Gridlock in Washington D.C. due to partisan politics is strangling, polarizing and leading our great country down a slope of fiscal irresponsibility toward bankruptcy. For the past three decades, or so, we have seen the size and scope of the Federal Government grow while placing unfunded burdens on the shoulder of the States. After the historic election of Sen. Obama, as the United States first mulatto president, a movement started to take hold. That movement has become to be known as the Tea Party movement. Criticism has been heaved upon this group as a bunch of redneck bigots that only protest the President because he is black. According to Tea Party Patriot website (www.teapartypatriots.org) the mission is:
The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.
There philosophy is:
Tea Party Patriots, Inc. as an organization believes in the Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. is a non-partisan grassroots organization of individuals united by our core values derived from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill Of Rights as explained in the Federalist Papers. We recognize and support the strength of grassroots organization powered by activism and civic responsibility at a local level. We hold that the United States is a republic conceived by its architects as a nation whose people were granted "unalienable rights" by our Creator. Chiefly among these are the rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Tea Party Patriots stand with our founders, as heirs to the republic, to claim our rights and duties which preserve their legacy and our own. We hold, as did the founders, that there exists an inherent benefit to our country when private property and prosperity are secured by natural law and the rights of the individual.
Recently a new group of people feeling alienated by the Tea Party movement has sprung up. The new movement is called the Coffee Party. The Coffee Party (http://coffeepartyusa.com) mission is:
The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.
Both Parties claim to be independent, non-partisan and diverse. The grassroots mantra is being heralded by both parties but a quick Google search finds only one website for the Coffee party and over 30 sites for the Tea Party movement. Regardless if you consider yourself a Tea, Coffee, Republican, Democrat, Independent, Socialist, or Libertarian Party member an intriguing change on the political landscape is before us and threatens the Two-Party system. Listening to the pundits, left and right, a common fear grips them all with Americans gravitating towards a third party concept; competition. The right is afraid that too many Conservatives will vote for a non-Republican endorsed candidates while the left is concerned that Progressives (Liberals) will vote for a non-Democrat endorsed candidates.
The Tea and Coffee Party members are bringing to light that a serious third party movement can really take hold and gain traction? The bums in office now, and in the past three decades, have done little but their own re-election needs ahead of America by contending that putting America further into debt and making us all slaves to the notion that Big Government is in our best interest. Much to their chagrin Americans have become dependent, almost co-dependent, on the Federal Government to solve our ills. We want cheaper health care so we turn to the Government, we want assistance from losing our job so we turn to Government, we want to marry whom we choose so we turn to Government, etc…Have we not learned one thing as Americans from turning to the Government?
Turning to the Government for all the answers only creates more problems because those in Government cannot agree on which freedoms to restrict or who should pay. I know I invoke our Founding Fathers a lot but I believe they set the ground work for one of the most envious forms of Government the world has seen. Democracy does come with a price but Big Government is not the price we should be paying. Again I ask, is it time for a new bold approach to Government that the Tea and Coffee Party organizers are trying to tap? Is it time for the Republicans and Democrats to graciously step aside and allow everyday citizens to represent Americans again? A mistake we have made is to make Government a full-time job.
Are you for the status quo – Republican or Democrat Party – or are you drinking something different?
