How I View the Tea Parties

I haven’t ranted on here in a while – there are other outlets for my anger.
But with all that is being written about the people who are part of the Tea Party movement, it is time to get a good rant on.
My wife and I are Tea Partiers. We went to the Dallas Tea Party rally last April 15th (2009), marched in Washington DC last 9/12, and have continued to be involved. We have also recently joined the Republican Party (we see this as the best way to see that what we want to happen in DC actually happens, and to work within the system to make changes.
Why have we gotten involved? We were never really political. I was reasonably well-informed about political matters through my reading and listening (several on-line newspapers everyday & the Dallas Morning News hardcopy, various news reports on the radio, etc.). I gave up on the network news several years ago after it became clear that they had a liberal agenda and colored their reporting to satisfy that agenda. My wife was not political and not that well informed. Her political awakening came with my comments over the years, and with what she witnessed during and since the last election.
In case you are not clear, we are conservative – fiscally conservative, not socially conservative. Neither of us sees an issue with same sex marriage –let the states decide. If a state wants to recognize a marriage, OK, but let the voters decide. And it is up to each church to decide if they will sanctify such unions. Abortion is also something that should be decided at the state level.
We think that the most important issue facing the U.S. today is the federal government and how it taking over as much of our lives as it can. This has to stop, the spending has to be reduced – a LOT - and the encroachment has to be rolled back greatly.
About my anger. I hear what is said about us Tea Partiers; angry right-wing white men with guns & Bibles; racists, and homophobes. I look at myself and my wife to see if any of that is true.
I am angry, make no doubt about that. I am very angry. I am angry at the undermining of the US Constitution by people who think they are better at deciding how I should live my life than I am. I am angry at the people who think a government handout is their right, and for whom personal responsibility is a joke. I am angry at the federal government overreach in just about every aspect of our lives today.
I am also white, and have guns and Bibles in my home. That makes four checkmarks against me so far. I am white by birth, I had nothing to do with it and no choice in how it happened. I like guns and like to shoot, and having a gun is actually my right under the Constitution, unlike some other things many people want a “rights.”
Right-wing? I am a fiscally conservative American who thinks our Government – local, state and federal, but mostly FEDERAL – should live within its means. That means a balanced budget. And that they stop encroaching on free enterprise and free markets. If that makes me a right-winger, then so be it, and that is a fifth checkmark against me.
Racist and homophobe? Nope, not me. These adjectives revolve around hate. I do not hate anyone – I just don’t like the direction this country is going and I want to get back to the basics on the US Constitution, have people take responsibility for their own lives and not look to government for answers – the answers they get are ruining this country
So, 5 out of 7 you can say are true. Does that make me some sort of domestic terrorist? Of course not. It makes me like millions of other Americans who have reached the limit of our patience and are now demanding that things change.
We will change things – at the ballot box. We will vote in conservatives and then we will make them cut the bloat in Washington, cut it to the bone. And if they are not willing to get this done, we will vote in more conservatives until we have people in place who will do the right thing.
We know this will not be a quick victory – it will take years and many elections, but this is the start.
Yes, the Tea Parties are loose groups of like-minded Americans. We will not create a third party – Perot showed that is a bad idea – and we will probably not all endorse or vote for the same candidates. But the candidates better listen to what we are saying and abide by our wishes.
We will not be marginalized by the media – they seem to be doing a good job of marginalizing themselves. They can ridicule us as much as they wish, all this accomplishes is to make us more determined to succeed.