Tea party principles are bottom up

In my last post I talked about the leadership meeting we had with many of the regional tea parties attending. One of the things which was touched upon briefly, was getting local. I have talked about this in the past, although I am not sure I have on this blog, so I will reiterate mt views.

The tea party movement is about principles. We have our core principles we believe in:

• Fiscal Responsibility
• Small Government
• Strict Constitutionality
• Capitalism and Free markets

Currently the culture in Washington and the country is one of big, big big. Spending is out of control, taxes are out of control and government is out of control. This is all most politicians and voters have ever known. It trickles down from the the top right to the bottom.

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Is it easier to elect local officials who believe in the same principles or someone on the national level? The answer is easy, the local level. Who has the most control over your life your local planning board, school committee person, select-person or the President? Again, when you think about it the answer is easy, it is the local official. This is why if we can change the culture at the lowest level, it will trickle up. Once we get people used to the idea that we can live at the local level with fiscal responsibility, not spending money foolishly, like $189,000 on brick sidewalks, this mindset will work it's way up, and the voters will begin to hold each level of government accountable.

Is it extremely important we make a change in the leader of this country? Yes, it is of the utmost importance, but you can be pretty sure whoever replaces the current tenant in the White House, it won't be someone with  all the tea party principles, I am not certain that person exists, yet. The culture hasn't changed.

Here in Massachusetts we can look at a perfect example, Scott Brown. I still support Brown, but although as far as I know he has never said he was from the tea party, it can be said it was the tea party who got him elected. Has he followed the tea party principles? Some, but not all. Many thought he would be a real Republican, if there can be such a thing in MA, if he is he has made some un-republican like decisions. He is still better than his most likely opponent, he is still the best choice but he is not a tea partier. But who could we replace him with right now? Is there anyone ready? Probably not, but in a few years we could have someone ready to run against Kerry, if we start grooming them now.

We need to start now so we no longer have to settle for electing the one who most nearly meets our standards, or the one who can most likely beat the incumbent, and instead elect one who truly represents what we believe in.