Hello, Tea Party:
It has been my observation that very few of the folks I’ve met ‘On the Corner’ with the Ft. Lauderdale TeaParty or at other gatherings of TeaParty folks, are political junkies.
For the most part, they are just plain patriotic American citizens who began to feel uneasy with the policies and direction of Obama & Co. and finally arrived at a point when they realized that our beloved nation and the traditional freedoms we’ve enjoyed since the founding of this country, were being stolen from us. Stolen by our very own elected administration and by our Government, at all levels. These citizens became ‘itchy’, looked around and found that they were not itching alone. They discovered their closest Tea Party group, became active – and began to open their eyes and ears to some of the painful facts of political life. They came alive; they became involved.
Fast forward to the 2010 election and the stunning achievement of Conservatism taking over the U.S. House of Representatives and replacing some Democrats with of all things - Republicans. We were all flushed with this signal victory over one half the Legislative Branch. Score a big one for the Tea Party. And so many folks, having sent their candidate to Wash, DC, curtailed their activism or slowed their involvement. They sat back to await their victory to bear fruit.
Fast forward again, to the results of several controversial bills voted-on in the House by recently-elected ‘Tea Party’ freshmen. Supporters began to question the votes cast by ‘our’ Reps in Congress. Their votes differed from the gut feelings and unyielding positions of many of the Tea Partiers who voted them into office. Some expressed dismay and wondered aloud, “What the hell is going on, here?”
What was and is going on here, is that the Tea Party freshman are feeling the pressure from the ‘old boy network’ and the boiling cauldron that is, Washington politics. While it is perfectly true that we have every right to expect that each and every one of them will locate his or her backbone and core principles - and act accordingly, it up to each and every one of us as their constituents, to demonstrate to them our faith and support. It is up to us to back them up and to contact them directly to let them know in clear, concise, straight-forward language without rancor, that we are seriously interested in what they are doing. It is called, ‘interaction’. We have that obligation as voting citizens.
We are not privy to all the information they receive, either public or classified. We are not always aware of the pressures they are confronted with on a daily basis. We have no clue as to what other influences might be pressing them. They need to know that we are right behind them. Still, the same Team that voting them into office to represent us. We cannot expect them to perform with honor as our representatives, unless we stay in close touch with them and keep them aware of how we are feeling about the issues they are dealing with. And, we must let them know clearly, what we expect of them. We might not always see them vote as we would like but, there can be no space between we who elected them and those whom we’ve sent to Washington. We owe them that. We owe that to our nation. We owe that to ourselves.
So, I say to my Tea Party brothers and sisters: Stay involved. Stay with our Tea Party ‘freshmen’ and do what it takes to make those men and women, our Tea Party ‘sophomores’.
Steady. Steady.
Conservative Commentary by MORT KUFF © 2012
