Reflections on Teas and Trees

Yesterday I spent the day in Brimfield helping plant some more trees as part of our "Operation Tree Party". Okay, so I didn't get dirty like I did in Southbridge but then they also serve who only pass out sandwiches.

Everything in life is a learning experience and this was no exception. As I wrote after last weeks event in Southbridge, some things certainly transcend politics. As happened last week, everyone came together and worked for a true "Common Good", the kind we hear in the Bible, not the kind we hear from the mouths of Socialists.

When we in the Sturbridge Tea Party began this mission, soon after the June 1st tornado, we looked at it as a way to get the tea party name out there by giving something back to the community, in this case three of them. We looked at it as a chance to work with people from all sides of the political spectrum and who knows maybe make some converts to our principles. 

We soon learned there were many in the tea party movement, including in our own group, who didn't feel the same was as we did. But we moved forward and the event was a success. After yesterday's plantings, in which we even made the NECN news, sort of, there were many who came to Mike and I to express their thanks for getting the ball rolling on this project. Without Mike making many phone calls and following up on many of the details, being the go-between, several officials said it wouldn't have gone as smoothly without his help. 

To say I am disappointed by the lack of tea party support would be somewhat of an understatement, as it has always been my contention that the key to the tea party success begins at the local level. We must work from the bottom up, trickle-up politics if you will, in order to change the culture of spending and corruption there is at the top level of government. To do this we need to foster support, to change the image of the tea party, which, although false and a result of a well organized effort by our detractors, at the local level. What better way than planting trees to accomplish something like this? 

No instead of working together where we can do the most good we argue over whether the tea party movement should focus on social or fiscal issues. We talk about which national candidates we should support while ignoring the issues at the local level which affect us every day and the local candidates who can make the most immediate changes in our lives. 

We used the slogan "Replanting our roots" and our logo was a Liberty Tree and as we saw yesterday and last week, we planted trees and helped, if only for a few hours to bring people together. What a wasted opportunity for the tea party movement.