Sometimes You Have to Stop and Say "Humm"

For as long as I’ve been involved with the Tea Party Movement, I have made it a personal mission to ensure that non-Tea Party people understand who we are and what we are fighting for. It is not that I expect that everyone is going to agree with us on all issues; to pick up their hand-painted signs and stand along side me at the next rally or even attend a Tea Party meeting. This is America and you will never find a group of people who agree with 100% of the issues 100% of the time – even within a Tea Party organization.

For years now, I’ve come across so many different people. Some are interested in learning about us and will listen intently to what I have to say. While they may walk away still disagreeing with me, they at least understand that our values are true and our goals are honorable. Others – well not so much. The good Lord himself could be standing in front of them telling them all those things and they would still walk away denying the truth. That’s okay. This is America and that is their right.

Occasionally, something that begins negatively can take a sudden turn and it simply happens in the blink of an eye and when it does, you have to stop and say “humm”.

Last evening, while attending a public meeting, I sat across the isle from a gentleman who I had seen at public meetings before. He is always well dress and speaks quite eloquently. He had approached me at one of these types of meetings a few months ago and told me that he felt sorry for people like us because we always seem to only see the bad side of things. Of course, I assured him that was not the case. He seemed sincere and although I disagreed with his point of view I thanked him for his observation just the same.

From what he said during last night’s meeting, I had the feeling that this man tries to stay on top of issues. He is engaged in his community and has clearly thought through his position. The road funding issue being discussed that evening was no different. He spoke of being in full support of maintaining the rural roads (although he lives on a paved road himself) and even questioned the Quorum Court’s insistence that a ¼ cent jail tax collected for the purpose of operating the jail should be allowed to accumulate rather than pay to operate the jail – the same position as our local Tea Party’s.

After the meeting I approached this man to thank him for his comments. He smiled courteously and shook my hand. He said that while he is not a Tea Partier and does not agree with many of our positions, it was nice to see the Tea Party being “for” something rather than against something. There it was: the “humm” moment.

All the way home and throughout the night and today I was thinking about that very brief conversation. Maybe this gentleman has a point. We always seem to be perceived as “against” something when the truth is we are always for something. For example, Liberals as well as the local media accused us of being against a local ordinance allowing our neighbors who live in the floodplain to get cheap, taxpayer subsidized flood insurance through the government. Of course, such insurance came with mountains of new restrictions and bureaucracy upon the property owners of Boone County dictated by the federal government. However, the truth was that we were “for” private property rights, personal responsibility and individual liberties, and freedom from unnecessary and excessive federal restrictions on Boone County property owners. Our follow-up cause was a proposed sales tax increase within our county. Of course, we did not support the tax but the media and our detractors portrayed it as being against road improvements and new fire equipment. The reality was that we were “for” allowing hard-working people to keep what little money they have to support their families. Nationally, the Tea Party Movement was portrayed as unreasonable because we were against raising the debt ceiling but the truth is that we were “for” paying down our nation’s debt so that our children and grandchildren would not be burdened with the repercussions of our government’s irresponsible spending.

Okay… so get to the point Penny!

The point is that just maybe we need to look at how we are framing our messages. We know who we are and what we stand for. We are positive people. We have to be! If we were all doom and gloom then why would we be working so hard get where we are trying to go?

We are now in a very important year for our nation and it is a brand new year at that. Let’s take a few minutes to reflect where we’ve been and how we can help to progress our cause even further. I would suggest that one way we can precede would be to always be “for” something rather than against it. When the media tries to take our lemonade and turn it into vinegar we correct them through letters to the editor; op-eds, news conferences, [blogs], etc. We don’t have to allow the media to have the final word – not in today’s technological world.

Thanks for allowing me to share my most recent “humm” moment with you. I hope that I have helped to create a “humm” moment “for” you as well.