Happy 5th Birthday to the Tea Party movement!

By Donlyn Turnbull

Ronald Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’ The more this mammoth Government has attempted to “help” America, the more they’ve grown while our personal freedom and fiscal health have declined to levels that would make a founding father cry. It’s this very same sentiment that served as the catalyst to the modern day tea party movement.

How it began.

In February of 2009, Rick Santelli of CNBC stood with traders in Chicago while filming a segment as his impassioned discourse began. “This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbors’ mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills? Raise their hand,” Santelli said as the traders standing around him began to boo and show their disdain. He was responding to a plan President Obama announced wanting to use $75-billion dollars of taxpayer money to bail out 9 million homeowners who were at risk of losing their homes.

“President Obama, are you listening,” he shouted. Rick Santelli used Cuba as an example of an out-of-control Government wanting to control every detail in our lives, all the while destroying our economic viability. “Y’know, Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they’re driving ’54 Chevys, maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit,” Santelli said.

Within his diatribe he said, “We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing.” And history was made. A seemingly innocent comment resonated strongly with the American people.

Where we are now.

The Tea Party movement caught fire and helped conservatives regain control of the House in 2010. Can you imagine how much worse shape our country would be in had the Democrats maintained control of the House?

Now we find ourselves in a similar position with the mid-term elections rapidly approaching. We have the opportunity to regain the Senate and continue to stop Obama’s policies. This can only be achieved with our Tea Party friends fighting like they did 4 years ago. With newcomers like Owen Hill, running for the Senate seat in Colorado, and our returning friends like Congressmen Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio, we are endorsing true conservatives who believe in our six key principles.

  • No more bailouts
  • Reduce the size and intrusiveness of government
  • Stop raising our taxes
  • Repeal ObamaCare
  • Cease out-of-control spending
  • Bring back American prosperity

The Tea Party movement has and will continue to do amazing things for our beautiful nation. We want to fight and protect our freedoms for our posterity. We want to stop intrusions on American privacy. We will never cease fighting against ObamaCare as it robs Americans of their constitutional rights. And we want to leave a country in better fiscal shape for our children than we found it.

As we began with Ronald Reagan, we will conclude with him as well. Truer words have never been spoken. “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Happy birthday Tea Party!