Posted on 07/05/2009 8:40:06 AM PDT by randita
On April 15, thousands of people in 100's of cities and towns gathered to protest rising taxes, failed bailouts, 1st and 2nd Amendment clamp downs and, in general, failing policies of the current Congress and Administration. Yesterday, there was a repeat of the Tea Party grassroots movement. Although conservatives make up the majority of those gathering, there are people participating from all over the political spectrum.
Is it time for the Tea Party Movement to have a leader? To have an organized structure and means of communication? To have a fund raising instrument?
Or would that ruin its goals and defeat its purpose?
Could Sarah Palin be the leader or would that make the Tea Parties appear to be an arm of the GOP, rather than non-partisan?
A tremendous amount of passion, anger and even fear have been the catalyst for the Tea Parties. Is a leader needed to guide and channel those emotions into a positive result?
Can Tea Parties amount to positive change if they are just a means for angry people to gather to express their disgruntlement? Or does there need to be a mechanism in place like a Tea Party 527 to capitalize on the passion?
Can the Tea Party movement become the force that challenges the Obama force of millions?
Unless an organization is built, will the Tea Parties just become exercises in futility and just peter out? Do people need to see that their efforts to participate in a Tea Party are being noticed and are leading to something bigger?
Feel free to brainstorm.
BLUSH....If nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve.
I think once she leaves office at the end of the month she will become that leader.
She isn't "the arm of the GOP". She's as anti-establishment as could be.
I nominate Barry Soetoro.
And I think an appropriate initiation ceremony would be to hurl him into Boston Harbor.
Yes, IMO, the movement needs a “conservative” leader that has the spine, guts, and fortitude to take on the MSM, Congress, and Zero. The Tea Party movement is out to “save” the country from destruction. We are running out of time.
Here’s one faction:
GOOOH stands for ‘Get Out of Our House’ and is pronounced like the word ‘go’. It is a NON-PARTISAN plan to evict the 435 career politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives and replace them with everyday Americans just like you.
...
GOOOH is NOT just another political party. It is a system that will allow you and your neighbors to choose, among yourselves, the person who can best represent your district.
...
GOOOH is a new system that will allow “we the people” to select true representatives, not choose between a Democrat and a Republican. If we continue to elect career politicians who represent their party, the special interests that fund them, and themselves, nothing will change. GOOOH is a non-partisan process that will allow us to effect the change we all know we need.
The tea parties are for the people - politicians, lawyers and those that seek to be, but the people.
Oh, come on, we’d love to have you.
I know of a soon-to-be former governor who could step into this role.
The Tea Party is going to be considered a 'Republican' movement, simply because most of the complaints are against That One, and the Dems in Congress who aided and abetted the financial meltdown. The media can't seem to wrap its collective head around the fact that the same people involved in the Tea Parties also decried the increase in spending under the Republican majorities in Congress, and as a result, didn't vote many of those folks back into Congress.
#2 - Draw a line in the sand or establish a Rubicon the federal government will not be allowed to cross (i.e. Cap and trade passage or forced health insurance).
We have a leader: the American taxpayer.
C'mon, Druango. We're all sending you our resumes.
Several have tried self appointment and it didn’t go well. I do think some will rise to the top.
NO, the tea party movement should NOT have a leader.
It should remain a grassroots movement — by the people, for the people.
Remember Saul Alinsky’s Rule #__ from “RULES FOR RADICALS.”
“Target people, not institutions. People HURT easier than institutions.”
That’s why we shouldn’t put too much emphasis on a specific PERSON. Because the moment that person has an affair, or jaywalks, or picks his nose, the COMMIES will be all over him + discredit the Tea Party movement.
The tea party movement has to be kept completely separate from the control of a political party, otherwise they will neuter it as a threat to their own corrupt intentions. The GOP is not the old honorable party that we knew and grew up with. Look at what is going on, we do not have any legislators with any spine, or any principals. All we have are these self entitled appointees who intend to reap the maximum that they can for themselves. Even if they only stay one year, they collect their pay for life. Hellllloooooo?
Would we turn this movement over to this bunch of hoodlums? Isnt that what this movement is about, to depose this mess and get the country and its government straightened out again?
One further thought from the fringe,,,,the leader of the tea party movement needs to be qualified to lead the revolution that is coming. The only thing that is holding us back at this time is that we do not have a strong military person to lead the Revolution. If the Tea Party leader cant lead a forceful revolution against the standing politicians, then he has no respect from their side. Only when they realize that there is a real leader that has multi millions of patriots standing behind him at the ready, will the other side take notice. If you dont have a strong leader in this effort, might as well just turn it over to the Rainbows.
