Sunday, March 1, 2009

A most marvelous anger is rising across Tennessee and America that will liberate us at the ballot box



I got the following response from a Nashville reader that shows a historic shift that will dramatically impact Congressional races in 2010 and the presidential race in 2012.

This response was to a post I wrote today about Republicans also betraying the taxpayers of this nation in President Obama's spending bills.

That's the very reason I can't bring myself to be identified with either major party.

I'm an Independent and reject the disgusting, duplicitous and at times illegal actions of our so called elected and appointed public officials.

Keep up the great work.

Rick Harris


No Rick. The thanks belong to you. I am feeling your anger and the same from readers across this state and nation of my blog.

They rightly feel betrayed by both political parties. They realize these politicians do not have their backs. No one is looking out for us, even though we pay all the bills of government.

As a result, many of us have been cast aside to wander, searching for a political home where our needs are recognized and where our contributions in paying our bills on time and being responsible workers are rewarded in public policy.

CNBC's Rick Santelli spoke for many of us during his rant against the Obama home foreclosure policy last month that was more about rewardin the bad behavior of the 8 percent of the population in danger of losing their homes instead of the 92 percent paying their mortgages on time.

He called for a Chicago Tea Party this summer. Since then, tea parties of protest have been held in Nashville and St. Louis.

I believe that anger and the independence that Rick Harris wrote of must be coalesced into a political movement and party for the 2010 Congressional races. That is the only way Republican and Democratic lawmakers are going to be forced to change and act responsibly like us.

And it would be most healthy if there could an Independent Caucus in Congress that both parties would have to go to for support of their agendas and we could ask to stop the madness.

In lieu of that, candidates and officeholders from both parties represent the same dead end for American and Tennessee households and their welfare.

So in the coming months, we must use our anger wisely as energy and momentum to create a new political movement from the kitchen tables, neighborhoods, town squares and places of worship to sweep toward Capitol Hill like a sword or broom. And we must look in the mirror and into the faces of our neighbors and ask: "will you answer the call and run as a candidate for public office?"

Don't let people tell you it is impossible for you to win. If Barack Obama had counted all the Democratic Party leaders supporting Hillary Clinton before thr 2008 Democratic Party primary and the superdelegates already in her pocket, he would not have dared run for office.

But he did, based on simply the emotion of the urgency of the times. And the people, not the party leaders, came forth to spend their money on his candidacy and their time in campaigning and voting.

The political paradigm of how candidates are picked has been altered forever. Thank goodness. And the times are now even more urgent for new candidates and a new sense of discipline and responsibility to the taxpayers first.

The window Obama created remains open. Answer the call and protect the backs of your neighbors, your fellow believers and your own households from further assault by both political parties.

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