Hey, Politicians: No One Leads the Tea Party

Leading the Tea Party is not like herding cats; it's like herding cats who possess and love using flame throwers. There might be some singed fur in the mix, but if you insist on pushing them; you'll get burned.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
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South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a once and perhaps future Tea Party favorite is learning that. Glenn Beck, a stand-up guy who may have taken agreement in most matters for acquiescence in all, is learning that. Smart politicians are paying careful attention. Politicians who underestimate the Tea Partiers will likely suffer their wrath.

While - call it what you will: the liberal press, main stream media, word-processing cretins who understand less about the world than a boy raised by commie wolves - have ridiculed and pigeon-holed the Tea Party, the reality is quite different.

People who have been active in the Tea Party didn't become active because of politicians, they became active to spite politicians. The Tea Party members are people who were paying attention all along, unlike the sheeple who hang on every syllable from Brian Williams or Anderson Cooper. The Tea Party became a collective expression of a large group of independent-thinking Americans.

So, for the people who are upset with Nikki Haley or Glenn Beck; it's alright. By all means explain to them why they are wrong in a nice way, but their influence is not the wide-ranging catastrophe you may be imagining. After all, the other people you have worked with in the Tea Party and similar groups are just as independent as you. They will arrive at their own conclusions in their own time.

In the meantime, rabidly support the Republican candidate of your choice and keep the 2012 election in your sights. November is coming. 

Fear of a Tea Party Planet

- Why the Democratic National Committee wants to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street Protesters -

Why would former US House Speaker and legislative airhead Nancy Pelosi go out of her way to embrace the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters? Why would civil rights movement icon John Lewis attempt to address the OWS group in Atlanta’s Woodruff Park? Why would President Obama praise these groups even after hundreds were arrested in New York City?

Tea Party Rally in Washington, DC
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These are legitimate questions because of the significant political risks undertaken by these nationally known Democrats. They risk their personal reputations, if not their re-election chances, to mingle their fortunes with an little known group of protesters. They are also placing their party’s lower tier candidates at greater risk with this affiliation. Generally a high risk should have an opportunity to generate high rewards, and this is the case. Democrats are playing high stakes poker to counter the Tea Party.

Publicly, Democrats deny that the Tea Party had any effect on the 2010 elections and will soon disappear. No one really believes Democrats are that stupid and recalcitrant regarding reality. Having failed to destroy the Tea Party movement, though slandering it so that the movement’s popularity has decreased, the Democrats want a left-wing movement to counter the Tea Party.

It's Still the Economy, Stupid!

It appears that that the 2012 US Presidential Election is destined to be about the economy. It's certainly the pressing need, and with the killing of Osama bin Laden, the war on terror will be much less of a concern for many voters. It also appears there will be no standard-bearer for the social conservatives with the ability to make front page news.

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Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels

The most obvious social conservative candidate was the former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. When Huckabee announced that he would not run, following Mississippi Governor Hayley Barbour's similar announcement, it left a void in the Republican field of candidates.

Barbour had tremendous credentials and was a social conservative without question. Many saw Barbour's announcement that he would not run for the presidency in 2012 as a confirmation that his close friend, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, would run. That has now been disproved with Governor Daniels's announcement that he will not seek the Republican nomination. This leaves former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum as the only remaining candidate with a primarily social conservative message.

I discussed Senator Santorum's problems in the South Carolina debate in "Why Herman Cain Won and Rick Santorum Lost the GOP Debate". Having said that, Santorum is the obvious beneficiary of the decisions of Huckabee, Barbour and Daniels to not seek the GOP Presidential nomination.

Reid My Lips, Harry

If you’re right about something, why would you lie about it? That’s a question someone needs to ask Harry Reid. It’s no secret that Reid (D-NV) dislikes the TEA Party and accuses them of being dangerous to the country because they want to curtail federal spending, but Reid is going out of his way to misrepresent polls regarding the TEA Party.

Harry Reid is the symbol of everything that’s wrong with Washington. Reid cares more about maintaining power for the sake of maintaining power than he cares about his country. I say this because our federal government’s financial situation is in crisis and Reid is more concerned about remaining US Senate Majority Leader than he is in solving the problems.

Due in large part to Reid’s policies, our country is overwhelmed with debt and we are rapidly approaching the point where we can no longer remain solvent. Looking at rising oil and food prices and seeing the very real possibility of inflation, we may already be caught in a riptide of debt caused by overspending that will drown our economy.

Reid in incapable of helping solve our financial problems and Republicans need to learn this. In order to be an agent of change, Reid and his fellow leftists must first admit that our country has a problem and that they are its main cause. Reid is incapable of admitting he was wrong and keeping his power-base. By his actions and his false rhetoric, Reid has announced that he would rather be wrong and powerful than do what is best for his country.

