Party Like It’s 1773
On December 16, 1773, a number of men in Sam Adams’ “Sons of Liberty” organization boarded ships in Boston Harbor in order to dump nearly 350 chests of East India Company tea into the waters. This was the Boston Tea Party, and the goal was to help the British Parliament understand that the colonists rejected the premise that a distant government had the right ”to regulate one’s life and dictate how it would be conducted and at what price.”
Almost 240 years after the Boston Tea Party, the potency of its ideals are still alive and well, but are being directed at the tyranny of a stateside government instead of one across the pond.
Beginning all around the country in 2009, patriots have organized and attended rallies marked by the “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsen flags made popular during the American Revolution. Their goal, like that of the original tea partiers, has been to help President Obama and other Washington politicians understand that lucid Americans forthrightly reject the continued expansion of government and the idea that a politician or group of politicians possesses the right to regulate or otherwise dictate the daily minutiae of our lives.
And for those who like to keep count in such matters, it appears that in the match between tea partiers and big-government politicians, the tea partiers are winning hands down.
If we take Obama’s ascendancy to the presidency as our starting point, since that time conservatives have ousted a number of no-good, tax-and-spend Democrats and replaced them with conservatives who are often Republicans and who are running on Reagan-like principles of cutting taxes and shrinking government.
A case in point here is Republican Chris Christie’s November 2009 victory over Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election. Although Obama visited the Garden State three times to campaign for Corzine, the conservative message of Christie and his tea party supporters squashed any positive impact the president otherwise might have had.
In that same election cycle, Bob McDonnell ended the Republican Party’s eight-year losing streak in the Old Dominion by defeating Democrat Creigh Deeds to win Virginia’s gubernatorial race. He won the election handily thanks to the strong support of tea partiers, also referred to as “independents” by mainstream news outlets, who can’t bring themselves to admit the success that conservative-driven tea parties around the nation have achieved.
How about Sharon Angle’s primary victory against some solid Pub candidates? I have no doubt she will unseat Harry Reid in the Fall.
I think Glenn Beck and his Chalkboard have more to do with the Tea Party Success than anyone, as he is giving people a basic course in Civics and History, as well as exposing the rot.
If the NRA does endorse Reid, I, and a lot of others, are through with them.
Yesterday I attended a MoveOn.org rally at Capital Park in Augusta, Maine. It was attended by two chiefs, three Indians, three conservative infiltrators and two non-committal woodchucks.
On April 15 ca. 800 Tea Partyers turned up at the same site.
I have said this before on this blog, but it certainly bears repeating here. The Liberal left and the main stream media will try to intimidate, belittle, and denigrate the Tea Party activists in every way they know how. Well gang, don’t let them get away with it. Stand, make your voices heard and don’t let these bums intimidate you. As Americans, we’ve faced a lot worse than the rats who run the main stream media. We’ve faced foreign armies, we’ve faced natural disasters, and we’ve even fought a civil war, yet we’re still here.
And if they keep pushing you, keep calling you names, keep ignoring you, keep calling you “irrelevant,” and keep trying to marginalize you, remember that you are fighting the good fight. Not only does this movement face tough challenges, but it requires you, yes you, to stand for something bigger than yourself. I know it sounds corny, but you can do it, trust me. I’ve seen what Americans are capable of and the average Tea Party member has what it takes to succeed. This is work men like Washington, Jefferson, and both Sam and John Adams would be proud of. Don’t let them down because of some childish taunts coming from the liberal left. November is coming and, united, we can certainly make a difference. We have a country to save, so let’s get to work.
A note of sobriety please. It is time to act yes, but a bit more steel and gritty realism is greatly desired.
The heady times of 1773-1775 were followed by the tactical and strategic disasters of 1776. I speak of the actual war, not the politics. It took immense courage and determination before this nation was capable of calling itself truly independent and at liberty. The Revolution was a long war. It was in extreme doubt right up until Nathaniel Greene’s troops crossed the Dan River ahead of Cornwallis in that fateful early days of 1781.
Greene’s race to exhaust and weaken Cornwallis ended with a tactical loss, but strategic victory at Guilford Courthouse, thus convincing Cornwallis to retreat to Yorktown to resupply and rest is wrecked army. It would be another full two years and a major siege before the Treaty of Paris.
The point of the story? Winning often doesn’t look that way while you are fighting. Good causes often look hopeless right up until final victory.
