Okay. So. I'm pissed.
I went to a Tea Party on the Fourth. And I got a good rage crankin'. Unfortunately, not at the government, but at The Organizer.
It seems she and her insider coterie are Republican apparatchiks, masquerading as Patriots.
Republicans can be patriots, of course. But Republican activists whose only goal is to "get Republicans elected" are by definition Partisan Hacks, not Patriots.
At the April 15th Tea Party, The Organizer collected contact information from attendees. Unfortunately, she kept that information under lock and key. None of her group of volunteers (who spent time and money making this thing happen) were allowed a glance at, let alone access to, the wealth of contacts gathered.
The problem is, The Organizer did nothing with them. She allowed all the enthusiasm of the attendees of that first exciting Tea Party to languish and dissipate for lack of attention, encouragement and contact.
The result: this Tea Party was much smaller than the first one.
So, this time, I took it upon myself to grab a clipboard of my own, and started collecting names and emails with the intent of staying in contact, encouraging participation, inviting them to meet each other, and providing them an opportunity to "do something".
And when The Organizer realized I was doing so, she had a cow. Apparently she's under the impression that she has a copyright on all the attendees at "her" Tea Parties. And that by working with her I forfeit my right to free association, and my right to make new friends and gather contacts.
When one of her inner circle and I discussed it via email, he (dared to) lecture that I should not be trying to create "splinter" groups, that if I needed another outlet besides the Tea Parties, I should join one of several official GOP groups he then, considerately, enumerated.
"Otherwise, " he insisted, "how are we going to get Republicans elected?"
When I asked him what Non-Republicans were to do, he got mad, took his ball, and went home.
In the end, I did meet some great people, who are very anxious to get together and get active...and I've got their emails!
But I don't think I'm still on the Tea Party Committee.
I think it might be time to make it official, and register Independent.
The Gunslinger
Joebama American citizens 2024 print
9 months ago
Don't get mad, get busy. Go ahead and organize you're own TEA Party.
ReplyDeleteThe idea behind the TEA Parties is bipartisan and should remain that way.
However, I do hope someone (AHEM!) steps up and organizes an alternative to the GoP. Said organization has become quite irrelevant, I believe.
Welcome to the party. . . the few, the proud, the independints that were Republicans. . . .
ReplyDeleteIndependents Unite!
ReplyDeleteR & D's=The Same.
I switched from Democrat to Decline to State about five or six years ago, after I realized how badly Democrats had screwed-up California. It was very liberating.
ReplyDeleteI think Republicans screwed-up America in the last few years, so it's not like they were an option.
You know, I would love to vote Independent but I am afraid that if I don't support my Republican candidate the Dems will win that seat. Every now and then an Independent wins, but even a Blind Squirrel finds a nut now and then.
ReplyDeleteLocal radio host here in Nashville,Ralph Bristol,said last week that,although he likes the gatherings and has spoken at them,that "TEA Party" is SOOO lame,and that they should be called "Liberty Rallys" or something better. "The Organizer" you mentioned kept the list so the GOP could send more "give us money" junkmail (been getting them in the mail this month:it's taken all my willpower not to "adorn" the damned things with excrement,and return them).The Asshats STILL don't get it...
ReplyDeleteWow! I've heard Independents were growing...but this is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteDang, if I'd known all the cool people were over here, I'd have switched sooner!
Anon, I share that concern. But if the Republicans keep losing, pretty soon they'll be forced to figure out why, and actually nominate some good people.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get control back. And letting them take it for granted taht we'll always vote the "lesser of two evils" isn't going to do that.
jones...
ReplyDeleteYou have such a devious mind. It never occurred to me that The Organizer was funneling the contacts to the Republican Party.
I may be dumber than I look.
Made me think of this one I saw this weekend, We are the New Sons of Liberty, that we, the blogosphere, the Tea Parties, are akin to the letter circulators and committee's of correspondence begun in the 1760's,
ReplyDelete"Here’s another parallel: In the Founders’ time, before the Declaration, opposition to Crown policies was expressed by a number of groups. Call them 18th century “libertarians,” religious based groups, conservatives, and the like. But by the time of Bunker Hill and the second Continental Congress, most of them were agreed on the fundamentals of why the colonies should separate from the Crown. We are in the same situation today. Religious groups, libertarians, conservatives, and other groups opposed to Obama and the Democratic Congress’s policies are all vying for attention and trying to dominate especially the Tea Parties. But Objectivism is the only philosophy that offers a consistently rational politics. None of the other forces do. "
Whether or not you agree that Objectivism provides the best politics, the main premise I think is spot on. We are in that formative period akin to when James Otis spoke out against the 'writs of assistance' and the 'Stamp Act' in the 1760's (and with a little historical harmony of the mid 1840's layered on top).
Good for you gathering the signatures, keep it alive and growing! The Republicans Will go the way of the Federalists and the Whigs unless they change course drastically. They've got this notion that the parties are frozen in some 'End of History'... even nuttier than when Fukuyama thought of it before 9/11.
Sent this post (w/credits,of course) to previously-mentioned radio guy.Maybe he'll mention and comment on the show tomorrow. Hope other readers of yours do the same...Great inside info! (And I'M not so devious,I just know how self-centered,small-minded,and petty ANY Party apparatchiks are).
ReplyDeleteVan, I'm reading "Introduction to Objectivit Epstemology" right now. From what I know, she's got it exactly right. Well, except for the God thing.
ReplyDeleteTjones - yep, another friend of mine is so mad at the Republicans, especially because of their inside-the-beltway elite criticism of Palin, he's so DONE with them.
Anonymous, what difference does it make if the Dem takes the seat when the Republican is a squishy RINO anyway?
ReplyDeleteIf you like the Republican, go ahead and vote for him/her. If not vote for the Libertarian, or for the Constitutionalist, or for any other candidate of choice.
That's what being independent is all about. We may be on the losing side, but we're still not convinced it's the wrong side.
Here's the deal.
ReplyDeleteWe vote out all incumbents, no matter which party.(And no matter who gets in.)
If We The People can remove 25% of Congress, the rest will be shaking in their boots.
And the newly elected 25%, no matter how bad, will be equally aware that WE are watching.
25% and we'll OWN Congress again.
The Gunslinger said "Van, I'm reading "Introduction to Objectivit Epstemology" right now. From what I know, she's got it exactly right. Well, except for the God thing."
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
Whatever one thinks of her style and positions on religion, her ideas on concept formation, the conceptual common denominator, and the unit perspective, together with her three indivisible philosophical axioms "Existence exists,
that which exists, exists as some particular thing (Identity, A is A),
and consciousness is that faculty which perceives existence"
Provides for the nature and necessity of Reason, and makes it possible to establish man's relation to reality, that an IS very definitely implies an Ought, and that Truth is objectively identifiable and all truth is part of One non-contradictory whole.
Though she opposed religion (a bit of an understatement), that last is why I think of her as merely an incidental atheist, she grasped the important essentials of a proper religion, the paramount importance of Truth and the necessity of morality... that she mistook all religions for irrational 'talking snake' stories which undermined truth, means that she was unknowingly fighting for the same values.
Of course... she'd probably strip the flesh from my bones with a rusty rasp for saying so... but still.
;- )
She threw the baby (God) out with the bathwater (irrational religion).
ReplyDeleteI seems to never have occurred to her there could be a Rational God.
Common mistake for people outraged at the behavior or beliefs of religionists.
It was she, actually, that partly inspired my idea of a "God of Reason".