City Securities chief likes Tea Party

You know times have changed when the head of Indianapolis’ main investment bank can identify with the Tea Party movement.

Mike Bosway, the soft-spoken president and CEO of City Securities and a long-time backer of Republican candidates, isn’t the type to go in for raucous demonstrations. After all, he runs the firm that underwrites many of the municipal bonds issued in the state—not exactly a hotbed of protest. He also rejects the shrill tone coming from some Tea Party types.

But Bosway likes its willingness to tackle what he believes are the big issues of the day, such as the role of government (small is better, he says), and other long-range issues like the looming national debt.

He and his friends, many of whom are business owners and also back political candidates, believe the health care reform package is emblematic of a country drifting toward socialism and a government that believes citizens are ‘’too stupid to make their own decisions.”

Here is Bosway’s forecast: Many local business owners will be scouring the earth for political candidates who pledge to push the country back to the right, and then talk them up. They may or may not open their wallets wider to support the candidates, he says, but it’s a certainty they’ll ratchet up their verbal support.

“Any candidate who speaks the language of fiscal responsibility and less government intrusion in the private sector is a candidate that’s going to get a lot of attention,” he says.

Would any of those candidates hail from the Tea Party crowd? Bosway sees none.

What do you think about the Tea Party? What about the long-term direction of the nation? Thumbs up or down?