So many Americans are just not getting it. And some of them are intentionally not getting it, while others who do get it, don’t want to get it.
The political elite on the moderate to conservative side keep talking as though they get it, but they also have no real intention of getting it, even after the election in November that will put them back in the driver’s seat. (And that is of course if they don’t blow it by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they are so often want to do.)
And sadly many in the Tea Party movement don’t get it either. You see, the election in November is not the end of this struggle by any means; it’s only the beginning of what’s required. But unfortunately, some have mentally made its outcome their “finish line,” and are preparing themselves to flop back down on the couch with the chips and dip once the present oppressors have been denounced and dethroned. (The playoffs start in November anyway, you know!) Then all will be right with the world, and our new political saviors can reign benevolently again.
If you don’t believe this can happen just listen to that stalwart of establishment Republicanism, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who so confidently pontificated this week that the Tea Parties will shortly dissolve and go away. Now understand that Lindsey (no novice to political tactics, nor given to suicidal comments in front of cameras) has made a well- calculated supposition about the termination of the Tea Party movement, upon which he is so obviously relying. He could scarce hazard such a public declaration in the first place without any fear, if he didn’t believe it to be true.
So what does he know? Might he be scanning the horizon for apathy and laziness in 2011? I submit that he and other flip-flop establishment types (Sen. John McCain comes to mind) are counting on the Tea Parties to get them past Christmas and into a Happy New Year of power. To them it’s all about the swing of a pendulum, and knowing when best to jump on and off. And after storming the Bastille in November, they believe the Tea Party passions will wane, and then they can re-feather and reposition their political perches in Washington.
A Republican Congress and a Democratic president should be enough to quiet the masses they surmise. Newt Gingrich reminded all the Republicans back at CPAC earlier this year that they need to have their legislation “ready to go” once they take power. Obviously, he doesn’t get it either!
So is this correct? Apathy and laziness (spiritual and physical) are what have brought this nation to its current seemingly post-classic demise. Reviving a republic is a very difficult (if not impossible) thing to do. As Alexis de Tocqueville correctly noted:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. (Sound familiar?) From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy (emphasis mine), always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Interesting! So what is required after November’s election for the Tea Parties to keep their revolution going? Do we keep the “Don’t Tread On Me” flags flying, the town hall meetings meeting, the raucous rally’s roiling, and the marches on DC marching?
Absolutely! Absolutely yes, and amen! Fix bayonets! We do not give any incumbents a breather: Mr. Graham or Mr. McCain (if he’s still in office) especially so! All permanent professional politicians must go, and from all parties, and be quick about it! They must be weeded out in these next two elections and replaced with “new faces.”
And the new “non-professional” office-holders must be committed to, and held accountable for, enforcing existing laws, removing redundant and unconstitutional laws, reducing the size and expense of the current federal tyranny, and returning its power to the 50 (not 57 President Obama) sovereign states. Nor do we need “more” legislation former Mr. Speaker! We need it stopped at the federal level! Do you “get it?”
A revolution like ours means “eliminating” and not merely cutting back on government growth. Tea Partiers need to recognize that taking away one party control in Washington in November “is not” what our movement is all about. It is about the “dismantling” of a bureaucracy that has exceeded its constitutional boundaries for over 80 years by the establishment of the departments, agencies, and services of: agriculture, energy, internal revenue, “intra”-state commerce, environment, education, health care, welfare, and you name it.
These are all “unconstitutional” interferences in the rights reserved “to the States and to the people.” The defunding and dismantling of these institutions is essential and critical to returning our Republic to a sound footing as the founders intended.
This revolution also requires an overhaul of the overtly attractive incentives for office holders, who run for office and then exploit the Nation. Currently, our political “lords” of Washington count on getting elected, and then moving heaven and earth to getting re-elected. They have become a “permanent political class!”
The incentives for receiving special retirements, health plans, transportation, mailings, and all manner of special “lordly” treatments has made a mockery of the term “public servant.” I’m in favor of passing a law preventing (and removing) the names of all politicians from every bridge, highway, airport, building, school, dam, park, scholarship, and any other project that they can be publicly recognized for in our country. We have plenty of Americans of both sexes and races, who have given their lives and sacrificed for this country. Let’s name things after them. (I exempt the founders of course.)
For Tea Partiers who have fought so hard and given up so much to defeat the so-called health care bill (tyranny), don’t put your faith in Newt and the Republicans turning it around next year. Newt bragged earlier this year that the States don’t need to take the health care bill to court and fight the battle over its constitutionality if we will just elect Republicans and take over the House. They will stop the bill by just not funding the stupid thing. Walla! See! So, how many Republicans running for the House do you think have signed onto that proposal? Only about 90+ so far! Out of 435, they’ll need a few more methinks!
And do you think cutting government down to size, reducing taxes, and removing their perks and privileges is on either parties minds? I’ll bet not! They wring their hands in dismay at the $13 trillion in debt, point at the other guy, and regrettably talk about why they’ll have no choice but to raise our taxes. But what they won’t tell you is that if we dismantle their fiefdoms, castles, take away their carriages, and send their federal minions home, we won’t need to raise our taxes, and we can begin to eliminate our debt. TEApublicans, and even TEAocrats, can get us a Tea Party Republic! Whack BIG GOV!
William Temple is a historical re-enactor, a pastor of a Bible church in Brunswick, Ga., and a well-known figure at Tea Party events across the country.