The Tea Party Says Yes

Gary Knox’s lengthy football analogy (“Leader’s attitude plays critical role” Yuma Sun October16, 2011) does little to elucidate his rhetoric.  A better analogy would be if football teams were relegated to standing on the side lines.  His ad hominem  rhetoric swings both ways, impugning the Tea Party and doting on the president. 

First of all, Gary says the Tea Party is all about “no.”  Check it out, (http://www.teaparty-platform.com), the Tea Party is all about yes. We say yes to a fiscally responsible government that allows its citizens the right to the fruits of their labor.  Our government has exceeded its necessary size and scope and reaches too far into the lives of its citizens.

Limiting the size of government will go a long way toward our achieving our next goat.  We say yes to eliminating the national debt by implementing fiscally conservative policies at all levels of government.  The National Debt creates a huge burden for the next generation of Americans, thus imperiling the country’s short-term and long-term economic health and prosperity.

We say yes to free markets.  America’s  free enterprise system is crippled by government regulation and crony capitalism.

We say yes to abiding by the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land and the Bill of Rights. We are especially concerned about Tenth Amendment issues. In the case of THESE united states, each state is to a great extent a sovereign entity except in those powers the states specifically granted to the federal government. 

Getting the federal government to quit interfering in the business of the states will go a long way toward another of the Tea Party goals.  We say yes to promoting civic responsibility.  For too long our citizens have quietly complained, but felt powerless to act.  The American people need to raise their voices and direct the political behaviors of our representatives at both the local and national level so they can be effective in working to preserve the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of this country’s citizens.

We believe in the American people, that given their guaranteed freedoms and accepting their responsibilities, the American people, will thrive in a democratic, capitalist environment which allows individuals to strive toward ever greater achievements, innovations and the efficient production of goods and services

What we say no to are any and all extreme and fringe elements that bring discredit to the Tea Party Movement.  Those who spew political venom or hate speech or indulge in smear campaigns are quickly dealt with, and we disavow any violence, even the insinuation of violence.  We are a peaceful movement and respect other's opinions, although we will no longer refrain from expressing our views.

You have obviously never been to a Tea Party meeting.  We are happy to be once again involved in civic affairs, we are energized.  You’ll actually hear no outrage, simply reasoned argument.  And we are all about governance.

On certain issues with regard to President Obama we agree with you. He is indeed professorial and scholarly.  We agree that he is a great campaigner.  What we question is his governance. He did not lead on the health care.  He allowed house and senate democrats (remember his bi-partisan assurance?) to work behind closed doors and patch together a conglomeration that represents every health care pipe dream that’s been floating about liberal corners over the past 30 years.  I doubt the president even read it. No one else did.

He did not lead with the stimulus package.  Even his early publicity about the package admits that it “tracks closely with the ideas and proposals advanced last year by the Apollo Alliance in The New Apollo Program and the Apollo Economic Recovery Act.”  And the author of that was probably Van Jones, co-founder of the alliance and a self-avowed communist. 

Now if you disagree, do me the honor of not calling this “hate speech” or “racist vitriol,” but challenge me based on reason, evidence, facts.