Where Does the Tea Party go from Here?

Earlier, I posted an entry regarding the Tea Party and the Constitution. I noticed when I entered my Key Words that I had never used "Tea Party" as a key word before. I made a mental note that the Tea Party will probably be with us for some time, now. I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon.

My question is this: Should the Tea Party become its own separate political party, or remain a loose, grassroots movement?

Pros: Clearly neither party is listening to the smaller government message, although the Republican Party is giving lip service to listening. It would give those with a genuine smaller-government message a voice in the political process and establish the movement more permanently.

Cons: Since most of the "smaller government" crowd tends to vote Republican, this would represent a genuine split of the Republican Party and could end up keeping Dems in power for decades to come. Furthermore, the same kind of corruption and dilution of message that is taking place in the other parties would likely take place in the New Tea Party as well.

My feeling at this point is that the Tea Party better serves America by being a voice on the outside looking in. We are more likely to affect change by saying "We'll vote for you if you tow the line. Otherwise, we'll vote you out."

What do you think?

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Rendering the Constitution Irrelevant

Throughout most of 2009, the liberal wing of the Democrat Party, the inhabitants of the White House, and the slavishly progressive mainstream media dismissed the Tea Party movement. They apparently assumed that the Tea Party was populated by the “fringe conservative” element of the Republican Party, which meant that their base was still solidly affixed. They apparently assumed that the Tea Party would not organize, which Tea Partiers have done – quite effectively. They apparently assumed that if they could force enough laws through by political will and curious expediency, the Tea Party would dissolve under the weight of new bureaucracies.

Moreover, leaders in the Republican Party foolishly believed that Tea Partiers would “return” to the fold after their period of wandering.

All of them were wrong.

Long before the Tea Party movement came into being, a quiet war was taking place in America. Popular talk-show host Glenn Beck has gained a huge following by connecting the dots between Cloward, Piven, Progressives, and the White House, which is symptomatic of the war. He has put together many pieces of the puzzle, and new pieces are fitting everyday. It’s no surprise he’s the darling of and inspiration for the Tea Party movement. He sees, and more Americans are beginning to recognize, that the goal of fanatical Progressives is not progress; their goal is rendering the Constitution irrelevant.

Progressives have long used the law, whether through the courts or the legislature, to force radical change. When propositions are repeatedly defeated in the public forum, progressives seek any and all alternative routes to push their agenda. They believe that they can effectively intimidate the American people, and strip them of their identity, through the weight of the law, regardless of Constitutional limits or safeguards.

Is it any wonder that they actively promote the flawed notion of a “living” Constitution? If the limits within the Constitution are malleable, they can be altered to expand the role of government on a whim. Is it any wonder that they slap the term “rights” onto initiatives or programs that are, in fact, privileges, thereby blurring the line between the two? They do not see rights as an inalienable, integral and inherent component of our humanity; rights, like “privileges,” are viewed as gifts of the State.

The more Americans they can convince of this twisted logic, the easier it will be to affect the kind of change informed Americans would otherwise reject.

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