The Great “R” Problem
Contributed by Ed:
The R platform is 100% Tea worthy. The great R problem is its lack of platform fidelity on the part of too many of its electeds. The same fundamental problem we face nationally, the desire of the elites to harness everyone else and press them into their service, is mirrored in the R party rift between the grass roots and the leadership.
The only remedy for this situation is political activism by the grass roots, which largely are Tea leaves. The great difficulty over the past decades lies in the fact that Ds love politics but R roots loathe it. R roots want to take care of their businesses and their families, and to hell with politics. But today they have seen where that attitude takes them and have risen up in anger. But anger is usually transient. So the great challenge for Tea leaders is to culitivate that anger into a permanent form. That means cultivating a taste for politics. The Tea leadership is doing a fine job of this so far, and must continue, to the end that the Tea leaves become the permanent rider of the R horse.
John Adams wrote to Abigail in 1780 that “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
I appreciate his sentiment, but he was mistaken. Porcelain requires liberty, liberty requires self-government, and self-government requires politics. That’s what Franklin warned us about in his quip “…if you can keep it.”