Tea Party… Now what?

Okay so it was April 15th and thousands of people all around the country in various cities gathered to protest a bevy of issues all falling under the heading of “big government”. TEA was used as “clever” (eh-hem) acronym for “Taxed Enough Already”. In some cities, as many as ten thousand or so gathered, and in others there were at least several hundred.

The people came together and waved their signs and spoke on microphones and mega phones and protested the bail-out, the stimulus, taxes etc. You can learn the details here:http://taxdayteaparty.com/

If we are counting bodies…by numeric standards it was a huge success!

Here’s my question: Was it? Was it a success?

Hmmm….

Well I guess I’ll admit that I didn’t go. I tossed the idea around. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to at first, but I could have gone to one of the ones held around my city. I did not. As the day drew near, I began to see the general vibe changing and the message was begining to get distorted as high-profile Neo-Conservative media-heads began throwing their voice around amidst the tea.
Some even tried to make it seem like the message of the event was their idea all along. It began to give the appearance of an old-world right extremist neo-conservative Obama-bash-athon…. which I knew was not the original intent or message. Had the whole thing been hijacked? Perhaps.

Besides that - I wasn’t entirely sure a “protest” was in my nature. I don’t know how effective it is to angrily shout opposition to what you don’t want. I tend to imagine it may be somewhat more effective to throw some positive emotion into supporting what we do want. Additionally, I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly thousands of folks waving signs would really do. I couldn’t help but remember the huge protests throughout history and I wondered about their effectiveness. Just a few years ago thousands upon thousands of folks protested the war. And that was just in this country! Millions of folks all over the world protested the Iraq “war”. Yet - our troops remained despite the full-knowledge that it was all started under completely false pretense, and despite the fiercely huge amount of bodies waving signs around the world.

But I digress. The point is that seeing that the momentum had indeed picked up gave me some glimmer of hope for this nation, but then watching the message become distored and misunderstood left me feeling a bit apprehensive. And, I still wondered whether or not a protest was truely the way to go when we want to change policy. So… I watched it unfold.

As feedback began to come in from Wednesdays events around the country it became clear that many folks felt their tea party went very well and the message of limited government was clear. Many said the general feeling was indeed non-partisan and all philosophies were represented as this is an issue that clearly affects all of us. Sounded good.

Alas, others in fact, reported the opposite. That they felt it was not a “bailout” or “tax” protest but was an Obama protest, and had a strong right-wing feel and flavor. Hmmm. See to me, that is just not effective in trying to spread an educated message far and wide. You cut off more people than you reach, and you end up preaching to the choir. It’s useless.

The media coverage of the event - well I’m not even going to into that. I think we all know how media coverage usually goes.

Okay - now please don’t misunderstand me here. I know I sound cynical and I may even sound as if I’m condemning the tea parties. I’m not. I’m all for smaller government, I am not a fan of the bail-outs, I completely see the crucial need for abolishment of the federal reserve and dissolving of the income tax. I totally support the original intended message of the tea parties. I’m not slamming the initiative here. I’m glad that thousands of folks showed up. I’m a bit skeptical of some of their motives for showing up, I wonder if many did show up under a misunderstood idea and thought they were showing up to protest Obama….. and I’m simply skeptical of it’s effectiveness.

But I guess we shall see? I’ve already been verbally reprimanded for not being a better cheer leader, but I must speak my mind, and now that I’ve over-explained my skepticism - I’m about to tell you just what I’m thinking.

Here is my question…. you had a tea party. You gathered in great numbers. You waved signs and got lots of media attention. Good!

SO NOW WHAT?

Now what? How many of you will stay on this path now? You have the gumption to stand among a crowd and verbally oppose taxes but did you fill out your W2 or 1040 this year? Will you happily cash your refund check when you get it? So while your lips ranted in opposition to income tax while your wrists were held voluntarily behind your back allowing the cuffs to be put upon you for “tax season.” Are you “taxed enough already”?

How many of us… all of us, or at least a good majority of us are more than willing to shout among the sea of faces in a crowd. Some are even willing to shout on a podium that we are not a slave to government. But we will all sign our name on the dotted lines that make us slaves.

Why?

I’ll tell you why. Fear. We are afraid that if we don’t comply they will punish us. Well folks, if we ALL refused to comply, then “they” would have no choice but to change policy. And income tax is really just an example here. This stands for all policy and legislation and big gov’t insanity that is suffocating our nation.

Friends, we really need to start facing the image in the mirror here. It wasn’t Bush’s fault. It’s not Obama’s fault. It’s OUR fault. We comply. We bitch and moan and protest. But in the end, we comply. We comply with our willingness to let it happen, and our unwillingness to get involved beyond showing up on a nice sunny day to the park for a tea party.

We comply by letting the others go to the county convention because it’s too early to wake up on a Saturday morning.

We comply but not showing up to our state conventions.

We comply by not going to the voting booth and voting on legislation that will shape our community…our state… our nation.

We comply by saying “I don’t have time for politics”

We comply by not calling our reps and letting them know where we stand.

We comply by not running for office, volunteering our time to support a good candidate or attending an important function that supports good legislation instead of opposing bad legislation.

We comply when they come for our paycheck and we sign our name on the line and say “okay, take some of my money even though I’ll go an yell about it later.”

It’s not their fault anymore.

You know, high-profile politicians will allow you a “photo-op” if you donate larger sums of money at their events. They are “selling” you a chance to have your mug seen next to their mug. Why do they do this? Because we are suckers for it. We are awe-struck by the big names and we feel humbled in their presence.

Does this seem weird to you? Folks - these suits are no better than you or I. The only thing that makes them different is their willingness to act on their words - even if it’s actions you don’t agree with - hey, at least they are acting on something. Anyway, what’s the deal with the awe-struckedness anyway? They are not in charge my friends, YOU are. WE are.

It hit me today that this is the problem in our nation. WE THE PEOPLE forgot who we are. We forgot that we hold the power. We forgot that they should be paying us for a photo-op. We forgot that we are supposed to be the ones running the show. We feel powerless, hopeless, fearful that if we don’t comply they’ll punish us. Who? They? What They? They are WE my friends!!!

I’m glad we came out in numbers on the 15th. I’m glad so many of us were barking. But how many of us will bite?

So who are you? Are you a barker? or are you a biter?

You had your tea.

Now what?