In a recent Facebook posting, a friend asked, in effect, who exactly is it that the Tea Party wants to take "their" country back from...and who says its only "their" country to begin with? The following was my response with some additional thoughts at the end:
Response:
Not take it back from you...but from the big-government, statist ruling class we now have in Washington. The ones who have almost completely usurped the power of the states and who look to cede sovereignty to the UN...that's who they, and I, want to take it back from.
We live in a republic...that means The People have the ultimate power...but The People became lazy and content and fell asleep...they relinquished their power, not paying close attention to what their supposed representatives were doing in their name...they lost their healthy suspicion of centralized power. The people are now starting to wake up and realize things have gone afoul...that a small minority of ultra-left wing "progressives" who seek more and more power...who believe that government control...central planning...is the answer to every question have taken control. The People have begun to see what they have lost along the road and where this road is going...and they don't like it.
“It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” - John Philpot Curran, 1790We have awoken and seek to take our country back from those who actively prey on our rights.
Additional Thoughts:
This is not a Republican, Democrat thing. Plenty of Republicans have pushed or gone along with big government power grabs. George W. Bush spent our money like a drunken Democrat. The Republican party, in my mind, has in the past been only the lesser of two evils. This is about a belief that our founding principles are based in truth and represent the best of government so far known on all the earth. It is taking a stand that freedom is not a license to steal from your fellow citizen by force of government might, but rather requires personal responsibility and individual initiative. It is saying to our political opponents, we are through with your political correctness that is designed to silence and control us. We are not racists! We are not hate mongers! We know who we are and we don't care about your name-calling any longer. It is we who stand with the Founding Fathers in the belief that centralized, consolidated government power leads inextricably to tyranny.
There is room in our great country for those of differing political, cultural and religious beliefs. But we are a nation of laws. And, the bedrock to our law is the Constitution of the United States of America. It is not a living document in the sense that it can be changed or ignored at the whims of the court or government leaders. It can, however be amended as The People, through their State and Federal representatives, see fit. It is a long and arduous process to amend the Constitution, as it should be. It is meant to be done in a very thoughtful and well reasoned manner to avoid unintended consequences. As Thomas Jefferson said, "Delay is preferable to error."
As I pointed out in a previous post, people polled “by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become more conservative rather than more liberal.” According to Gallup, those who say they are "conservative" make up the single largest block of citizens in the U.S. at about 40%..."moderate" at about 35% and "liberal" at only about 21%. But it is the "liberals" who have taken control of the country. Conservatives and many moderates want that control back. That is how our political system works. Liberals have taken to the streets for years with their signs, chants and mottoes...I guess they just don't like the competition.
