Thousands of patriots are concerned about the loss of their constitutional rights.\u00a0 They populate the Tea Party Rallies with religious fervor.\u00a0 Many of them call for the formation of a third party that reflects their views.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Amazingly, just such a party already exists.\u00a0 It’s called the Constitution Party.\u00a0 It was conceived by the amazing Howard Phillips, now of late, who himself ran for president in 1992 and again in 1996 as a way of creating the infrastructure and beginning the national organization so essential to a third party.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
“The day is coming,” he would say, “when the conservatives and the patriots are going to wake up and realize that the Republican Party has been using them and ignoring their principles for decades.\u00a0 When that happens, we need to have a party ready to accept them, because I’m telling you, it is going to be big.”<\/p>\n
Today he might have said, “The Conservative Spring is coming.\u00a0 Let us be ready.”\u00a0 Phillips gave unstintingly of his time and energy to create a party that would stand without compromise for the working American who bears the brunt of the tax burden and the welfare state.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
His first tactical error was the first name it had \u2013 the Taxpayers Party.\u00a0 It was too clever by half.\u00a0 Nobody liked it.\u00a0 If you took the time to explain to a voter, “One third of Americans are on Welfare.\u00a0 One third are working for government at some level.\u00a0 We need a party to represent the taxpayer, who is paying for the other two thirds.”\u00a0 But when you did, a light would go on in their head and they would “get it”.\u00a0 Eventually they chose a name that made more sense \u2013 the Constitution Party.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Two problems appear to be keeping disgruntled conservative Republicans from bolting to the party designed for them.\u00a0 First, the CP has no clue how to market itself.\u00a0 They are, like their Tea Party compatriots, just average Americans, rather than millionaires with a staff of professional marketing gurus who can create demand where none exists.\u00a0 They really are the party of the working American, more than any other in the past hundred years.\u00a0 And that’s clearly not enough.<\/p>\n
The second problem is that Karl Rove and his minions are past experts at taking political dissent and absorbing it into the party without losing the voters.\u00a0 They would make Machiavelli proud the way they subvert every movement of every stripe and amalgamate them, preaching the same mantra to each group, that, “We have to vote for the lesser of two evils, or those mean old Democrats will appoint the next Supreme Court justices, and you DON’T want that, now do you?”\u00a0 Using this tactic over and over, the neocons, (whose only abiding principle has to do with winning elections, at any cost), have preempted and largely absorbed the Tea Parties around the country.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In the beginning, the Tea Parties sprang up spontaneously.\u00a0 There was no one leader \u2013 there were hundreds of leaders, and it was truly a grassroots movement.\u00a0 That movement has lost steam as it has been swallowed whole by the GOP, giving them some energy in the process.\u00a0 Like riding a bucking horse, they have finally brought it to be reined in.<\/p>\n
As one would expect, the Tea Parties have managed to buck off a few riders, and have put a few of their own into office.\u00a0 Ted Cruz may be the most conspicuous, along with Rand Paul, neither of whom won with Republican Party support until it was clear that they had no choice.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 That’s likely to happen less and less.\u00a0 <\/p>\n But the political masters have sensed a change in the wind.\u00a0 You can’t spurn these “nuts” or you will lose them.\u00a0 “Moderate” candidates and neocons are showing up at the Tea Party rallies and bragging about their conservatism, when the fact is that they have NO CLUE about that document they are going to swear to protect and defend if they are elected.\u00a0 It remains about winning, not constitutional principles.\u00a0 That, indeed, is the history of the Republican Party.\u00a0 <\/p>\n As long as the Tea Parties are co-opted by the Republican Party, they can expect to become a footnote in the political history of the nation.\u00a0 But if they ever figure out how to break those bands (“which have connected them with another”) and either create a real party based upon principles, they just might salvage some of the freedoms lost under the past century of Democrat and Republican versions of socialism.\u00a0 <\/p>\n If that’s going to happen, they are going to have to start endorsing some candidates who don’t have the “R” beside their name on the ballot.\u00a0 They may be Independents, or Libertarians or Constitution Party candidates, but somehow the Tea Parties need to declare their independence and then prove it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Endnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1<\/a> Cruz and Paul make an interesting study in contrasts.\u00a0 They are very, very different, which is good evidence that the movement was spontaneous, rather than crafted by some single group.\u00a0 Real grassroots politics is messy that way.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Daniel New called the first meeting of the Constitution Party of Texas in 1996, (www.CPTexas.us<\/a>), following his unsuccessful bid for Congress.\u00a0 He is also the founder of the Independent Conservative Voters (www.ICVUSA.com<\/a>)\u00a0 He is the father of former Army Specialist Michael New, who refused to obey an unlawful order to wear a United Nations uniform and was court-martialed for his principled stand\u00a0 (www.MikeNew.com<\/a>).\u00a0 He has also been successful in promoting “UN-free Zones” in some communities around the country (www.UN-freeZone.org<\/a>).\u00a0 He can be contacted at ddnew@danielnew.com<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Click here for more information on the Constitution Party<\/a><\/p>\n