Well, actually no. But this is just as interesting. Tea Party members are teaming up with really liberal legislators to support the same legislation.
What is happening is that the left vs. right dichotomy is starting to break down. And a This Century vs. Last Century dichotomy is growing. Two examples:
* Tea Partier Ron Paul, congressman from Texas, has joined with liberal liberal Barney Frank of Mass. to support a trillion dollar cut in military spending. This is very This Century-ish.
* Tea Parier Rand Paul, from Kentucky, is proposing to push back social security and thus the age of retirement to age 70. This is also very This Century-ish.
I support both moves. They both respond to the new economic reality of the 21st Century.
* The issue of trains is another example. Here in Wisconsin former Republican Governor Tommy Thompson was a leader in promoting passenger trains. Republican Ray LaHood, now Transportation Secretary, also supports expanding passenger trains. But Republicans running for governor, and just about every other office in this state, oppose trains and support cars.
On the Democrat side, there is similar divisions.
The real issues are starting to become non-partisan. Even issues couched in partisan terms today, like health insurance, will be seen as nonpartisan issues in two decades.
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