When Sarah , Leslie and I  held the first tea party in San Diego, California on February 27, 2009 I had no way to know all the things I would learn about politics from that day on to the present day. People from all political philosophies and every demographic took part on that day to tell Washington DC enough is enough. The straw that broke the camels back for us was the $780 billion dollars, which we now know is more like $862 billion dollars, Stimulus Bill that passed at the beginning of the year in 2009. We were outraged and frustrated with a government machine that was out of control. As a long time Republican I was even more outraged by the lack of fiscal conservatism I saw from all places in government and by a myriad of Republican elected officials. What I never saw coming was that I was to become far more open minded politically than I was in the beginning. I would have never considered voting outside Party lines before the tea party but now not only do I consider it I just re-registered to vote as a non-partisan voter.

I have realized that we were nine months into the tea party rallies and activities and not only did I not know the political parties people who attended rallies belong to, but they didn’t know mine. I suddenly realized that this no longer mattered, that what truly mattered were the principles and values that built this Nation into the best country in the world.  All the events and everything we do in our tea party groups, locally and nationally is non-partisan, as it should be. Over the past 2 ½ years I have come to recognize the good representatives from the not so good. A few of those really good, fiscally conservative elected are actually Democrats, Blue Dog Democrats. Although this is a dying breed in Washington it still exists and Jason Altmire is a good example of a man who weighs the consequences fiscally before voting. Frankly, I like that.When we first started this movement I was looking for any reason to still believe in the political Party I had joined many, many years before, the Republican Party. I wanted so much to believe that if we got “good” Republicans elected we could really change things in American and get back to our conservative roots. I honestly believed that the Republican Party in my city would embrace the tea party as the cavalry come to the rescue. What I actually lived was a Party that keeps going further into its addiction of spending and the everlasting grab for power. If there was ever a doubt, the lateral move of John Boehner becoming Speaker of the House has further shown us all that spending and un-kept promises cuts both ways through both parties. I have seen tea parties battling the Republican Party to remain autonomous from San Diego to Cincinnati. I have seen those that espouse true conservatism publicly while, privately plot against a citizenry that comes to lend a hand.

Actually registering to be a non-partisan voter was very liberating. I asked myself if this were a company I worked at and I saw the kinds of back room deals and blatant disregard for the workers voices to be heard would I stay. I said “probably not”. If this were a club I belonged to and I saw the intolerance for the other club members and even incidents of sabotage of those members would I stay a member of that club? Again,“No way”. So why do I stay a member of a political party that is in fact doing these things to its members? Well, I then had my answer, “I am not!”. I believe if we can get people to see that it truly is “Principle over Party” than we could have great debate about the issues we agree on such as fiscal stability. If we look for good, competent people who think outside the lines of weighed down political power and extremism we could actually build an even more solid form of government for the people, by the people. We have been brain washed to believe that those in government somehow know better than us and can therefore they can spend our money more efficiently. This simply is not true and as soon as they gain the position and they are then “taught” by the ruling elite on how they should use their office as per the powers that be. So we keep creating the same thing over and over again….they go along to get along. And then we are surprised nothing has changed.

If we really want politics and government to change than we have to change our perception of what it means to elect a person. We have to change our expectations of those that get elected. We need to start at the beginning. If the Founders had debated about which Party had the best to offer to build the foundation of this country they would still be debating that one subject. Instead they had the best people that represented many perspectives discussing the formation of this government, because not only did political parties not exist in that day but most of our Founding Fathers did not approve of their existence as George Washington once said, ( in his farewell speech 1796) ” The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government.”“All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.”

“However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

So I believe if we get back to that original intent of governing ourselves for ourselves and not become hampered done by false allegiances to political parties but only to be aligned with our common principles and values then we will truly see the Nation that was began so many years ago. Which is why for me learning this particular lesson was an important one. My only loyalty lie in the best possible way to serve my country whether it be as a voter who looks beyond party politics and votes on principle or as tea party leader trying to educate my fellow citizens on the importance of self government.

Either way I now understand the philosophy of those brave men who experimented with a whole new form of government. And for me this has been a profound lesson.