The following comment posted by Michael Schwartz, as part of an ongoing discussion on SD Rostra regarding Tea Party activism (found here) and in response to another commenter, we believed worthy of a stand-alone post. Mr. Schwartz has provided his approval. -Editor
Mr. Richmond:
Great question. I do understand the definition of each word she used and the literal meaning of the sentence that those words put together build. I even understand the context in which she used that sentence. What I don’t understand is the reason the piece that this sentence appeared in was written nor the point the piece is trying to make nor the action people are to take after reading the piece. And that is the problem.
Ms. Deniston said that she will now “vote her principles” rather than her party. Well, thanks for coming around, but I’ve been doing that sine I was 18 and so have the rest of us. She said she didn’t vote for Obama so she must have voted for McCain. (Not exactly Mr. Tea Party) I voted for McCain and I am proud I did. He is a veteran, he fought to audit Freddie/Fannie in the early 2000’s, and he is far better on Second Amendment issues than Obama. Those are my principles. In the primary I voted for Ron Paul. He was even closer to my principles. But if you follow her logic…should I have written Congressman Paul’s name in so Obama could win by an even larger margin? Or crafted a sternly written blog and not voted at all in order to make a difference? Maybe I could have marched down to the county party HQ and given them a piece of my mind for “putting up” that candidate? That is silliness.
Too many people who claim to be involved or affiliated with the Tea Party have adopted a bunker mentality and have resigned to rants on the internet and yelling at rallies as the only activities that “work”. According to them, everyone is against the Tea Party…especially the “Republican Establishment” boogieman. People either vote for your guy or they don’t. You either got the message out about your candidate or you didn’t.
O’Donnell won against the other Republican, but barely. The only reason she will beat the Democrat is if she has enough money and volunteers to get her message to more than 50% of the PEOPLE who vote and they like her message. This is true of every single candidate in every single race nationwide. This fact is starting to get lost amongst the shouts and clever sayings written on poster boards and duct taped to yard sticks.
Almost as many PEOPLE voted for Castle as PEOPLE voted for O’Donnell. And it is the PEOPLE who vote for RINOs, conservatives, liberals, etc. As of this writing, a political party still has no vote let alone enough votes to influence an election. Without giving your time and your dime…your candidate will lose. It was the “act” in “Tea Party activist” that excited me years ago. However, it seems to be turning into the Tea Party “rantivists” as of late.
Let’s look at a local example. There was no better contrast between a Tea Party candidate and a RINO running against each other than LaSuer vs. Gore race for sheriff. LaSuer talked about liberty, the Constitution, and fiscal responsibility. Gore has a history of crushing liberty, is happy to spend huge amounts of tax money on ideas not supported by the PEOPLE, and the only part of the Constitution he seems to like is his ability to plead the “5th”. The Tea Party should have run away with this election. It was a huge election, but local enough that a difference could have been made. By the time the primaries rolled around money had clearly become an immense issue and so was finding enough volunteers to go door to door and overcome the difference in money raised. Had every Tea Partier just given $20 to his campaign he could have spent circles around his opponents. Tea Partiers…where were you?
To add insult to injury, a month after the primary I received a call from a self-proclaimed “Tea Party patriot” who was mad because the NRA endorsed Sen. Reid! Well, no…actually, they didn’t. She “wanted her country back”! Not enough to walk a precinct or research a candidate she voted for. Come to find out this “patriot” voted for Gore and wasn’t even a member of the NRA. She hadn’t even heard of LaSuer. By the end of the conversation I was walking her through the NRA website so she could become a member. I spent the summer explaining to PEOPLE that the NRA has not said a word about endorsing Reid.
To wrap this up…get off Facebook, raise money for your candidate, walk precincts for your candidate, and stop figuring out who is against you and embrace those who are clearly with you. Take the words of someone who is making a living or fame off of your principles with a grain of salt. Instead, do the activities that have proven to work.
Thanks for asking, Bob!
-Michael
P.S. Sorry I did not get this response to you last night when you asked. I was walking my neighborhood all evening with a Tea Party candidate for my city’s council. All my neighbors enjoyed meeting him very much.