The Tea Party

The Tea Parties are heating up again. Currently, there is a group traveling the country for 20 days and ending up in Washington D.C. on April 15.

The Tea Party started a year ago February during the Stimulus bill debate following a rant on CNBC where it was stated that the people ought to hold a tea party like from the original tea party in Boston leading up to the Revolutionary War.

They then started popping up in various parts of the country over the next week. 200 here, 500 there, then they had 5,000 show up in Florida for a tea party. This set it off and running and on April 15 last year, there were tea parties all over the country with hundreds of thousands attending. Carrying signs.

They continued throughout the summer. In August as lawmakers started having town hall meetings on the health care bill, they found out that there were many angry people out there that didn't like the idea of the government taking over health care. Many of these people were part of the tea party and many that weren't have since joined the tea parties.

They are now involved in this years election. Their goal is to replace those Senators and Representatives that wouldn't pay attention to them. In some cases, some of them are running for office. This leads me to my topic.

The Tea Party as a third party. Just about everyone you hear on the talking head programs at night all say that they are not looking to start a third party. This is a good thing. If they become a third party, they will dilute the Republican party and there were will be more liberals elected. This defeats the purpose of the Tea Party.

The Tea Party seems to represent the Conservative point of view. With the exception of Sarah Palin, they are looking to defeat John McCain in his Senate run against J.D. Hayworth. The idea is to replace a moderate Republican with a Conservative Republican. That is exactly what they should be doing. If they fail, they still have John McCain, who has been acting more like a Conservative since his loss in the Presidential election. But he has years of being a moderate and at one point, was asked by Democrats to switch parties.

I'm looking forward to the Tea Party playing a major role in this years election. I hope and believe that they will be successful in weeding out some of the Republicans that are not conservative and then to be elected against the incumbent liberal Democrat in the fall.

Assuming that the Tea Party is successful, and we do take back the House and the Senate, then what? My hope is that the Tea Party continues. This could be dangerous for Republicans. If they begin to act as Democrats or even as they did when the Republicans had control prior to 2006, this could come back to bite the Republicans. My hope is that the Tea Party continues and holds the Republicans feet to the fire. Should the Republicans get their "power" back and then start ignoring the people, continue to spend money, disregard the Constitution as the Democrats have, then I hope that the Tea Party calls them on the carpet and in the following election causes more Conservatives to run against those that claimed to be Conservative but then moved into the Washington ways. In other words, the people that we get elected had better come through as the people wish or we would work to get them out in the next election.

We don't want politicians that ride a wave, then once they get in, dump the wave and create their own waves. No more of putting a person in a leadership position because it's "his turn".

Term limits shouldn't matter. If a Representative or Senator is not doing his job, the term limits won't need to apply if the Tea Party stays active because the people, the members of the Tea Party, can and should continue their protests to get that politician out. The Tea Party has waken the people up. I hope that they continue and keep the people awake by going after those that don't do what they were elected to do.

There are 219 House Members that voted for taking over the health care. All of them Democrats. That's 219 possible victories for Conservatives to grab ahold of. In the Senate, there are 36 seats up for election. This is a chance to pick up 13 seats in the Senate while maintaining the Republican seats. Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, Arlen Specter, Kristin Gillibrand, Charles Schumer, the seat formerly held by Obama and another formerly held by Biden. All of these could be taken. The most difficult seems to be Schumer, but if they'll vote out Gillibrand, why not Schumer as well?

Perhaps an unrealistic hope. But each of those Democrats voted to take away our freedom. Each of those Democrats voted to use parliamentary procedures to avoid the will of the people. Each of them has earned a place in the unemployment line.

The Tea Party is doing a remarkable job and hopefully it will translate into a massive overhaul in the November. But then, it would be wonderful if they'd continue even after the Conservatives take back our government and make sure that those newly elected officials follow through on what they were elected to do. Follow the will of the people.

You're, of course, welcome to comment.

Brett