JUST WHO ARE THESE TEA PARTY PEOPLE ANYWAY?

By Linda King

Just who are these “tea party people” anyway?  Who are these people who march and chant “U.S.A.” and “God Bless America?”  Who are these people who are tired of an unresponsive and out-of-control federal government?  Who are these people who wave American flags and shout “we the people?”

I had the privilege of being among thousands of them at the “Unite in Action” rally in Washington, D.C. this past September 11^th.  Let me introduce you to some of these patriots:

Dr. Rafael Diaz-Yoserev shared his story of parental love and sacrifice.  His parents sent him to live in the United States with relatives when he was only 13 years old.  They then spent 13 of the next 15 years as political prisoners in Castro’s Cuba.  Thankfully, they escaped to America to reunite with their son. Dr. Diaz-Yoserev articulated the events happening in this country right now that parallel the “incremental phases” of Cuba’s slide into a totalitarian regime and warned that America is “perilously close to the final leap into radical socialism.”

Nonie Darwish, an American, born Muslim in Egypt warned of the dangers of radical Islam and Sharia law.  Think U.S. judges would never uphold Sharia law?  Think again.  A New Jersey family court judge recently denied a Muslim woman a restraining order after her husband sexually assaulted her ruling that the husband was operating under his religious belief that a wife cannot refuse to have sex with her husband.  The ruling was later overturned by New Jersey’s Appellate Court, but it allowed Sharia law to creep into our legal system. 

First responders and survivors of the horrific terrorist attacks on our country on 9/11/2001 recounted their personal heart-wrenching stories of that terrible day. Standing next to me was a first responder named “Manny” who was so overwhelmed with emotion that he could barely speak.  His wife told me that screams for help and images of people leaping from the Twin Towers to their death are forever etched in his memory.

Alan Keyes, an African-American conservative, asked this thought-provoking question, “Isn’t dependence on government just another form of slavery?”  Lee James, an African-American veteran and businessman who serves on the board of The Common Sense Campaign, echoes those sentiments and adds “I believe that blacks and other minorities have much more in common with conservatives than they do with liberals.”  

Members of “As a Mom. . .” -- a sisterhood of “mommy patriots” whose catchy phrase “Don’t you make me come up there!” had every mom laughing with understanding as to exactly how that should be said.

Barbara and other “Rainy Day Patriots” whom I met on the “Alabama Liberty Convoy” to D.C. who decided to just drop by Walter Reed Hospital to visit wounded warriors.  Even those who had lost arms and legs told her they would fight for America all over again.  These and other veterans who spoke at the rally epitomized courage, resolve and unshakeable faith in American exceptionalism.

Closer to home, let me tell you about Colonel Glenn Frazier, the founder of “Common Sense Campaign.”  Colonel Frazier joined the United States Army at age 16 and six months later was captured and marched north in the infamous Bataan Death March.  He spent the next three years struggling for his life and eating maggot-infested rice in Japanese POW camps.

And finally, tea party people are members of grassroots liberty organizations all across this nation who work tirelessly to safeguard your freedoms and to help ensure that you never have to send your 13 year-old child to safety in a foreign country.  It’s people like me who want to be able to look my two grandsons in the eye and tell them “I did everything in my power to protect your liberty.”

So you see, tea party people are patriots from all walks of life who fear that America is headed in the wrong direction.  They recognize that to restore America, we must return to the principles of freedom that are the backbone of our country: constitutional limits, individual liberty and balanced budgets.  They believe that America must return to its Judeo-Christian roots and value system.  Tea party patriots are the “good men” that philosopher Edmund Burke spoke of when he said “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”  May God Bless America.