Congressional Conservative Tea Party Poopers

Will "tea party" supported Legislators make a Conscious Conservative difference?  I have examined Senators Ron Johnson,  Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Jim DeMint, Jerry Moran, Patrick Toomey and Tom Coburn in earlier posts.  What I have seen is not encouraging.  There is not the number, seniority or commitment necessary to continue anything but legislative business as usual.  There appear to be only eight Senators that are regularly identified as "Tea Party" Senators.  Only four of those have Conscious Conservative leanings and one of those has already began to distance himself from the movement.  29 House members joined the House Tea Party Caucus.  It is unsure how many of these can truly be considered a Conscious Conservative.

Of the eight "Tea Party" Senators, Rand Paul (KY), Jim DeMint (SC), and Mike Lee (UT) appear to be Conscious Conservatives, strongly in favor of smaller government and individual rights.  Ron Johnson (WI) appears to be A Conscious Conservative, but has started distancing himself from the others by not joining the Senate Tea Party Caucus.  Jerry Moran (KS)  joined the Caucus, but appears to lean Unconscious Conservative or even Socialist/Liberal compared to the other members.  Marco Rubio (FL), Patrick Toomey (PA) and Tom Coburn (OK) all seem to be Unconscious Conservatives with Rubio leaning slightly Conscious Conservative and Toomey/Coburn leaning slightly Socialist/Liberal.

Similar results are expected from the 29 members of the House Tea Party Caucus.  One of the members, Mike Pence (IN), brags on his web site about helping to write the Patriot Act.  Michele Bachman (MN), a Tea Party Caucus Leader, states that the Patriot Act should be extended.  The Patriot Act is one of the most egregious laws ever written from the viewpoint of small government and Conscious Conservatism.
One or more of several factors must exist for making a real Conscious Conservative change in the legislative process.  Eight of 100 Senators and 29 of 435 Congress members are not enough to push an agenda.  This might be overcome if some Members were committed Senior Members and Committee Chairs.  That isn't happening.  A final chance for a Conscious Conservative change would be if  all Tea Party supported Legislators were staunchly Conscious Conservative.  That isn't happening, either.  Many are either Unconscious Conservative or Socialist/Liberal "RINO's" that jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon for votes and will ride it until they get kicked off or find more luxurious transportation. 

I began writing this series of articles before the current legislative session started.  Now that it has started, I find what I had worried about all along.  Republicans and Democrats are playing the old "he said," "she said" game while spending away the childrens' futures.  Unconscious Conservative Republicans are crowing about some grain of sand on the beach earmark they've been able to cut and pretending that they are protecting America.  Although the Tea Party movement sounds good in theory, in practice there are too many Party Poopers.

Conservative or Liberal? Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma

 

I have been examining if the "Tea Party" supported candidates will make a Conscious Conservative difference once they enter office.  So far, I have examined Senators Ron Johnson,  Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Jim DeMint, Jerry Moran and PatToomey. 

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma chose not to attend the Senate Tea Party Caucus meeting and appears like he may be distancing himself from the Tea Party movement.  However, he did appear to have some Tea Party support during the 2010 election.  Let's see how he looks from a Conscious Conservative perspective.

Senator Coburn has served both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, which gives him a record to examine.  According to http://www.govtrack.us/, Senator Coburn is a "far-right Republican" and appears to be much more conservative than other Senators.  I looked at his record to see if there is a basis for this ranking.  A check of many of his votes on http://www.ontheissues.org/ reveals that he voted along standard Republican lines.  He appears to lean Conscious Conservative on many economic issues, voting for lower federal deficits and against bailouts.  However, he did vote for TARP when it was a Republican bill, which makes his credentials suspect.  He appears to lean Liberal/Socialist on social issues, voting to let the government interfere with what happens in businesses, schools, medical offices and homes across the country.

   It appears that Senator Coburn will do little to lean the Senate in a Conscious Conservative direction.  There may be some hope if he is influenced by others with a more Conscious Conservative bent but since he is senior to many of these individuals, there is little hope.

Conservative Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas?

 I have been examining if the "Tea Party" supported candidates will make a Conscious Conservative difference once they enter office.  So far, I have examined Senators Ron Johnson,  Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Jim DeMint and PatToomey. 

Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas chose to attend the Senate Tea Party Caucus meeting held recently.  Let's see how he looks from a Conscious Conservative perspective.

Like Senator Toomey, Senator Moran has served in the House of Representatives, which gives him a record to examine.  According to http://www.govtrack.us/, Senator Moran is a "rank-and-file Republican" who actually appears to be centrist compared to other Senators.  In this world of Spin Doctors and right is left, I looked at his record to see if there is a basis for this ranking.  A check of many of his votes on http://www.ontheissues.org/ reveals that he voted along standard Republican lines.  He showed the peculiar republican form of schizophrenia by voting to retrict the rights of common people, but voting yes to support corporations.  He appears to lean Liberal/Socialist on social issues, voting to let the government interfere with what happens in businesses, schools, medical offices and homes across the country.

   It appears that Senator Moran will do little to lean the Senate in a Conscious Conservative direction.  There may be some hope if he is influenced by others with a more Conscious Conservative bent.

Is Senator Patrick Toomey a Closet Liberal?

I have been examining if the new "Tea Party" supported candidates will make a Conscious Conservative difference once they enter office.  So far, I have examined Senators Ron Johnson,  Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Jim DeMint. 

But what about Patrick Toomey, the Senator from Pennsylvania?

Unlike many of the other Senators I have examined, Senator Toomey has served in the House of Representatives, which gives him a record to examine.  According to http://www.govtrack.us/, Senator Toomey is a "centrist Republican" who actually appears to lean slightly to the left compared to other Senators.  In this world of Spin Doctors and right is left, I looked at his record to see if there is a basis for this ranking.  A check of many of his votes on http://www.ontheissues.org/ reveals that he voted along standard Republican lines, leaning Conscious Conservative on economic issues like voting to support Free Trade and leaning Liberal/Socialist on social issues such as voting to ban same-sex marriage and supporting endless overseas wars.

   It appears that Pat Toomey will do little to lean the Senate in a Conscious Conservative direction on his own.  There may be some hope if he is influenced by others with a more Conscious Conservative bent.

How Conscious Conservative is Utah Senator-elect Mike Lee?

I have been examining if the new "Tea Party" supported candidates will make a Conscience Conservative difference once they enter office.  I looked first at Nikki Haley, Governor-elect of South Carolina, and determined that she appears as much a Unconscious Conservative or Liberal as she does a Conscious Conservative.  Then I examined Wisconsin's Senator-elect, Ron Johnson and found that he appears to be a Conscious Conservative with some unconscious conservative leanings.  I looked at Marco Rubio and determined that he was an Unconscious Conservative with some Conscious Conservative tendencies.  Senator-elect Rand Paul of Kentucky seemed very Conscious Conservative. 

But what about Mike Lee, the Senator-elect from Utah?



Stance:

Eliminate Departments of Education, Agriculture,
Housing and more...                                                         Conscious Conservative

Strict Interpretation of the Constitution                              Conscious Conservative

Fiscal Reform                                                                   Conscious Conservative

Re-engineering Social Security, Medicaid,Medicare          Unconscious Conservative

Mike Lee appears to be an Conscious Conservative with slight Unconscious Conservative leanings.  Depending on which alliances he has in the Senate, he might make a Conscious Conservative difference.