NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Elections have come and gone and many folks are too weary to think about politics. However, one political element that got little attention during the recent elections was the “Tea Party.”
On one side of the political spectrum you had folks claiming that it had disintegrated after the blow-out of 2010. From the other side you found people who said it’s still viable, it’s just more integrated into remaking mainstream politics and focusing energy on supporting conservative candidates and conservative voter turn-out.
At least locally, I tend to go with the latter perception.
The Tea Party is alive and well. Rather than protesting and rallying, they worked hard to get candidates elected in 2012 and are already preparing for 2014.
The Tea Party is alive and well. Rather than protesting and rallying, they worked hard to get candidates elected in 2012 and are already preparing for 2014.
If it’s not true that they’ve disintegrated but are here to stay, maybe people should get a better understanding before the next election cycle gets under way.
First thing: The Tea Party is not a party in the political sense of Democrat, Republican, Green or Libertarian established legal entities. There is no political party in tea party.
If anyone missed the subtlety, the name comes from an historical event in 1773 when American colonials, fed up with British heavy-handed rule and taxation without representation, raided British ships and threw lots of tea leaves into Boston Harbor. OK? If you don’t know that, thank your public education system or your own lack of interest in our nation’s history.
If I may be so bold as to try to define something so loose and non-organized as the “Tea Party,” it is a huge number of American citizens who love their country based on the principles on which it was founded and are fed up with the people who are trying to turn it into something they don’t recognize or believe in.
There is nothing radical or racist in their belief system. That evaluation has been fabricated by those who wish it so because they fear the power and determination of those who have embraced the tea party movement. Or maybe it’s projection.
Belief in the founding principles and documents of our nation, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is considered radical?
A desire for limitations on federal government power as stated in the Constitution and living within our financial means as a nation is radical? Believing in an America that is based on opportunity for all, individual freedom and the rule of law is radical?
The belief in government of, by and for the people rather than an all-powerful state overseeing everything we think, do and want to do is radical? Bequeathing our children and their children opportunity for a better life rather than the downward debt-ridden path we are now on is radical?
That’s dangerous, narrow-minded and racist? I’ve heard this invective directed at the movement by people I admire as intelligent and thoughtful, and I just scratch my head in wonder.
Without accepting without validation some ignorantly or purposefully misguided information, how does any sane, intelligent, educated person jump to the conclusion that a group of solid, law-abiding Americans who are fed up with our country’s leadership moving us to bankruptcy, abandonment of law and dependency on big government constitutes a dangerous movement?
Could those who want to “fundamentally transform” us, bankrupt us and make us dependent on government in order to stay in power be engaged in a propaganda campaign?
Here is one clue. A large number of the what is now called “mainstream media,” who overwhelmingly self-identify as Democrats, have turned themselves inside out to frame the tea party movement as bigoted, extreme and scary.
While every group or movement includes a goofball or two (e.g. the loony, far left branch of the Democrat Party), they’ve bent over backwards to portray that tiny fringe as the whole picture.
Video clips shown on the news when Tea Party Rallies were held have been edited to show only whites, when many black and Hispanic people are present. In one well-known instance, a video shown on national news of a black man at a tea party rally was cropped to show the gun he was legally carrying without letting viewers see the color of his skin.
At an enormous rally against Obamacare in our nation’s capital in 2010, claims were made that racist insults were hurled at a group of African-American congressmen walking through the crowd. And what photo-op genius put them up to this?
However, not one shred of evidence backs up the accusation. Large amounts of money were offered to anyone who could show proof.
In this day of camera phones in everyone’s hands, not a single person came forth to claim the money with audio, video or still shots of the alleged racist taunts or threatening gestures.
While I’ve not personally attended tea party rallies and conventions, I have followed the movement with great interest and empathy. I know lots of people who have engaged – white, black and Hispanic – who believe in the ideas and values upon which this country, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, was founded.
This is not foreign, evil, bigoted or disgusting, no matter what certain “special interests” or ignorant opponents state. It is fundamentally American.
If you earnestly want to understand the tea party movement, don’t read the droning propaganda of today’s media, our current administration or the Democrat party.
Instead, go back and refresh yourself on American history. If you then really understand the story of the founding of our nation and the philosophy and principles upon which it was based, you’ll understand the tea party folks. They are about as American as it gets.
I wonder about what dark designs those who understand and yet abhor the tea party movement have in mind for our country.
We were founded on the most liberal of principles: individual value, individual responsibility, individual freedom with natural rights that come not from government, but are guaranteed because we are human. We were founded to offer opportunity for the individual, free from any class system, to be self- sufficient and rise to be the best he/she can be.
We were founded on the idea of self-government created by and for the people, all the people, free from tyranny and despotism. Those in the tea party movement want nothing more than this ideal restored and preserved for the future. And they want it for everyone of any race, color or creed who has that same vision.
Prior to the 2012 elections, an AP poll showed that 31% of the most likely voters self-identified with the tea party. No wonder those who want to cling to power and fundamentally transform our nation fear and hate them.
That’s why the demonization and propaganda is abundant.
For fair-minded and rational people who truly want what is best for our country, I’d say digest what you’ve just read, then do a bit of research outside of left-wing blogs and publications. Maybe go on some Tea Party, Patriot or other related websites. You may find your understanding and perception unaligned with what you discover.
For fair-minded and rational people who truly want what is best for our country, I’d say digest what you’ve just read, then do a bit of research outside of left-wing blogs and publications. Maybe go on some Tea Party, Patriot or other related websites. You may find your understanding and perception unaligned with what you discover.
What you won’t find is invective against minorities or the spewing of hate speech. (Unless, of course, you are one of the people who believe that any criticism of President Obama and his administration equals racism and hate-speech. If so, don’t bother. Your mind is slammed shut.)
What you will find is concern for the present and future of our nation and our children and grandchildren. You may find yourself in far more agreement than you’d thought possible.