The tea baggers got Bob Bennet's scalp - they are on a roll. Or are they?

Three term Utah Senator Bob Bennet lost his bid for renomination to the Senate seat he has occupied for nearly 18 years, and which his father before him also held for three terms. Does that mean the Tea Baggers are growing in power?

Utah is a bad test. As the Christian Science Monitor points out, yesterday's vote for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat was conducted by 3400 delegates to a Republican convention. These are the purest of the pure hardline Republicans in the most conservative state in the union. Those delegates were chosen specifically because they were the most hardline conservatives in the conservative bastion we call the state of Utah.

That suggests that if there is any state in the union that the purist antics of the tea baggers is unlikely to split or even severely weaken the Republican party, that state is Utah. But they are also going to provide an example to the rest of the nation just how right-wing the tea baggers really are.

Here, from the recently adopted Republican Party Platform of the state of Maine, we get an example of just how far out in la-la land these people really are.

How nutty are they? Here's a few of their proposals.

I. To Form a More perfect Union

• a. All legislation must adhere to the restrictions outlined in the Constitution to protect the individual from intrusive government.
• b. Direct the State of Maine to join with other states in asserting our 10th amendment sovereignty rights which protect us from unconstitutional federal government intrusions.
• c. Insist on strict adherence to our 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms.
• d. Pass a “Read the Bill” act, to insure clarity, and eliminate the corruption associated with side issues, earmarks, pork or riders.
• e. Oppose “Localism and Diversity”, the Fairness Doctrine or whatever else such attempted restrictions are labeled. Any restriction on speech is by definition NOT free speech.
• f. Reject the Employee free -choice Elimination- act, as an unconscionable affront to the right to a secret vote.
• g. Restore integrity to the electoral process:

• i. Prohibit any public funding of advocacy groups such as ACORN, no matter what it or its affiliate organizations rename themselves; New York Communities for Change, New England United for Justice etc.; Conduct thorough investigation of their activities and voter fraud and prosecute violations.
• ii .Eliminate motor voter and other voter fraud mechanisms; institute secure voter registration and identification systems.
• iii. Reject any effort to give foreign citizens the right to vote in the US in any situation or capacity.

• h.Oppose any and all treaties with the UN or any other organization or country which surrenders US sovereignty. Specifically:
• i. Reject the UN Treaty on Rights of the Child.
• ii. Reject “LOST” the Law Of The Sea Treaty.
• iii. Reject any agreement which seeks to confiscate our firearms.
• i. Restore the process of assimilation of immigrants to preserve the benefits of an advanced educated and prosperous society. Rescind Maine’s sanctuary State status. No amnesty, no benefits, no citizenship -ever- for anyone in the country illegally. Arrest and detain, for a specified period of time, anyone here illegally, and then deport, period.
• j. Pass a Congressional reform act which includes the following provisions:
• i. Term Limits: 12 years only, in any capacity.
• 1.Two Six year Senate terms
• 2.Six Two year House terms
• 3.One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms
• ii. No Pension
• iii. Congress participates in Social Security under the same rules as the general public.
• iv. Congress can no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
• v. Congress participates in the same health care plan as the general public. No preferential plans or treatment.
• vi.Congress is subject to and must abide by all the laws they impose on the general public.

II. To Establish Justice:

• a. Restore “Constitutional law” as the basis for the Judiciary.
• b. Reassert the principle that “Freedom of Religion” does not mean “freedom from religion”.

III. To Insure Domestic tranquility:

• a. Promote family values.
• i. Marriage is an institution between a man and a woman.
• ii. Parents, not government, are responsible for making decisions in the best interest of their children, whether disciplinary, educational, or medical.
• iii. We recognize the sanctity of life, which includes the unborn.

IV. To Provide for the Common Defense:

• a. Discard political correctness, make public the declaration of war (Jihad), made against the US on 23 Feb 1998, and fight the war against the United States by radical Islam to win.
• b. Seal the border and protect US citizens along the border and everywhere, as is the prime directive of the Federal Government.

V. To Promote the General Welfare:

• a. Return to the principles of Austrian Economics, and redirect the economy back to one of incentives to save and invest.
• b. Cut spending, balance the budget, and institute a plan for paying down debt. Proclaim that generational debt shifting is immoral and unconscionable and will not be tolerated!
• c. Pass and implement Fed bill #1207 (Introduced by Ron Paul), to Audit the Federal Reserve, as the first step in Ending the Fed.
• d. Return to transparent and honest reporting of economic statistics free of gimmicks and distortions.
• e. Require the government and all its agencies adhere to the same GAAP accounting rules that businesses must follow.
• f. Restore the provisions of welfare reform removed with the stimulus bill.
• g. Defeat Cap and Trade, investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth, and prosecute any illegal collusion.
• h. Freeze current stimulus funds, prohibit any further stimulus bills, and apply all unspent funds towards the debt they created.
• i. Promote energy independence aggressively by removing the obstacles created by government to allow private development of our resources; natural gas, oil, coal, and nuclear power.
• j. Institute Zero based budgeting on all programs.
• k. Espouse and follow the principle: It is immoral to steal the property rightfully earned by one person, and give it to another who has no claim or right to its benefits.
• l. Clarify that healthcare is not a right. It is a service. As a compassionate society we will aid those in need. However, the government takeover of healthcare is not only unconstitutional, but detrimental to the entire healthcare system. Only market based solutions will solve the problems.
• i. In the state of Maine:
• 1. Remove the restrictions on health providers, (as was done in New Hampshire), to increase competition, drive down the costs, and increase the options available.
• a. Bring Maine standards in line with national average.
• b. Allow purchase of insurance across state lines. LD 290
• c. Enact tort reform as exemplified by Texas.
• d. Eliminate Dirigo

VI. To Secure the Blessings of Liberty:

• a. Restore a vigorous grounding in the history and precepts of liberty, freedom, and the constitution to the educational process. As Thomas Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
• i. Eliminate the Department of Education and restore schools to local control as specified in the constitution.
• b. Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government.

The state Republican Party platform in Texas from two years ago matches the current one from Maine in idiocy. Here is a link to the 2008 Texas Republican Party Platform. (In .pdf format.)

I can understand that the conservatives think they should be the government, and if they aren't no one else should be either. This is a combination of the libertarian ideas of no government other than the military and police, with no social or economic regulation at all. That puts the wealthy oligarchs into control since the only effective power in the absence of normal government operations to keep the economy on an even keel and no social regulations at all. That means back to Segregation until some of the wealthy realize that slavery can also be returned with no difficulty under these circumstances. Naturally, women become second-class beings (not citizens, just beings) and homosexuals become an actively despised and oppressed minority.

The end result if these ideas were put into practice and left there for any period of time would be that America would become a non-existent nation just as Somalia has been for the last two decades. Instead of a single nation it would be ruled by a few warlords based in major cities. The economy would of course totally collapse, with the survivors fighting to get accepted into one of the militias that keep the local warlords in power.

Long before the worst of those predictions come to pass there will be another civil war to remove the conservatives from power.

That's not an effort to move back to the better days of the past. That's an effort to create a fantasy land that has never existed and never can.