I nominate Sarah Palin, however she will need to put her long form birth certificate online, can be on her Facebook page, need to be sure she is a natural born citizen if she aspires to higher office.
wink-wink
I second it!!!! I’m still laughing!!!
Agreed. Distributed leadership means distributed power and you can't kill the movement by removing one leader.
A real grassroots movement is more of a commonly held philosophical position rather than a single army marching towards some single foe. When the critical mass is reached then the opposition must give way or be crushed. Or both.
Thanks for that link. I like the idea of staying local, working local in order to effect real change through real representative government. Look to the Constitution and the Founders for the answer to the question.
I nominate W.A.R. = Wayne Alan Root. His speech yesterday was fantastic.
What we need to do is the same thing over and over again and hope for a different out come. Now what was that suspose to define. Poll from.http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1263/gop-favorability-romney-palin-gingrich-steele
Glenn Beck
I don’t think a nationwide leader is a good thing...For one thing, the established politicos will do everything they can to discredit that one person, and for another, no honest person gets into national politics.
The local organizers are doing an amazing job, and each state can focus on the issues important to themselves, instead of having to compromise for a united national front.
This quick read from back in March titled: “Good News, the Republicans are Leaderless!”
Talks about how people voluntarily self-organize and are much more effective than “follow-the-leader” organizations like the RNC.
Link: http://prop207az.blogspot.com/2009/03/good-news-republican-are-leaderless.html
Mark Levin
“To have a fund raising instrument?” If you bring fund raising into it, it will corrupt the whole process. Once money gets involved, there are those that will get involved only for the money. If you want to support a candidate, support that candidate. Keep the Tea Partys clean.
Speeches, signs, and the general focus should be on FREEDOM, with people that have escaped from oppression elsewhere, current events - i.e., the Iranian uprising against tyranny, and speeches about real SOLUTIONS (will a voting system corrupted by ACORN and the like work?, or will we need a HONDURAN solution involving our military?) to our problem - BIG, OUT-OF-CONTROL GOVERNMENT.
The recent attempt to make this protest, at least at the proposed "protest" at Gwinnett Place Mall north of Atlanta, into some sort of "carnival", is misplaced.
We are, or SHOULD be, at this point, in a COLD WAR with these un-American bastards.
Our protests should be non-violent, but large (many small protests are not as impactful as one or two large events in each state (if people can get in their cars and head to the beach with hardly a thought, then they can drive to a big protest for FREEDOM in/near Atlanta or elsewhere), VERY loud, to the point (FREEDOM), and meaningful.
A Tea (TAXED Enough Already? Again, it's about SO much more than taxes. Maybe we should change the name to reflect the OUTRAGE, DISGUST, and BETRAYAL we have/feel towards our government) Party leader should be the same as what we need at the national level in politics to represent US, someone with the "balls" to do and say what is necessary to let this government know that it is WE, the People, who should be respected and feared.
Alan Keyes
There may come a time when protests do not work any longer. The ballot system is a joke now. These commies are fixing it so elections are not making any difference anymore.
They are passing laws no matter what the people think. They are running the show.
There needs to be a structured leadership with support i.e. communications, people on the inside..to step up when needed.
There are people out here who are willing to help and become involved. How much more are we going to let this go on?
I honestly feel that the only way we can save America from Socialism/Marxism is to re-name the TEA Party movement to the WE WANT TO SEE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE PARTY!
READ MY TAGLINE!
Distributed leadership is what you have now, no leadership.
Until you have strong leader in there that has a strong military history of leading his troops into battle, then have the distributed leadership behind him, you have no leadership.
Until the tyrants in Washington realize that they have a seasoned professional with 25 million patriots waiting for the signal behind him they are not going to pay any attention, thinking so is merely intellectual masturbation.
Slam all these incumbent political entities repub or dem and hammer the truth of which they couldn't tell if their lives depended on it.
At the DC Tea Party, I heard “repeal the 14th Amendment and all those that follow.”
I’ve seen several patriot leaders rise and fall, it’s a rough job, the leftists tear them down.
We need someone like Zell Miller. He’s a Democrat, so they can’t scream that the movement is partisan GOP. Yet he’s a conservative who holds traditional American values.
Your points are good. I guess what I'm saying is that the Tea Parties serve a different function than, say, a presidential race. The grassroots is genuinely standing up to show that they will be counted and not necessarily actually being counted yet. They are showing themselves as a potential energy. A force to be reckoned with.
