The modern-day tea parties are just the first manifestation of the upcoming revolution! They barely scratch the surface of discontent in this country – particularly for conservatives, libertarians and others who put a premium on individual liberties and less government in our lives.
In the last few weeks, I attended two tea parties that are cases in point – one in San Diego hosted by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which valiantly and successfully challenged Hillary Clinton's socialistic and flawed health-care plan in the 1990s and now Obamacare, which regrettably borders on a "communist solution" that envisions rationing of services and "penalization" of the American people if they refuse to buy into this collective plan. Then, a week later I took part in another tea party, this one on the Arizona-Mexican border to further and support the states' anti-illegal immigration legislation and law-enforcement efforts and elect Republican candidates to office in the fall elections.
Both times I was struck by the conventional approach of these tea parties. There was no mention of a people's uprising; rather, the theme was to merely vote out of power the current crop of incumbents in Congress in the fall elections, for the most part replacing them with hoped for fresh and bright Republican faces. At one point, a GOP hopeful for Congress implored the audience to restore the republic by electing her. As she uttered these words on the stage overlooking the meaningless, incomplete, sporadic and ineffective border fence between Arizona and Mexico, I sarcastically quipped to a "distinguished gentleman" wearing a wide brimmed cowboy hat standing next to me at my left in the sweltering heat. Raising my voice in disgust, I blurted out, "What republic? We have no republic! And, we don't have a Constitution either!"
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Turning toward me, the man looked horrified, so to assure him I was not hostile to him. I instinctively reached out to shake his hand while introducing myself. He then asked me what I meant, and I replied, "How do we have a republic when the representatives in Washington and at this tea party think that their simply going to D.C. will change things? And how do we have a Constitution, when the courts ignore it and the people sit by and watch the dismantling of the vision of our Founding Fathers?" The man looked at me in bewilderment, with a wry smile, so I asked him who he was. The head of the Arizona Republican Party he responded. At that point, I simply returned the wry smile and walked off. I was in no mood to waste my time talking with him further in the intense heat. Both were making me nauseous.
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Just a week or so later, my point was starkly made, in "real time." In a field of 10 candidates – one of whom I supported, state Sen. Pamela Gorman (see my previous article "There is only 1 Pamela Gorman") – the idiot, childlike and dishonest son of former Vice President Dan Quayle won the Republican primary for a congressional seat in Arizona's District 3 (Phoenix).
Ben Quayle – who had done little to nothing in his 33 years other than flunk the bar exam, start a semi-pornographic Internet blog and then, when caught, lie about it to the media, and whose sole "claim to fame" was having daddy and former President George H.W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the rest of the Republican establishment raise well over a million dollars for his campaign – had handily beat out all the other candidates, including Pamela.
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To make matters worse, the young Quayle had been promoted by Roger Ailes, the CEO of Fox News – this quail bird (rhymes with "jail bird," get it?), cut a poorly choreographed campaign commercial calling Obama the worst president in American history, which Ailes used as the pretext for putting him on the air frequently in the days leading up to the primary. Ailes, the past Republican ad man who, to his credit in those days, was instrumental in having Ronald Reagan elected president, was showing his true colors: joining with former President Bush and other establishment figures to fix the election and scratch the back of the Republican Party, which will no doubt come to the aid of the network and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, with regard to telecommunications legislation and policy when they regain control of the House of Representatives this fall. Never mind that a smart, fearless and true conservative candidate like Pamela Gorman was running against "Big Ben"; greasing the Republican establishment was more important for Ailes than the fate of the nation.
And, believe it or not, the same is true of Sarah Palin, the darling of the tea-party movement. Weeks earlier, I had communicated with Palin's staff to get her to endorse Pamela, as the two, at least given the movement's perception of the former Alaska governor, are very similar. But despite Palin having endorsed a number of other tea-party candidates like Pamela around the nation, winning kudos for doing so, as these candidates generally won their primaries, Palin never responded. Why? Given Palin's obvious desire to run for president in 2012, she obviously did not want to "offend" Dan Quayle, the former vice president, and the pure Republican country-club establishment by endorsing a rival to his son. So much for the country, much less the club. Palin showed that her so-called maverick streak only goes so far; when it will cost her personally, forget about the needs of we fellow Americans. Her silence and rudeness in not even calling Pamela was more than eye-opening.
So what did we learn with the "victory" of Ben Quayle? Simply put, the next crop of Republicans in Congress – typified by a brain-dead, immature 33-year-old who will now be the next congressman from Arizona (as District 3 is solidly Republican) – will not be the solution to the country's ills. And the Republican Party as a whole is not the solution since the establishment still rules. Indeed, its abject failure to lead the nation effectively, competently and honestly during the Bush years is why we now have a "Muslim," anti-Semitic, anti-Christian socialist like Barack Hussein Obama in The White House!
We have learned that "We the People" must rise up and restore freedom to this country, and that we cannot rely on the corrupt politicians of either party to do it.
