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(Author making friends and influencing people...maybe.)
July 4 Tea Party in Bastrop County, Texas–For a mostly-rural county to get maybe 200 attendees, that’s pretty good considering three weeks of consistent 100° temperatures. But as usual, there is a story behind the story.
I volunteered after hearing the organizers were having trouble finding speakers. (They considered me one of the bigger names on the roster; that tells you how desperate they were.) As the organizers were all Republicans, I made it clear that my focus was on “populism” over partisanship. Article links were provided for full disclosure, so that they could see not only my dissatisfaction with previous Tea Parties but also explicit concerns with the Republican party.
Unfortunately, one of the organizers was concerned with my use of the word “populist.” After perusing various definitions of “populism” on the internet, it seems the term means everything from socialism to democratically representing the interests of the common people. But my definition was that the American people need to band together to fight off the economic and social enslavement being pushed upon us by the elites, another valid use of the term.
Why is this so hard to understand? When it comes to being taxed to death, we will either hang together or we will surely hang separately, to borrow from Benjamin Franklin. The time-tested strategy of Divide and Conquer–also called Divide and Rule–means that anything less than unity gives the victory to those who seek to rule us. As Plato said:
The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.
As noted previously, this Tea Party was 99% white. So much for creating a unified America.
Judging from one of the first speakers, it appears that once again, some attendees expected this to be a venting party for frustrated “conservatives” who prefer dumping on the current administration over examining how they successfully lost the 2006 and 2008 elections. As Hall of Fame baseball manager Casey Stengel says:
Most games are lost, not won.
The first indication that the event wasn’t going as hoped was when the keynote speaker mentioned that the “first people” in America came here fleeing European tyranny. Two problems with this revisionist history:
· The “first people” were Native Americans.
· When the white European settlers arrived, they instituted a broad program of gun control in order to keep the Indians disarmed, maintaining a technological superiority that enabled them to expand territorial control. (Read chapter 1 in my book for details and annotations.) But this wasn’t tyranny because those with superior force of arms got to write the history books.
The next speaker vented about Obama and “liberals” in Congress. I walked over to one of the Democrat attendees–recognizable by their blue T-shirts–and asked her to forgive him for his youthful inability to see the bigger picture. Unfortunately, it was too late to save the lone Black speaker, who left after this partisan rant.
That’s possibly the worst indictment against the Tea Party movement in its current formulation: While electing a Black president is a civil rights victory, Obama represents lower and middle class Blacks as much as Bernie Madoff represents his wealthy clientele.
Due to the three-minute limit imposed by organizers, my speech was a condensed version of a previous article. My wife said parts of it were as well-received as if I had performed a Le Pétomane imitation. She added that I sounded like the Grim Reaper. One of the Bastrop GOP leaders whom I respect said I have the knack for telling the truth, a formula for unpopularity. This speaks to the average state of mind: Since this leader is also a minister, he knows that only the Truth will set us free. How many want Freedom anymore?
Why should people believe a “conservative” will be any better than a “liberal” when a self-proclaimed conservative ran up the deficit during his time as president? It was the Republicans during the 2000-2004 time period that prepared the way for Obamanomics. They justified expanding government and federal spending, because it was for the “right” reasons. Now, they sit mute while the new administration makes their efforts look sophomoric, because they know that speaking up too loud risks drawing attention to their hypocrisy.
They know that the American electorate has demonstrated a resistance to learning the lessons of history. As “progressive” economist John Kenneth Galbraith observed:
Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
GOP prostiticians know that eventually the pendulum will swing back their way. Then they can pick up the lines of power expanded by the Democrat prostiticians and yank America in their direction, all while justifying even more spending and government. Ad nauseum. As Bloomberg columnist, Kevin Hassett, says:
All that you need is two political parties that are always willing to offer easy government solutions for every need of the voters, but never willing to make the tough decisions necessary to finance the government largess that results. Voters will occasionally change their allegiance from one party to the other, but the bacchanal will continue regardless of the names on the office doors.
We no longer have a two party system: We have the Democrat party, and the Democrat-too party, neither of which adheres to the goals stated on their party websites.
We’ve got mere weeks before Congress returns from their summer holiday–more travel expenses paid by us–and takes up issues like Cap & Trade and socialized medicine. If you have any ideas on how to refocus this movement on We the People, please send them along.
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For in-depth analysis of the issues discussed here, read Howard’s book Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense. Autographed copies are available from the author.
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Atlanta: You bet it's personal
- Austin: The human side of self-defense
- Boston: More Federal and State Government tyranny on the way
- Charlotte: Dangers of gun registration: 'The Belgian Corporal'
- Cleveland: Let freedom ring.... ALL freedoms
- DC: Under Obamacare, where will Canadians go for medical services?
- Denver: What happens to you when you buy a gun?
- Los Angeles: SoCal Churches go concealed carry.
- Minneapolis: Dirty Deeds in Virginia
- National: Schillerstrom wrong choice for gun owners
- Seattle: Lautenberg’s legislation cloak’s anti-gun senator’s true intention
- St. Louis: California 'assault weapon' ban not oppressive enough?
- Wisconsin: Gun rights advocates make progress
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