The Tea Party Message is Pretty Simple

I've been seeing a lot of news stories lately about disagreements among the different Tea Party groups and other grass roots movements and what they're really all about. What are their key issues?, Are they an actual party that nominates candidates?; things like that. I think that it's important that anyone who has any involvement or interest keep a couple of things in mind. First, it's working; the voices of grass roots America are having an impact. Recently, some of the old guard Republican leaders like former Senator Trent Lott have been talking about the need to control or co-opt Tea Party candidates. Today, Foxnews.com had a story about the Democrats "planting" candidates to try and infiltrate the movement. These are clear signs that both parties know Americans are sick and tired of their acts and we're not going to tolerate it anymore. It's critical that we don't allow frustration or setbacks to slow our efforts. We didn't get to where we are overnight; it's going to be a long battle getting back. The second, and most important thing, we must remember is that our goal, I believe, is very simple. We were born with unalienable rights, granted by God. Our most basic rights are not granted to us by men or governments, nor can they be justly taken away. The founding fathers established the federal government to protect those rights from being infringed upon by other Americans or foreign nations. They wrote the constitution to protect those rights from being infringed upon by the government. The three branches were to act as checks and balances, to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful. A great deal of power was left to the states as another check on the federal government. The founders knew that all men are human and susceptible to the corruption of power. James Madison wrote: "All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." Benjamin Franklin once said: "Distrust and caution are the parents of security." These guys knew that even the best of men might go astray. Therefore we needed systems in place to prevent abuses of power. All of the problems we face today are a result of our allowing elected leaders and activist judges to violate the constitution. Electing the wrong person president wouldn't be nearly as harmful if they were bound to govern by the constitution. Whether your pet peeve is deficit spending, national health care, or taxes; all of these things would take care of themselves if we followed the intentions of the founders. It's really a simple foundation. God given rights can't be taken away by men and government must be from the people, not to the the people.