A group of people who had never been in a campaign have made history. Rand Paul, son of former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is now a candidate himself. While many wait and wonder what this means for the Republican Party, it is the party themselves which should be reacting. With the citizen-run organization that is the Tea Party now having their stamp on one of our electoral candidates, we have a choice: Follow the new or continue the old.
Since the dawn of Obama really showing his true colors, we have seen people begin to awake from not only a coma induced by him and his followers, but by society’s response to politics as a whole. Everyone involved in politics can recall at least one time where people rolled their eyes when they discussed their career plans, or comments when discussing with someone how they can help a campaign or cause. Thankfully, organizations such as Tea Parties show comments such as the “Well I am just one vote” excuse the door. Although it was Bart Stupak’s electoral retreat which showed the real power of the Tea Party, its Rand Paul’s recent primary win that shows the nation what they are going to do with their newfound power: Change the Nation.
Although this does not obviously call the election, it does call a highly required objective that the Republican Party must respond to. Despite being the minority, groups such as the Tea Party have given them a strength that has not been available to the opposition of a stronghold political agenda before. Events, phone banks and letters among other factors of these citizen-run operatives have allowed the GOP to, despite having no real legislative strength, still feel strong through their own attempts and consistent plans despite being bombarded by a liberal bully.
Rand Paul’s win is a sign of not only this organization’s real potency but more importantly what the GOP needs to do to have that power continue on their side. Despite recently signing on to a Democrat’s campaign, the main beliefs of the Tea Party, from smaller government to fiscal responsibility and beyond, are the foundation of the Grand Old Party. Hence, the first reaction to Paul must be an acceptance of this change and an embrace of it while they are on our side. “Our guy” didn’t win, but “the Tea Party’s guy” did. We must respond to this positively and begin to accept the Tea Party as an extension of us even more so than before because now they have their name on one of our November candidates.
As if we are the current majority, we as Republicans have a responsibility to act upon this outreach toward us by the citizens of this nation. We are finally being seen as the party we always were: The Party for the People. It may not be the way many wanted it to be seen, but what really matters is in 2010 we return the government to America before the nation becomes unrecognizable.
Heather Bachman is a political commentator and broadcaster and a New Jersey native. More information can be found at HeatherBachman.com.