By Steve Farmer, USNR (ret.)
The Tea Party is about ideas, people, rather than political party, as the politicians and mainstream media want you to believe. From the mission statement of the Tea Party Patriots: “The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.” We are a free association of like-thinking Americans of all political affiliations who are fed up and frustrated with the dysfunctional people who are running our government; and our nation into the ditch while they’re at it! As P. J. O’Rourke said: “Giving money and power to Government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
We are about promoting the core values enshrined in our Constitution by our founding fathers; ideas about freedom and liberty that have stood the test of time. We are the voice of that vast silent majority we’ve heard about for years, the backbone of America; and we’re tired of being abused and drained of our resources, our energy and desire for good, by our politicians of all stripes. A quick definition of liberty: “the ability or capacity to act without undue hindrance or restraint”; in other words, to think and do as you, a free American, choose to; as long as you don’t tread on the liberty of your fellow citizen.
Most, if not all, of the special concerns of each citizen, whatever they may be, will be addressed by sticking to our core values. This will allow us to expand our pool of supporters easily, as we provide a place for that vast, frustrated middle to channel their desire to do right by their country, to bring her back from the brink and continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor as they prepare to pass on the legacy of liberty and opportunity to their posterity.
KISS-Keep It So Simple. Focused energy equals focused results. Getting fragmented on multiple social issues and special interests will divide us, diluting our energy and purpose; weakening us, as well as our ability to deliver a clear, focused message that gives understanding to those who want it, and countermands the logic-defying brain-washing message of progressive elitists.
If we really want to transcend the politicians messages, we need to provide a new paradigm of thinking about how to do things in this country, a way of thinking that brings us back full circle to the purposeful words and actions of the founding fathers. We need to transcend the us vs. them “tag team” mentality that the two parties have indoctrinated us with, and get back to the basic principles that made this the most free and prosperous nation in history, a place for Americans of all ancestries to enjoy their lives and each other.
This is about defining a new way of thinking and doing that allows us to hack our way through the weeds to get back to the main path of liberty that has worked; not perfectly, because people aren’t perfect, but it has worked well for many years. So, it’s about defining our path, not defending the status quo. I believe we need to follow in the footsteps of the Founding Fathers and the wonderful framework they left us if we want to succeed in getting back our individual rights of living the way we choose, along with accepting the responsibility and consequences of those choices without placing blame on others. In summary, it is not a conservative-liberal thing, a Republican-Democrat thing, nor a race-class thing; it is a freedom and liberty thing. We welcome the debate that needs to happen because we believe that you, the citizen, are the better decision maker for your life and the lives of your children.
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