5 Rules For Tea Partiers

I thought it would be helpful before the Tea Parties to think a bit about what there is to achieve through these shindigs. Here are some rules to help us keep the big picture in mind:

1. Network: This is a time to get to know people and find a way to work together. Showing up, waving a sign, and leaving without meeting anyone is rather pointless. Future action will demand relationships. Build some.

2. Capture the diversity: The Leftist meme is that the Tea Party movement, “a bunch of racist rednecks who hate black people”, needs to be squashed like a bug. Words don’t prove it, rational arguments don’t work with people who are irrational, but pictures are difficult to disprove. Take pictures capturing the young, the old, the many colors, the funny T-shirts, the interesting signs.

3. Ignore the One Weirdo: The press LOVES the weirdo. It makes for good TV. Heck, it makes for good pictures. I made a mistake at the last Tea Party and pictured the One Weirdo and put it up with the 20 other great photos on TwitPic. What got passed around? The Weirdo. Now, I was at the Tea Party and had context. He was one guy. But the enemies out there would like to make that one guy representative of everyone who attends. You’ll notice that the press will make a teensy leftist protest look dignified and huge and make truly huge Tea Parties look small and crazy. Just keep this bias in mind when you see the One Weirdo.

4. Have fun. At the last Tea Party, I saw a black George Washington, couples dressed in patriotic pairs, edgy libertarians looking extremely hawt, etc. These people were having a great time expressing their individuality. They demonstrated their freedom through their posters, dress and expression.

5. Act. Use the Tea Party as a jumping off point to get more involved. Don’t keep sitting on the sidelines. Go to your school board meeting. Go to your city council meeting. Vote in primaries. Fill those empty seats. Do Something.

The political climate in this country is not going to change if the good people sit on the sidelines while those with more will, time, and big money on their hands control the country’s direction. At CPAC, New Gingrich said something that I believe is true. He said that President Barack Obama is drawing in stark contrast our choices as Americans. Do we want to be a socialist state? Do we want our freedoms eroded? Do we want to be a debtor nation? Are we going to do for ourselves or are we going to rely, and therefore, be controlled by, the state from cradle to grave?

Americans are clearly seeing the options. For those who want the free country our founders envisioned, it’s time to get busy.

Posted in America