How about some Tea?
by Kathy Dunton
I get annoyed every time I hear the Tea Party being talked about like they are a bad thing. This time, last year, I began to campaign for a seat on the School Board. I carried with me handfuls of school bus yellow bookmarks with my ‘platform’ and contact information, and walked the city. I covered approximately 1600 houses. I tried to have my extensive, 7-month crash-course of Common Core knowledge, crammed into a 3 minute sound bite. It was at house number 6 when it happened. The woman at the door asked me what political party I was representing. I explained that local elections, especially school board, are non-partisan. She pressed. I had been losing faith in my Republican Party for a couple of years, so jokingly I said, “If I had to pick it would be the Tea Party” With that she said, “Then I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” I stood there as she slammed the door in my face, while she was still holding my bookmark. I think I was as confused as she obviously was. I thought of knocking again and asking for my bookmark back. They didn’t come from any government subsidy or handout. I paid for them out of my own pocket, and I clean toilets for a living. Gee Whiz.
A year later, I think many people are in the dark about what the Tea Party really stands for. I saw it when the governing elite began running their attack ads before the primary, and it still continues.
Although some in the GOP have taken the name and formed PACs, they aren’t the true Tea Party. The real Tea Party won’t ask you for money, and do not financially support any candidates. The same GOP will attack fellow republicans if they in any way get the nod from any self-proclaiming Tea Party group or spokesperson. Yes, I do believe both the Democrats and the GOP eat their young.
So who are these Tea Party Folks? It may be easier to explain what they are not. They are not a political party. They are a movement. A growing movement, and although they are made up of people all ages and all walks of life, they have more common principals rather than dividing ones.
There are many groups that tout the Tea Party name, here are a couple mission/vision statements.
“Our mission is to bring awareness to any issue which challenges the security, sovereignty or domestic tranquility of our beloved nation, The United States of America.”
~Government, today, has abandoned the principles upon which this nation was founded and which made this nation great.~
“We envision a nationwide, united, grassroots network of conservative activists who are ready and willing to “roll up their sleeves” and work to RESTORE THE REPUBLIC to its founding principles.”
In the Beginning…
Ron Paul is considered to be the ‘Godfather’ of the Tea Party. On December 16th, 2007 (anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party), he led a protest that actually took place all over the country. Liberty activists got together to protest the George W. Bush administration’s policies by tossing ‘tea’ boxes marked with those issues into the harbors. Boxes labeled “NSA”, “Iraq War”, “CIA”, “Federal Reserve”, “Open Borders”, and “Patriot Act ”~you know all those things that the masses were unaware were issues, but today have proven to be big issues for the security, safety and freedoms for every American.
Things had gotten real bad after 9/11. Bush had made decisions that most, including myself were led to believe were necessary to ensure security. As it turns out not only are we less secure, we gave up a whole lot of our freedoms along the way. Some people that formed into a movement, we now call the Tea Party. They were paying attention, and did warn that we would soon be where we are now.
Common Principals found among most Tea Party groups:
1. To uphold the Constitution of the United States
2. A Constitutionally Limited Government
3. Fiscal Responsibility
4. Personal Responsibility
5. The Rule of Law
6. National Sovereignty
7. Free Markets
8. Strong National Defense
So why would anyone have a problem with these principals? You wouldn’t unless you had a plan and the power to “Fundamentally Transform the United States of America” How do you do that? You ‘degrade and destroy’ those who threaten your plan. First you malign and then you mock. You call the people, the ordinary, hardworking, Bible-believing, constitutional abiding, people that believe in these principals, Tea Baggers. I told a male friend of mine that I was going to name this blog Teabagger, and he said that I shouldn’t, because it’s a sexually derogatory term. And he was too much of a gentleman to explain it to me. I didn’t know. Honestly, I didn’t know. I thought it was just another way to marginalize Americans that are not in agreement with the socialist leaning Democratic Party. I was wrong. I looked it up in the Urban Dictionary, and I was so wrong. The guy that lives in the White House used the term last year. Why should I be surprised about anything coming out of the Oral, I mean Oval Office, after what went on in there 20 years ago. Even the GOP favorite for NH’s governor used the term four years ago, although I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know what he was saying at the time. I do think he should apologize, now that he does, but he refuses to. Go figure.
The Establishment GOP and the Democrat Party will run attack ads on anyone that holds to any of these principles. Currently, there is a very expensive television campaign assault on Marilinda Garcia, who is running against Annie Kuster, for the NH Congressional seat District 2. One starts out, “What really concerns me is Marilinda Garcia’s Tea Party agenda…”and then goes on to talk only about abortion. The Bill in question was from a legislative session in 2012, HB1679 and was a bill about partial birth abortion. It was basically to keep Doctors honest, and to make sure that they were keeping records on late term abortions performed to save the mother’s life. Garcia voting for this bill gets her labeled “extreme”. The other Bill was from 2008 and was “relative to the performance of an abortion when there is a reasonable expectation of viability.” Again about late term abortion, and in no way was about sending an abortionist to jail unless, they broke the laws. Actually, nothing about this attack ad has anything to do with the ‘Tea Party’s agenda” But the average Joe or Joella seems to buy into the rhetoric.
So let me make a few points…
If you think the NSA has done more to infringe on your privacy than they have to stop terrorism, homegrown or otherwise~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you understand that the Federal Reserve is a farce and should be dismantled, ~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you believe that public schools should not be coerced by the government to implement a Federal curriculum and ‘standards’~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you know that the open borders to our south will bring an increase of crime, drugs, welfare, and taxes and will adversely affect every American citizen, ~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you think that it is complete BS that after 2 years no one has been held accountable for the failure in providing back up in Benghazi, ~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you think that that the government on every level from the president, and all of his government agencies, IRS, NSA, CIA, BLM, DHS and every other one in the alphabet soup, needs to be pulled back, restrained, re-trained in the Constitution and civics, or just plan abolished, ~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you think it’s wrong that a business owner can be fined and forced into being ‘re educated’, simply for refusing to perform a service that goes against his religious beliefs, ~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you believe that your Bill of Rights is non-negotiable,~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you believe that federally mandating all US citizens to buy health insurance, is unconstitutional~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you believe that the US is a sovereign nation and that we have become a whole lot less sovereign the last 6 years.~~you might be a Tea Partier.
If you don’t see anything wrong with the direction that this country has been heading in for the last 13 years, especially the last 6, you haven’t been paying attention.