I attended my first (and probably last) Tea Party event here in Hot Springs on April 15.
As a libertarian who is committed to less government and more personal freedom, I have followed the growth of the Tea Party over the last year with some interest. So, when a friend, who is a member of the local Tea Party, invited me to go along with him, I went in order to get a better sense of what this movement is all about.
I was interested to find out if the people there would keep their religious enthusiasms out of the Tea Party movement. I was also concerned about how openly the group would associate itself with the ineffective Republican Party. And, I was concerned about how much real, in-depth commitment to freedom the candidates who were to speak would demonstrate.
When we arrived at the Hot Springs airport around five o’clock, I noticed right away that the majority of the people there were probably in their sixties and seventies. The second thing I noticed was that everyone there was white.
When the organized event began, a preacher was asked to start the meeting with a prayer. But, before he did that, he gave a mini-sermon about how much Christianity was the source of morality and our Constitutional heritage. As a non-Christian, I was turned off by his one-sided knowledge of history and by his prayer, which was nothing but a continuation of his narrow minded sermon.
Then Mr. Gallas, a candidate for Congress was asked to speak. His comments left me with the impression that he was running for Sunday school superintendent, not for Congress. Again, there was a lot of God-talk and not very much about what he would do in Congress if elected. He seemed more concerned that people vote against Blanche Lincoln that anything else. The more he talked, the less intelligent he seemed. I don’t think I’ll be voting for Mr. Gallas.
As other candidates for local and state office were introduced, some seemed knowledgeable and committed to competently serving in public office and others didn’t. The most intelligent speaker was Ms. Silverman (sp?), who is a leader of the local Tea Party movement. Her concluding remarks were articulate and reasonable.
After the organized part of the meeting was concluded, the mike was opened to people from the audience. One of the persons who spoke, complaining about the raises that Congress members had given to themselves while Social Security recipients were given no COLA increases. These older people applauded.
However, one of the basic principles of the Tea Party is that the federal government should keep to its Constitutional limits. Of course, if the federal government only did what the Constitution authorized, Social Security and Medicare would end. There’s nothing in the U. S. Constitution that authorizes the federal government to have any control over people’s retirement or health care. And, in fact, the tenth amendment clearly prohibits such programs.
As I watched this event, I wondered how many of those people who were applauding had actually studied the Constitution. It seemed like there was some hypocrisy present: namely, “Cut the other guy’s government check, but leave mine alone.”
I don’t think I’ll be supporting the Tea Party. There’s too much religious nonsense mixed up in the group’s politics. Also, there’s too comfortable an association with the Republican Party. After all, Republican leadership doubled our federal deficit during the recent Bush years. And, I don’t sense an intelligent commitment to Constitutional government.
The Tea Party’s support comes from older, all-white people whom I suspect want to go back to the 1950s when white people controlled everything in the country. I suspect they’re interested in a simpler world, a world before the civil rights movement and the growth of ethnic minorities, before failed U. S. intervention all over the world, a failed War on Drugs, a failed War on Poverty, and a stalled standard of living because of government expansion, corruption, and waste.
They want to get their simplistic ideas from religion and from the ranting of people like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. But, the genii can’t be put back in the bottle. Very soon half of the United States will be composed of “ethnic minorities”. Whites no longer hold nearly every political office in the country from Justice of the Peace to President. And, from what I read Hispanics will soon be one third of the country.
As meeting came to an end, I saw these older people gather up their folding chairs and slowly walk to their cars. In my head I heard the voice of Kate Smith crooning “I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.” Or, perhaps, Bob Hope singing, “Thanks for the Memories.”
I frankly wish some of the ideas of the Tea Party would take hold. I wish the federal government could be restricted to what the Constitution says. And, I wish all this borrowing would stop. And, I wish government power would not eat away at our liberties. But, all this tired, old time religion and Republican bluster won’t get us there. It just turns too many people off.
Tom Carpenter
April 16, 2010
