Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Tea Party - the Voice of the Silent Majority

I find it very interesting to watch the evolution of the conservatives emergence into today’s Tea Party. The modern day revolt of the middle class began in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Your average folks out in the suburbs and farms were aghast at the chaos all around him. Everywhere they looked people were rioting – college kids burning draft cards, dope smoking (or worse) hippies, inner city riots were destroying and burning their own parts of town, women were burning bras and everyone was beginning to question the Vietnam War. The Silent Majority were stunned into silence by all that was happening around them.

While the Democrats were mired in the violence of their 1968 convention Nixon stepped out at the Republican convention to be the voice of the right . To rail against all these changes and try to stand up for the conservative values that were being carelessly tossed aside by other groups with louder voices. And when Nixon ran for a second term it was a rout with Nixon trouncing the very liberal McGovern with 97% of the electoral vote and 62% of the popular vote! The Silent Majority had spoken in full volume!

As everyone knows, Nixon let his power get to him, and resigned in disgrace. The Silent Majority was disillusioned by this betrayal and stayed away from the polls in 1972 thereby letting Jimmy Carter become the next president. Conservatives believed that under Carter's mismanagment the country continued to slide to the left and was headed for economic disaster, inflation and double digit unemployment. Finally conservatives shook off their paralysis after Nixon’s betrayal of their trust and began to pull together but this time under a new name and a true leader.

One of the few places the Silent Majority felt comfortable in speaking out was in their churches. Yet even that was being taken away from them by liberal ministers and priests who preached social justice and liberation theories. It was no wonder that conservatives flocked to the new TV televangelists who preached Christianity and conservative values. It was a message the right were starved for after two decades of liberals progressive actions.

The Silent Majority found their voices in their churches and became the Moral Majority. Ronald Reagan was their leader and conservatism was once again back in fashion. Not just lower taxes and less government but also a new emphasis on restoring some semblance of old fashioned values combined with a resurgence in American pride and patriotism.

Unfortunately, just as Nixon’s betrayal broke up the Silent Majority, it was the televangelists’ downfalls with women and taxes and unaccounted for riches that dismantled the Moral Majority. The end of Reagan's two terms was another factor in the lessening of the Moral Majority's powers.

Conservatives were then disappointed by the Bushes actions. Bush father’s increasing taxes after his “Read my lips, no new taxes” statement was his downfall and again conservatives weren't passionate about re-electing him. So we got Clinton who was actually good for the economy and conservatives didn't put up a huge fight, with poor candidates running against Clinton during his second election. But it was Bill's morals that concerned people and helped elect Bush W. After 9-11 everyone was behind how he handled the terrorist attacks on 9-11 and conservatives applauded his tax cuts. But Bush W. disenfranchised the right with his big government spending. This past president abandoned a primary conservative tenant of smaller government as he spent us into debt. As the economy became worse he spent even more to bail out banks and provide stimulus money. It was completely against everything conservatives stood for and they were dumbfounded by Bush’s betrayal.

When Obama was elected and began to spend even more money the conservatives felt hamstrung since one of their own Republicans had spent a lot during the last presidency. Democrats said conservatives were hypocrites if they complained about Obama’s spending after Bush spent, too. But Obama, Pelosi and Reid continued to push and push their liberal agenda finally passing a health care bill that no one understood and few people, other than the far left, really wanted. It was too much too soon. Finally, realizing that they were being blatently ignored by their own politicians was the last straw for the people.

This time around, conservatives and even many independents found their political voice with protests followed by confronting politicians during town hall meetings in the summer of 2009. People found their politicians to be so far removed from their constituency that they were no longer representing them. Getting no satisfaction from the current group of politicians, conservatives took the final step and entered the political realm with a vengeance. Faster then anyone anticipated, Tea Party candidates entered the mid-term elections with resolve to replace these old politicians and to everyone's surprise they had the votes to do so. They toppled big name Republicans who were RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only) such as in Florida and won what everyone thought would be unwinable elections such as the MA senate race to replace Ted Kennedy and this week’s Delaware Republican primary win by a Tea Party new politician. To date, Tea Party candidates have won Senate primaries in KY, AZ, AK, CO, NV and DE.

A new political force is being born right in front of our eyes. Yet Democrats continue to be contemptuous of this newfound group and even smugly pleased by the Tea Party’s foray into the mid-term election. Liberals don’t believe these conservative amateur candidates can win in a general election and so they feel that the Senate will retain their Democrat majority. But again, they don’t have a clue as to what is really happening. This is an explosion that has been building for 30 years. Not only have the people found their voice but they are stepping up and taking control. Nixon and the Bush’s betrayed them and there is no Reagan like leader in sight so the average guy is entering the political ring for the first time. And just as importantly, the masses are throwing their support to these Tea Party candidates. For example, this week’s Delaware primary typically had around 30,000 people voting – this week it had 57,000 voters with the majority coming out to support the Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell who actually beat the old time Republican politician. That is a huge difference in turnout for just a primary. As I said in an earlier blog, this is not a gentle tidal wave of change, this is a tsunami heading our way in November. Finally, the Silent Majority are truly silent no more.

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