The Tea Party Movement

The people of the Tea Party movement have been getting a bad rap of late. The left, and in particular the Lame Stream Media, have been calling them violent, racist, bigoted and homophobic. Well I am here to tell you that I have seen none of this at the two tea parties I have attended so far. The only reason I can conclude that this condemnation of these patriotic Americans is due largely in part to fear...fear that their anointed one's policies are truly wrong for the direction of this country and fear of admitting that they made the biggest mistake in the history of the US selection of a leader who promotes nothing but his socialist agenda.

When "W" was president of our country, the left was outraged. There was civil discourse that resulted in hate speech against our president (both verbal and written threats-remember the "kill Bush" rhetoric and signs), yet the Lame Stream Media didn't lift a finger to publicly acknowledge this extreme and hateful behavior. Yet they flip their finger to the right of today's Tea Party members. Why the double standard?

I am not sure that this country can ever recover from all that has been perpetrated upon it since January 20, 2009.

My mother recently said to me that when we were kids (and I remember this very clearly but was glad that she reminded me of it) we would attend holiday parades and sing patriotic songs such as God Bless America, America The Beautiful, etc. We knew all the words and we sang them proudly regardless of our ability to sing them and I remember on many occasions being choked up to the point of tears in my eyes for the pride I felt in our country. She was disturbed by the fact that my left-leaning brother's daughters, now in their 20's, knew none of these songs. She wondered what happened that motivated people to NOT teach these basic ideas and love of country.

God how I wish I could see a crowd of people, standing side-by-side with pride resonating from their voices and tears in their eyes as they sing "God bless America, Land that I love, Stand beside her and guide her..."

The closest I have come to feeling that sense of pride was April 15, 2010 at the Columbia, SC Tea Party when the master of ceremonies introduced eight year old Hampton Chumley to sing "God Bless America" to open the Tea Party. Their were issues with the sound system that delayed the official start of the party and those problems were not completely resolved when Hampton stepped up to the microphone to open the ceremony. Without a beat and without background music and with only one working microphone, Hampton stood beside the podium and with pride in his acapellla rendition belted out the finest version of the song that I have heard. He never missed a beat and never hit a sour note. It was spot on! But more than anything it was sung with such enthusiasm and pride and love that it brought those tears to my eyes that have been missing since my childhood.

If Hampton is the future of this country, then I can take comfort in knowing that those who are currently taking away the liberties that we treasure and value so much will not succeed. Thank you, Hampton! Thank you for reminding us all that we need to remember that this is our "home sweet home" and that we need to fight to keep her free.