Birthday Party for the Tea Party Movement!

On February 27, 2009, an updated version of a long-ago protest appeared
on the American political landscape; the first round of tea parties (inspired
greatly by the Tea Party of 1773 staged in Boston Harbor) took place in a
handful of cities across the country in protest of runaway government spending,
bailouts of corporations coupled with government purchases of stocks of some
of them, and an attempted takeover of the entire health care industry (one
sixth of our economy) by the government. Thousands and thousands of citizens
came together to tell their elected officials in both major political parties that
they will not tolerate such wild growth of their government and its scope, nor
will they tolerate being ignored, disrespected, and dictated to. Despite being
ridiculed by some of these elitist so-called leaders and the toadying media,
the Tea Party Movement activists have quickly and forcefully made their
presence felt! Today The Peasant is paying tribute and wishing a Happy
1st Birthday to the Tea Party Movement.

In just that single year, this nascent movement boasts achieving these stunning
accomplishments:

*President Obama's health care "reform" plan has been stalled and/or stopped
many times. With each blockage this legislation has drifted farther and farther
away from coming to fruition.

*The "town hall" push where cavalier politicians were taken to task by their
angry constituents for their efforts to push the Obama health plan forward
over the opposition of the people, as well as for the pols' arrogance, elitism,
and corruption. Many of them never held another town hall meeting after
having been read the riot act by the cheesed-off voters in their districts and
states!

*Congress has been thwarted in its attempts to pass the junk-science inspired,
governmental power-mongering, economy-killing monstrosity known as "Cap
and Trade".

*The sudden exits from Washington by some of President Obama's "czars" ---
his unofficial (and unconstitutional) cabinet members who purportedly
advise him on issues ranging from the enviornment to health care, most
notably Van Jones. He was Obama's "czar" for "sustainable energy" or some
such, and is also a self-admitted communist(!).

*The sudden exits from Congress by some of its most powerful members in
either house (not to mention state governors and legislators) thanks to the
bright hot light of scrutiny shined by the tea partiers. Bye-bye Byron Dorgan!
See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya, Christopher Dodd! These two prominent
members of the Senate are among the growing list of such politicians who
have found their re-election fortunes dwindling in the face of the Tea Party
Movement's activism.

*The historic election results in the governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia
along with the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts. In that Senate contest the
Bay State's Democratic Party establishment and the memory of Ted Kennedy,
the "Crown Prince" of the Kennedy family and political dynasty, were whipped
by a little-known upstart named Scott Brown. Brown was the favorite of the
Tea Party activists in Massachusetts for the Senate seat vacated with the pass-
ing of the late Sen. Kennedy, who held that seat for nearly half a century.
President Obama won electoral majorities in all three of these states just
over a year ago, by the way. I wonder what he'll face there come 2012?
I don't envy him!

*And, of course, the thousands of "Tea Party" rallies across the nation,
attracting great throngs of Americans, many of them having never been
politically active before except for voting, if that. They banded together to
challenge the Democrats and the Republicans over their failed and self-serving
policies along with their contempt for the everyday American citizen. All this
from a movement that has no recognized leadership, no organizational struc-
ture, and is NOT a political party!

This, my loyal readers, is participatory government in action! This is how
government used to work and how it is beginning to work again. One of the
many freedoms which we Americans enjoy is the right to petition the govern-
ment over grievances and have our elected officials listen to us, to work for
us; NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These gatherings are taking place only because many of our elected officials
have taken a paternalistic, condescending, elitist view of us. They snub and
ridicule us daily! They call us "angry mobs", "racists" (never mind that many
"people of color" attend and address the rallies!), "rednecks", "ignorant",
"know-nothings", "unintelligent", "uneducated", and "unsophisticated".
But believe your beloved Peasant when I say that these jerks, after the 2010
and 2012 elections, will have a name given them by the same electorate which
they so disdain --- "UNEMPLOYED"!!

So Happy Birthday to the Tea Party Movement, one year young! Let's party on!!


MEM