The Misperception of the Tea Party Movement

I often find myself amused when reading what others claim transpired at Tea Party rallies throughout the country and like the one I attended in St. Paul last week. We are led to believe these events are filled with a bunch of crazy, screaming, right-wing nuts who are disconnected with reality, attempting to revitalize a movement that happen nearly two and a half centuries ago because they basically have nothing better to do.

These “nuts” supposedly know the clerk at their local costume store on a first name basis, spending more time picking out their attire than pontificating about the latest piece in The New Yorker at the local “organic-only” coffee shop. Full disclosure: I’m a subscriber to The New Yorker (I enjoy the short stories), and I do love my coffee shops (I’m a Caribou fan however). And yes, while I consider myself a pretty ordinary guy, I’d totally jump at the chance to dress up like Ben Franklin – not every day that you can go around town looking like a cool dude, a ladies man too, I might add. Come to think of it, I’d probably fit in rather nicely, given what others wear on a daily basis in my Minneapolis neighborhood in Uptown.

Truth be told, I think you get the idea, or at least what is attempting to be portrayed by the far left. The individuals that show up at these rallies are of a “special type” they don’t understand how the “real world” works, they are hypocritical in theory and they certainly don’t have time for the finer things in life that most educated people enjoy.

So I ask myself, how does the “real world” work? Does it or should it work in a manner in which government bureaucracies consume your life, both professionally and personally? Does it work most effectively when our only solution is throwing more government at the problem, replacing the individual ingenuity and industrious spirit that has made this nation the envy of the world? Do we really want to live in a country where this has become the predominant solution to our everyday problems. Europe is a great place to visit, however, would you trade in your lifestyle and economic freedoms and liberty that you currently enjoy for those that exist in one of the several countries in Europe? Has it worked for them?

These are the critical questions that the Tea Party goers have asked themselves and their responses have been a resounding NO. And this is why recent posts by progressive think tanks like MN2020, entitled “Minnesota Tea Partiers Ignore Facts” misses the point of the movement entirely.

Tea Partiers who peacefully assemble and demonstrate their concerns with our government aren’t looking backward at historical trends. Instead these educated individuals are looking into the future and are gravely concerned with what they see: a government that is currently controlled by elected leaders that no longer value the true meaning of what our nation was founded upon. Tea Partiers don’t want more government being the sole answer to the problems we face, they simply want less.

Just think if those reporting on such items actually attended a rally and engaged the crowd, the story might be a bit different.