You Are Cordially Invited To A Tea Party - April 15, 2009

There is an interesting phenomenon going on throughout our country today. In ways not seen on this scale since the war protests of the 70’s, people are showing our government that they are fed up. Americans young and old are sending the message loud and clear that we are tapped out as a nation and weary of yet more restrictions, bail-outs and tax burdens being heaped upon our shoulders and those of our future generations.

It is not a partisan effort, despite what the ultra-left wing branch of the Democratic party would lead you to believe. There are Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike participating in this show of outrage and frustration. We are exercising our Constitutional rights as Americans, whatever our political affiliations might be, to assembly and free speech. We are, as a people, sending a message that while we respect the office of the President, many of us grow increasingly unhappy with the direction the country is being guided or shoved down a path we do not want.

So, today we protest our frustration and convey our disagreement with policies and new taxes and programs that it are being presented as what “we” want. I for one, am tired of being told what is good for me and to just shut up, sit back and agree with those that do NOT represent my views, despite what they seem to believe. I’m angry with the bail-outs that were passed “for our own good” even though the public outrage and opinion showed that Americans were soundly against their passage.

Washington and those currently in office better pay attention to what is being expressed by the people that have elected them as our representatives. If they are smart, they will not put spin on it or tell us once again what they think we meant to say rather than listening to what we are actually SAYING to them. This is a warning shot for those coming up for re-election that we the people, are paying attention and are discontented with their actions and disregard for what we think.

So, exercise your right to be heard. Even if you believe no one is listening, it is a sure bet that you won’t be heard if you don’t even try. In the past few election cycles it has vividly been shown that even a few individual votes do indeed count. If you choose to sit on your backside, then don’t complain when you are not “bailed out” like the major corporations or fall through the cracks when you thought you’d be saved from your responsibilities and allowed a free pass.

Wake up and smell the tea brewing!

Washington, you are not doing a good job at hearing the people you represent and that elected you. This is not just a fluke or something that will go away if you put your fingers in your collective ears and cover your eyes. To even give the impression, whether accurate or not, that the views of your constituents are falling on deaf ears would be a mistake if you wish to continue to serve the people that elected you. Change is indeed brewing in this country, although I’m not sure that it’s quite the change the current administration envisioned. I beg you, do not make the mistake of dismissing or alienating what is becoming a larger and larger section of the American people clammering to be heard.


On another little, purely personal note, I know that the original Tea Party was located in Boston in 1773. However, we in the South know the TRUE value of tea. Look in any refrigerator in a true Southern household, and you will find a gallon or two (or four) of the best SWEET tea that you’ll ever taste. I know that the Yankees amongst us (hear that oh stoic one?), don’t recognize the simple indulgent pleasure in a glass of sweet tea and insist that having sugar on the table will somehow negate the fact that your restaurants don’t have it available on your menus up North. You just don’t know what you’re missing. Perhaps it’s why Southerners always have a smile on their face and something to say to everyone, even making actual eye contact as we do!! We’re just infused with sweetness from birth through our tea! ;)


Today in Atlanta, our tea party will have sweet tea flowing freely and our voices as proud Americans will be heard loud and clear. The only question is, will those in Washington be smart enough to pay attention and react by rethinking some of their proposed actions?

Time will tell. One thing is certain, ignoring it or making light of such a large group of Americans discontent would be foolish and ill-advised on their part.

“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the
majority who participate.” Thomas Jefferson

**The DHS bulletin released or ”conveniently leaked” on April 7th is troubling in the fact that it seems to be a not so subtle hint that our freedom of speech is being threatened at least by threat of intimidation and at worst incrimination. We all need to pay attention and be vigilant of such veiled threats against our freedoms.

Come One, Come All..The New Heights of Absurdity in Politics

Step right up, and don't be shy!! You won't believe your eyes! Let’s turn our side show into the main attraction!

Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth!

Much like the walking the midway at the county fair, the side show barkers in Washington are turning the government into what amounts to a three ring circus. There are bizarre shows and distractions aplenty as you wander down the midway that call out for attention on the way to the main attraction now beginning under the Big Top. The clowns are piling into the itty bitty car in preparation for the big show to come.

Between all the companies that are too big to fail, stimulus packages that are too urgent to read before passing, and senate committee hearings being held solely to point fingers for the cameras with pseudo outrage that is a day late and several billion (trillion) dollars short, the goings on in our government would be almost entertaining if it wasn't all so tragic in it's scope and the irreversible damage that is being done to our country.

The finger pointing and flailing financial free-for-all occurring right now is unprecedented, even by modern political standards. Anyone with half a brain knows, if you keep putting enough stress on a situation, something's gotta give and it's most likely not going to be pretty when it all explodes.

Yesterday I sat and watched with morbid fascination and a few choice words hurled at the television, the show being played out in the Senate committee hearings yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I'm furious with AIG and it's mode of operations that put it, and by default, the American taxpayer in a vice.

What makes me even MORE incensed however, is the posturing going on by the politicians that enabled the practices to operate in the first place. Then with lightning speed (something not seen in the Halls of Congress), passed a monster BAILOUT (NOT a recovery and reinvestment act) plan that they didn't take the time to even READ first and allowed the very payouts of bonuses they are now squealing like stuffed pigs over. The finger pointing and posturing would be a box office comedy winner if it wasn't all so tragic and devastating to our futures.

The bonuses themselves are not going to sink the economy of course. They are just a symbol of the greater problem and the flavor of the day. They represent the flailing going on at the highest levels in this new administration in a misguided attempt to win friends and influence enemies, all under the guise of "hope and change". Not a darned thing has changed other than it's now playing out in a macabre slow motion slide that is in turn, hurting Americans from coast to coast on every level.

What makes all of this so different for the politicians? Why are they now acting out of panic and running around like schoolgirls caught with their panties down? It's simple...


THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE PAYING ATTENTION NOW LIKE NEVER BEFORE.


The government has always been able to count on one thing, the inattentiveness and short attention span of the public for anything that has to do with the day to day operations in Washington. We as a people over the years have been lazy. We've sat on the sidelines, only coming off the benches when something directly affects us. Presidential elections will guilt some into becoming active in the course of our country for a little while every 4 years.

Occasionally a scandal involving sex, power or money will raise mild outrage and garner a bit of hoopla before it fades into obscurity. The attacks on 9/11 rallied us around the flag for a while, but our memories have dulled with time of the absolutely heart wrenching pain and heartache we lived through as a nation just a few years ago. Our national outrage has almost disappeared in favor of being fair and politically correct to even those that wish us mortal harm.

Right now however, the public is watching and is increasingly mad as hell. Protests and tea parties are starting to pop up like the spring bulbs emerging from the ground. One thing our new administration miscalculated gravely, is this...Americans may have a short attention span...but when they are directly being affected and feeling the pain of a situation...it's polarizing. It's impossible to do business as usual in the Nation's capital and operate like the Wizard in Oz. People are paying attention to the man behind the curtain and they don't like what they are seeing.

Washington is slowly getting a clue about the angst and anger in the ground swell chorus that is building. The voices are not silent anymore, they are instead, polarizing in their volume and intensity..and the developing verdict for the performance of those used to operating under the cloak of secrecy and platitudes isn't good.

The light is on and many of the roaches are scurrying for the protection of the darkness. The only problem is, the public is starting to employ spotlights to reach into the dark crevices.

It's time for Washington to wake up, quit pointing fingers and blame at each other like a demented 3 Stooges saga, and actually make progress without throwing money we don't have at the problem.

Before we all wake up and find out our country is now owned by the rest of the world.