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The Future of the Tea Party Movement is Here

By: nathanbenefield (Diary)  |  April 15th, 2010 at 10:29 AM  | 

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I fully echo Eric’s thoughts about the tea party activists (I prefer the term Liberty Movement) moving beyond protest to political activism.   That is why (shameless plug) the Commonwealth Foundation is helping to promote the American Majority Post-Party Summit in Pittsburgh and is the motivation behind our “Ten Minute Citizen” project, to help encourage concerned citizens to become activist, and giving them some tools to do.

There is however, one aspect I think Eric fails to note, which does a disservice to the movement – there are a large number of local groups already taking these steps.  These organizations are holding forums to discuss issues (indeed many groups have committees studying legislation and policy areas).  They are working to train members to be citizen-activists.  They are vetting candidates for office – many are holding candidate forums, some groups may make endorsements, others will stick to educating their members about the positions of candidates.  And these groups are looking to get involved in the election process, even recruiting new people to run for party committee positions.

Here in Pennsylvania, there are a number of groups deeply engaged in activism.  Some of the more prominent groups I have had the pleasure of meeting with include PA Coalition for Responsible Government, Unite PA, Delaware County Patriots, Coalition for Advancing Freedom, Original Project 9-12/Tea Party of the Lehigh Valley, as well as a number of 9-12 groups and Campaign for Liberty chapters.

And while Eric, Ned Ryun, and others are correct when they point out that protest is not enough, protest still serves an important function – recruitment.  At a rally in York, PA this past weekend, one speaker asked the nearly 1,000 attendees who was at a political rally for the first time – nearly two-thirds raised their hands.

This is emblematic of the entire movement – it is growing, and many citizens are still looking for ways to get involved.  The organizations mentioned, and countless other across the nation, that are already embracing “Tea Party 2.0″  provide such opportunity, and deserve recognition for what they are doing.

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  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    Bravo! Helping conservatives who want to REALLY “do something” to become precinct committeeman in the Republican Party is the KEY tactic for reaching the goal of getting constitutional conservatives elected in sufficient numbers to CHANGE the makeup of our legislatures (state and federal) so we can stop, and then roll back, the legislation that is being passed to foist socialism onto the backs of the productive citizens of this country. The Party is there for the taking, because after the 2008 elections, only HALF of these slots were filled, and they were spit nationally about 50-50 between conservatives and “Republicans in Name Only.”

    That 50-50 split would go to solidly conservative, by a 75/25 ratio, IF conservatives from the Tea Party movement would, en masse, INVADE their local GOP committee meetings to become voting members of the Party — precinct committeemen. They’d have just as much fun indoors at those meetings as they would outdoors at a mass rally, with the added benefit that they’d actually be IMPROVING the Republican Party by turning it into a conservative POWERHOUSE.

    Every conservative who claims the mantle of “political activist” needs to, if possible, actually become one — that is, actually get into the real ball game of politics — party politics — in the venue where it’s played — at their respective local GOP committee monthly meeting.

    Tea Party 2.0 “partying” needs to be indoors in conjunction with a political party, the one party in the political toolbox that can defeat the Democrat socialists, the Republican Party. That’s where the Tea Partiers should now be UNITING — indoors at the thousands and thousand of local GOP committee meetings, where Republican candidates are vetted, where they can learn how to become precinct committeemen and otherwise volunteer and where, if they become precinct committeemen, they can actually VOTE FOR THE PARTY LEADERSHIP in the upcoming leadership elections at the local level, the county level, and even the state and RNC levels if they are elected to be state and RNC committee delegates.

    See my blog below if you’d like more information. There’s even a video.

    Thank you.
    ColdWarrior
    Conservatives, UNITE! Become Republican precinct committeemen and CHANGE the Party and the world. NOW!

  • http://www.laborunionreport.comandhttp://www.laborunionreport.blogspot.com LaborUnionReport

    “At a rally in York, PA this past weekend, one speaker asked the nearly 1,000 attendees who was at a political rally for the first time – nearly two-thirds raised their hands.”

    It might have been ColdWarrior (or Neil Stevens) who stated on Erick’s post that he is using the rallies as a tool for recruiting activists.

    That is another reason they should continue.