What the T.E.A. Party wants

Being a late-comer to the movement, I have had a chance to do some outside research before putting my name on the line. As a little background I have never belonged to a political party, I was raised in a Democratic home, but have usually voted for the Republicans because I believe in small government. Okay ..... I admit the Republicans have failed me on this also, I am, and have never been, a fan of big government. My first presidential race was back in 1980, and I went to a primary rally in La Crosse, and got to see Bush and Reagan in person give speeches. I was so excited to vote, and I have missed very few chances in my lifetime. That being said, I am not new to politics, it is something I have actively followed for 30+ years, so I am no novice to the whole scene.

I heard about the T.E.A. party through the news and my fiancee, and decided that I liked their stand on the issues. The T.E.A. party platform is simple: control spending, downsize bureaucracy, return power to the people. I have met people who run the gamut in the social issues from true blue conservatives to left leaning liberals. But it has never been about the social issues, even though the mainstream media would like to pigeon-hole us as bigoted, homophobic, women-hating, greedy bastards. So when we threw our lots in with the Republicans during the election it came as no surprise to the media.

However, it did come as a shock to the Republicans. The insiders still don't know what we are about. They keep scratching their heads trying to figure out what we want. Well I am here to tell you what we want.

1. We want a return to upholding the Constitution. No individual mandates, no gun-control, TSA pat-downs, no wire-tapping, no Net Neutrality; we want the 1st Amendment, the 2nd Amendment, the 4th Amendment, the 5th Amendment, the 7th Amendment, the 9th Amendment and the 10th Amendment.

2. We want less bureaucracy. Close the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Housing and Urban Development, and downsize and combine the others. There is no reason for a Dept of Veterans and a Dept of Defense (they belong together), and fire ALL the czars. Put the power back into the Congress where it was supposed to be. Only when an elected official wields it can it be controlled by the populace. All these bureaucrats are unaccountable to the people, and that is unacceptable.

3. Cut spending! We are spending at a level we cannot continue, aid to foreign countries needs to stop, no more cowboy poetry grants (the NEA needs to stand on its own feet), no more funding of Planned Parenthood, no more government ownership of companies (i.e. GM), no more Solyndras, no more bailouts, no more stimulus.

That is the platform.

So what do the Republicans not understand? Why do they continue to insist that Mitt Romney is the only candidate that can beat Obama, when the mood of the country is "anyone but Obama"? We in the T.E.A. party are telling you, "Not Romney!" We might as well have 4-more years of Obama if we vote for Mitt Romney. Their policies are no different from each other. Mitt Romney is "Obama lite": all the policies without the bitter after taste. When we put forth Herman Cain, we were sending you a message, but you didn't listen. The T.E.A. party doesn't have a problem with racism, we just want a fiscally conservative version.

The sleeping giant has been awakened, and we will not go silently into that good night, even though the "establishment" Republicans would like it to happen. As a proud Independent, you should be courting me and others like me, instead you are handing us a squishy, wishy-washy, moderate Republicans version of Obama.

It is very simple, the T.E.A. party wants a fiscally conservative, Constitutionalist. Plain and simple.