Anything Peaceful: The Official Blog of The Freeman
by Sheldon Richman

Tea Party Disconnect?

Posted March 17, 2010
Print This Post • 2 comments

Someone had done his homework, but it was’t Dick Armey. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reports:

A member of the [National Press Club] audience passed a question to the moderator, who read it to [Freedom Works chief Dick] Armey: How can the Federalist Papers be an inspiration for the tea party, when their principal author, Alexander Hamilton, “was widely regarded then and now as an advocate of a strong central government”?

Historian Armey was flummoxed by this new information. “Widely regarded by whom?” he challenged, suspiciously. “Today’s modern ill-informed political science professors? … I just doubt that was the case in fact about Hamilton.”

Alas, for Armey, it was the case. Hamilton favored a national bank, presidents and senators who served for life and state governors appointed by the president.

There Are 2 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Federal Farmer on 24 March 2010:

    While Alexander Hamilton was a proponent of a strong, centralized government and rejected the Republican utopia of Madison and Jefferson, he would probably pale at the sight of our state as a country- riddled with debt, ridiculous government regulation, a new health care entitlement, etc.

    And along with the national bank, life-terms, and presidential appointments of governors, we should probably add that Hamilton also favored direct government subsidies for manufacturers… Armey would probably have a heart-attack from such a revelation.

  2. Comment by David Johnson on 4 April 2010:

    The Tea Parties are followers of the idea of limited government. A concept that BOTH the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers espouse.

Post a Response