A World Full Of Maladies

An injured child instinctively seeks the nurturing hand of his mother. The mother knows that in order to help, she must first identify the source of the problem. If the child is bleeding, she tends to the wound. If she proves unsuccessful, she seeks the advice and expertise of a doctor. This course of action is innate to the mother and requires no forethought to implement.

When a nation suffers an injury, the people instinctively know that in order to effect a recovery, they must first identify the source of the problem. Hence, the beginning and rapid development of the American Tea Party movement. At the core of this movement is a maternal instinct to protect the integrity of the Constitution. The Tea Party movement was founded upon a collective realization that something was gravely amiss in Washington; that the national debt, now at $13 trillion, was dangerous and unsustainable. By endlessly increasing our nation’s debt through massive entitlement spending, President Obama has managed to compromise the future prosperity of America. Thomas Paine once poignantly wrote that “even brutes do not eat their young”, yet the White House policies, now in play, will effectively result in the same. Ceaseless government spending, private sector invasion and dangerous consolidations of federal power will inevitably result in diminished freedoms and mounting burdens for many generations to come.

The defining goal of the Tea Party movement is to reclaim the autonomy of the people. Liberty, as a principle, we have ceased to revere and the Tea Party aims to reverse that. Its objectives of limited government and individual rights are best expressed by, though not exclusive to, the modern Republican Party. Emerging leaders such as Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee have developed a loose knit coalition of conservative thinkers within the Republican ranks. They seek to promote such policies as tax cuts, free trade and entitlement reformation, all of which share one common goal – that of reducing our dependence on government. These are the policies that must be implemented if we want our nation to heal; they can all be achieved with relative ease by a conservative majority in Congress. Permanent tax cuts however, and the repeal of Obama-Care will likely require more time. Because taxpayer funded entitlement programs are at the core of the President’s policies, Mr. Obama would likely veto any measure that threatens their continuity. Thus, the necessity for Tea Party activism in effecting a cure to our malady. At this juncture, the movement has served to awaken the people as to the source of our nation’s injury. Its continued vigilance is now required to eliminate the catalysts of the wound.

America is currently bleeding. Its Constitution is under attack. Its Congress is complicit in committing this crime and it is now up to the people to strike back. The Tea Party has indentified the problem. A new Congress can tend to the wound. However, complete rehabilitation is unlikely before the elections of 2012. The policies of the Obama Administration have only served to make a bad economy worse. A drastic cut in the size and the scope of our federal government is our only path to redemption. What America presently needs is a veritable conservative in office; a leader who will practice fiscal constraint and stay true to free market principles. This course of action is innate to conservatism and requires no forethought to implement. The injuries our nation has suffered thus far, can only be blamed on the reckless spending and the arbitrary laws that are the symptoms of big government.

Jeremy Pitcoff

Smithtown Republican Committeeman