Let me start off by reminding certain folks in the crowd out there that the Tea Party is not a "Party" like the Republican Party, the Democrat Party, etc, it is a movement. The Tea Party is the voice of the silent majority. The vast interior of this country that works hard, pays our share, and takes care of our own. They are the people that have always been too busy to rally for Bergen county rat or the Ottawa county rat (a semantic trick to get an animal on the endangered species list and deny you that pool you wanted in the back yard). They are the people who, by and large do not pay a lot of attention to the goings on in Washington, D.C. Now that so many of the silent majority are out of work, they now have time to vent their irritation at the money-stuffed empty suits that populate the elitist "Political Class" of professional politics.
I was talking to my daughter the other day about this and I reminded her that the Founders did not desire a full-time politician, but had hoped that everyone in the country would see it as their duty to serve at the State or Federal level of the government for at least one term out of a sense of duty. George Washington bemoaned the early versions of political parties and counseled the country to shun them. I told her that the Constitution was not written in "legalese" on purpose. It was written so that the common citizen could easily grasp not just the wording of the document, but the spirit of the document...its over-arcing intent--limited and self-correcting government. The Constitution was written so that the average farmer could "get it". In fact, I can state with certainty that this country would be better off if all of the members of Congress were replaced with family farmers. Then we would see some common sense returned to our country.
I tempted fate this afternoon and turned on NPR for about 30 seconds, which is the usual time the transpires before I hear something daft from them. A caller happened to be prattling on about how the Tea Party, according to this book they were discussing, was exhibiting "mob behavior" and that all you need is for a few people to take charge and the next thing you know cities will be burning because of those bigots in the Tea Party. I shut if off with a quick snap of the wrist, then turned it back on hoping that some context would shed some light on what I had just heard. The woman was still prattling on with her "question" and was leading the panel of people to give her some intellectual support for her insights. They did, of course, completely agree with her (talking about self-intellectual feedback). The Tea Party is risk, a threat, even to public safety. Someone in government needs to do more to shut them down. These people are nominally intelligent, I mean I'm sure they have Ivy League diplomas on the wall. How can they be so obtuse? Willful ignorance. Their world view does not permit them to see the Tea Party for what it is, so they shade it into something they can loath, with or without facts. That to me is a grave sin. We must at all times be true to the truth and to ourselves.
With that, I shut off NPR and did not return. Then I read about Karl Rove dissing the Tea Party as well by saying that, by and large, they are not an educated group of people. Karl, Karl...you are such a smart man but you fail to grasp the fundamentals; so wrapped up in complex political gymnastics that you overshoot what is directly in front of you, in plain sight. I would have figured that living in Texas would help you understand the common man. The Tea Party is everyone who wants limited government. They want a return to a straight reading of the Constitution, a literal interpretation (with the amendments of course). That's it. That is all they want. Much of our heritage will be restored by that simple act, so I can understand why many who benefit from the current power structure feel threatened by this movement, on either side of the political spectrum.
Now, as to being a bunch of uneducated racists that are just primed for revolution...
Anyone who has seen the aftermath of a Tea Party event can testify that the places are always left in better shape then when they got there. There are no arrests, nothing burning in effigy (been to a lefty rally ever?), and not a scrap of paper to be seen. So what if most of the people there are white. Most of the country is white, after all. Since the color blind and understanding Left is anything but that, then lets think about it. Roughly 10% of the population is black. Roughly 11% is Hispanic. That means that a cross section of ten individuals in the crowd should net us at least one black person and one Hispanic person. This also assumes that the parties have equal representation within those races, which they don't. No surprise that the crowd is mostly white. There are plenty of people of color there and I think that they would be quite cross with being told that they are racists.
On to education. The number of middle Americans that have post secondary education is about 50%. Those with an Undergrad degree are about 20%. Graduate or Post grad runs between 8-12%. A cross section of the Tea Party would likely yield the same numbers. How are they illiterate?
Remember, the Tea Party is the love of our country made manifest. It has always been there, nurtured in the mid-west and the South. An honest days pay for an honest days work. I keep what I grow and sell to whom I want for as much as I want; and I'll keep as much of the money as I can. Don't over-think this Karl.
The Stoa is brushed off and ready for the next instructor.
--Zavost
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