An Open Letter to the Tea Party

Dear Tea Party:

We come in peace.  Normally we are pitched in total disagreement over most political issues, ranging from taxes to the role of the state in economic affairs, and so on.  Those differences probably won't be resolved in the short-term, if ever.  But, I submit that there is one cause that we can mutually support:  uniting to check TSA's new approach to traveler screening, and perhaps working to abolish the agency altogether.

It might be shocking to many Conservatives out there, but Progressives support the protection of individual liberty.  We differ in our interpretation of how liberty should be maximized, and what forces serve to undermine them, but we strongly value the rights of the individual.  Our major disagreements stem from differing views of how the economy works, so it is natural to derive divergent interpretations of the economic consequences of liberty. 

However, government intrusion into the right to privacy is largely devoid of economic interpretation.  Progressives and Conservatives alike see the common erosion of freedom at the hand of the TSA.

So my proposal is simple.  Let us unite and work to strip away the authority of TSA.  We should mobilize our separate bases to pursue the same goal.  Progressives and Tea Party Conservatives, as activists, are poised to shake up the Establishment from the Left to Right. If we do this together we can force some legislation to unravel some of the mess that is the TSA.  Who knows, maybe we'll break apart the Deparment of Homeland Security as well.

After that we never have to cooperate again.  We can resume our disagreements as long as they exist.


Sincerely,

Progressives