Advice to the Tea Party from John Samples, author of 'The Struggle to Limit Government'

John Samples is director of the Cato Institute's Center for Representative Government and author of an important new book, "The Struggle to Limit Government," which is a history of the growth of Big Government since the Progressive Era and the so far mostly unsuccessful campaign by conservatives to restore limited government. Samples sat down recently to talk about the Tea Party movement and what its role might be. Among much else, Samples encourages Tea Party leaders to focus their efforts on restoring the federalist system established by the Constitution, with its great emphasis upon the rights and perogatives of the states. "People in the Tea Party movement often say they want the Constitution back," Samples said in the video. "Well, indeed, the Constitution is just the answer to some of the social issue questions. The Constitution of 1789 was about federalism, the states had a very important role to play in American government." That is the key for the Tea Party movement in dealing with what could be a source of disunity and weakness, divering views among potential allies of the movement and among Tea Partiers themselves, according to Samples...more