In what way is the Tea Party a Culturist movment? What are the culturist implications of the Tea Party? The answers circle around the concept of self-governance.
Culturism holds that the traditional majority culture has the right to define, promote, and protect themselves. This is self-governance as the Founding Fathers meant it, as a community.
On the largest scale, culturism advocates self-governance for the West. Islamic nations realize they have a majority culture and have culturist policy. So do Asian cultures. In fact, that is the norm throughout the world and time. The world is not getting more diverse, the West is. Only the West has given up the culturist right to self-definition in the name of multiculturalism, globalism, and individualism.
The West has a core culture. And, more than any other culture, it is based on the concept of self-governance. If you ask Americans to describe their nation, what makes it special, they will reply, “It is a democracy.” The Greeks invented democracy, the Roman republic is a golden age. The Middle Ages, in part, get called the Dark Ages because people were not encouraged to lend their minds to rationally guiding their individual and collective fates.
Islamic cultures pride themselves on fidelity to their theocratic strictures. Democracy, free speech, the separation of church and state, feminism, are not their values. China has neither free speech, freedom of religion, or democracy. That is not their value. Just as they have a right to keep people out that do not have their values, we have a right to do the same. The multiculturalists say we have no core culture. The values they identify as “human” values are really just western values.
Within the American Federalist system, States and localities have the right to self-governance. This right has been attacked by the Federal government. Whether you favor or oppose abortion, for example, you should recognize that when the Supreme Court decides nationally, it takes away a reason for you to participate locally. By definition, whatever is decided in Washington DC is not decided in your State or locality. Smaller government means more participatory democracy, more self-governance.
Culturism also gets undermined by a radical rights-based individualist framework. In modern America, no traditional majority culture can protect, define and promote itself without the ACLU saying it makes an individual uncomfortable. This undermines communities’ ability to exist and guide themselves. Individuals exist within the context of cultures. To smash individual rights would go against the tenure of western civilization. But, communities and traditions cannot be kept from existing because one individual might have his feelings hurt.
Finally, self-governance means that individuals govern themselves. To do so sustainably, they must think about responsibility. Negatively, when the government takes care of you it removes your motivation to be responsible. Positively, we should behave with an eye to vindicating the western culture that believes in our ability to decide what we wish to do for ourselves. Thus the Tea Party’s call for smaller government supports the western value of liberty through responsibility.
The Tea Party ideal of self-governance is not only theoretical. If the West falls, self-governance will cease to exist. Militarism can take over. Neither Islam nor China will fight for our rights to self-governance. The Federal government has shown itself incapable of self-governance. It has nearly bankrupted all of us. Local communities without the right to set standards end up riddled with anti-social behavior. And individuals that are not self-governing, are not truly free. The Tea Party needs to stand for self-governance at the local level or the West will fall.
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