The impact of the Tea Party on American politics is already being compared to the polarisation caused by Barry Goldwater whose 1964 Presidential candidacy gave Lyndon Johnston's one of the most lopsided victories in American Presidential history.

Still Goldwater gave the Republicans a sharper conservative edge. Beginning in 1968 the Republicans won five of the next six Presidential elections three of them under Ronald Reagan's banner (George Bush the elder having been Reagan's Vice-President) who gained national prominence by delivering a speech supporting Goldwater.

http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/MichaelRamirez

The other model for the impact of the Tea Party is the Canadian version.

Preston Manning's Reform Party.  That history is not so pretty.

A few articles on the potential impact of the Tea Party on American politics including one that considers its Canadian predecessor.

Also immigration in Sweden and Britain, how the Pope's visit to the United Kingdom is raising important issues about liberty and religious freedom, the inherent contradiction in the United Nations' Millennium Goals, serious psychiatric advice for the Federal Reserve, interesting articles on the Ukraine, Russia, and the false hopes of currency revaluation.

And goodbye to Liberace, the happy side of the Great Recession.

Looking north to think about the Tea Party.

Before anyone ever heard of the Tea Party movement, there was a grass-roots conservative group from out West that shook up the political status quo.   http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/25/tea.party.canada.reformers/index.html

Related.

The Reform Party of Canada was a Western-based political party that grew out of a coalition of discontented Western interest groups. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006737

Brooks and Shields on PBS Newshour discussing the political impact of the Tea Party on the 2010 mid-terms and beyond. Brooks as usual nails it when he makes the point that in general Tea Partiers are against Big Government but have not said how they would cut spending particularly on the military and health entitlements.

Brooks and Shields  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec10/shieldsbrooks_09-17.html

Maureen Dowd on Tea Party fantasies.

Christine O’Donnell is in a fantasy world. Literally.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/opinion/19dowd.html?ref=tea_party_movement

Peggy Noonan on why the Tea Party matters. A third national Party.

This fact marks our political age: The pendulum is swinging faster and in shorter arcs than it ever has in our lifetimes. Few foresaw the earthquake of 2008 in 2006. No board-certified political professional predicted, on Election Day 2008, what happened in 2009-10 (New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts) and has been happening, and will happen, since then. It all moves so quickly now, it all turns on a dime.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575496221482123504.html?mod=rss_opinion_main

Republicans not happy.

In the days leading up to the Delaware primary, Sal Russo hosted a radio fund-raiser, organized a political rally and pressed the case with reporters that Christine O’Donnell was the Tea Party’s choice for the United States Senate. He also set off what he calls a “money bomb,” pouring at least $250,000 into television and other advertisements promoting the little-known candidate.   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/us/politics/19russo.html?ref=todayspaper

Colin Powell, a thoughtful Republican, is interviewed on Meet The Press about the impact of the Tea Party.

What does Colin Powell think about the direction and future of the Republican Party and the role of the Tea Party this election year?    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/

A pretty typical view from the outside. America we thought we knew ya.

What on earth is going on?  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-has-america-gone-mad-2083294.html

How Sarah Palin made it possible for woman to win the Presidency. I am woman.

On the morning of Aug. 29, 2008, Denver was swarming with journalists covering the Democratic National Convention.   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/books/review/Schillinger-t.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fpolitics%2Findex.jsonp

Unemployment in the United States is fueling anti-immigration rhetoric. In Europe it is probably some of that, and a lot of us and them. (ed's note: 'nej' means 'no' in Swedish).

A Swedish anti-immigrant party is expected to win its first-ever parliamentary seats in the country's election on Sunday, in the latest example of rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858304575497911274917320.html?mod=ITP_pageone_2

In Britain a Conservative politician reminds anyone who will listen, London needs people from away with rules for entry.

Labour's open door policy was a disaster, but the Coalition is deterring people we need, says Boris Johnson .  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/7999064/Britain-needs-immigrants-but-it-also-needs-tough-border-controls.html

Now that the atheists and Catholics have had their say on the Pope's visit -- the latter much more civilized than the former -- the real debate is about liberty and religious freedom. Stand up for tolerance.

Supposed liberals can sometimes be both illiberal and selective about opinions with which they do not agree. Many readers of this newspaper will not agree with the Pope's teaching on contraception, abortion, equal rights for women and gay people, or transubstantiation.  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-lets-hear-it-for-tolerance-2083261.html

On being secular.

Secularism is unfairly characterised and attacked by religious leaders as a way of seeking to protect their privileges.     http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/18/secularist-manifesto-secularism

Gwynee Dyer reminds us that elevating the billions of people in poverty to something better will based on the current rate of consumption destroy the planet. The United Nations' conflicting goals. Oh, unless the populations in the high income countries change the impact of their consumption on the planet. Thanks to Tony for sending in this.

“I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.” It may have been Ella Fitzgerald who first said that, or maybe it was Sophie Tucker. Doesn’t matter. It’s true, other things being equal—but “other things” are not equal.  http://www.straight.com/article-346661/vancouver/gwynne-dyer-assessing-united-nations-millennium-development-goals-10-years-later

Related.

Quantitative easy and a happy face is the advice of this economics professor. Hmmm things are bad.

REMEMBER the song “Put On a Happy Face”? Just smile, it says, and you’ll “spread sunshine all over the place,” even if you don’t start out feeling very happy yourself.   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/business/economy/19view.html?adxnnl=1&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1284897674-xin23Zqe4VvsWRVJOJXkzw

The Economist points out that inflation expectations are falling. This is what the Fed is looking at. So should you.

THE Federal Open Market Committee will meet next week to discuss new policy moves.  http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2010/09/inflation

 

Europe is Venus and the Ukraine is living in a Martian world.

The world's center of gravity is heading eastward so fast that we Europeans can almost feel the ground moving beneath our feet. Because almost all major actors on the international stage are redefining their roles in response to this tectonic shift, Europe must do the same. So it is right that the EU Council of Ministers is meeting to grapple with this challenge.   http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/eo20100919a1.html

 

All countries have history they have to shed if they are going to advance. Russia's is the legacy of autocracy. 

Russia is said by many to lack a “civil society.” But it partly makes up for this by having a rather interesting public sphere, in which serious topics do get debated, and where glimpses of the great are not entirely confined to televised snippets.   http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/skidelsky33/English

Some questions and answers on the wisdom of pushing China to increase the value of its currency. 

Say there was a way to create a half-million American jobs over the next two years without adding a dime to the debt or deficit. And say it would also revive moribund Rust Belt factories, reduce the country’s gaping trade deficit and help stabilize the international economic system.   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/weekinreview/19chan.html?ref=world

I am pretty sure that none of the smart young people who work at Pepper's in Victoria have ever heard of Liberace. They probably won't miss the closing of the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas. The bright side of the Great Recession.

Bill Holt was gawking.   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18liberace.html?src=me&ref=general

 

 America's gift to music  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dioRwB4RvrQ&feature=related complete with the all you can eat buffet.