About That Tea Party Longevity...

Think It's Got Legs?

Is the Tea Party movement dead, or dying? Some have said as much, but thus far there has been no evidence to back up such claims. There was a lot of bluster by terminal politicians leading up to the mid-term elections to that effect, but such false bravado was akin to a bludgeoning victim screaming, "That didn't hurt", as each blow drains a bit more of his life.

After the Democrats suffered their own figurative bludgeoning in the elections, Rep, Boyd Brown (D-S.C.) told an audience of high schoolers that the Tea Party was a "fad", and that he thought it would "go away". Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City also labelled the movement a fad. And leading up to the mid-terms a year out, soon-to-be-former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi audaciously condemned the Tea Party as an "AstroTurf" movement.

It was a curious statement at the time, but one that recently has me pondering a few questions regarding its validity. Does AstroTurf have roots? After all, Madam Pelosi's comment was designed to cut into the credibility of the movement, suggesting that it was not of the revered family of "grass roots" efforts, but rather more of a machine of wealthy Conservative zealots, controlling the stupid masses through talk radio.

 Is it ever necessary to mow AstroTurf? Any sports fan would know that the very idea of AstroTurf was borne of maintenance needs. Stadiums that hosted multiple home teams, for example, were spending vast amounts of money on seeds and labor to keep up the pristine appearances in heavy traffic. Yet, the Left  has been on a continuous crusade to cut down the Tea Party, "fake grass" movement. Odd.

Finally, does AstroTurf have spores that can be spread aloft in the trade winds, carrying them to germinate and grow in distant lands? From what we already know about the product, the obvious answer would be "no". And yet, we learn now that the Tea Party movement is not restrained to the shores of the United States, at least not any longer.

Anyone who has been a regular reader of mine is well acquainted with my affinity for the ironic, and this latest development fits the bill quite nicely. While the Left has been urgently trying to declare a time of death for the Tea Party movement, it must be noted that it never really died in the first place; it merely lay in a dormant state for a few centuries. It was started originally as a protest against King George of England over his crippling taxes and finally spilled over (pardon the pun) into Boston Harbor in the eighteenth century. Here's where the irony comes into play.

FOX News is reporting that the Tea Party movement has taken (root?) in...England! While we certainly harbor (apologies again) no ill will over the original motivation for the Tea Party idea, it is still rather delicious that the people from our former reason to protest have now joined the band. On a more serious note, what this says about the entire notion is telling.

The Tea Party ideals have been with us for as long as we've drawn breath, embedded in our souls and always with us. We've just neglected them as we've progressed, feeling secure in our various degrees of personal success and concentrating our efforts on our own improvement. It wasn't until our own government began to actively impede that progress that we finally pulled them out of storage. Those on the Left, opposed to personal liberty and responsibility, might refer to this as having opened Pandora's Box. I prefer to think that the Beast has been released.

How big and how bad is this beast? Well, so far it has demonstrated a powerful yet peaceful method, and that is good. What's important to realize, however, is that this is no longer an anomaly here in the U.S., but something based on a principle that knows no boundaries, and one that Ronald Reagan articulated quite well. Freedom is the natural state of Man, and something which cannot be bestowed by other men.

We know it, and now so do the Brits. Anyone else want some? Hey, let's do tea!

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A Day Of Reckoning

It should never have come to this, but I have always been a believer in the axiom that "God works in mysterious ways". While today was a day of somber reflection on the events of eight years ago, it shall be followed up tomorrow, in our nation's capital, by a raucous reclamation of our country.

Still amazed, am I, at the spectacle of massive conservative protests and demonstrations, almost embarrassed at the term "marching", but I have never been more proud of my ideological brethren than I am today, and expect that my breast will burst with pride come tomorrow. According to an article by Katharine Q. Seelye of the New York Times, tomorrow could be "the largest gathering of fiscal conservatives ever". I believe it, as I have received a report from a good friend who is there, and who reports that the town is jam packed with motivated people.

Contrary to the characterization by our evidently deaf and blind elected officials who have tried to portray this movement as "astroturf" - suggesting that the angry mobs were somehow manifestations of "evil" talk radio and Fox News - this is a genuine and sincere happening. What Tea Party Express has managed to do is not to organize people into believing something and taking to the streets, but rather to coalesce a collection of already-angry groups into a larger body with more clout than each had separately.

The true reason that any of this has happened at all is simply because the left became such a force by virtue of the very tactics they now accuse the right of engaging in, and it is for that reason that reason will prevail. The left came to prominence by trolling every individual urchin it could collect or create and became a behemoth with poor glue. The conservative movement now afoot is more deliberate, more cohesive, and more cognizant of its environment.

These are not citizens who were cultivated by an ideological machine and instructed to rail against the nation that gave them a voice with which to protest. They are not the citizens who were steered into "poverty" so that they would one day rise against the "capitalist machine". They are not people who get their news from quick headlines or a group of cackling liberal women on a daytime talk show.

No, they are people who have worked their fingers to the bone while exercising their right to the pursuit of happiness, and who are now seeing their labors reduced to wasted time. They are people who have familiarized themselves with our founding documents and understand their meaning. And they are also people who shall prove tomorrow how formidable an informed populace can be when pushed to the brink.

For the record, I did not get permission from Tea Party Express to use their logo. I operated on the assumption that a supportive viewpoint would be acceptable, and will remove it at the first complaint from that noble organization. I wish for exceptional weather for our troops in D.C. tomorrow, and great success for us all. Give 'em Hell, gang!

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