No Loss for Words

Protesters in Madison, Wisconsin and everywhere across the land including Washington State have been characterized by the press as being either Union Activists or Tea Party Activists.  The folks in the press have decided that there are two sides in the discussion; one being the labor unions, the other being the Tea Party.  Maybe it’s a mistake to label the sides that way.  Are there really only those two choices?

I think it’s clear that since the focal point of this whole discussion is Collective Bargaining impacts to public budgets, the unions would, by necessity, be there protesting since their very existence might be at stake.

The curious part for me is the assumption that anyone who takes a position supporting the legislature and the governor of Wisconsin is a Tea Party Activist rather than a Republican or a concerned citizen from Wisconsin.  I can’t say that the Republican Party has done a lot to attract fiscally conservative Americans so not giving credit to Republicans and Independents for electing the current government in Wisconsin is not surprising. 

There is no doubt that the Republican Party has been the beneficiary of Tea Party efforts, but that is not the case because these folks have suddenly seen the error of their ways.  The Tea Party is not an organized political party, but they are previously silent concerned citizens that have banded together to fight for government that is faithful to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as they were written rather than the way they are mistakenly interpreted today.  It just happens that the Republican Party better represents the values of Middle America better than the Democrats.  The Republicans should not misread this support as an endorsement of ultra Conservative causes.

For decades our country has been the victim of a tug of war between left wing interests and right wing interests.  Average Americans have swung back and forth between the two without much involvement because they enjoyed steady improvement to their quality of life which offered them a lot of opportunities to enjoy prosperity.  It was because of the steady improvement that they felt comfortable leaving government to someone else. 

Then suddenly, steady improvement stalled and began to deteriorate which gave rise to the TEA Party movement.

Make no mistake; there have been some in the political arena who have been raising the alarm for many years so the problem didn’t just materialize when Barack Obama was elected President.  It could be that it took the election of the most liberal and radical president in our history to demonstrate how close our country is to being rendered a second class power.

Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for average Americans.  If you care about your country, get involved.

The struggle taking place in Wisconsin is the beginning of a much larger battle that must be fought in every government agency from city councils to the federal government.  The struggle is not between Republicans and Democrats; it is between taxpayers and government labor unions. 

For many years labor unions have funded campaigns of candidates that when elected negotiated their contracts.  As a result, those elected officials approved union contracts for pay, benefits and pensions that would obligate taxpayers to pay without the taxpayers having an advocate at the table.

The Tea Party is Middle America and they are fed up with special interest government on both sides of the aisle.  They are fed up with political wrangling and partisan BS. 

Middle America has formed a partnership with the Republican Party for now to take a shot at restoring our country to the greatness we all know it deserves.  Failure of this effort will have dire consequences.