Tea Party Afterthoughts
I spent Wednesday night watching FNC’s coverage of the Tea Parties. The primary event locations were Atlanta and DC. Wednesday afternoon, Neil Cavuto did his show from Sacramento, CA. It was there that Mr. Cavuto made an important observation.
What Mr. Cavuto said was that these rallies weren’t only about taxes, that they were driven as much by people feeling that their money was being spent on low priority items or on pork. That’s something I agree with but it isn’t the only subplot to these rallies.
While it’s true that these rallies had alot of things that conservative could rally around, there were lots of things that appeal to John Q. Public, too. Anti-bailout signs were plentiful at the St. Cloud rally. Anti-stimulus bill signs were plentiful, too. In fact, I saw signs mocking Congress for voting for the stimulus bill without reading it.
Two messages came from these events, with equal amounts of passion. Both were directed at Washington. One of those messages was that We The People are upset that legislators vote on bills spending hundreds of dollars that they didn’t bother to read. People are telling legislators that they demand they do their job, including doing their due diligence.
Another message that we sent to Washington and to our political leaders was that it was time that they shut up and listen to us for a change. I’m not expecting this to change overnight. I’m not that naive. I expect people to start listening after large numbers of incumbents who voted for the bailouts and the stimulus bill get ushered into early retirement.
The first rule of getting the politicians’ attentions is defeating his allies. A politician’s first instinct is their re-election instinct. Harnessing the energy from yesterday’s event hinges on core principles.
If we’re a country of people that believes government should listen to We The People rather than government dictating to us, that will be a great first step in harnessing the energy from yesterday’s events.
If we decide that we’re a country of people that thinks that Washington listening to us is a demandment rather than a quaint notion, that’s a major step in the right direction.
If we decide that we’re a country of people that thinks that the Founding Fathers said what they meant and meant what they said, that’s another major step in harnessing the energy from yesterday’s event.
If you’re interested in continuing the fight that started with the stimulus bill, that accelerated with the introduction of this year’s bailoutmania and that continues with politicians not listening to us, leave a comment at this blog.
If you’re fighting mad and want to help change this nation, the ball’s now in your court.
Technorati Tags: Tea Party, Revolution, We The People, Fiscal Restraint, Conservatism, Bailouts, Stimulus Package, Deficits, Elitism, President Obama, Election 2010
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
April 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
What we need is to have an election every 4 years so we can vote for someone the American people can stand behind. Democratically elected following a rigorous evaluation process where opponents compete against each other, this “president” will lead the country as a representative of the people. I think this system can work.
The losing side, in the meantime, gets to eat a shit sandwich because their policies over the last 8 years have failed and have led to their subsequent minority status. Notice that Republicans did not have an alternative budget to Obama’s and are not offering relevant ideas to the ongoing discussion on the economy. All conservatives seem to have are tea parties.
April 18th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Great post. I live in Sacramento and attended the Tea Party at the Capital. I must say, I was quite excited by the numbers of people as well as their polite, fun-loving attitudes. I like what you said about the government needing to listen to “we the people.” And that’s why I’m not overly bothered by the media’s lack of attention to these protests. We didn’t do this for the media (like all the far left groups do). We did it to send our government a message. And believe me, they’re nervous! That’s why they don’t want the media to cover these things. They’re hoping they’re just a fad that will go away. WRONG! That’s why we must remain passionate and remain active.