Do they exist?
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Do they exist?
What do you mean by First-World? That tended to mean NATO and friends. Do you mean politically or financially?
If old definition: the US seems to be sadly fairly close. Israel is the other.
If financial do we mean G20 or Per Capita income?
If G20 then China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all qualify.
I'm looking for places with a generally high standard of living (considering the whole country, not just the urban/wealthy areas), long lifespans, high literacy/education, good per capita income.
And to be clear, I don't mean countries that have people who have Tea Party ideals, I mean countries actually running under a system of government and economics that works on those ideals.
So Israel and US still qualify. US is a borderline case. Turkey would seem to but I would need to double check.
Saudi Arabia pretty much counts too and is way past Tea-Bagger insanity.
Please note, the common factor is religion ruins good countries.
What are the tea party ideals?
Fresh scones and hot water.
Uh, really, they are hard to pin down entirely because it's a pretty lame, disorganized movement. But this is a list from TeaParty.Org:
And apparently this, too: http://www.thecontract.org/the-contract-from-america/Quote:
Non-negotiable core beliefs
Illegal Aliens Are Here illegally.
Pro-Domestic Employment Is Indispensable.
Stronger Military Is Essential.
Special Interests Eliminated.
Gun Ownership Is Sacred.
Government Must Be Downsized.
National Budget Must Be Balanced.
Deficit Spending Will End.
Bail-out And Stimulus Plans Are Illegal.
Reduce Personal Income Taxes A Must.
Reduce Business Income Taxes Is Mandatory.
Political Offices Available To Average Citizens.
Intrusive Government Stopped.
English As Core Language Is Required.
Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged.
Common Sense Constitutional
Conservative Self-Governance
Redundant position is redundant.Quote:
Illegal Aliens Are Here illegally.
But....Quote:
Stronger Military Is Essential.
Now, who's got the plan for how we're going to pay for this beefed up military?Quote:
Reduce Personal Income Taxes A Must.
Reduce Business Income Taxes Is Mandatory.
Like beauty queens who become mayors who become governors who become VP candidates and reality TV stars.Quote:
Political Offices Available To Average Citizens.
Except...Quote:
Intrusive Government Stopped.
So, they want their free and tiny government to intrude on us non-traditionals, just not the people whose lifestyles they agree with.Quote:
Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged.
No-one ever said that the Tea Party had a sensible set of conditions.
Normally, they seem to be anti-everything especially big government without really saying or thinking through (now there's an oxymoron for them, if ever there was one) what they would put in its place.
Of course, if you say that Gun Owners are a special interest group, the elimination of them takes a really shady turn.
Answering the OP, I think the answer is no seeing as most countries don't have English as a core language.
Even changing it to the local language as Core Language is required doesn't really help. Mainly because most places have a much larger and intusive government (as according to the Tea Party rules).
See, that's what I thought.
I was have a discussion some people who think that a Tea Party takeover and the changes in government and economy that would follow are the only things that would save the US from total collapse. I asked them to provide me a working model, and no one could.
But, if they're anything like my coworkers with Tea Party sympathies, they'll be really quick to tell you that the fact that something works rather well in many other countries is meaningless in an argument as to whether or not similar things should be implemented in the US.Quote:
Originally posted by RabbitMage
As someone not too far where the ACTUAL tea party happened I'm annoyed that they are co-opting what we have owned for so many years in our CONSISTENTLY LIBERAL COUNTIES.
But I find it typical that the 'tea party' persons would co-opt something they don't fully understand from a section of the country that is opposite of their ideals possibly one might say because of that legacy.
Personally, i don't think any stable country could have tea party ideals since they really don't make any sense.
I wonder if the Republicans are hoping they can train the better Tea-Party candidates to be proper Republicans and still keep the fan base for the next set of elections.
The problem as I see it for them is that only Sarah Palin is making a name for herself, where are all the other notable Republicans with an eye on 2012?
Does Rand Paul count? I can't remember if he ran as a Republican or not and I don't care enough to go look it up.
Working for Fox News? From what I can tell, Huckabee's still making noises, and I've heard a couple of other names dropped, but I don't remember who.Quote:
Originally posted by CatInASuit
I'm not sure if he claimed to be a Republican, but I heard a bit about him from my family in Kentucky. His opponent was a Democrat, and there were (as far as I know) just the two of them on the ballot, so he may as well have been.Quote:
Originally posted by RabbitMage
Quote:
Originally posted by RabbitMage
Okay. His official site refers to him as a "lifelong Republican."Quote:
Originally posted by Marsilia