Two for Tea, and Tea for Thousands

Yesterday saw tens of thousands of conservatives march on Washington in a huge tea party event intended to unite the right wing and draw attention to the foibles of the Obama administration in particular and big government in general. It is things such as these, as well as the grass roots resistance to the recent health care initiatives, which the Republican party ought to use as a basis for regaining the Congress in the upcoming 2010 elections.

Why not? The same essential thing worked before, after attempts at Hillarycare galvanized the GOP into putting together the Contract for America and sweeping the Democrats out of power. The masterstroke by then Representative Newt Gingrich is a model for a populist GOP: straightforward, easily understandable, and it more than anything appealed to the individualist streak in Americans which sometimes goes dormant.

From among those speaking to the crowd, Georgia's Tom Price said: "You will not spend the money of our children and our grandchildren to feed an overstuffed government. Our history is decorated by those who endured the burden of defending freedom. Now a new generation of patriots has emerged. You are those patriots."

This is a message which the country wants to hear. In our love of individualism we sometimes become so individual that we fail to take the actions of others enough into account. In our desire to live and let live we at times forget that the way other people live can be a threat to our liberties.

This message will appeal to the great silent majority which has driven our nation so well for most of our two hundred thirty plus years. If someone can say the words or do that actions which will bring the different tea partying and tax protesting groups together, we can make a difference again.

This time, too, we might be able to sustain it for longer than a decade by staying true to our roots afterward. Barack Obama is in power and the Democrats hold the Congress because the GOP strayed. Let us hope they have learned from that.