The Constitutional Alamo

In February, the national Tea Party “Convention” will be held in Nashville, TN to “bring together local Tea Party leaders from many groups and share ideas in preparation for the 2010 primary and general elections as well as other work in 2010.”  The cost?  $549 + the soul of the movement.

by Michael Naragon

In February of 2009, almost a full year before this year’s Convention will be held, I stood with 250 other brave souls on the steps of the Capital Building in Atlanta, GA.  Brave, because it was pouring a cold rain over all of us, drenching we happy few to the proverbial bones.  My children, aged 4, 3, and 1 at the time, were there as well, somewhat drier and warmer than my wife and I, thanks to the tarp we were given by a kind woman and the blankets we had packed for them.

At that meeting, few spoke.  The keynote address was delivered by local radio personality Eric Von Haessler, who encouraged the crowd to send a simple message to Washington: “Enough is enough!”  I was interviewed by 11Alive, the local NBC affiliate, probably because they wanted to show how cruel we were for bringing our children into the elements to protest the fledgling Obama administration.  I calmly explained that it wasn’t Obama alone.  It was the Washington Establishment that we were protesting.  The lack of representation.  Their willingness to sell off our children’s future for short-term political gain.

In April, we returned to Atlanta for the Tax Day Tea Party.  By this time, some national figures, such as Sean Hannity, had figured out that the movement wasn’t going away, and it involved many in their consumer base.  Hannity’s presence made the April protest an amazing success, inflating the numbers from our band of 250 in February to 15,000.

Subsequent Tea Parties continued to bring out the patriots.  We had to drive to the Cobb County Fairgrounds in July because a local Simon Mall had nixed the Atlanta Tea Party scheduled for that date.  At that protest, our three boys joined the National Rifle Association.  In September, we drove to Roswell, GA, to show our support and listen to radio host Herman Cain while thousands upon thousands descended upon Washington, D.C.

At no point did anyone ask my wife or I to come to these meetings.  We weren’t paid, cajoled, pushed, or prodded.  Contrary to the speculations of Keith Olbermann and others in the National Statist Media, the movement was entirely a grass-roots affair.  I watched with everyone else in America as Rick Santelli called for the first Tea Party, threatening to dump securities into Lake Michigan.  It was the first in a series of reverberations against the liberal agenda that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and their Politburo were beginning to jam down our collective throats.

A lot has changed since that first rainy February in Atlanta.  Now, the Tea Party “organizers” have apparently grown up.  This February, I suppose in some sort of tribute to those of us who have been there since the beginning, the leadership of this grass roots movement will meet in Nashville, TN, to discuss national strategy.  Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann will be there to speak as well.  It could have been one of the greatest events in the history of the Tea Party movement thus far.  Unfortunately, it will, like Caesar’s ride into Rome, signal the end of the spirit of freedom and patriotism that created the phenomenon, and potentially begin a new elitist hierarchy that will become the carbon copy of the political party system we loathe.

Why was there the need for a Tea Party in the first place?  If the Republican Party was effective, a popular movement would have been unnecessary.  They would have voiced their opposition and been our mouthpiece in Washington.  Why were they not effective?  Because the heart of the Republican Party is strikingly similar to that of the Democrat: elitist, wealthy, and unresponsive to conservative America.  As proof, I offer up the 2008 presidential campaign.  The Republican choice?  John McCain.  Old, Establishment, Moderate (translation: liberal).  The elite loved him.  David Brooks loved him.  The people?  Not so much.  Even those conservatives, including myself, that voted for him did so while holding their noses and attempting to convince themselves that at least Sarah Palin would be his VP.

The Tea Party protests were a way–the only way–for the conservative movement to get its point across.  In February, at the first event, politicians weren’t allowed to speak.  Politicians from either party.  Period.  Slowly, as the months progressed and the wiser Republicans smelled opportunity, the organizers began to allow more and more politicians to speak at rallies, clouding the events with political rhetoric when all we wanted was to throw all the bums out.

Now, the organizers of these events which I believed to be grass-roots are meeting in an exclusive convention in Nashville.  According to one of the websites touting the event:

The fee for this 3 day event is $549 plus a $9.95 processing fee.  This includes the Sarah Palin dinner and the full program, including other meals as listed in the Schedule of Events.  More details will follow soon.  This is not a free public appearance by Sarah Palin.  It is a private dinner event, with no news media invited.

To a layman like myself, it sounds eerily similar to a fundraiser for wealthy political donors.  The announcement goes on:

This will not be a media event or protest rally. The focus is on preparations for 2010 Tea Party actions.  We will bring together local Tea Party organizers and supporters from across the country to share ideas.  There will also be sponsorship and exhibit opportunities for support of this event and the Tea Party movement. This should help local organizers to meet potentially useful contacts elsewhere.

I didn’t add the bold, by the way.  They apparently want it very clear that no average people need show up to this shindig.  I can see how it may have thrown a wrench into the works to have the patriots who made this movement happen–those who braved rain, traffic, lost wages, and other expenses to meet together and show our dissatisfaction–show up and embarrass the organizers.  I can understand why potential conservative leaders would have private dinners with said organizers rather than those of us who promoted and peopled the events that now sponsor their appearance.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t mean this to sound like sour grapes.  What I’m afraid of is that this wonderful expression of righteous anger, this throwback to the Revolution, is being co-opted.  I don’t support the Republican Party because of its elitist leadership and insensitivity or unconcern for conservative voters.  Should the Tea Party movement continue this sort of elitist tone, should they become more concerned with achieving political power and less concerned with the ideology that will take them there, perhaps the Grand New Party will follow the G.O.P. into the tar pit of insincerity.

Just a thought.