Good Americans

They have been called ignorant, white, racist and violent. And that's just some of the nicer things said about members of the tea party by Democrats and the mainstream media.  They have also been referred to as Astroturf, Nazis, tea baggers and extreme right wingers.                                                                                                                                                                

But, that is not exactly the case. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found a group very different than those derided by the Democrats and their friends in the liberal media.           

While Tea Party supporters skew right politically; they are demographically generally representative of the public at large. Tea Party supporters are decidedly Republican and conservative in their leanings. And, in several other respects, including their age, educational background, employment status, and race, members of the Tea Parties are quite representative of Americans in general. When compared with average citizens, members are slightly more likely to be male and less likely to be lower-income. In that same poll 28% of U.S. adults call themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement.                                  

At a recent tea party event these poll findings were confirmed by observation and interaction. The folks in attendance at this event were friendly, fun and represented a broad cross section of hard working Americans and retirees all sharing a common frustration with the Government, the current Administration, the Congress and the current direction of our country. Government control of their lives and out of control government spending seemed to be top of mind and top their list of concerns.                           

Worried for the future and the future of their children and grandchildren these folks are attempting, many for the first time, to get involved and make a difference.  Are they angry and frustrated? You bet. And, they are trying to do something to make a difference and return to the values and policies that they legitimately believe made us a great nation.                                                                                                                     

The tea partiers are not extremists, they are not violent, and they are not racist. The liberals, Democrats and the mainstream media badly misread and misrepresent this group. They not only misread these people they misread the scope of the dissatisfaction of many, many Americans.                                                                                                                            

The tea partiers are good Americans exercising their rights granted under the Constitution to express their frustration with the policies of this government. Policies and laws passed by this Congress and signed by this President are they in the process of changing the country that they love. West Newsmagazine respects the efforts of the Tea Party movement and the good folks that support it. Maybe the Democrats and the mainstream media should look at these folks for what they are and stop branding them as extremeists.