes supernova and disappears in a scattering of right wing ideologies?
* The mainstream Republican tactic since Obama took office in both the House and Senate has been to vote "no" consistently and almost in a total lock step manner.
Question: If Tea Party candidates win elections, as they most likely will in some areas, what happens to this lock step tactic? Does it disintegrate in intra-party squabbling? Does the lock step remain, but will it be pulled even farther to the right because of the "hold my breath till I turn blue" Tea Party bunch?
*Far left and far right groups have arisen in American politics throughout the past two hundred-some years. No kooky group has ever taken over a major party, at least not to my knowledge.
Question: How many election cycles will it take before the Tea Party phenomenon burns its way through American politics?
These and other questions are worth pondering while you (me?) (we?) peruse the latest article in People magazine about Paris Hilton, the Kardasians (who the hell are they?), and that Bieber kid.