Will God Bless the Davids of the 112th Congress?

by Talk American Managing Editor - Jamie Walker

Now that the election of 2010 is mostly over, it’s appropriate to consider the outcome in light of the new variable in the political equation, The Tea Party Movement.

There’s little point in rehashing the history of the Tea Party Movement. It’s been well documented and with the possible exception of the mainstream media, mostly understood by most Americans. But to restate the movement’s fundamental principles, they are: Fiscal Sanity and Restraint at the Federal Level with an end to the Keynesian policies that have been soundly disproven. Constitutionally limited government, adhering to the appropriately stated charter of negative liberties intended to limit the encroachment of government into our personal lives. And lastly, Free Markets; not State Capitalism; not socialism and not neo-fascism.

The elections of this past week resulted in approximately 90 elected officials to the House of Representatives who are somewhat or directly tied to the Tea Party Movement. There’s simply no other way to read that result than to recognize that the Tea Party Movement is real. The American people – those decent, hardworking, patriotic families who up until now hadn’t been involved in grass-roots activism – stood against the onslaught of the criticism of the D.C. establishment and the complicit leftwing media; stood against the repeated incendiary accusations of racism and sexual deviancy from the unhinged and extremely well organized radical left, to unrelentingly repeat their disagreement with the actions and direction of the 111^th Congress and the Obama administration. And when Election Day came, those same Americans turned out at the polls to punctuate their message. And the message was clear, “You WILL listen to and represent our views. And for governing against the consent of the governed, we are replacing you with new representation that we hope will listen and will govern accordingly.”

Now that the election is over, what next? It remains to be seen if the American people, the sleeping giant that woke up and stepped up to demand that their voices and concerns be acknowledged, will remain involved to ensure that their voices have been heeded now that they've put their team in? Will they stay in the game and remain vigilant of what Congress is doing, or instead, having a small victory and sending in fresh blood, be lulled back into a hazy slumber of indifference while Congress goes back to business as usual, tweaking and nudging their lives like mind-numbed drones feeding the elite ruling class their due? Only time will tell.

The essence of the Tea Party Movement is that it’s unstructured. It has no official membership, no hierarchy, no official infrastructure and no reliable source of funds to continue operation. Yet it does. There are of course organizations that do have these aspects about them and have lent considerable support and resources to many of the Tea Party events around the nation in order to grow their ranks and donation base.  So a question that must be asked is, can such an organism continue to exist? It’s pretty clear from some of the Tea Party related web sites, some of them intend to.

 

From the web site of the Tea Party Patriots comes the following:

“On the weekend of November 12 – 14, local coordinators from around the country will meet with the incoming Congressional freshmen for an orientation. We will have legislative experts who will guide the freshmen on how to first defund and ultimately repeal government controlled health care. We will have economic experts to help them understand the things they will need to do to reduce the federal deficit and restore fiscal sanity to the country. We will have experts who can provide guidance on how to restore Constitutional governance to the country. We will help them to bond together to restore the Constitution in the upcoming legislative session. Finally, we want them to know that if they do the right thing, they will have the support of the people.”

Clearly the organization envisions itself taking on the lobbyist role.

The question on everyone’s minds and lips now is, Will it make a difference?

This is the heart, the root, the deep unspoken fear and trepidation of the Tea Party participants: Will everything they demonstrated and protested for achieve the result they desire? Their gut response is, it Better. The reality of it, is yet to be seen.

They're walking onto the field of political battle, not unlike the ancient Israelites going up against the Philistines. Yes, they are an army, but small and relatively untrained in the ways of Beltway battle. The Tea Party elected officials are facing: An entrenched mindset and culture in Washington D.C. of progressivism and the good-ole-boy network that believes in continually growing the size and scope of government. They face ideological opposition from the Obama administration and many believe that in the absence of an ability to push his agenda through using the legislative process that he will bypass Congress and enact his policies through the existing federal agencies and the use of Executive Orders. The members face the gargantuan special interest industry of unions, especially the public sector unions, and the lobbyists from literally every corner of the world who will temp them with wheelbarrows of re-election cash and the threat of those same dollars going to opponents if they don’t play ball. These same unions have made it clear, and we have seen in Europe that any attempt to implement austerity measures will be met with demonstrations, civil disturbance, and even invasion of their property and homes in their districts. And they’ll face the mainstream media who has endorsed and advanced the Obama agenda with disturbing and unswerving support. This last challenge is perhaps the most egregious, especially in light of their participation in the defamation of Tea Party members and Republican female candidates. Clearly, since they had little or no reservations over the character assassination they practiced, it’s likely that the newly elected officials and the American public will be submitted to more of the same.

The Tea Party movement members of the 112,^th will literally be Davids battling the Goliaths of Washington D.C. If they can stand their ground in the face of that maelstrom and remain true to the calling that sent them there, then God bless the Davids of the new Congress! 

Bio for Jamie Walker: In addition to his duties as Managing Editor of Talk American, Jamie is a grass roots organizer in the Kirkland, Washington area. He has worked as both campaign consultant and senior staff for numerous state and Federal level campaigns. Provides IT, technical and social media consultation to politicians and his full time job is currently as an Engineering Technical Analyst and Writer. He is available for contact via his Facebook account: JamieWalker725