The little coverage of the April 15 Tea Parties indicated confusion in the demonstrators. That is likely the only thing the MSM reported that was true! The confusion was not due to the demonstrators not understanding what they were demonstrating against, it was confusion on how to remedy it.
At the Tea Party I attended in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the common theme was that “we the people” are not being represented by those we send to Washington to represent us. Most of us at election time find ourselves voting not for the best candidate, but the candidate that likely will do the least harm! The confusion was how these candidates get on the ballot in the first place.
I watched in depth the race for the US Senate in Idaho last spring and summer. At first, it appeared the Republican candidate would actually be selected by the people of Idaho in the primary. Then, little by little, “old time politics” crept into the race. The well established republican politicians unanimously endorsed a candidate they described as “having paid his dues to the party” over the years. Then, one by one, the newspapers endorsed the same candidate. (I am sure party politics had nothing to do with that!) By the primary, the candidate had already been selected.
A similar selection occurred in Colorado Springs recently. When the slate of candidates put forth by the Republican Party was announced, “paying dues to the Party” seemed to trump “being the right candidate to represent the people”! Is there any wonder that many at the Tea Party cheered loudly when it was suggested to throw all of them out of office in Washington?
From a historical perspective, it is dangerous for any representative organization to deny the principles the right to be adequately represented. That is what the original tea party was about and that is what our little party of 1500 voters was about in Colorado Springs. I am not sure the voters will throw all of the bureaucrats out of Washington any time soon, but I surely would not underestimate the power of the people.
