All Steamed Up

When a nuclear reactor goes bad, they shut it down.  The U.S. Capitol Building is rather like a nuclear reactor – the closer a politician gets to it, the great the contamination.  As taxation and other economic matters falls under the auspices of Congress, the Capitol serves as form of a nuclear reactor for our economy, and it’s in meltdown.

The Democrats are threatening a shutdown of the government unless the Republicans agree to cut spending.  As many conservative pundits have observed, though, shut it down, by all means.  That’s exactly what we should be doing.  Shut it down and pour concrete over it, the solution the Japanese are considering for the Fukushima nuclear reactor.

When the Tea Parties began organizing, the organizers presciently speculated that as government programs were cut, the Democrats would go on the attack, blaming the Tea Parties for a government shutdown.  Their threats of a shutdown amount to a labor strike.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blames the Tea Party for derailing the budget negotiations and will be responsible for the possible government shutdown on April 8.  What’s more, he cited a CNN survey stating that Americans don’t care about the Tea Parties.

Daily News reporter Aliya Shaid wrote, “Harry Reid has a message for mainstream GOPers: ‘Ditch the Tea Party or face a government shutdown.’”

Michael Barone, in his column in the Online National Review, frets:

“In Washington, Democrats such as former party chairman Howard Dean gleefully anticipates a government shutdown, and Sen. Charles Schumer thinks he can drive a wedge between Speaker John Boehner and ‘extremist’ tea partiers.

“Off-year elections tend to have low turnout, and the public-employee unions are working hard to get their voters out. It’s unclear whether tea partiers and others whose enthusiasm and energy transformed Wisconsin from a 56–42 percent Obama state in 2008 to a 52–46 percent Walker state in 2010 will be similarly energized.

“They have seen that vast spending increases haven’t generated jobs, and they understand that tax increases can choke a sputtering economic recovery. Given the facts, they understand that public-employee unions inflate spending, reduce accountability, and operate as a mechanism for the involuntary transfer of taxpayer money to one political party.

“The press won’t make that case. Republicans and tea partiers need to do it themselves.

Mr. Barone needn’t worry; the Tea Parties are on top of it.  They’re in Washington today (I believe) in fact, to pour concrete on the nuclear reactor we call the Capitol, figuratively if not literally.  Local parites put the notice out weeks ago.

Tea Parties are very similar to the soldiers in the Revolutionary War; in the northern colonies, the regular army as well as the militia had to go into winter quarters until the weather broke.  We may be in winter quarters here in states like New Jersey but we haven’t gone into hibernation.

At North Jersey Regional Tea Party co-founder Pat Blair’s funeral on Tuesday, the tea partiers mourned the loss of an energetic leader, but they were also abuzz with the latest news about Obama’s kinetic military leadership in Libya and excitement over the upcoming rallies in Washington (this week) and Trenton on April 16^th.  They’re busy calling, faxing, and strategizing.

In any action, courageous leaders and energized followers do the work for all those too timid to step forward themselves.  Morristown Tea Party, in particular, knew that from the beginning.  Yet in an indoor meeting just before the rally, over 1,000 people were in attendance, ready to volunteer.

We’ve tried to stress repeatedly that while the Tea Parties are politically involved, the Tea Party is not a political party, as it were, though some politicians have aligned themselves with local Tea Party groups.  We must be having more effect than even we dreamed possible if Harry Reid must threaten the House Majority Leader John Boehner to shun us if Boehner expects Senate cooperation in cutting the budget and CNN has to manufacture polls showing that the Tea Parties are losing favor with the American public.

We who are employed do rely on those who are more at liberty to attend weekday rallies, making phone calls, and visit legislators to discuss pressing political issues.  These are generally the retirees and housewives, or workers who have understanding employers (small businesses understand all too well what’s at stake).  The Tea Parties have many subsidiary groups that hold nightly meetings for those who don’t have the time or inclination to get involved on a larger scale.

We appreciate Mr. Barone’s concern, but the Tea Parties have known since the beginning that solving our economic meltdown is a do-it-yourselfer.