Test Of Fire

The most baffling problem is to identify and understand just what the problem is that we are trying to solve. It would appear that this election is about replacing Obama as president. Or maybe this election is about electing Romney as president. Certainly everything we see and hear tells us that both ways of looking at the election is true… Our assumption being that as president Romney will find some way, we hope, to fix the nation’s problems.

This is a familiar story freshly told during the past umpteen elections… One  wonders, how the candidates, in each new election cycle along with their

 co-conspirators in the news media, are able to tell the same story to the same group of voters over and over and have it resonate?

One centerpiece of candidates’ campaigns is to sell the voters on how they will fix X-Y-and Z problems.  If they tell their story well that gets us focused on XYZ. Obama made these kinds of promises in his successful election and accomplished none of them. Newt made these kinds of promises in 1994 and did all he promised. (I’m assuming that everyone remembers what Newt and his group accomplished. )With Newt’s success and Obama failures we still find ourselves facing the same national problems. (Overspending and growth of all the social programs.) How could this be?

Could this election not be about the politicians and the stories they tell but about us? Could this election possibly be a referendum about us as citizens? Is this a test to see if we are thinking, discerning, forward looking mature voters? Politicians don’t believe we possess any of these traits because we keep reelecting them and believing their campaign stories.  Politicians and apparently we  can’t accept the idea that they are simply paid employees who can be fired when they don’t do what we expect of them. 

A few week ago we attended the Neshoba County Fair. It was a moving experience. There isn’t any reason for anyone outside of Mississippi to know anything about this county fair. Just a couple of points about the fair:  1) It is the oldest continuous county fair in America dating back into the mid eighteen hundreds. 2) It was a hard place to get to so most came in the early years in their wagons, with farm produce, animals for sale and camped out for a week. This evolved into building small houses. Over time more than  six hundred were built.  3) This fair was always in July and all the politician running for office in November in Mississippi came, gave their speeches, kissed babies, and people got to know them. This is the backdrop…. As the years have rolled on many of the original families who build their small houses continued the family traditions of spending the week at the  fair. The family that invited us was the fourth generation.

The main square is still called the “Founders Square,” the families who started and managed the fair. Family names were on most houses. What you saw in each house were grandparents, their children, their children’s children, and many with great grand children. Nowhere that I know of in  America does this kind of thing happen year in and year out. This is the America in story books. Family bonds and family values being taught experientially next door to other  familes doing the same with their children and grand children. Not only bonding as families but groups of families. We experienced the history of how America was built being played out in front of us.

I thought this kind of tradition was forever lost. But standing there in the middle of the Founders Square and simply watching it happen was breathtaking and humbling.

Given how we have structured our society, can we ever find a way to create and teach American values, pass on our beliefs, and find someway to reignite thefoundation this country was built on?  Knowing in some way that without these values we are a ship without a rudder. A people at the whim of the next politicians who tell us a good story about themselves while assuring they only have our best interests in mind.  Politicians and the liberal class in general,   would not get what goes on in Founders Square with these families and  their friends. 

Politics has become a profession laced with people who, as part of the political class, sees the average citizen as a vote that will help them achieve the power they feel entitled too.

This campaign is focusing on shadow issues. True we have a huge national debt, unemployment, massive  social programs, and a failed educational system. The campaigners say these are the issues…. Not one of these politicians who  voted to create the debt and other problems admits they are the cause of the disaster we are facing.

Our history tells us that  no matter what these elected officials put into law they never admit to mistakes nor will they remove the laws, programs, and restrictions they have placed on citizens and businesses.

What we know, at this point, is we must replace the current president, and enough senators to begin to put some stops in place before we get to the cliff’s  edge. That may be the best we can hope for.

If Romney can’t win in Ohio and Florida (maybe just Florida) the game is over for another four years. Without a super majority of true conservatives in the Senate a presidential veto can’t be over ridden. The reality might be that Obama will simply continue to act without congressional approval.

We in the Tea Party will need to see this political problem as something that will take a number of election cycles. Meanwhile there is a growing class of people who have become dependent on government support. As this group grows their block of votes will have a bigger impact on future elections. Time is not on our side.

