Not since the colonial days in which protestors dumped bags of tea overboard in Boston harbor to protest the high taxation from the King of England (The Redcoats or British) and the East India Company on this commodity, eventually leading up to the American Revolution, Tea Baggers haven’t been part of the Lexicon. It seems that once again, people are fed up with Government, but this time it is the one on America’s very shoreline, and not in a far away European Monarch. What will determine whether these public gatherings of citizens who want a redress of grievances will transform into a potent and formidable force in America’s political discourse depends entirely on how committed they are towards real “CHANGE” as opposed to what former Texas Republican Senator Phil Gramm calls, “A bunch of Whiners.”
Along with that, having former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as ‘Poster Girl’ for the movement is hardly encouraging. Although Sarah basks in the limelight of her celebrity-like status, coincidentally, the same thing that she, as Vice-Presidential nominee mercilessly criticized Barack Obama, which she now enjoys with gleeful abandon. Not only can Sarah Palin draw a crowd but recent polls indicate that she is still quite popular with her loyal base of supporters and constituency. Also, one should not dismiss some of her memorable one-liner zingers like: “I’ll keep my guns, freedom and money; You can keep the ‘CHANGE,’" specifically aimed at President Obama, so as to momentarily distract him and get him off his game a little.
Be that as it may, the bigger question is whether the Tea Party has enough of a clear message that will redirect peoples' anger in more productive ways instead of just heaping up more and more criticism of government; which is neither constructive nor helpful. The one thing that Tea Party organizers need to do is to “speak truth to power,” and not just come up with these misleading and outright false sound bites laced with such diatribe as “Death panels for seniors” and President Obama is trying to promote “Socialism” with his agenda. If these "true” Americans want to save the Republic, then they need to tone down the inflammatory rhetoric, sharpen their pencils and wits, do their homework or research, and present in a clear and concise manner their better plan. In this way they will become, if not a “third rail” in American political theatre, but rather an amalgamation of a disenchanted, heterogeneous electorate who become energized enough and with their vote and pocketbook become the ‘CHANGE’ themselves that they were looking instead, to come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
April 16, 2010
pbks@hotmail.com
