A great letter to the editor by my friend Larry DeVries "The Attempt to Marginalize Goes On"

Editor,

The Tilting Yard article by Thomas Frank today (WSJ, March 10, 2010, page A21) does more to add heat to the question about the TEA demonstrators than he does to add light.

The attempt by the author to isolate, label and then marginalize TEA demonstrators with the term "Reactionary Right" is part of a process only too well known coming from the Left. Very obvious in the attempt.

Frank does little to define who are the TEA movement citizens. That question is a useful one to read answered.

Any casual observer of conservatives would know that there are roughly six kinds of conservatives:

• libertarian conservatives
• traditionalist conservatives
• anti-Communist conservatives
• constitutional conservatives
• neoconservatives, and
• the interfaith Religious Right

The so-called TEA Party citizens have not been well defined by actually interviews and polling. But I would suggest they are made up of those who think along the lines of at least one of the kinds of conservatives above with perhaps one addition - federal budget conservatives.

A conservative is likely to have a continuous history of voting and probably has a record as a volunteer in a political party. The activists in the Republican Party volunteer, donate, endorse candidates, work and manage the Party at the local level. They make a political party work.

But the TEA citizens have not been, by and large, volunteers of any kind nor have they been activists in any political party. They are voters.

Perhaps their voting is limited, at times, to national elections. But they have not volunteered to work to the benefit of a political party. The TEA citizens may, or may not have, given money to any candidates.

If they were activist volunteers they would have been involved in the Republican Party, the Libertarian Party, the Conservative Party, etc. But - for whatever reason - a TEA citizen has not been involved as a volunteer in a political party.

 I suspect some of the TEA people are former Reagan Democrats - disaffected Democrats. They probably feel that the Democrat Party has left them and, since Reagan, they do not feel comfortable in another party.

 At this point the TEA citizens are not organized as a Party - as a political party is commonly understood. How they will organize themselves, to what degree or if at all, is yet to be seen.

 If or how TEA citizens begin to work or donate to the benefit of the Republican Party is yet to be seen.

 What you can say now about the TEA citizens is that, 1) they hold an opinion and sometimes they hold strong opinions, 2) they are quite well informed, 3) they are now very willing to act, and 4) they are highly likely to vote.

 But if I was a strategy consultant from a party promoting policies in opposition to their expressions - Taxed Enough Already - I would not want to intentionally appear in their field of view.

 Larry G. DeVries

WSJ Print Subscriber

Eden Prairie, Minn.

As you can tell by yesterday's "From the Mailbag" feature, liberals (and the media who assist them from the local to the national level) are coming unhinged as they see this movement growing stronger.  They DO NOT LIKE IT when you question their superiority.  You see they are the intellectuals and the morally upright!  You will be marginalized, damn it!  We will tell other people what to think about you and they will believe it! 

They are sick, sick puppies and will even go so far as calling the President of the United States the "n" word as the Eden Prairie lunatic liberal did with that letter to me.  Folks, they're the racists, they're the bigots.  It's called "projection"- they try to project their own sick-minds on you.

From my "Sticks and Stones" post, may I repeat:

When you tell anybody to sit down and shut up it will only make them protest more loudly next time.

Racist, bigot, homophobe, rich, wealthy, redneck, Brooks Brothers Brigade, hick, stupid, misinformed, astroturf.... 

Is that it?  Are you done yet you big babies?  Do you feel better?   You have the White House, and all of Congress, you have absolute power to pass all of your big-government policies.  Why are you so mad?

Ah, they want total silence.  Like an old-school teacher with ruler in hand, they continue the character assassination. They continue to use political correctness as a weapon as they have for two decades now. 

This time, we don't care.

This Tea Party Patriot is planning on going to the "Kill the Bill" rally at the State Capitol tomorrow.  (It will be held rain or shine.)

 

WHAT: Rally Protesting Planned Vote on ObamaCare

WHEN: Saturday, March 13, Noon – 1:00 p.m.

WHERE: Upper Mall of Minnesota State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. St. Paul, MN  55155

WHO: Minnesota Congressional Representatives and Advocacy Group Leaders. Speakers include:

• Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
• Congressman John Kline
• Twila Brase, CCHC
• Ed Morrissey, Hot Air Blog
• Dr. Lee Kurisko, M.D.
• Rep. Mark Buesgens
• Barb Davis-White
• Emceed by Sue Jeffers, KTLK Radio

Show your commitment to protecting your right to make health care decisions for you and your family by attending Saturday's rally. Remember to bring a sign demonstrating your opposition to the bill.  Click here to listen to Sean Hannity's interview with Michele Bachmann about the rally.

The event is being promoted by every major conservative organization in the state.  Hope you can make it!