2 - Limited Government
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
Summary
Much of the Constitution is concerned with setting forth the form of our government, and the courts have traditionally invalidated measures deviating from that form. The result may appear “formalistic” in a given case to partisans of the measure at issue, because such measures are typically the product of the era's perceived necessity. But the Constitution protects us from our own best intentions: It divides power among sovereigns and among branches of government precisely so that we may resist the temptation to concentrate power in one location as an expedient solution to the crisis of the day.
– New York v. United States (1992)The dominant theme of the tea party movement is its insistence on limited government. In the words of the movement's Contract from America, the movement seeks to “restore limited government consistent with the U.S. Constitution's meaning.” The most prominent examples of this principle are the Tea Party's opposition to bailouts and health-care reform, although it is also evident in the movement's support of things like a rule requiring congressional bills to cite their constitutional power source and proposed constitutional amendments to require a balanced budget, to restore federalism, and to permit states to veto federal laws.
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- The Tea PartyThree Principles, pp. 20 - 75Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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