Saving the Tea Party

Saving The Tea Party

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? – John F Kennedy

If we are to rescue the Tea Party from the mire that has become American Politics, then we must go back to when our mission was less confusing, and our citizens less divided. For four bloody years, from April of 1861 to May of 1865 American citizens warred against each other over whether or not America would be the United States of America, or a collection of territories calling themselves states. Since the majority of those who fought on the side of federalism were against slavery, and the majority of those in favor of a loose coalition of independent states were in favor of slavery, the issue of slavery has long been considered to be the cause of the murderous mayhem called the civil war. The rationale for this erroneous conclusion is yet another misapprehension; the flimsy notion that, at stake was the murky issue of states rights. The truth is, that since the confederacy was just that, Jefferson Davis was unable to compel the individual armies of each confederate state to coordinate their efforts, and the war was lost due to the very cause for which the flower of southern youth died. The lesson that history has taught humans from the dawn of time had been forgotten, and a divided army was conquered by one united by the principle of federalism.

It is truly inevitable that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it. At the end of the war seven hundred thousand Americans lay dead, and what may have been never was. Truthfully, less than ten percent of the Americans who fought for the mistaken reason of states rights even owned slaves. So why did so many people die in a fight in which they had no dog? The answer, is so plain that I am embarrassed to repeat it; it was capitalistic corporations that cared just as much for human life as they do today. The less obvious reason is less obvious because it is insidious. In order to create a fighting force large enough to destroy the United States of America the corporations had to create both a reason for the ordinary southerner, who owned no slaves at all to take up arms, and the perception that those they would be killing were deserving of death. Evil were those who conspired to destroy our constitution and our union, and foolish were those who followed the piper to their deaths.
It is a history America is on the brink of repeating again. Multinational corporatism has once again taken aim at our nation. Our citizens are once again divided over the issues of so called states rights, and slavery, although most Americans would deny it. How it is that Americans can deny this charge is beyond comprehension.

The evidence lays in plain sight for even the slow of wit to see. Federalism is now a dirty word to roughly half our nation. Racism is frankly out of control, and considered harmless, normal, or justifiable to the same people. Once again, most of the products used by Americans are manufactured by slaves. Hyperbole hardly serves up an adequate description for the chaos that reigns in Washington, and once again Americans are gradually marginalizing each other, pushing this process to the verge of violence.

This chart shows us that the two political parties are hopelessly divided over the issue of race at both the level of political representation, and the level of ordinary citizenry. As far as the other charges go, it’s a lot like looking out your window to see what the weather is like; it’s that obvious. At the Butcher Shop, we have become convinced that the reconstruction of a constitutional government depends entirely upon the Tea Party principle of assigning the right to tax as a privilege that is given solely by the people.

In the last cycle of it’s political relevance the Tea Party was co-opted by the Republican Party by means of cash donations to the party by representatives of the Republican Party to such an extent that the term Tea Partier was synonymous with Republican. I feel that if you are a republican or a democrat, then be a member of your party.

Our analysis of the political reality is that the Tea Party will lack the strength to put forward meaningful candidates in the 2020 elections with the exception of those whose presence might help or harm a candidate of either of the major parties, thus serving as a tool for either the republicans or the democrats; an awkward, if not unacceptable role for a party that might serve the interests of America so much more productively.

Closer examination of this dilemma, however reveals a surprise. As is the case in warfare of any kind, our weakness is our strength. An organized and strong Tea Party with a clear vision of what constitutes the values and the vision of it’s constituency could, in sufficient numbers defeat candidates from either party. Without candidates to fight against, the Tea party would be a formidable foe. We could strike, but not be struck.

At the Butcher Shop we do many things, but our most visible efforts are in what we write. We have taken many steps forward in the last two years, and we feel ready to make another change now. In remembrance of another war fought on American soil, we propose a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

We would like to welcome Charlie Brown o the Butcher Shop. You can follow Charlie at the butcher shop, the PeckerWood Press, and right here on the Tea Party Tribune.

The Butcher Shop

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