The silver lining
"We're in trouble in America," he told a packed room this week at the inaugural National Tea Party convention in Nashville. "We're losing our moral bearings. We are losing our respect for the rule of law."
He went on to add, "You look around America today, and things are bad -- and they're getting worse. We're broke. We're dispirited. We're scared." Strong words stemming from strong convictions, words which epitomized the sentiments of the home-grown assembly for a ground-up call to action.
Thus WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah began as he shared his long-term strategy for reclaiming the nation. With respect, who in all seriousness can contend otherwise? Americans have now lived through nearly 20 years of reckless government spending, gross government expansion, diminution of freedom, and declining morality.
During this time, and from the top down, we as a nation have striven to supplant the Creator with the idol of Big Government. State sovereignty is now routinely ignored by the federal monolith. Our American concepts of virtue, morality, and the rule of constitutional law have been distorted and twisted to a point where they are nearly unrecognizable. We are wallowing in a collectivist economic, moral, and spiritual meltdown.
And yet beneath it all, undercurrents of dissent awakened.
A glimmering
Last spring, in cities, towns, and villages, disorganized and disillusioned groups of Americans -- most never before involved in politics -- began protesting the uncontrolled and frivolous trillion-dollar spending schemes, growing government arrogance, nationalization of industries, Wall Street bailouts, the national debt, and Obamacare.
These small but vocal groups began coordinating their efforts across the country and a coalition began to form. State-controlled Media (SCM) finally noticed. They began labeling the movement as extremist simply because of its demands for accountability and to be heard during Obamacare town hall meetings hosted by members of the Democrat Congress.
As the movement developed national inertia, SCM stepped up its attacks at the urging of its master, the Democrat Party. They were joined by establishment, blue-blood Republicans who saw the grass-roots movement as a threat to their political status quo. Anyone exposed to MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, David Frum, The New York Times, or Washington Post is now familiar with every vile epithet, slanderous charge, and feculent misrepresentation.
First rays
But something wonderful and decidedly American occurred along the way. Rather than sheepishly believing the hype and hyperbole of SCM and their intellectual and political overlords, the American people started paying attention. They did not like what they saw. They saw that those responsible for our decline have little in common with nor any respect for American ideals, American heritage, or the Constitution of the United States of America.
But what to do? The answer was ridiculously simple: Become active in local political campaigns and then vote. They did just that:
A much-publicized election in rural Upstate New York sent a strong message to the elites of the Republican Party that Americans are tired of liberal Republicans who don't live up to party principles.
The Democrat Party reveled in a razor-thin socialist victory that should have been a blowout. They did not foresee what was coming.
Much-publicized statewide elections in Virginia and New Jersey produced resounding victories for the conservative candidates over their Obama-supported opponents.
The Democrat Party marginally reveled in the fact that it was only natural to have a minor backlash or two during hard times, and that the election muggings meant little. They did not foresee what was coming.
By now, you all know about the Massachusetts Miracle -- conservative Scott Brown's thrashing of his leftist opponent for senator in the bluest-of-blue Bay State.
The Democrat Party pretended to revel in the fact that the Massachusetts voters were actually agreeing with Obama and the Democrat Congress by overwhelmingly electing Senator Brown, or some other such nonsense to that effect.
They still do not foresee what is coming.
Parting clouds
There is no greater example of Tea Party power or prime indicator for what is to come in November 2010 than what is unfolding in Florida. Sitting Governor Charlie Crist -- once hugely popular, a fund-raising dynamo, and beloved by Republican Party bosses -- is in serious trouble.
Just a few months ago Crist was polling 40 points ahead of his nearest challenger for a senate seat and was considered a lock for election. He is now trailing by five points to conservative candidate Marco Rubio -- and that gap is growing. Crist's crime? Embracing Obama's wealth redistribution scheme and actively campaigning for its acceptance in Florida.
The American people are sending a message that SCM and the political classes still don't understand. The days of tolerating feckless, fraudulent Republicans are over. The days of socialist Democrats desecrating the Republic are coming to an end. A reckoning is near for those who love their wealth and power more than the nation, liberty, and freedom.
The similarity between what took place during the time of our Founding Fathers and what is taking place now is very apparent to any who have not been duped by carefully-crafted rhetoric, slick SCM propaganda, or Obama's ruthless application of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. Thus, words from our own Declaration of Independence are more appropriate today than ever before:
"A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
For those of you who doubt, be of good cheer. For those of you who falter, stay focused and active. America is awakening and November is going to be a very sunny month.
Hype and Chains.