We’ve all heard of the Tea Party, the controversial political movement that surfaced in 2009 shortly after President Barack Obama passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus bill. At first the Tea Party was news fodder for every talking-head, on every national news network, picking up high profile followers like Sarah Palin. But eventually, as with all current news, new stories broke, faces and topics changed, and as months passed the Tea Party buzz subsided, and the media moved on to newer, more interesting topics…like the Occupy Wall Street brigade.
So what happened to the Tea Party? Who are they, really….and what do they stand for? And did they really just fade into oblivion, or are they still a force to be reckoned with?
Tea Party Patriots answers all these questions, and much more. Meckler and Martin begin by passionately explaining how the Tea Party came into existence. Meckler says, “Republican or Democrat – it did not seem to matter which side was in power. Either way our government kept getting bigger, our liberties kept getting smaller, and our nation kept moving away from the ideas that made it great.” (Page 5)
What started with George Bush’s Emergency Economic Stabilization Act bailout bill continued and grew with the TARP bailout of big banks, the government takeover of AIG, and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Chrysler, and General Motors…not to mention the student loan programs and Obamacare. No wonder our country is in so much debt, and there is no sign of runaway spending slowing down, let alone reversing direction. Of course, we don’t need the Tea Party to tell us that. Just Yahoo or Google “national debt clock: Real Time” and view the numbers spinning out of control right before your eyes. Way back in 2003 George Bush admitted in a televised speech, “There is a cancer eating at our country’s soul. That cancer is debt.”
With anger and disgust Meckler and Martin each individually started a branch of the Tea Party. They got the ball rolling in their own home towns, met and consolidated, and within a few short months had over a million members. To this date the Tea Party it is alive and doing well. The organization has grown to 3,300 affiliated state and local groups with tens of millions of participants.
Tea Party Patriots gives a lengthy explanation of the core beliefs of the organization: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. In each of these categories Meckler and Martin give specific details of how the current government (both Republican and Democrat) abuse their power, and numerous examples of government run amok; some of them common knowledge, others generally shielded from the public. Some of these examples astounded me enough to elicit a gasp of shock.
But even more important, the Tea Party has specific ideas on how to change the system. They outline a program for real positive change; less government, reduced debt, and more personal freedom. Even if you have no interest in joining the Tea Party, they make various suggestions of what a sole individual can do to make their voice heard, and effectively bring about change.
The Tea Party welcomes all new participants and all input, and the book lists various methods to contact them. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is dissatisfied with the status quo in Washington, everyone who wants to know more about the Tea Party, and all who would simply like to separate the fact from myth about who the Tea Party is and and what the organization represents.
One more comment: The book includes many wise and still relevant quotes from our most beloved forefathers. My favorite, quoted by Thomas Jefferson, is sited on Page 26… ” I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared….To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt….We must make our choice between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude”. Amen, to that!
Rated 5 Stars. I use a rating scale of 1 to 5. Books rated 1 seldom finish. Books rated 2, I usually finish but would never recommend to anyone. 5 is the highest rating.