The unlimited potential of the tea party ~ By Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah clarifies the distinctions between the Tea Party Movement and the Conservative Movement. I've heard many of the talking heads, either liberals OR conservatives, that don't understand the different elements of the two movements. Hopefully, they will read Farah's piece today, along with us, so that they can get the story straight!

People ask me all the time what the tea party is all about.


I think I can summarize it very succinctly. And, if I'm wrong, may the complaints and corrections of millions of tea partiers descend upon me. The tea party is about the Constitution. It's about the rule of law, not the rule of men. It's about the will of the people, not the will of the Washington elite.

By Joseph Farah

Posted: February 22, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

During the Conservative Political Action Conference here in Washington, I heard one speaker suggest that the conservative movement had much to offer the tea-party movement.

I respectfully disagree.

The speaker explained how the conservative movement has been around Washington for so long and learned so much that could be passed on to the tea partiers.

And that's exactly why I disagree.

The work of the tea-party movement is not in Washington. It's deep down in the grassroots in all 50 states – natural turf (not the Astro version) that has never been permeated or organized effectively by the conservative movement.

In fact, while the conservative movement has generally been a force for good in America for most of its 50 years, it has been largely a top-down effort inspired and led by just a handful of forceful political figures – the two most notable being Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh.

Obviously, it had little real, tangible and lasting impact on the national scene until Ronald Reagan. Upon his retirement from office in 1989, Rush Limbaugh inherited the mantle of leadership as the king of talk radio.

Is there any doubt that without the sheer force of these two personalities that no one would even be talking about conservatism as a "movement" today?

Meanwhile, the tea-party movement sprang up just a year ago – with a handful of disparate leaders few of us can even name. It is truly a grassroots movement. As I have said before, it is the most promising such political movement to arise in my lifetime.

Who birthed this movement?

Barack Obama did – just as I predicted his election would back in 2008.

It's a reaction to Obama's efforts to remake the United States of America in his own image – socialist, utopian, globalist, secular, humanist.

The broad rejection of Obama's policies, and those of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, is the essence of what the tea-party movement is all about.

But there's more to it than defensiveness and rejection. At its core, the tea party is a recommitment by tens of millions of Americans to the Constitution of the United States and the vision of the founders.

While elements of the conservative movement have emphasized the Constitution, the rule of law and the will of the people, conservatives have traditionally lacked the fiery commitment to that document that I see among tea partiers.

And this is another reason why the tea-party movement has so much more potential for growth and sustainability than does the more conservative movement.

The basis of the tea-party movement is anger that Washington, including both Democrat and Republican politicians, has allowed the Constitution to be shredded. It has seldom been invoked to limit the authority and reach of Washington into the loves of American citizens and the 50 states.

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