Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tea Party and...

Months ago, I wrote to my local paper to ask each & every voter to please do their research, think out their options, & last but definitely not least, VOTE. Many people voted in the national elections in November & now things have certainly rapidly changed. The difference now is: I no longer have hope.

On April 15th I went to a Tea Party here in El Paso, Texas where I am with my father. There were over a thousand people there & what happened was contrary to every media reporting script with the exception of FOX news. Note: FOX had nothing to do with sponsoring or organizing this event - NO BIG MONEY put this on. Here is my experience for you to decide for yourself if this 'grassroots' movement is real.

Every skin color, size, shape, gender, ethnicity, & age were there. Every political persuasion was well represented: Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party, Independents & apolitical people.

People talked about their vote & many said they had voted for President Obama -- note please, no one attacked them or screamed at them or berated them in any way. The common thread for those of us there was that before this, we all thought we were doing enough by voting, calling/writing our representatives about issues, reading newspaper articles, listening to the news -- all in an effort to stay informed. Now we know we were wrong.

There was no riot. There was no racism. There was no screaming in someone else's face. There was no burning of the flag - in fact, the American flag was displayed & treated with respect. No soldiers, VFW members, Legion members or veterans were spit on or called names. I did, however, see people step up to them & thank them for their service & sacrifice to our country. Tears came to the eyes of the vets, those thanking them & to those of us near enough to witness this. There were gun owners & those opposed to individuals owning guns. There were members of every - & of no - faith.

We burned no cars, tossed no malotov cocktails, screamed no obscenities, threatened no one. We did not shout down the main speaker, a university economics professor. No politicians spoke because it was a time for them to listen to ordinary people, that's IF there were any politicos in the crowd.

The upshot of the entire gathering was this: people are fed up with the government growing at an astronomical rate even as Americans lose their jobs; fed up with politicians saying whatever during a campaign & then doing the exact opposite after elected; fed up with government bailouts; fed up with lobbyists & lawyers running the government; fed up with the spending spree in Washington; fed up with the Constitution & the Bill of Rights being subverted; fed up with losing simple rights & liberties. Last but not least, most feel every Senator & Representative needs to be replaced because they are completely out of touch with the ordinary people of this country. Politicians only listen to their big money backers & not to the voters. Big mistake politicians!

After attending the Tea Party I was energized, hopeful once again for our country. I was encouraged so many hundreds of thousands of ordinary people are getting involved.

And then I came home......

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