My mom mentioned recently that there’s a Tea Party guy running for state representative in my home state of Ohio. No great surprise there, but what worried her was how many yard signs she’d seen for him in the neighborhood. Now, my parents do live in one of the more conservative parts of a pretty conservative town. But there’s a difference between conservative and fringe, and up til now, it seemed like the Tea Partiers could be clearly distinguished from the usual run of the mill strident Republicans. My parents are friendly with their neighbors, and for the most part they seem like civil, sane people. It’s disappointing to hear that they too have been seduced by the rhetoric of—well, here, I’ll just let Mike Wilson, Founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party, speak for himself (albeit in the third person, of course):
“Like many Americans, he was fed up with an elite political class that is increasingly disconnected from the citizens they claim to represent. He was fed up with those who said with a straight face that we could spend our way out of debt. He was fed up with those who ignore the plain language of our Constitution and try to interpret it out of existence.”
Man, I had no idea that there are those who want to interpret the Constitution out of existence! I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds frightful. Then there are these fun pledges Mike makes on his campaign website: he will “Blog on each piece of significant legislation I vote on so my constituents know where I stand…Share my cell phone number with my constituents – 513-494-OH28 (6428).” Nice! I’ve always wanted a representative I could prank call to his personal cell phone.
And then there’s this: “Over the last 120 years, arrogant politicians have subscribed to the fatal conceit that a one-size fits all federal government could more effectively direct our country than the 50 states or hundreds of millions of people scattered across our fruited plains.” That’s the kind of confused oratory that would make Sarah Palin proud. And it leads into the following commitments from Mike:
- Fight to pass a sovereignty resolution in the House identical to S.C.R 13 which passed in the Ohio Senate in September, 2009.
- Support nullification legislation should Congress pass a health care bill that requires consumers to purchase government-approved insurance.
- Support firearms freedom legislation that nullifies federal regulations for firearms and ammunition that do not cross Ohio’s borders.
Yikes.
Mike does not have many endorsements as of yet, but he hastens to assure us that that’s intentional, since he has “only requested endorsements from TRUE conservative organizations and leaders.\
He’ll be running against two “experienced Republicans” in the GOP primary in May–“all three of whom signed a pledge to support the Tea Party’s values.” The seat is currently held by Connie Pillich (D), an Air Force veteran and local business-owner, who won in 2008.
Recent Comments