Kinda busy this week, getting ready for class this weekend, and all the homework that precedes class, but felt like if I’m really going to do this blog thing, I needed to get something new up, before the few followers I have drift away…

Not sure about the rest of the nation, but politics is certainly dominating the Alaska news scene. It certainly is confusing. The Republican nominee for Senate is blasting the Republican party for deficit spending; the Democratic nominee is buying Incredible Hulk ties (a la Ted Stevens), and our independent candidate is from a stalwart Republican family. Seems everybody except the incumbent is trying to make themselves over to be more conservative.

I’ve got more than a few acquaintances who are supportive of the Tea Party movement, and I understand their frustrations with the way things are. But I’m not certain that the Tea Party movement is the solution, mainly because I’ve yet to see the Tea Party offer any solutions!

Before you bombard me with responses (ok, 3 followers can’t really generate a carpet-bombing, but I can at least pretend), let me acknowledge that they are offering broad statements, but not detailed solutions. I’m sorry, but railing about cutting spending and cutting taxes, without citing which cuts, and how you’ll mitigate the impacts, isn’t offering solutions. In my humble opinion, it’s just pandering to the anger of the masses.

All this to say that I’m digging a recent op-ed piece by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Mr. Friedman likens the current “Tea Party” to a “tea kettle”, stating that all it’s really doing is letting off steam. Mr. Friedman states that the real Tea Party movement is yet to come:

Any Tea Party that says the simple answer is just shrinking government and slashing taxes might be able to tip the midterm elections in its direction. But it can’t tip America in the right direction. There is a Tea Party for that, but it’s still waiting for a leader.

I hope he’s right.