I was amused by June M. Huot’s letter of April 14, 2015 requesting information about the TEA Party and making so many false assertions.
First, each TEA Partier speaks for him/herself or perhaps their local group, no one person or group speak for “The TEA Party” which is a movement of millions of Americans in thousands of individual groups.
We believe that our federal government today is bought (with political support) by special interest groups which have no concern for most Americans, or for the security and prosperity of our nation.
We believe that today’s bought government is responsible for most of our nation’s and our citizens’ problems and that returning to government that works for all Americans requires adherence to certain principles including the rule of law, personal responsibility, fiscal responsibility, and small, constitutionally-limited government.
Second, the TEA Party hasn’t endorsed candidates for 2016 and no presidential candidates can speak for the TEA Party. Some candidates who might want TEA Party support may make silly statements. Huot reminds us of Governor Perry’s forgetfulness which reminded me of Candidate Obama’s claim that he visited “all 57 states”.
Perhaps Huot likes our current income tax system with all its complexity, loopholes for special interests, worry about understanding ambiguous instructions, threats of fines or imprisonment, and the millions of hours and billions of dollars spent on compliance. Having recently completed my income tax, I think Ted Cruz’s idea to replace the IRS with a Fair Tax or a simple tax that can be completed on a single page would be very welcome, and perhaps much fairer.
Huot imagines that she knows that Ted Cruz “likes shutting down the government”, which is ridiculous since only the president has the power to shut down the government. It is Congress’s responsibility to fund what Congress wants to fund. President Obama shut down the government to force Congress to fund what President Obama wanted rather than what Congress, the representatives of the American people, agreed should be funded.
I am amused to find that Huckabee’s statement expressed exactly the opposite of what Huot claimed. Here is Huckabee’s quote as reported in the Daily Mail: “If Democrats want to insult women by making them believe they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it. Let us take this discussion all across America because women are far more than the Democrats have played them to be.” Huot’s comments suggest she should agree with Huckabee’s actual words.
Third, I am not aware of any TEA Party effort to “eliminate Social Security, Medicare, (or) Medicaid”; the TEA Party would like them to be fixed and solvent. Most TEA Parties would like to get rid of Obamacare because it hurts people, it isn’t affordable, and government should not be between a patient and his/her doctor.
Fourth, Huot claims that TEA Partiers haven’t offered any specifics. This claim suggests that Huot doesn’t read letters from TEA Partiers or can’t comprehend them. A few of my recent letters (3/21, 4/2, 4/9/2015) have identified a number of specifics for which I and most TEA Partiers fight: school choice (so each child can get a decent start in life), right-to-work laws (to promote job growth and make unions responsive to workers), approval of the Keystone XL pipeline (to create jobs, reduce energy costs and promote energy independence), reduction of excessive regulations (to promote job growth), and welfare reform (to keep families together and encourage work so people become self-reliant).
Other previous letters have, and future letters from me and others will identify other policies and legislation, typically with proven records of success, that I (and most TEA Partiers) support.
The TEA Party fights for a return to government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” so each American has a good opportunity to pursue, and hopefully achieve, their American dream.
Dow Ewing
Meredith