I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY LIBERTY

I’ve been skimming back through the blogs I frequent, looking for a post I vaguely recall applauding the “tea party” while expressing the concern that the protests were inchoate and lacked a common theme.

The New Pamphleteers expressed the concern this way:

What is the target of our protest? Are we protesting the President and Congress for an act already passed, or are we petitioning our state and local governments to refuse to accept the stimulus money?

What do we do if these protests do not result in the change in policies we are asking for? What happens next?

Make no mistake, once a movement like this has begun, it will, sooner or later, have to answer these difficult questions or risk failure. Now is the seed-time of liberty, and the steps we take and the words we use will either be recalled triumphantly by our grandchildren, or seen as a sad charade conducted by children who could not muster the strength and conviction of their ancestors.

I agree that, initially at least, the concern was valid. But after attending the Washington DC “tea party” I believe there is beginning to be an overarching grand theme. It begins with Rush Limbaugh’s “first address to the Nation” at CPAC last night, where Limbaugh said in effect that “ when I look out here, I don’t see (insert your favorite victim group), I see Americans” and it ends with Rick Santelli’s CNBC rant, somewhat misleadingly described as an “I’m mad as hell ...” speech.

The point is, there is a “Grand Theme” for the tea parties in those moments.

I AM AN AMERICAN. From Rush Limbaugh. It matters not my ethnicity, religion, economic status, political leanings, or geographic origin; I am an American, first, foremost, and always.

I AM A TAXPAYER. My contribution. As a taxpayer, I have an investment in America, and don’t want that investment frittered away to the point that the United States becomes a debtors’ prison for my children and grandchildren.

I AM MAD AS HELL. From Rick Santelli. His complaint was with the mortgage buyout, but it’s larger than that. As a taxpayer and part-owner in America, I’m angered by what is essentially a “hostile takeover” of my country. And, yes, I’m mad as hell about that.

And the Grand Theme, I believe, is best expressed in this picture I took at the DC “tea party.”



I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY LIBERTY.