On Saturday another Tea Party gathering formed in Pierre:
Hofer was one of more than 100 conservatives and curious locals who filled the Capitol Lake Visitors Center Saturday for a “tea party” rally featuring prominent conservative activists and politicians. Bearing signs and clothing attacking progressive health care and environmental policies, attendees heard speakers lay into the Obama administration and the political left.
“Today the greatest enemy of our country is not an outside enemy, it’s a philosophy — a philosophy that says the individual is no longer economically responsible for his welfare, nor is he morally responsible for his own conduct,” said Dr. Allen Unruh, a conservative activist who spoke at the rally. “That philosophy will destroy America.”
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The rally was part of the national “tea party” movement, a network of conservative, anti-tax protests around the country since President Barack Obama’s inauguration. While tea party protests — including Saturday’s — draw on Revolutionary War themes, Sheehan branded his rally as the “New Pony Congress” after the first Dakota Territory legislature.
You’d have thought they were burned in effigy (or at the stake) as much as some of the looneyleftblogs were whining about this rally.
But note what the organizer had to say about it – “the event was designed to get people talking about issues and to get them involved.” No wonder they were complaining. Conservatives getting involved and called to action.
They’re terrified that conservative voters see their offerings – socialized medicine, porkulous, cap and tax, and the like – for what they really are. Big government solutions that take money out of their pockets at the same time they reduce our rights, and they chip away at our liberties.
Best of all, they’re terrified that conservatives are experiencing a resurgence the likes that have not been seen since Ronald Reagan. And they’re right.
I’ve said on several occasions that we had to go through Jimmy Carter before we would elect Ronald Reagan. We had to have the worst of the worst before we’d find our way out of the wilderness.
Well, under the current administration, the wilderness is looking pretty think.
But we can hear the calls in the distance. And we’re starting to cut a path.
I thought it was only in the land of the hillbillies that the wilderness was "think". But I digress.
If Pat Powers thinks that this is a sign of a GOP return to power, this Rasmussen report should give him reason for pause:
Running under the Tea Party brand may be better in congressional races than being a Republican.
In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.
Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top. Thirty-three percent (33%) prefer the Tea Party candidate, and 30% are undecided. Twenty-five percent (25%) would vote for a Democrat, and just 12% prefer the GOP.
Among Republican voters, 39% say they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but 33% favor the Tea Party option.
For this survey, the respondents were asked to assume that the Tea Party movement organized as a new political party. In practical terms, it is unlikely that a true third-party option would perform as well as the polling data indicates. The rules of the election process—written by Republicans and Democrats--provide substantial advantages for the two established major parties. The more conventional route in the United States is for a potential third-party force to overtake one of the existing parties.
So will the South Dakota GOP allow itsef to be taken over by those of us who are true Tea Party cponservatives? If not, then Heidelberger's thought of a third party is an option. Perhaps I will test them by seeing if they are willing to reject far-left Progressive Mike Vehe and push forward a true Tea Party conservative.
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