Tea Party Is the New Reality
Tea Party Is the New Reality
By Jim DeMint
Politicians who fail to recognize it are certain to become relics of the past.
THE 2012 REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES are showing early signs of another banner year for the Tea Party. The candidacies of Republican insurgents such as Richard Mourdock, Josh Mandel, Deb Fischer, Ted Cruz, and Mark Neumann follow the spirit of Senators Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, and Rand Paul—who each defeated establishment forces in their 2010 senatorial races. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who enacted ambitious reforms of public-sector unions in his state, trounced his recall opponent by a seven-point margin.
In just a few short years, the Tea Party has evolved from small, disparate groups scattered all around the country into a full-fledged movement with considerable influence. Tea Party candidates are no passing fad; they are trailblazers of a new, lasting political reality.
For too long, politicians got away with proclaiming the value of fiscal responsibility on the campaign trail without ever acting on it once they were in Washington. But thanks to the Internet, that’s no longer an option. Activists around the country have ready access to politicians’ voting records, speeches, and statements with just a few clicks of a mouse. It’s nearly impossible to mislead voters these days. That’s why it’s no longer acceptable for candidates to simply mouth conservative rhetoric. Their records must back it up. For that reason, many longtime incumbents, whose walk didn’t match their talk, had to go. They couldn’t pass muster in an age of transparency.
The pundit class often laments the lack of bipartisanship in Washington and wistfully recalls the good old days when Republicans and Democrats would work together to bring home the bacon and plunge our nation deeper into debt. Times have changed. Jay Cost made an astute observation in his essay “The Politics of Loss” in National Affairs. He said that the stunning economic growth in the postwar era “liberated policy makers from having to make any hard choices. The people could have guns, butter, and low taxes—all thanks to a private economy that seemed to grow regardless of what government did.”
Today, however, the private economy is pinned under the jackboot of big government. There’s no more room for compromise. When Republicans and Democrats worked together in the past, the result was almost always a bigger, more expensive government. As a result, government now controls our health care, our energy, our education, our transportation, our mortgages, our banks, and countless other things. The debt is now bigger than our gross domestic product.
It’s time for toughness. Merely raising the subject of eliminating a single government program provokes ridicule and anger from any number of constituencies. Those who speak frankly and honestly about the decisions that must be made to save our entitlement programs can expect to be labeled in the crudest terms by the Democrat Party and its assorted special-interest groups.
But anyone who looks at the numbers can see that the real radicals are the ones running Washington right now. The creation of our $15 trillion debt is the single most extreme action ever undertaken by the U.S. government. Thankfully, we know what the answers are. Republicans have offered numerous ways to shrink the budget, empower states, reduce the tax burden on Americans, and provide the certainty needed for the economy to flourish once again.
The Tea Party has provided a much-needed infusion of accountability to ensure that the GOP champions the values that have made our nation prosperous. The genius of the Tea Party is that it is not a single group that may one day be corrupted. Its allegiance lies with the Constitution and our founding principles, not with a person or party.
With the Tea Party’s backing, Republicans should have the temerity to offer voters a clear and bold choice between the Republican and Democrat agendas. It’s not a question of left or right, or red or blue. It’s a matter of whether this country succeeds or fails.
That’s why I’m laser focused on retaking the Senate with Tea Party candidates who are committed to repealing Obamacare, balancing the budget, securing our border, stopping the bailouts, and enacting pro-growth, freedom-based policies that will get Americans back to work.
This is the new reality. Politicians who fail to recognize it are certain to become relics of the past.
Our nation’s survival depends on it.
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People like to think because we are not marching on Washington that the Tea Party has gone away, the fact is that we are actually much bigger and better organized than ever. If support for the Tea Party is down to 40% as some news organizations have tried to portray it recently, that means it has more support than either political party-consider that. At 25% of the electorate it would still be the largest single block of voters in American politics. While many try to discount the Tea Party , it just keeps on winning where it counts-at the election booth. Not all, but enough to make a difference. The Tea Party is not going away, it's just winning, if you want proof just look at how the conversation has changed in American politics and who is on the defensive, it is not the Tea Party.
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TODAY'S QUOTE
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ABC makes a wrong — and biased — snap judgment
Colorado massacre quickly becomes political
John Kass
How long does it take for a major American television news network to politicize mass murder and blame conservatives for the blood of innocents?
Not long.
It happened on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday morning, as the country woke to the news of the mass murder during the midnight showing of the new Batman movie: A heavily armed man named James Eagan Holmes allegedly killed 12 and injured 58 others in a suburban theater outside Denver.
ABC's George Stephanopoulos, once a top aide to former President Bill Clinton, and ABC reporter Brian Ross teamed up to quickly place the horror at the feet of American conservatives.
Stephanopoulos: I'm going to go to Brian Ross. You've been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant.
Ross: There's a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado tea party site as well, talking about him joining the tea party last year. Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.
Stephanopoulos: OK, we'll keep looking at that. Brian Ross, thanks very much.
And that's all it took, a mention, a name, a possible connection about a Jim Holmes joining the tea party movement that is reviled by establishment Democrats and (though not often reported) establishment Republicans. The connection was made. It was artfully done.
But there was one thing wrong with the ABC report.
It was the wrong Holmes.
The Holmes ABC referred to was a middle-aged man. The one arrested with the guns and the gas bombs and the mask and the booby-trapped apartment is James Eagan Holmes, a 24-year-old graduate student who was in the process of dropping out of school.
After an onslaught by bloggers over the Internet on Friday, ABC news issued a correction.
"An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado tea party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect," said ABC News in a statement. "ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."
We all make mistakes. But this one smacks of political bias. And when you add political bias to the rush of breaking news, as seems to have happened here, things get stinky.
An earlier skin-back by ABC suggested the network was hoping to blame social media. "Several other local residents with similar names were also contacted via social media by members of the public who mistook them for the suspect," an earlier ABC statement said.
Really? So ABC blames Facebook and Twitter? What would David Brinkley do?
What happened Friday fits into a theme being pushed of late by the political left and supporters of President Barack Obama:
That conservative groups opposed to the ever-increasing power of federal government are angry, that such anger is irrational, that conservative talk radio feeds the anger and therefore, criticism of Obama is dangerous. If only conservatives had the decency to calm down before a monumental presidential election in November, things would be so much nicer.
God bless America.
... nuff' said.
"Typical"
Re: Comment #1- Watching the national news on TV has come to be more like reading tabloid newspapers. How can anyone take them seriously anymore?
I am America!
You will hear me in a little over 100 days.
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