Dakota Beacon

I opened up an email from Floyd Brown (I get these frequently) and found him calling for us to send faxes to Congress to express our desire that Speaker John Boehner take  charge and show leadership – support the Ryan budget.  He further castigated Eric Cantor and those who are cynically tossing aside this worthwhile and laudable  effort of Ryan’s to save our country.  While I concur with his sentiments vis-à-vis these traitorous Republican members of Congress, I also feel that inasmuch as they already KNOW how the American people feel that the faxes, while a visible demonstration, will not be persuasive with these individuals.  Not having enough shekels on hand to afford the fax myself, I elected to pass the message on to others with whom I am in touch.  I formulated my own plan for correcting this situation and I think it is workable and necessary. 

The Tea Party must marshal our forces to make our opinion felt where it counts – in the coming election.  We must find and financially support someone specifically to oppose Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor for their own seats in the House.  By doing this we will not imperil our Republican majority but we might through this means cause it to be finally effective in averting a financial disaster we cannot even begin to comprehend.  If the worst we do is add two Democrats and lose two Republicans it will be well worth it, but it might also mean that Boehner will just step down as leader and make room for a stronger man.  If possible we might find that we can support with our resources the candidacy of another, truly Conservative, man or woman for Boehner’s (and Cantor’s) seat in a primary. Either way, it is  “rifle” sharpshooter approach which will do no real damage to the Republican majority but will serve to advise that majority that we cannot
 tolerate their collusion with Democrats on this.  It could also, in effect, save a Republican Party so corrupted by “compromise” as to be in imminent peril from a third party.  So, then, here follows my message.

The following message is very important.  I will append to this my own solution.  The Republican leadership that the Tea Party helped substantially to send to Washington is currently revealing its betrayal of our trust.  These Congressmen know exactly how the American people feel.  We are not stupid.  We are not sheep.  We know what is going on, and we know what needs to be done.  We need to stop the reckless spending or LOSE OUR COUNTRY.  This is no joke.  We have a very narrow window of opportunity to effect the change in spending that is absolutely essential to America's very survival.  We also know that this Congress, under the leadership of John Boehner and Eric Cantor and their cronies, is not going to do anything to save us.  The solution is simple.  Boehner and Cantor need to step down as "leaders".  They are not leading.  We also know they are unlikely to do this on their own.  They have had not months but years in which to  develop spines and
 leadership skills and ethics.  They have demonstrated that they are incapable. 
 
The American people, thanks to our Constitution and its Framers, have the tools we need to fix this.  It is the 2012 election.  And the Tea Party needs to do something bold for a change.  No, so far we have been mild mannered and very tame.  It has not worked. We successfully controlled the 2010 election and we are seeing the results.  The problem is that we have not taken after the right villains.  We have simplistically seen the "Liberal" Democrats and Reid, Obama and Pelosi as the "villains", when, in fact, the villains are much, much closer to home.  They are the weak so-called "leaders" of the Republican delegation. 
 
Firstly we should ask them politely to step down and
hold a new leadership election for Speaker Boehner and Republican House Leader Cantor.  We know this is merely a formality - just good manners.  The real strength we have, though, is that as a Tea Party movement we need to go to Boehner's district in Ohio and Cantor's in Virginia, and campaign hard and effectively to replace them in the U.S. Congress.  This might end up resulting in a real primary challenge or possibly might have to depend ultimately on supporting the Democrat.  This will be viewed at first blush as draconian, and truly, it is.  But it has been done before and this is why it might even be effective if we simply demonstrate that we are WILLING to do it.  We cannot afford to be extorted any longer with this pablum of "hold your nose and vote for the RINO" slogan.  It is empty.  We have no more time to waste on empty slogans or empty suits. It is now or never.  If we make it clear that we do  not intend to permit ourselves to be betrayed by
 these weak "leaders" in Congress we might even prevail upon the 2011 Congress to pull up its collective socks and dp the job
we sent them there last year to do.  William Buckley understood the need when he effectively opposed Lowell Weicker.  Perhaps we can persuade Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor with the only argument that they understand:  that they might lose their key to the Congressional restroom.
 
If, as Tea Party patriots and activists we are not up to this hard decision we need not call ourselves patriots or activists any longer.  The road is plain to see.  We see what lies ahead in either direction.  I suggest, and strongly, that we make our intentions known in time for the present "leadership" to act responsibly with knowledge of these intentions, and if they do not, proceed, full speed ahead. 

In all fairness, we cannot criticize these men for not playing the “card” they hold in their hand if we are too weak to play the card we have in our hand.  The only card we have is our willingness to remove these men from office if they do not act as responsible leaders.
 
I welcome your feedback on my thoughts.  We need to be talking about this.  It is not taking care of itself in the hands of this Congress.  If we do not succeed while we have a majority in the House we will not succeed ever.  We can give no quarter to "negotiators" or cowards.
 
Sally Morris is a member of Americans for Constitutional Government and the executive committee of the Valley Tea Party Conservative Coalition