The Tea-Party Reformation

One of the words being bandied about these days is "Reformation". In some ways, it's becoming almost a code word and a rallying point for the politically-disenchanted people and those who would see peace in the Middle-East, among others. There has already been one great Reformation in history, so why not another? We as a nation are growing sicker and sicker of the puerile and inane idiocy that has taken over Washington, DC, the state governments, and mainstream media. Or at least most of us are.

But what is this Reformation of American to accomplish? Some poorly-defined notion of Change? Hope? We already have this in the White House. And not much has changed in truth, merely the faces on television and the strength of the push to become like the rest of the world. So no, we do not really want Change. Or at least, not that change.

So what change do we want? If some current events are to be believed, we want fiscal conservatism. We the people, we the American People, in all shapes, colors, piercings, and sizes, want our Government to stop spending as if there was no tomorrow. To save, to be thrifty, much like many of us must be during these horrible economic times if we are to provide meaningfully for our families.

But to have a penny-pinching government, to get back to representative taxation, or hell, just back to representation in government, we have to reform. We have to reform America, we have to reform our government, we have to reform ourselves. Are we, as a nation, as one people (as all nations should be), willing to remake ourselves, our very ways of looking at the world? Probably, possibly, no. At least not as far as we need to go, now. Maybe later. But we have a start in the Tea Party Movement.

The Tea Party movement, if you haven't heard, comes from grassroots rallies, meetings, and spontaneous local gatherings that protest the way the current administration / government is taking the tax dollars of our grandchildren to make sure rather large corporations, the economy, and other different things do not fail. That is the most vocal part of the Tea Party. Yet the Tea Party is at its core a group of concerned citizens who want their government to do what it is supposed to do: be responsive to the desires of its citizens. All of its citizens.

These citizens want certain things. They want fiscal conservatism in their government, or rather they want common sense to prevail and take real world approach to problems. The main focus of their protests is the bailout and the stimulus packages. The government has poured, or hosed, or flooded, or whatever simile you want to use, a staggering amount of money that they don't even have yet into certain parts of the national economy. I personally cannot even begin to imagine the amount of dollars "spent" on making the American economy stable and healthy, and I'm a very smart person. But more on this later.

They also want a stronger connection between their government and themselves. We supposedly elect our officials, from county on up to the White House, to represent us. But slowly, gradually, since at least the middle of the last century, our representatives have stopped looking out for their constituents and been more concerned with both the perks of office and making sure that they do whatever is necessary to stay in said office. Witness the special hidden offices in the Senate, where Senators while away time doing something, to the untold number of broken promises that they have pledged, to the chicanery that they employ when confronted with their moral ineptitude.

I can go on. But to distill this, the Tea Party folks are normal citizens who want a sensible government. They want a reformed government. And "reformation", at its very core, means returning to the purer, simpler state that existed in the past. Not creating a new way of doing things that supposes to be better, but the way that has been lost and corrupted.

The system we have now, to a degree, is just plain busted. Broken. Damaged. Etc. The National Parties, Democrats, Republicans, etc, cannot fix it, as they are most of the problem. They need replacing, either by no parties at all, or by many parties (and go the way, as much as it pains me to admit it, of European parliaments), etc. I don't know the best answer. But I do know that what we have tried isn't working, and I truly believe that, in part, the Tea Party idea is the best chance we have. Because through it, we are able to connect with like-minded folk all across this great nation of ours in a way that going to the main Parties just would not allow, either because of chance, or because it was Not Wanted.

So please, join me and work towards a great Reformation, an Awakening if you will, of America. Reach out to others, band together, rediscover what made America great among all the other nations, and strive wholeheartedly to bring that back. Before it's too late.