Reasons like this are why Mark Tapscott is worth always reading.

Being nonpartisan, the Tea Party movement must identify and encourage like-minded candidates in both major parties. That means a Tea Party Movement Seal of Approval, or a Tea Party Pledge, to point voters of all stripes to the new blood needed to replace the current calcified cast of establishment insiders running Congress.

Most Americans are fed up with business-as-usual in Washington and they want real change, not more of the Democrats’ power-grabbing slogans, or the “Me-Too” timidity of Republicans who talk the reform talk, but love the perks of power too much to actually walk it.

Yes, getting a loosely organized grass-roots movement like the Tea Party Coalition to agree on a set of fundamental principles is tough, and I don’t claim to know how to do it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Tea parties do little good if all the people do is protest. They must at some point put down the protest signs and pick up campaign signs. A “buycott” of Whole Foods may make you feel involved, but you aren’t really involved until you’re making politicians permanently scared of you.

The best way to do that is sign up for your local political party, encourage and support like minded candidates, and throw the kleptocrats out of office.

TCOT Report. Remember when I mentioned that this would be a great time to find a clearinghouse for the national Tea Parties? Well, even if that site doesn’t end up being that it’ll still probably link to whatever does become that clearinghouse.  It’s certainly gearing up to play with the shiny new online toys that we get to have now.

Via Mark Tapscott (H/T: Instapundit), who made at least one suggestion that I endorse:

* Where are House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele? They should be challenged to get involved because the Tea Party Protests represents their greatest leverage against the Obama policy onslaught.

Actually, I endorse all three suggestions, but you should read the whole thing.

Moe Lane

Crossposted at Moe Lane.

He was merely first in the queue:

Despite the fact that Geithner sailed through the confirmation process—while Daschle went up in flames—Geithner’s tax troubles were actually far more egregious. People tend to give Geithner a pass, because the overall amount he owed was smaller and it just involved Social Security and Medicare, rather than income tax. But Geithner actually acknowledged years ago that he owed the taxes—but didn’t pay them until he was nominated for the Treasury job. That hardly counts as a mistake.

Daschle, for his part, failed to count as income the value of a car and driver he received from a New York private-equity firm, InterMedia Advisors, during 2005-2007. He also overstated charitable contributions and understated income from InterMedia, which paid him $1 million a year. Daschle filed amended tax returns last month reporting $128,203 in additional taxes and $11,964 in interest. The revised tax returns were submitted after President Obama announced that he intended to nominate Daschle to be secretary of Health and Human Services.

Geithner’s situation was nonetheless a bigger ethical lapse. As an employee of the International Monetary Fund in 2001 and later years, Geithner was responsible for sending a check to the IRS to cover his own payroll taxes. He didn’t do so. What he did do was submit a request to the IMF for reimbursement of those taxes. And he collected.

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