Reid would deny all of this, I’m sure, but so what? If there was any doubt that Harry Reid will lie, just remember this: He is on record as blaming Republicans for the Democrat’s failure to pass a budget last year when they had the US Presidency and large majorities in both houses of the legislative branch.

Ask yourself what the TEA Party folks have to gain by their actions other than a reduction in the size of government and a reduction in federal spending. Then ask yourself what Senator Reid and his cronies have to gain by lying about the TEA Party. The only thing their statements might accomplish is a continuation of their power. Finally, ask yourself this: If Democrats could no longer give our tax dollars to special interests groups, could they ever again have a national majority?

Then, there is Reid’s latest statement that the TEA Party is dangerous and unpopular. He stated that most people disliked the TEA Parties. Yet, Scott Rasmussen’s latest poll shows that 48% of Americans consider their beliefs to be closer to the TEA Party than to Congress. Less than 30% of Americans stated their beliefs were closer to the average Congressman.

So why would Harry lie? He’s still attempting to convince the American people that the TEA Party movement is dangerous. Yet, I see the projected $1.65 trillion shortfall for 2011 and it’s pretty apparent that the TEA Party activists and their allies are wearing the white hats. Harry Reid is a dangerous, power-hungry demagogue without a conscience. 

I hope the rest of Senator Reid's time as Senate Majority Leader is very frustrating. Read my lips, Harry; it ends in January, 2013. 

Dance with Who Brung Ya – The GOP and the TEA Parties

The complicated dance between the Georgia GOP and the TEA Party groups will continue on the morning of March 12th when all counties hold their county conventions at 10 AM and even earlier when smaller counties hold their mass precinct meetings at 9 AM. This is a great opportunity for the GOP that will eventually play out across all 50 states, but some are worried about who will call the tune.

The GOP meetings are open to all legally registered voters of each county who believe in Republican principles. This would, in almost all instances, include TEA Party members. Some in the Republican Party are concerned about this, but there is no reason to worry.

The TEA Party people are here. I don’t believe they are going anywhere anytime soon. The only question is if they will operate from inside the Republican Party or from without. There are a lot of advantages to having the TEA Partiers within the GOP.

For county chairmen who want to grow their parties, this is a great opportunity. For county chairmen who are worried more about personal control than growth of the party, then it may be time for someone else to take the reins. It’s about leadership, not control. Welcome these folks aboard, do a good job and they will likely allow you to lead them. Block them or attempt to diminish them and you may find yourself the leader of a lifeless party or even outside looking in.

You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist; let go and clasp hands.

Cracks in the FunHouse Mirror, Part II

We like feedback and many of us require it so we can feel secure. Most of us need a mirror in order to properly shave or to apply makeup or, in Eddie Izzard’s case, both. We want to know how we’re doing. We see this desire in children, loved ones and co-workers. We seek affirmation from people whose opinions matters to us and often from authority figures. Here’s a warning to TEA Partiers and other conservatives and libertarians: Don’t expect an honest reflection from the left or from the media.

As amazing as it seems, there are still those who expect a true accounting from mainstream media, and even more astounding, from the left itself. It will never happen. The hatred of the TEA Party has become such an obsession for the left that it is a part of their identity. For the left to confess that it was mistaken, even in part, regarding its most high profile opponent is to admit its own shortcomings.

As for the media, the TEA Party Fanatic has become a part of their cultural mythology. In that myth put forth by political liberals, where logic and reality are unheeded suggestions, the TEA Party is full of violent, ignorant, stupid, homophobic, trigger-happy racists who hate all government but aren’t cool enough to be anarchists. And the facts to support this myth are . . . apparently unnecessary. Logic and facts are, after all, tools of an oppressive western civilization that liberals hate almost as much as they despise the TEA Party.

The latest example of the left’s political necessity and the media’s cultural myths is the reaction to the murder of six people in Tucson, including a federal judge, and the shooting of an additional 13 people, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Because Giffords is a Democrat, the immediate outcry from the left and their pet media was to blame the rhetoric of the TEA Party and other conservative sources. That fact that the alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, did not even vote in the last election and, reportedly, did not watch news or listen to talk radio, was no obstacle to the left’s politics and mythology.

The reality check question is, “After the shooting in Tucson, has the condemnation of the political left fallen more on presumed shooter Jared Loughner or the members of the TEA Party?” Loughner has largely been given a pass by the media and the left, while the accusations falling on the political enemies of the left has continued unabated.

Even without admitting its errors, one would think that the left would have slithered away into its hole and cut its losses. The left is counting on the usual attention span of the public, and here is where reality has sharp teeth: the TEA Party and its allies are now paying attention and there will be no neutral ground for Democrats in 2012.

Those who failed to call for a halt to the unsubstantiated attacks will be held accountable just as those who voiced that same heated, hateful rhetoric. Their feedback will be given in November of 2012.

