Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Face of the Tea Party and Civil War II

I’ve said to myself, but not here until today, that we are going to have a civil war in this country.

I believe the shot heard ‘round the world came on the Monday after health"care" passed. Americans—including those who innocently trusted and believed that our president’s campaign promise to “fundamentally change America” meant that the “old” way of doing business, hiding things from the people, having lobbyists make policy, spending exhorbitant amounts of money and taxing unfairly and corruption—believed that things were going to change for the better. It was all so carefully packaged in a man who looked like the perfect candidate. The election of this dynamic handsome, married, young father of two who just happened to be black and was voted in not because of the color of his skin but because of his extraordinairy power to use the English language to at one time say exactly what he was going to do but make it look to the average American like it was all so moderate, was brilliantly executed. I did not vote for this president. But my no vote for him had nothing to do with the color of his skin. My no vote came from paying close attention to what he said along with his voting record and, for me, cemented in is relationships, of which there were far too many, to ever make me believe that he was the best choice for our country. I didn’t feel John McCain, was the best choice either. But as usual, when faced with only two choices in recent years, you go with the one that will do less harm to the country.

Before President Obama began systematically dismantling our republic a little more than one year ago, I held my children out of school on election day. I had no idea what was coming. But I accepted that if this is what the American people wanted, let’s give him a shot. And, regardless of disagreeing with his policies, I watched the entire inauguration with my children to show them the only good thing that I could say about the day. I told them, that with the election of this first black president, there will be no way that anyone can ever call America a racist nation. He was overwhelmingly elected by the American people. Of course, I was wrong—not about the legitimacy of his election. I was wrong that racism would end in America.

Americans can argue what taxing unfairly is and we can argue what things NEED to be kept from the public to protect our national security—such as our military strategy, but any American this week, who cannot now see what our president meant to do to our country, is not colorblind, they are just blind.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American hero. If I were alive during his time, I would have joined hands and walked with those who supported him. I would have not eaten in a restaurant that didn’t allow a fellow American to join me in. I wouldn’t’ have taken a segregated bus. I have spent my whole life being respectful to people of all colors, all faiths, all beliefs, even when they differ from mine. However, when they differ from mine, I have asked “why?” Sometimes they can explain. Sometimes, they can’t. And sometimes, they just don’t respond at all. Today, when I ask or challenge anyone, I am called every name in the book. I never could have imagined that half a century later, the very beneficiaries of the civil rights movement would turn their ire towards people who believed in and who supported its original mission. People like me.

I never imagined in our “colorblind” society that it would be my family who would be fighting for the same civil rights Martin Luther King, Jr. championed. And worse, as we were fighting for them, be called the names from all of the groups I sought to uplift, help, support and respect my entire life.

I am a caucasion, blonde haired, blue eyed, married mother of four young boys. Recently, on Facebook, I came across one of my former entertainment industry associates, whom I admired, promoted, championed, praised, adored, respected and revered. He happens to look like me. Actually, he resembles and sounds like Anderson Cooper but without the white hair. I hadn’t seen his posts in quite a while. I gave up responding last year when I, as a brand new Facebook member, dared to get involved in a discussion about the town hall meetings and Joe Lieberman, etc. Within minutes, my comments were drawn and quartered and I was called the same tired names that pass as proper language in every circle but mine.

I folded and just began to take the safe route and talk about my son’s latest pair of shoes or talk about what movie I had just seen. After many months went on and I saw more and more discussions, I began to argue with facts again. Each time, I was usually the only voice of dissention. I was labeled a name caller for using political terms to label policy while their name calling focused on a presumed party, color of my skin, or worse a sexual practice I must engage in for having these views.

As I reflect on this tumultuous time we are living in, I see so clearly now what is going to happen in America. I can’t believe I’m going to say this. I can hear them calling me a white supremacist already—and by “they” I do not mean people of color. I mean they as the radicals of all colors, including mine, who seek to extinguish me, my family and my culture forever.

Because of the color of my skin, what I have to say about what is happening to my country is meritless, I have no civil rights. I have to prove every day that I am NOT a racist, NOT a homophobe, NOT a radical. Look at what the media does to the tea party? They show the overweight men and women with the oversized t-shirts and black socks. They show the handmade signs, with crudely written (and often misspelled) exclamations—which by the way should be used as proof of grass roots to counter Nancy Pelosi’s despicable “astroturf” slur. Most of these patriots, whether they be silly looking, dressed like Paul Revere, have bad hair or be sitting in a fold up chair, holding a constitution, are American patriots. They DO look like me, my mom and dad, But it isn’t the point. It shouldn’t MATTER what color any American’s skin is who seeks to have their voice heard. We are supposed to be living in the afterglow of Martin Luthur King’s dream . We are, in fact, living in a culturally divided nightmare. And it has been brought on by those who protest the loudes—the far left, who wants to “care” for the “meek” as long as the meek don’t say “NO” to the handouts.

It is one year after the historic tea party movement began. This movement continues to grow as more and more Americans see where our country is headed. Our first black president was duly elected by a majority of ALL Americans. The problem is, he wasn’t the RIGHT president for America. Perhaps our next president will be both conservative AND black. I don’t need to wonder how that victory would be celebrated. We all know. He would be labeled another pejorative term by the far left. They’ve called Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and others the same name.

