More on the Tea Parties

From my latest at the Center for a Stateless Society:

90% of the signs at the St. Louis Tea Party were anti-state -- "End the Fed!" "Repudiate the Debt!" "Taxes are theft!" -- and if we got 90% of what those signs asked for, we'd be 90% of the way to a stateless society.

But ... Waiter! There’s a fly in my tea!

The other 10% of signs didn't just miss the point, they skewed the message. The "secure the borders" signs. The signs advocating new tax schemes ("fair" taxes and "flat" taxes mostly). The signs accusing President Obama of cutting government expenditures on "national defense" (unfortunately, his budget proposal includes an increase in "defense" funding).

The Tea Party movement must make itself thoroughly anti-political and anti-state. Else it will be stillborn ... or end up actually fueling the growth of the state.