There is one other related lesson that Conservatives need to learn. The Brits (and mostly Canadians) did burn Washington… in the war of 1812. So the final lesson is that victories are temporary.
There is a huge amount of work to be done and the enemy is unlikely to take a break and give us a chance to do “our thing” because “he lost and we won…” He is going to fight us tooth and nail, to the last man/woman/whatever.
Regards,
The Mighty Fahvaag
It’s been a wonderful thing to see the Tea Party’s continue to roll. It is a true “people’s movement,” and one that appears destined to humble a few haughty politicians (Hopefully Harry Reid will be one of them)
Right On! The Tea Party is the best thing that’s happened to the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan. And you know it’s successful because the mainstream media hates it the way they hate everything they can’t control.
John TMF (#4) has me cheering! I was aghast that the GOP power brokers in 2008 pushed their best candidate aside and went with one of their own–Huckabee would have been stronger in the election game against Obama, and were he president right now we would be on our way to recovery instead of gasping on life support. Please, let’s ask him to help us now with the lasat paragraph of your post: There IS a huge amount of work to be done–and much as I hate to characterise political opponents as “the enemy” the forces at work right now are destroying our nation and eliminating our freedom.
The governor who managed enormous improvements in education, infrastructure, and human services in Arkansas (where he had to work across the aisle because Arkansas is Democrat dominated)would give us the bipartisan administration we need. The governor who led his state to respond effectively and compassionately to Katrina victims would be the president prepared to deal with national disasters. I could go on and on–we messed up last time, guys. If Huckabee will agree to run, please get behind him in 2012. (and please, gentle readers, don’t call me names for speaking my mind. I don’t post often because of the rampant incivility on the net.)
Hear Hear!!!
Well put!!
The thing the Tea Party must guard against is what Limbaugh warns about–don’t try to become a third party. Just keep purifying the Republicans.
In a response along the same venue, Europe is calling for austerity plans and restraint of entitlements which sort of matches the Tea Party. How ironic that the Europeans may seem to be include in the same platform as the fiscal and governmental conservative Tea Party. Who would have thought that one can not legislate or spend one’s way out of debt?
Sure. Right.
The Demagogic Party owns all the Union money, all the Bolshevik street soldiers, all so-called “minorities”, all the gummint employees, all the media including Hollywood and the BBC, $787 Billion in “stimulus” money and now $20 Billion in BP money to use as walking around ward heeler dough in the Gulf — and they’ve got a crooked DOJ with all the guns in the world.\
And you think the split up CountryClubRepublicans—Libertarians—Constituionalists—Moderates—Independents etc. will join together to “fight”.
Yeah. Right. Go team. Dream on.
Yes, indeed I do. And you know how I know all of the Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Moderates, and Independents will come together and throw these bums out of office? Because we did it all once before, in 1980, when we threw that odius little man Jimmy Carter out of office and ushered in the Reagan era. Time to be great again. We can and WE WILL!
November may well reveal the last stolen election of the decade considering the vast array of subversive actions presented by the cast of actors presently occupying the white house stage.
If thirty years isn’t long enough for Pelaut then maybe he has a better plan “B”. Be certain to remind him to watch for lines drawn in the dust. They won’t be for a game of hopscotch.
Toxic people like you are more dangerous than the Progressives. Lead, follow or shut up and get out of the way. Pity partiers are of no use to anyone ever.
I don’t have a clue how Obama got elected in the first place, much less how he figures he has any support at all. Whenever I wear my “Screw Obama” T-shirt, I get smiles, pats on the back and “thumbs up” signs wherever I go.
Reagan won big due to his unwavering insistence on using clearly defined language. His incredible ability to communicate was based upon his skill in choosing right words, economically, to speak about his core beliefs. The country heard him, and both independents AND moderate/conservative Dems flocked to his leadership. The rest is history — one we can clone if we hang together.
It is much closer to 1774 or the early part of 1775 then 1773, and I recommend that everyone read the Day by Day cartoon for June 27, 2010.
That cartoon series is just dire. Nothing conservative about it, it’s just a jump on the bandwagon load of nonsense.
Of course it’s not conservative; it’s libertarian. IMO, conservativism is a moving target, drifting inevitably leftward. There have been no liberarian presidents in the Progressive Era. OTOH, there have been several conservatives. Nothing changes, except for the worse.
The Tea Party is going International, too. Recently, I was at one in Florence, Italy. My report is here:
http://templeofmut.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/an-american-in-florence-for-an-italian-tea-party/