My argument prior to today when someone called the tea party “an all white group” would be to knee jerk defend against it. I have come to realize BECAUSE of what the left has done, that I was indoctrinated into becoming an apologist for the color of my own skin from the time I entered grade school until now. As a true colorblind American, I don’t count how many of each KIND of human beings are outraged at what is happening in our country. I’m just glad they’re outraged.

This disgusting assault on my culture, my race and my American heritage is not what Martin Luthur King wanted. The progressives on facebook today in my friends lists who have comment after comment applauded that literally CALL for me (meaning anyone in the tea party or who is conservative) to be killed, and at the same time talks about how violent I am is evil.

To close this topic today, I want to go on record with a very sincere statement. I watch Glenn Beck almost daily. I wish I had every one of his broadcasts on dvd. They are a history lesson and I am so thankful that he is alive to be the Paul Revere of broadcasting. He is a modern day hero to me. He has helped wake people up to what is happening with facts, data, history lessons, documentaries and whenever he can, the very words for all of us to SEE uttered and used by those who work in and around our government., and most notably, the White House. People who don’t watch Glenn Beck don’t have the faintest idea who he is and how brave he is. The burden he must be under in doing what he does every day is tremendous. I cannot imagine being so articulate and passionate with so little anger day in and day out with what he must go through off the air, May I not hear the words “fairness doctrine” ever again. God bless Glenn Beck and keep him safe so he may continue to remind us who we are.

And to my president. Barack Obama. I did not vote for you. But I do not hate you. You are an intelligent, handsome, well spoken, unflappable man with an unbelievable smile. You have a beautiful wife, a loving mother in law and two beautiful daughters. You are an example to the black community of fidelity and good parenting from everything I have seen. I commend you for all of these things. The first lady, regardless of her views, has also exhibited grace and dignity in office. I believe you are both sincere. But as an American, I also believe that through your own actions and because of those who have influenced you and continue to surround you, that your views are the antithesis of American ideals and that your desire is to erode and eventually extinguish the constitution upon which our nation was founded. It makes me extremely sad for I was filled with hope too. I was hoping that you might do what the majority of people who elected you thought you would do—change Washington—not the country. You will be an important part of American history. You will be remembered but it won’t be for the healthcare bill. You will be remembered as the president who took America too far left and became the very catalyst for our need to restore the republic and drastically reform the government. I sincerely wish that you and your family are safe from harm. My fear is that those who want to harm you will come not from the right as the far left media would like to perpetuate but actually from the left who feel you haven’t gone far enough. Editors Note: As I publish this blog today, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, in an extensive promo campaign that seeks to compare the tea party movement to Timothy McVeigh, is airing this week on April 19th—it is just one example in a long line of disgusting attempts to frighten peaceful, liberty loving, fiscally conservative people into staying inside and shutting up. It will fail.

Finally, I know that it is the desire of the far left in this country to either incite and or orchestrate someone on the right to commit an act of violence. This would discredit the angry electorate and create the very “crisis” government needs to push for total control of America. And for that, my prayers are with the people. Don’t fall for it. Don’t do it. Think of Martin Luthur King, Jr. Think of Abraham Lincoln. Think of Ghandi. Weather permitting, I will attend my 2nd tea party demonstration today on the capitol steps in Austin, Texas. I am proud to attend with my husband and children as we watch freedom loving people get off of the couch, and stand up to the endless bullying we have faced since the silent, tolerant majority said loudly “Enough” and “Don’t tread on me!”

The Awakening

Having been absent from blog and broadcast media for a few weeks, I am grateful for the inspiration to write today. After a bout with insomnia this past week, and futile attempts to bring on drowsiness (instead of outrage) while flipping through various media sources on computer and cathode ray screen, I am still awake, but strangely not fatigued.

Today, as I dropped my son off at kindergarten, I pondered a few things in the quiet solitude of the morning. This time, when three out of our four children are still asleep and the grey skies above provided a calming and contemplative mood, I contemplated this.

The more I live, the more I learn, the less I know, and the more I wish I had more time to learn!

A couple of years ago, having uprooted our family from one state to another and living in complete uncertainty, we followed Oprah Winfrey’s book recommendation and read with great understanding and resonance, Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. We also took the 10 week course she pioneered on Skype, which was groundbreaking at the time. Without going too “deep” into the mind of Eckhart Tolle, we both loved this book.

I don’t think Oprah Winfrey would agree with the kind of awakening we are experiencing now. But there is certainly not only an awakening of the spirit but also of the very depth of soul, which lay so dormant in so many of us for so long. My once mute voice now literally cries out to be free again. It is a palpable shout of “let freedom ring!” I remember well, the wonderful analogy Eckhart Tolle shared of two ducks in the water. They have a squabble and they flap their wings ferociously and then settle back down to continue swimming in the water. He used this analogy to show that with “presence” we can disagree and separate the person from the problem and not malign them in the process–for they “know not what they do.”

When I think of what I see on television in regards to Americans, who in growing number are reconnecting to the idea of what America IS, I think of this story. The tea party movement is perhaps one of the most pure examples of the duck story. It isn’t a monolithic group. It isn’t a group at all. It is a random and synchronous awakening of a spirit that flies in formation, yes, but does not seek to eliminate any bird. United on a direction, but with diverse ideas on how to get there, the more they flap their wings, the more hunters below try to single them out and pick them off one by one.

As we go forward, the flaps will get louder and louder and the other birds will peck, pluck and bite. But if we remain present, calm and resolute, perhaps one day we will all swim together again in a pristine pool without getting caught in the weeds.