Both The Republicans and The Democrats Have Missed The Message of The Tea Party Movement ... And Both May Pay A Price!
Let me begin by saying that the era of big government is over. It is done! The question is: How does it end? Will it end with cheers and congratulations on our narrow escape through the exercise of, and return to, fiscal and constitutional sanity … or in a financial collapse the size and magnitude of which has never been witnessed before, and one which creates a world-wide financial tsunami unprecedented in world history?
And that leads us to our premise that the pols have missed the message and significance of the Tea Party movement.
To begin with, only 23% of the people in this country believe that the federal government has the consent of the governed, according to Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports. That is truly astonishing. Only 23% ! Three quarters of us don't believe that the ladies and gentlemen in Washington D.C. are governing with our consent or our best interests in mind.
That impression is bolstered by recent incidents such as footage of the condescending ... no, insulting ... remarks of Rep. Pete Stark (Dem 13th Congressional District of California) to a constituent. The constituent, a member of the Minute Men ( a group concerned about border security), asked Congressman Stark about the lack of security at the border and was attacked by the Congressman, who asked derisively, "Who are you going to kill today?" It should be noted that the Minute Men have never been involved in a weapons incident on the border.
Within a few days Stark spoke at a town hall meeting and made this comment when asked about limitations on the Federal Government: "I think that there are very few constitutional limits that would prevent the federal government from rules that could affect your private life."
Meanwhile, Congressman Bob Etheridge (Dem NC, 2nd District), after leaving a "fund raiser" headlined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was approached by a student reporter. After the niceties, the young man asked, "Do you fully support the Obama agenda?" and the assault was on. In an obvious pique, the Congressman demanded in a slurred and repeated intonation, "Whoareyou? ... whoareyou? ... whoareyou?" Not satisfied with the answer, of the obviously shocked student, he began to push the young man, then resorted to manhandling him, and finished in a flourish by placing the young reporter in a headlock. A headlock? Are you kidding me?!
I have to believe that even most of the 23% of Americans that believe the federal government is governing by the consent of the governed, must be thinking of it in a theoretical, not actual way. It is hard to imagine even the 23% believe that a body scandalized by tickle parties, ethics investigations, assault and battery, bribery, fraud, racketeering, money laundering, sex scandals, and coupled with absolute arrogance, condescension, and elitism is somehow representative of any us.
But I digress … The point of all this is simple. The political and media elites in this country make up about 10% of the population. They strongly support the big government rule of the politicians and political class.
Then there is a third of Americans who really don't know what's happening, and furthermore, really don't care or don't understand.
About 84% of the rest us ordinary folks believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. So, when reading the tea leaves this fall, the professional political class better read them carefully. The Democrats may find themselves on the outside looking in, while the Republicans may find victory their worst nightmare.
For the Dems, it merely means a temporary loss of power. They are progressives: they will retool, repackage, and reappear with the same progressive crap, but it will look like brand new crap; and, unfortunately, some will be stupid enough to try the repackaged crap all over again. But for the Republicans, this could be the death knell of the party. They are being given a chance to meet the expectations of average Americans given voice by the Tea Party movement.
Unfortunately, the Republicans have a very difficult task in front of them. The party is stacked with progressives like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Kit Bond, Susan Collins, and the list could go on. On the other hand, there are pragmatic conservatives who because of their desire to stay in office, all too often “go along to get along”. They are mostly conservative. That is to say, they want a fiscally conservative government to enslave us and steal our money — not one of those darn liberal ones.
But, if they fail to read the mood and message of the Tea Party movement, they may find themselves going the way of the Whig Party. If the Republicans assume the mantle of a return to constitutional government and fail to deliver, I believe the party will be irrelevant and replaced. Political irrelevance creates a vacuum, and like nature, politics abhors a vacuum and seeks to fill it. There is one overriding sentiment carried by the Tea Party folks; the Republicans ignore it at their own peril.
Suffice it to say, being conservative or liberal is quickly becoming immaterial to those of us in the hustings. We don't want to be governed from the left or the right. We want a return to freedom. We want to be left alone to govern ourselves. That's the message! Under a constitutional government, liberal or conservative makes very little difference; inasmuch as, the federal government, owned by the states, was only granted 17 limited powers. Only 17 powers … and none of them dealt with health care, welfare, education, or much else that really affects our private lives. That's what the Tea Party people and most Americans want: less government — more freedom.
Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address said: "A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity.”
In other words, we have always been a people seeking freedom, the right to live our own lives, and be self-governed. The problem with the professional political class today — from either the left or the right — is that they believe that none of us are capable of governing ourselves.
Again, I would remind them of the words of Jefferson: “Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?”
Judging by the way our leaders have lead this country, I think we need to go back and retrace our steps to find out where we got off the path and fell — or perhaps were pushed — down the rabbit hole. The insanity of a $13 trillion deficit is obvious, but less known and understood, is the true Mad Hatter news. As a nation we are $120 trillion in debt. That is an amount equal to 100% of our total GDP for ten years. And if current trends continue, the interest alone will bankrupt us within a decade.
The era of big government is over. What we as Americans have to decide is whether we are going to end it in an intelligent design, or whether we are going to let it implode like a star creating a black hole, from which even light cannot escape. But one way or another … it's over.
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