All around the country and from every walk of life people have come together under the loose umbrella known as the T ea Party movement. Venting their frustrations about the direction their country is taking these folks are demanding a change in the way the United States does business.
It doesn't get more "Grass Roots" than this.
Retirees, stay-at-home moms, small-business owners, corporate executives and everyone in American in between. Alarmed at the rising deficit they are joined by disaffected independents, always pissed of libertarians, Republicans and conservitive Democrats.
The big question is were do they go from here and who exactly are "they".
The National Tea Party Convention held last week included some notable clues to the future of the Tea Party. Organizers of the convention announced on Friday that they were forming a political action committee to raise money and provide political consulting and campaign management for Tea Party-approved candidates. They also outlined plans to take over the Republican Party from the ground up by having Tea Party conservatives fill local Republican committee slots with the power to decide which candidates to endorse and finance.
While a bell weather for some folks feelings the convention did not necessarily represent the views of tea par-tiers across the nation. Tea Party Patriots, another social networking site with ties to FreedomWorks, the Washington advocacy group led by former House majority leader, Dick Armey, had sent its members a note last month saying that it would not support the convention because of the high ticket prices. The National Precinct Alliance as well, announced t would no longer participate.
Philip Glass, the national director of the National Precinct Alliance, said he was also concerned about the role in the convention of groups like Tea Party Express, which has held rallies across the country through two bus tours, and FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella. He called them “Republican National Committee-related groups,” and added, “At best, it creates the appearance of an R.N.C. hijacking, at worst, it is one.
I feared this would happen.
When well meaning folks rally together there is always someone willing to be part of the crowd to further their own agenda or advance their own political career. Beware of Folks that clam to speak for the movement. Chances are they are just using the movement for their own gain.
There are a lot of whats known on message boards as "Attention whores" out there. Particularly in Western New York.
They are easy to spot. They have never met a microphone they dont like and they seem to have endless time to pontificate on local radio about what is wrong with everything and everyone that does not think like them. Usually you will find they have run for political office several times and couldn't get elected dog catcher.
They see this as their big chance using real people with real concerns as a springboard for their political ambitions.
Here is a good test to use to see if the group you might want to become a part of is self serving.
Make a meeting and do/try the following:
- * Ask to speak - if they only allow their chosen few to speak run away.
- * Tell them you want to be involved. If all they want you to do is "Grunt work" or hand them donations, run away. That should be self explanatory.
- * Listen to them speak - If all they talk about is evil democrats and good republicans, run away. If you want to join the Republican party just do it. There are a lot of them that just want to coup their own party.
- * If you here racists remarks run away.
- * If there ranks are full f people that run for election and lose frequently, Run Away. These people will just be begging for your vote next election.
The Tea Party movement started off as a good thing. Democracy in action, people getting their voices heard. The Direction it moves in now will largely be determined by the actions of the participants.
Make sure before you lend your support to any group that the group has America in mind and not just its own leadership.
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