Tea Cups Flying

Cheryll A. Bellamy, Attorney and Pastor

From watching the Tea Party convention, its members were charged up and appeared to be a purpose-driven group of ordinary Americans. What haunts these Tea Party members? It is the bogeyman of big government, the Wall Street betrayal, President Obama's so-called socialistic policies, and a tremendous fear of their life savings being depleted. The irony of all ironies, the cost for the attendance of this convention per person was $500.00, not counting air flight, hotel, and the $100,000 speaker's fee for Sarah Palin. What is the Tea Party all about? No one really knows.

How can any good citizen tolerate the Tea Party constituents who express their anger at the betrayal of the American government while voicing their nonsensical theories about the Constitution and what it means to be a true American? It is not about big or small government. It's whether our government can be efficient and effective by the people and for the people.

At the same time, the Tea Party's madness applauded the racist remarks of former Congressman, Tom Tancredo, when he said, “People who could not even spell the word 'vote,' or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama.”

There were no subtleties when this Congressman implied that every state electorate should return to having a literacy test for those who cannot spell the word “vote.” Such remarks show that Tom Tancredo really has very little knowledge of the Constitution. The 1870 Voting Rights, Article XV, of the Constitution decreed the right of every citizen to vote and that they shall not be denied the right to vote by the government or individual states on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Other legislation by Congress abolished and prohibited literacy tests and poll taxes (1964 Abolishment of Poll Tax, Article XXIV). Not only did Tancredo's bashing, racist commentary distance the minorities in this nation, he also did not realize that the majority of White Americans who voted for President Barack Obama were also discriminated against. So who was Tom Tancredo speaking for? This former Congressman’s premeditated script was an opportunity for him to push the right divisive buttons before a crowd of anti-Obama supporters. Negativity and anger increased the atmospheric charge for the entire convention.

That which was spoken about by the speakers at the Tea Party once again supports the theory that the extreme right constituency is truly ignorant of the United States Constitution. More serious than what is on the surface, the Tea Party has yet to articulate their vision, their future plans, and strategies of empowerment. The majority of this group consists of older white voters. This picture of a peace loving group took an about face as the conference progressed. They turned into a contentious, angry, and political bashing group. The Tea Party members represent the Birther movement, gun owners wanting to uphold their second amendment rights, war hawks, obstructionists, and angry racists. Tea cups began to fly all over the place.

The words of Tancredo declared war against any possibility of the Tea Party's political movement opening its doors to people representing diversity. The Republicans' xenophobia for the “others” who are different in looks, culture, economic status, and religion now become the norm for these Tea Party members.

When one is trying to build a movement based on anger against the established rules of government, ignorant of the substantive issues of what the Constitution can and cannot do, fear mongering, and exclusivity, it will have all the political and social viruses needed to pronounce a prognosis of death.

Palin's attack on the existing administration, particularly, President Barack Obama, riveted the Tea Party members to the point of hysteria. Americans should ask themselves if we were watching the future insurrectionists against civil authorities.

Palin's sniper attacks, like a pit bull dog, really has no place in politics. Her game plan is to manipulate, use political spin, and tell outright lies about President Barack Obama. Her words at the Tea Party Convention clearly were venomous poison for the perfect storm of division plus selfish ambition, both of which dampened the cause of bi-partisanship.

Palin made fun of Obama's use of the teleprompter in his speeches not being aware that what she said about Obama would come back to bite her. The media had fun exposing her talking points written on the palms of her hands.

The political reasoning Sarah Palin puts forth is superficial and leaves many walking away scratching their heads, asking themselves, “What did she mean?” Any potential presidential candidate knows that having just a great personality is not enough to gain support of the majority of Americans. People expect a return on their investment when they are certain their chosen candidate has substantial knowledge of domestic and international issues. One wonders could Sarah Palin be a credible contestant on the popular TV show “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” The audience played into Palin's folksy, Annie Oakley style when she suggested that President Barack Obama should declare war on Iran as a re-election tactic. People can perish for a lack of knowledge. Why should we put ourselves and this nation in the hands of Sarah Palin?

Sarah Palin will be remembered years from now as a cartoon caricature for comedy shows. The sad scenario is this - each time Palin appears on a national stage before the camera, her performance becomes a written script for the comedians to boost their TV ratings. Will the Tea Party voters be smarter than a fifth grader if they vote for Sarah Palin in the 2012 election? At the end of the day, Palin will be remembered by other voters as the mannequin in the window of politics dressed in a $150,000 wardrobe.