Understanding the Tea Party

A great deal has been made lately about members of the Tea Party Movement and what they represent.

The Left wing political and media organizations, in an effort to further their own political ambitions, have sought to portray the Tea Party Movement as being either violent, dangerous, racist or a combination thereof.

WHAT THEY ARE NOT

Contrary to widespread media reports, they are not racist. Earlier in the year, the left wing media was quick to run stories that members of the Tea Party movement, while protesting the passage of the health care bill shouted the incendiary “N” word at Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and others as they were walking to the U.S. Capitol for a vote. It was also reported that Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver was spat upon during this same time. Scores of video from the event clearly show neither incident happened. If you listen to the video tape carefully, you can hear shouts of “Traitor”, but nothing as vicious and hateful as the left would have you to believe.

Even Rep. Cleaver distanced himself from his earlier saliva-flying allegations a few days later.

They are not dangerous. Nor have they committed any acts of domestic terrorism. As hard as they tried, and as much as they wished, liberals like New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg could not link the Times Square bombing attempt to any member of any Tea Party organization.

Left wing MSNBC news anchor Contessa Brewer was crestfallen when the bomber turned out to be a Muslim man of Middle Eastern decent. She was quoted as saying, “There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country”. Ms. Brewer should explain who she was hoping would be responsible for this cowardly deed. I suspect she was hoping it was someone like the white, balding, middle-aged man initially indentified in the grainy surveillance video.

WHAT THE ARE

If you take a closer look at the movement, you will see that what binds them together, however loosely, is their distain for big government policies. The passage of healthcare reform, bailouts for Wall Street, automakers, banks and insurance companies and deficit spending have all caused people to take to the streets in protest to say, “Enough is enough! No more!”.

Examined further, you will see that the majority of Tea Party members, outside of exercising their right to vote, have never before been politically active. In the past, they haven’t actively campaigned for or against any candidate or cause, donated to political parties or campaigns or joined any political organization. What draws them to the Tea Party Movement is that they are fed up. They are fed up with legislators in D.C. who they feel are not listening to them and are not voting in a way that represents their positions and interests. They are fed up with their representatives being beholden not to them, but to the likes of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Harry Reid and President Obama. They are fed up with being ignored, taken for granted, and cast aside in favor of the political agendas and concerns of special interest groups.

 
SIDEBAR

In the book soon to be released by Jonathan Alter entitled, “The Promise: President Obama, Year One”, President Obama uses the word “Tea-bagger”. While I will not explain what it means here, I will say that it is vulgar, offensive and has no place in the realm of public discourse. President Obama should issue an apology for referencing such vulgarity.

END SIDEBAR

With the 2010 election season in full swing, politicians are very nervous about the participation of members who align themselves with the Tea Party movement. They should be. What the movement has illustrated is that politicians can no longer continue to vote for big government spending projects, unfunded mandates and continue to put the needs of special interest groups ahead of those of hard- working, tax-paying, middle-class families. If they continue, they do so at their own political peril.

Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah recently found this out the hard way when he lost his party’s nomination at the Republican state convention. At the heart of his troubles was his support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and his canoodling with liberal Senator Ron Wyden on healthcare.
When asked if he was the first victim of the Tea Party movement, Sen. Bennett responded, “I don’t know.” Well, Sen. Bennett, the answer is “Yes”. However, you can take solace in knowing that you won’t be alone. As the primary season moves forward into the general election, the number of victims ousted by those who are fed up and have had enough will continue to grow.