Cracks in the FunHouse Mirror, Part I

There was no mourning on the “Professional Left”, just gleeful expectation at the opportunity to undermine a particularly effective foe. When the editorialists of the New York Times launched their attacks on the TEA Party, the name of the vile, worthless shooter in Tucson was still unknown – as were his political beliefs. It didn’t matter and, frankly, I don’t believe it would have mattered, regardless of facts.

Here’s a reality check question for you: Since the Tucson shooting, have you seen more verbal attacks on the presumed shooter, Jared Loughner, or on the Tea Party movement? Just ponder that for a moment. Does this strike you as people upset that lives were violently taken, or does it appear more likely that political hacks are not allowing “a good crisis go to waste”?

Liberals are ambitious in political matters. They are not content to simply take an excuse to attack conservatives and libertarians; not when larger matters are at hand.

We all knew that the TEA Party would be blamed for the shooting in Tucson. It was as certain as the sun setting in the west, though a lot less pleasant. Then, the left followed swiftly with attacks on our rights as free human beings.

Why does the generic response from the generic left always seem to involve a restriction of God-given rights? Within two days, there were hysterical calls to restrict first amendment (speech, including “symbology”), second amendment and tenth amendment rights. Sadly, I’ve probably overlooked some others.

The left wants to use a, “troubled” I think is the preferred term now, man as an excuse to steal more of our rights as the country mourns. This is equivalent to a burglar breaking into your home while he knows you’re at the funeral of a loved one. Let’s face it; it’s just plain creepy as well as disgusting.

If I fail to communicate anything else, I hope you will remember this: Our laws – federal, state and local – are written for sane, responsible adults. Yes, there are exceptions for criminals, for incompetents and even for irresponsible people – but those are noted exceptions. We cannot afford to write laws that assume everyone is a criminal; that everyone is not sane; that everyone is incompetent. We certainly cannot use one unstable young man as an excuse to strip us of our rights.

To do so is to repudiate everything that Thomas Jefferson believed. It is to repudiate everything this country is founded upon. It would be a declaration that man is not capable of ruling himself - a “Declaration of Dependence”.

Loughner wasn’t political; he was unstable. We now know that Loughner was registered to vote as an “Independent” and that he didn’t even vote in 2010. In addition, Loughner’s friend Zach Osler stated, “He [Loughner]did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.”

Some people will wait for an apology from the left. It won’t come, because the reaction to Tucson is about many things, but truth is not one of them.

Why the Tea Party and GOP Did Not Swap Valentines

Some pundits have now determined that the time has come to discuss a marriage between the Tea Party and the Republican Party. While this is an interesting notion, one has to wonder if they should even date.

Well-meaning conservatives have pointed out that there might be benefits to such a romance. The Tea Party contains many energetic, grassroots people new to politics but the group lacks structure. The Republican Party is structured and offers necessary organizational and political knowledge but needs more energetic people who connect well to the grassroots. Sounds good, right?

Life is rarely as straightforward as theory and this situation follows that normal pattern. There are good reasons why the Tea Party-GOP merger will not, and should not, happen. It would be bad for both and the “fit” between the two is largely illusory and the imaginary product of those who understand neither group.

First of all these are not two political parties. The GOP is a political party, but the Tea Party is a movement. Like most movements, the Tea Party is a single issue cause. While the definition of that cause will be more narrowly defined by some, in order to include all branches of the Tea Party, the only accurate working definition is “to increase personal freedom by a reduction in the size and scope of the federal government.”

Nine Months

In nine short months, a child conceived today will be a new, living, breathing American citizen. For the child's mother, that nine months will seem an eternity of ill-fitting clothes, lower back pain and being unable to roll over at night. The days will seem to stretch on endlessly, especially the long, hot days of August and she will long for the first week in November. The child will rest blissfully; only occasionally kicking or making itself known. Meanwhile, the world rocks on.

In nine short months, 435 men and women will be elected to the United States House of Representatives. Those 435 people will serve in "the people's House" and hopefully be our most direct connection with our federal government. I say "hopefully" for a reason.

Throughout the past Congressional term, filled with the promise of a large majority in the US House and a filibuster-proof US Senate, Congressional Democrats have done what they do best: look down their collective noses at middle-class American citizens.

Perhaps it's a misunderstanding based on ignorance. I don't see US Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer or Jim Marshall being especially aware of the price of a gallon of milk or even the problems with our public school systems. Somehow I can't see Nancy discussing the merits of .45 caliber bullets versus those of the 9 millimeter or the .40 caliber variety; or Steny raking leaves while chatting with a neighbor over the back fence about last week's Sunday School lesson.

I also can't see any of them, including my Representative Jim Marshall, worrying about our looming national debt because they all voted to increase it. Now I know they'll say that they didn't want to increase the federal debt limit but had to in order for the United States to meet its financial obligations. Well yes, that's true as far as it goes but it doesn't go very far. The reason it doesn't go very far is that Pelosi, Hoyer and Marshall all voted for the earmark-stained spending bill that spent more money than we had.