Scenes from a counter-revolution – The Economist at the Tea Party Convention

A member sent me this article from The Economist and I think it is  valuable to share.

MAKING a virtue of a necessity, Barack Obama has talked endlessly in recent weeks about the wonders of bipartisanship. He has to, now that the Republicans’ capture of Ted Kennedy’s old seat in the Senate last month has deprived the Democrats of the supermajority they were banking on in order to enact much of their legislative programme. Mr Obama has invited congressional leaders from both parties to a summit on health reform at the end of the month. And on February 9th he appealed for both sides to transcend “petty politics” and reach for compromise.

Will they? Democrats and Republicans pay lip service to bipartisanship all the time. But the Republicans have two good reasons not to heed the president’s plea right now. The first reason is that it suits them nicely to keep the Democrats in Congress floundering as November’s mid-term election approaches. The second reason is the tea-party movement.

A year ago this movement did not exist. Now it is by some accounts the most potent force in American politics.

What I still find interesting is that despite all the interviews given and the transparency in which tea party groups across the country are organized, the media still wants to pigeonhole us as either a third party in the making or rubes about to be co-opted by the GOP.  The media still cannot understand our movement so they must continue to erroneously define us based on their perception of reality.  This article is the first I’ve read so far that comes close to accurately portraying what I see happening.

As a name that harks back to the Boston Tea Party suggests, they see themselves as revolutionaries, or counter-revolutionaries. They want to “take back” an America which they say has been going wrong for generations as successive administrations have bloated the federal government and trampled on the constitution and the rights of states and individuals.

This author caught a bit of it but then fell back into typical left territory by pointing out some of the more controversial topics ie Obama’s Presidential eligibility.  I have been to dozens of meetings, am on hundreds of mailing lists and spent a weekend at a leadership conference in TX and I can assure you, this is not our platform. But thanks for bringing it up again and again and again.

Of course the Tea Party movement is going to have its crackpots – have you seen some of the people on the Left? And there will be disagreeements on policy amongst members.  Which is why we are stinking to principles and to mission.  If through this we form a “revolutionary force” that “takes back our country” so be it.