When Profit Trumps Patriotism

“TEA PARTY” CONVENTION LOSES ENDORSEMENTS, SPEAKERS

By JB Williams, © 2010

(Jan. 30, 2010) — The first major effort to bring Tea Party, 912 and town hall folks together at a convention in Nashville, TN has devolved into a messy situation which threatens the image of the patriot movement overall.

Talking Points Memo reports –  “It looks like Sarah Palin may be left holding the bag at a Tea Party event that almost no one else in the movement wants anything to do with.” – “the convention’s two other Republican speakers, Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee backed out in quick succession, with Blackburn declaring: “It’s a ‘We the people’ event and I think sometimes it’s become about ‘I the organizer,’ for the organizer.”

American Liberty Alliance and National Precinct Alliance had also withdrawn earlier, citing concerns over financial arrangements for the confab and questioning whether it represents the true grassroots spirit of the Tea Party movement. Tea Party Express, a group reportedly created by a GOP consulting firm, also pulled out of the event yesterday, stating that they had no concerns with the quality of the event.

The event organizer, Nashville Attorney Judson Phillips, has repeatedly defended his decision to form a privately held for-profit corporation instead of a non-profit organization to host the event. Fox News has been supportive of Phillips’ attempt to profit on the volunteer patriotism of others, but most media outlets have been critical.

Few have written more than I on the very real need for American patriots to unite and work together in common for the greater good of freedom and liberty. The need for Tea Party, 912 and Town Hall groups to unite and work in the common interest of freedom shouldn’t even be up for debate.

For the most part, the patriots on the ground across the country get it and they are not the problem. Most patriots recognize the need to unite, the need for coordinated efforts and the need for honest leadership in the movement.  But as I have written before, uniting the political right is akin to herding cats. They are not followers by nature. The political right is full of leaders and they all want to lead. No leader or too many leaders means no leadership and a scattered and factionalized chaos, often working at odds. The wrong leader or leaders means that everyone in the movement suffers.

In this regard, there are two very important mistakes that will cause conflict within the patriot movement immediately…

1.  Any attempt to profit on the volunteer work of other patriots
2.  Any appearance of an RNC effort to control the people’s movement.

If either or both of these mistakes exist in an effort to unite the right, a backlash from the real movement on the ground is about to happen. Such is the case with the TPN Convention scheduled for Nashville next month.

Groups such as American Liberty Alliance and National Precinct Alliance were happy to answer the call to come together in Nashville until word of profiteering efforts hit the news racks. Further reports of RNC efforts to gain control of the movement at the convention only fueled doubts about the real motives behind the event.

Raising necessary funds to move the patriot effort forward with strength is one thing. Trying to turn a personal profit in a capitalist venture is quite another. Then there is the “millionaire in the room” problem.

Asking average folks during difficult economic times to cough up $550 each to rub elbows with the GOP’s rich and famous in the name of grassroots patriotism is a problem from the start. But doing so while paying the millionaire in the room $100,000 plus to come rub elbows with the common folk makes matters even worse.

On the left, we have a plethora of George Soros types willing to dump personal billions into their anti-American agenda.  But on the right, we have to pay the rich and famous to come act patriotic with us for a couple hours? What’s wrong with this picture?

Then to add insult to injury, news that Palin would be campaigning for Tea Party arch-nemesis John McCain may have been the final straw that broke the patriots’ back. Meanwhile, the entire mess is tossing Tea Party softballs to the left-wing press, which they are more than happy to hit out of the park.

One can only sum up the situation as a necessary shake-out of those who are in the movement for the wrong motives from those on the ground seeking real patriotic change in all the right ways for all the right reasons.

As the media focuses upon the infighting and the factional turf war, the real story of the very real patriot grassroots movement goes largely unreported.

The movement is not about Sarah Palin, Judson Phillips, or any of the faction leaders more focused on growing their organizations than uniting the patriots with common goals. It’s about millions of average Americans fed up with elitists on both sides of the political aisle and sometimes found at the helm of so-called Tea Party or 912 groups.

When the press stops focusing on the faction leaders and begins to focus on the real movement on the ground, they will get the story right, and the people engaged in taking their country back on the ground will get proper credit.

At the end of the day, the patriot movement means something different to different individuals facing different challenges in different parts of the country. But one thing they all share in common is their love for and desire to defend freedom and liberty. That’s the basis upon which they can all be united!

Last, birds of a feather flocking together to rally the troops is a good thing. But at the end of the day, all roads lead to local precinct involvement if we really want a say in the future of this nation. That’s where the power is… not at a convention hall. There is strength in numbers, at the precinct level!