When a specific issue comes up then the rank and file can unite behind a strong leader for a specific goal such as defeating socialized health care or taking the White House. There may very well be different leaders for each goal.
Does this distinction make sense to you? I'm not sure I'm describing it as well as I could. My point is that the potential energy building up "steam" in the Tea Parteis is extremely valuable in and of itself and later a specific leader can tap that potential energy to achieve an important goal.
You are so so correct with your post.
The only problem I see is that the 535 are all working together up in Washington. Even if we pull the pubbies off by themselves and try to pressure them into action, all they have to do is say “you have no leadership, we dont have to listen to you,,,,so what are you going to do about it??? Are you going to have another tea party and cry? hahahahahahah”
Recruiting a politician or a blogger to the leadership position accomplishes nothing because the grassroots will not recognize them nor will they follow. It is going to take a strong, battle proven military professional to lead this group. That way, we the people will respect him and will follow. Otherwise, it is like I previously posted. I firmly believe that. This cannot be a touchy feely movement, this movement has to have the power to back up the negotiations. When the politicos in Disneyland East, say, well, just what can you do about it? We have to have a leader who says, I have an army larger than yours, so are you going to talk or shoot?
Much as I would LOVE to see Sarah Palin in that role, she is officially a Republican and therefore would carry that tag for life. The DUmmies would have a field day.
Instead, I think we need either an unknown or a “man on a horse” and I can’t think of a better choice for leader than Gen. Petraeus. Can we start drafting him now?
The only drawback to having a unified leadership is that every pronouncement of policy or platform will alienate a percentage of the overall membership. (”We’re pro-life” — DING; “We’re opposed to affirmative action” — DING; “We want to repeal the following amendments ...” — DING. See where this is headed?)
It’s time for the movement to have a single, nationwide, political action committee. It needs to be single purpose, focussed solely on responsible spending, so it doesn’t get caught up in party politics. It doesn’t need a single leader, what it needs is to be run in the most democratic fashion possible. The internet offers the opportunity for individual contributors to be involved in the decision making process. And, it needs to be steered by some folks with political savvy, who can make contributions in those races where they’re likely to have a large impact on the outcome.
In short, we need to become a single-issue pressure group in the same way SEIU is, so we have some elected officials beholden to us. The ability to throw money in the pot, combined with the ability to assemble some enthusiastic campaign workers, is the key to ‘clout’. And without clout, we’re just a little group of disenfranchised voters barely worthy of appeasement.
Picture a group that can walk into a Congressional office with photos and say “here’s a picture of five thousand people in your home district who are going to put their cash and their energy into getting your fat ass out of office if you don’t straighten up”, and you’re picturing an effective group.
If they are outlawing double digit taxation
That's because "THEY" are in elected office. We may get angry when That One snidely says "We won", but he's right, and in some cases, they won because we were in a right snit about conservatives being shut out of Republican politics. The only way to fix that is to work our way back IN to the Republican party by showing up to work and VOTE for the candidates who best represent our views, or even views that are close to ours. If we don't have the numbers in Congress, we don't get to make policy.
Tea Party USA doesn’t need an overall leader, it is doing fine with its informal connections of local and state activists, plus several national web sites.
It shouldn’t be co opted by a political party or political figure. Both parties need the house cleaning on taxes and big government the Tea Party is against.
The Tea Parties need a bit more structure and need to take names and email addresses to keep contacting those who show up. With continuing contacts, a structure will evolve of activists willing to carry on the movement of education the rest of America that it’s being lied to and being fleeced and shorn of tax money for bad government plans/programs.
one word ACORN
No RINOs leading, and no Newt leading! Newt does much better when he’s leading a conservative political think-tank organization instead, while also making his rounds with the MSM every now and then. I also still question Newt’s positions on man-made global warming (He’s a believer in man-made global warming!) and in his approval of “Hillary Care”.
Good afternoon, Friend.
The uneducated people of this country get just what they deserve. I consider those that obtain their news from the MSM and shows like John Stewart and SNL to be leading us in a death spiral.
I try to be optimistic but I really believe by October of this year we will be in deep domestic trouble. I pray that won’t happen. BUT!
Have a great day and stay dry(on the outside).
NO; I will not listen to a “leader” designated by others, if we want a good statesmen (Representative) let’s elect them, but I will not listen to a self-proclaimed “leader” of the Tea Party Movement.<
This organization works best becuase it is grass-roots oriented, not “top-down” oriented! LET’S NOT Change what works.. ;).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.