As even the Washington Post - the de facto newspaper of record of U.S. politics - recognized this week, the Tea Party has now won on a top goal: the "starve the beast" strategy of forcing less federal spending and less federal government by not providing more tax money.
In a large story Monday, the Washington Post described the sequester - forced budget cuts - as a Tea Party victory. Suddenly, the Washington Post no longer was describing the Tea Party as having "lost" its war as a result of the reelection of Pres. Obama four months ago - but was instead describing it as the big winner of Washington's inability to agree to any combination of tax hikes and budget cuts to avoid the sequester.
Call it by any fancy name - such as sequestration - but the reality is that Washington politicians simply have proven unable to repeal math. The sequester represents the triumph of math - that a welfare state or a superpower simply is unsustainable whenever unemployment is high or underemployment very high over a prolonged period. And - for its part - the Tea Party itself also represents the triumph of math: that the middle class in the U.S. is no longer able to afford more government spending, or even the current amount.
But, simply put, the Washington Post is correct: the Tea Party now has won - and one of the world's top newspapers says it.
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