Stop mocking the Tea Party: If anyone is nuts, it's the elites and incumbents

2010-09-18T00:00:00-04:00

Tuesday night was a terrible evening for political operatives because people voted with their conscience, not along party lines. Elites aren't happy about it, and even the GOP is fuming.

Meanwhile, Washington Democrats are trying desperately to paint anti-establishment candidates as a pack of crazies. They're hoping to distract the public from the more pressing issues that have their party's polls in the dumps.

Sure, many that comprise this new wave of politics are atypical. They aren't polished. They're not carefully scripted, and they lack TelePrompTers, pedigree and cozy friendships with Karl Rove. Because of it, political consultants and "insiders" insist they're wacky. However, the popularity of their message shows that they're anything but.

It's Tea Time: Bringing America's Outrage to a Full Boil

2009-04-10T16:07:37-04:00

As tax day approaches there is a crescendo growing across America in the form of organized protests, also known as tea parties, and the noise is on a path to becoming deafening. Thousands of rallies are planned across the country; one in every single congressional district and larger gatherings slated for cities like New York, Sacramento and Atlanta which hope to boast an upwards of 20,000 participants.

Those who discount the frustration and fury across America should so do at their own peril, particularly incumbents who voted for the Obama budget. This time anger is being transformed into action. Each person who participates in a Tax Day Tea Party is being asked to organize a group of friends, family and neighbors. These groups will be asked to develop a consensus around two candidates, a fiscally responsible Democrat and Republican that they can unite behind to support in 2010 to unseat their big spending representative.

Though many on the far left continue to ignore or downplay the rage claiming that these gatherings are only for conservatives, all evidence is to the contrary. A recent FOX News poll found that 47 percent of respondents were willing to participate in a Tax Day Tea Party, along with 29 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents. By April 15th, organizers hope to have a database filled with a quarter of a million names representing a broad spectrum of political affiliations.

The message is simple: repeal the pork, cut taxes and cut spending. But there is much more at stake than the money. The impact these actions will have on our culture is key. Massive government control is a clear threat to our liberties and our values of American exceptionalism. The argument from Tax Day to Election Day 2010 should be focused on helping voters connect the dots, not only about why we can’t afford to spend money we don’t have or why we can’t trust Washington, but also about how spending and borrowing will cause irreversible damage to our union and put us on a slippery slope toward a European model of stagnate economies, welfare states and mediocrity. Plainly put: the spending and borrowing threatens our greatness.

The fundamental difference between tea totalers and those who are drinking the leftist Kool-Aid is how they view decision-making. The Kool-Aid clan believes that government is better equipped to make choices than a country’s citizens, that they are entitled to our earnings, and that what we get back is simply a giveaway. They feel they know best how to spend it, not us, and simply don’t trust us if left to our own devices.

Every time the government assumes control of our rights and choices whether it is on health care or education, finances, family or faith, it sucks the life out of each one, eventually causing the decay of individual empowerment. As power is increasingly transferred to the government, it will seek to dilute and destroy our most precious values — from the sanctity of marriage to the right to bear arms, free speech and other fundamentals of our constitution.

The Obama Doctrine seeks to do just that: strip power from people, put government — and ultimately the tenants of radicalism — in control. This has a direct impact on our communities and our culture. And once the our culture has decayed, there is nothing left to fight for, which is why we must not cease or waiver in this, and all other, efforts to protect our freedoms.

The culmination of a resistance movement is more than brewing; the tea parties will bring the outrage to a full boil. Though the tea might steep on Wednesday, the battle to protect our nation from socialism’s effect on our culture and our American exceptionalism has just begun. Grab your Earl Grey, it must be stopped.

Andrea Tantaros

Stop mocking the Tea Party: If anyone is nuts, it's the elites and incumbents

It's Tea Time: Bringing America's Outrage to a Full Boil