What Will Stop the Tea Party Movement!

The answer to that question in one word: Intolerance.


First, let me describe what had to happen for the 2009/10 Tea Party Movement to be effective, also in one word: Tolerance.

If you believe some of the people we hear on the TV shows or write the news, you would think that those people who identify themselves as members of the Tea Party are mentally-challenged zombies who hate anyone who is different than them.

Who actually showed up at those rallies, challenged their politicians at town-hall meetings and did all that Grass-roots Activismy stuff? Mostly folks who had never been politically active before. Lots of retirees, blue-collar workers, mixed-in with professionals and regular folk. There were many different religions, creeds and sects represented. The masses were overwhelmingly white, but every race was represented. You had Independents, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all there and you couldn't tell which were which, unless you asked them.

What allowed this diverse amalgam of Americans to come together was the shock of seeing Big Government expand out of control in a few big leaps, instead of the gradual metastasis (that they were irritated by but became accustomed to) over many decades.

Organized Right-wingers couldn't have done this. No church, No political party, The Christian Coalition or the Moral Majority would have ever created the groundswell.

The reason why is: the Tea Party was not a Social Conservative movement. It was all about our country's fiscal irresponsibility and how we've strayed from the Constitutional restrains on government and how our economy sucks now, when it doesn't have to!  

You didn't see many signs or hear much about Abortion, Gay Marriage, the War on Drugs, Don't Ask Don't Tell or any of the Social Issues. Those issues are what keeps constitution-loving people separated. If somebody wanted to design some tool to destroy our country they couldn't do better than the politicization of social issues. It's perfect for inflaming passions. It's radioactive to discuss in mixed company. Those who are personally touched by the issues come away with entirely different views and those views frequently turn 180 degrees in the same person as they continue to deal with them. Diabolically Genius!

The wisdom of those who engaged in organizing the many regional Tea Party groups, to leave the social issues out of it, is admirable and enlightened.

My fear is that the Social Conservatives are going to fracture the movement. They are easy to bait, it's like calling Marty McFly a "chicken", they can't help themselves. If the Progressives want to get their opponents to turn on each other they just play the Social Issue Card and the moralists jump to action, forgetting the Big Picture.

My view on all social issues is this: If your parenting skills, your family culture, your church, synagogue, mosque, whatever or wherever it is that teaches values to your children is such a failure and so dysfunctional that you feel that government needs to determine what is moral and right or wrong personal behavior,
I suggest you should straighten yourself out before you go looking to the heavy-hand of Big Brother to step in.

If everybody would just mind their own damn business and quit trying to control others, most of these social issues would quit being issues at all. The fallout and backlash to government imposed social moralizing is the source of most of our country's problems: Hundreds of thousands of drug-related crimes would never happen in the first place, abortions would become rare, you'd be able to enjoy a night of television without the writers shoving the gay agenda, the drugs-are-funny agenda, the pro-life agenda, the pro-choice agenda or whatever is the "hip & cool" subject of the season into every plot-line on every show.

You may notice that Steve and Gary have a different living arrangement than others on the street, but you know that they are not threatening you and your family, so you don't let it distract you from enjoying your own life. Ol' Joe can't keep a job due to his alcohol addiction, besides a private intervention, he's left unmolested, he's not breaking any laws, unless he's behind the wheel. But that seemingly functional dude around the corner got caught growing pot in his basement, do we really need to waste $100,000's on showing him the folly of his ways. No, leave him the hell alone.

Live & Let Live is such an easy concept, but the compulsion to control the personal choices of others is so strong that we will let it destroy our republic and hand it over to those that want even more control.