Mahatma Gandhi

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Would Gandhi would have agreed with the Tea Party movement?

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An answer to this reveals more about the person answering than about Gandhi or the Tea Party.  Gandhi is a revered figure in human history, which means that an answer to this will be highly colored by one's own political beliefs.  A person who thinks well of the Tea Party will be more likely to see Gandhi agreeing with that movement.

Gandhi's struggle was in a completely different context than the one in which the Tea Party exists.  Gandhi was concerned with issues like basic human rights and independence.  The Tea Party is concerned with things like lower taxes and less government.  There is no close connection between the two, but neither is there a huge conflict.

If you choose to believe that the Tea Party is mainly concerned with freedom, you can argue that Gandhi would have agreed with them.  You can say the Tea Party emphasizes smaller government and lower taxes because freedom from government is a basic human right.  If you see the Tea Party in this way, you will say Gandhi would have agreed with them.

If, however, you choose to see the Tea Party as a divisive force that pits class against class and race against race, Gandhi would not have approved.  He, for example, wanted badly for India to be united regardless of differences in caste or religion.  If you see the Tea Party as a divisive force that privileges the goals of one race/class, you will say that Gandhi would have disapproved of them.

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