The Tea Party: Who Are These People?

On Thursday, like thousands--perhaps, millions--of others in America, I attended one of the Tea Party rallies on Tax Day.

If you believe the talking heads of the Mainstream Media, they will tell you that the people who make up the Tea Party crowds are violent, hateful, racist people who want to undermine our country and our way of life.

What a bunch of hogwash!

I met a number of these people at the Tea Party gathering, and they are truly the salt of the earth. They are your parents and grandparents. They are your next-door neighbors. They are the guys that offer to jump your car when your battery goes dead in the grocery store parking lot.

They are you.

They are the people who donate their money, time, and skills to other Americans, when a natural disaster happens somewhere in America. They are the ones who offer to help a stranded motorist on the side of the road. They are the ones who prepare and bring food to your house after you suffer the death of a loved one.

They are you.

The Tea Party people are the people who regularly pay their mortgages. They are the people who consistently pay their bills. Reluctantly but proudly, they pay their taxes. But despite all of the demands on their paychecks, they are the people who toss a few dollars or a check in the offering plate on Sunday.

The Tea Party people are you.

The Tea Party crowd are the people who think their taxes are too high. They are the ones who think government spends too much. They are the ones who are tightening their belts and cutting back on their spending, while porkbelly politicians in Washington are increasing their taxes and enlarging their budgets.

They are the people who attend your church or synagogue. They are your friends. They are the neighbor who offers to cut your grass or shovel or driveway when you are disabled. They are your postman, your secretary, your policemen or firemen, your boss, your meter reader, the guy carrying a lunch pail out the front door at the same time every morning. They are the ones who risk their lives to guard your liberty.

They are you.

The media calls them "bitter and angry." And while these qualities are definitely a part of their makeup; it is not these qualities that define them. The Tea Party people aren't as bitter and angry as they are hurt and confused.

They are hurt to find themselves regularly attacked on the nightly news or by those elite and arrogant, privileged few in Washington. They are confused as to why their contributions to society are not greatly valued by those who supposedly serve them.

The Tea Party people place an equal value on freedom and responsibility. They worship from the Bible. They revere the Constitution. And they wipe away a tear over a handmade card from their children.

They go to bed at night, fearful of the future for their kids and grandchildren. They wake up in the morning, praying that their fears will not come to fruition.

They are impugned and mischaracterized. They are hated and reviled. They are demonized and degraded. They are misunderstood and underappreciated. Yet despite these things, our Republic cannot survive without them.

The Tea Party people are you.