If the history of this nation is not focused on  our history during the early years of education all  of our societal values will be lost. Without these values and beliefs as measuring tools one thing look very much like everything else. The change this president has offered is a repudiation of these values and the corruption of the beliefs that built the nation. That’s his goal and he is being successful.

It isn’t often we have a politician, in a hotly contested campaign, saying what he will do if elected and then watching him do the things he promised. It was often difficult when Obama was campaigning to understand fully or interpret the  vagaries of what he was wanting to accomplish. Also, many simply wouldn’t believe that a man who wanted to become president also wanted to destroy America as we knew it. However, lets look back to the 08 campaign and read his response to a question:

Senator ˜Obama replied:

“As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking

sides”. “There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is

a symbol of oppression..” “The anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You

know, the bombs bursting in air and all that sort of thing.”

Obama continued: “The National Anthem should be ‘swapped’ for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song ‘I’d Like To Teach the World To

Sing’. If that were our anthem, then, I might salute it. In my opinion, we

should consider reinventing our National Anthem as well as ‘redesign’ our

Flag to better offer our enemies hope and love. It’s my intention, if

elected, to disarm America to the level of acceptance to our Middle East

Brethren. If we, as a Nation of warring people, conduct ourselves like the

nations of Islam, where peace prevails – - – perhaps a state or period of

mutual accord could exist between our governments ……”

When I become President, I will seek a pact of agreement to end hostilities

between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity, and a freedom

from disquieting oppressive thoughts. We as a Nation, have placed upon the

nations of Islam, an unfair injustice is WHY my wife disrespects the Flag and

she and I have attended several flag burning ceremonies in the past”.

“Of course now, I have found myself about to become the President of the

United States and I have put my hatred aside. I will use my power to bring

CHANGE to this Nation, and offer the people a new path. My wife and I look

forward to becoming our Country’s First black Family. Indeed, CHANGE is about

to overwhelm the United States of America “

Now after being president for almost four years we know this president is a man of his word. He has worked very hard to accomplish his goals. Can there be any doubt that if elected for another four years he will be successful in his mission of changing America – even if congress should try to interfere?

It is hard to tell from the current polls but it seems close to half  the voters either approve of his stated goals or simply like him as a leader. This group may not even understand his goals… That’s possible. However, he and his goals are one and the same. The trend in the polls is indicating that he may well be reelected.

Obama has referred to the Tea group as a Bible carrying – gun toting rednecks.  If that is who we are then how are we to unseat a rather popular sitting president? So much of what I read, on Tea web sites around the country, is preaching to the choir. Why aren’t we on the Liberal web sites offering a different view of the current leadership.  Where else can we find opportunities to offer conservative ideas? Lets make a list……

The Catholic Church is fully involved and is drawing attentions to Catholic church members. Southern Baptist are a huge block of voters… Their deacons meet monthly… Pastors of all denominations must become active as well. Many black pastors are speaking up and are risking so much by doing so. Many of the Tea members are active in local politics, Rotary clubs, Masons, etc. Once again huge blocks of votes. If we as Tea members think about where we go and who we have contact with this list can expand and expand again. There are less that eighty days left for us to act.

The Tea party is a mind set of values and beliefs…. Each of us is the Tea Party. If each of us says, “I am the Tea Party” then the question become real simple real quick. I then must find a way to vote this current president out of office along with each and every liberal Senator and Congressman… If we fail in this mission  the nation fails. We are the Tea Party and we are the Nation.

There are only a few days left for us to find ways to impact the outcome in November. This nation was cobbled together by men guided by Christian teachings and values. Prayers are offered up every day at the opening of our congress.  It doesn’t seem our president shares these values and beliefs. He says America is not a Christian nation. Are we? This election is not about the problems we are having but our values as a people. This is a referendum on core principles that built the greatest country in world history. 

Below is a link to a video worth seeing. A video that could have been made by any denomination in America. However, this one was made by the  Catholic Church entitled “The Test OF Fire.” .

We are the Tea Party and each of us is the stewards of the nation. 

79 days, 9 hours, 7 minutes, 23 seconds till the voting begins.

Ron

[email protected]

Http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com

Note: A book entitled “Coming Apart” by Charles Murray Is a ‘good read’ and one I feel is important to all conservative citizens. If you click on the Charles Murray link you can hear him talk about his book. Also, Murray is one of my favorite writers. I have been reading him for the last twenty years.