The Tea Party of today are modern day Abolitionists!

Who we are today is who we were!

Everything that our forefathers have done, they have done for us.

Those who serve the nation as our current elected leaders have grappled with recent events that have led to the tangible erosion of their “perceived power” which in turn has led to their grand design of “fundamentally changing America”.

Those three words are at the heart of the matter – “fundamentally changing America”!

We have heard those words repeatedly from Barrack Obama and since his inauguration he has set out to do just that, by any means, at breakneck speed. Obama has, in his own words and deeds have shown America what he intends to do in spite of the unprecedented level of secrecy. In fact, in spite of this man’s illusive past, we have seen glimpses of who he his by spotlighting his past (that has been documented in the public realm) and his present associations with radical people who have documented histories of un-American behavior and their open desires to overthrow the current and historical philosophy which our founding fathers have created to usher in a utopian socialist dictatorship upon us.

The American people have begun to forcefully push back against this reality by going back to their ancestors to seek the answers and guidance. The modern day Tea Party is the resulting manifestation of this search. The Tea Party have been labeled by the MSM and those seeking to “fundamentally change America” as “Right Wing Extremists”, Thugs, Nazi’s and unpatriotic. The fact of the matter is they are not attending the mass rallies and town halls and now their first convention as members of the Republican Party, but as citizens that hail from all political parties collectively under the banner of “Americans”.

I sat down to write this article after I finished watching the movie “Amistad”. It is being shown because February is “Black History Month”. The movie documents the arrest of 44 Africans by the US Government in the early 1800’s and the subsequent adjudication of that case which wound it’s way, over a period of 18 months, to the US Supreme Court.

In a way, metaphorically speaking, the Tea Party movement is a lot like the plight of those Africans. I wish to say that this author is not in any form diminishing the plight of those individuals (slaves) and the manner in which they were forced into slavery by this comparison. I only wish to draw some comparison to the Constitutional remedies that led to their freedom. The one common theme that emanates from the Tea Party movement is the fervent desire of Americans to cherish and follow the US Constitution as the guiding document to the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches which the “fundamental change” that Obama and our elected leaders are ignoring and usurping.

This movie (Amistad) was remarkable in its portrait of the US Constitution and its impact it had in the resolution of the famous case that John Quincy Adams (Son of one of the Founding Fathers John Adams). To put it in a context that will make the most impact is to illustrate what the Africans were facing. The abolisionist movement was in its infancy. When the Africans were incarcerated they were viewed as “property”. The initial court case had many parties that interjected themselves into the hearings as rightful owners through “slave purchase contracts”, salvage on the high seas owners and the country of Spain through its treaty with the United States at the time. At no time was any consideration given to the individuals (Africans) as a standing party.

The US Government through the Executive Branch (President) entered as the sole litigant due to the treaty with Spain. The political climate at the time was tenuous as the politicians from the “slave owning” South were threatening Civil War over the issue of slaves. The abuse of the Executive Branch exertion of its power over the Legislative Branch is a concern today as it was during the Amastad proceedings. It was learned later, that the Executive Branch was still considering sending the Africans to Cuba after the victory, in secrecy.

The pressure of Civil War alone was interjected into the legal proceedings politically. Finally, after two lower courts ruled in favor of the Africans, the Executive Branch appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court of the time had 9 members, 7 of which were “slave owners” themselves and only 5 actually heard and ruled on the case in favor of the Africans.

Chief Justice Robert Brook Taney wrote in the famous 1857 Dred Scott case the following (keeping in mind that this was written 17 years after the Amistad victory) and four year before the start of the US Civil War (1861-1865):

A slave, Taney ruled, was property, nothing more, and could never be a citizen.

You have to marvel at the oral arguments presented by Adams that had a highly predudicial court rule against their own interests. It was because of the courts application (guidance) of the Constitution to the case at hand.

This is exactly what the modern tea party movement wants. The separation of powers between the three branches of government and the government itself limit itself to what the Constitution dictates. It is no wonder why States are starting to exert their 10th Amendment rights today. The American public sees that the expansion of the Federal Government into the private sector, the courts, the states and individuals privacy is of great concern. The tea party movement demand that we stand on our fore fathers shoulders for the sake of our country. We know that to relegate our ancestors to the dust bin of history is to erase who we are today.

This is the other area that the movie Amastad portraited -- the wisdom of holding our ancestors up today. In the movie, the title character Cinque (The African that led the rebellion onboard the ship) had a poingent moment when he was explaining to John Adams what he was personally doing to keep his hope of victory alive in spite of the overwhelming odds against him. Cinque explained that he wasn’t alone, that he, according to his culture, invoking his ancestors (calling to them) to enter him so that he would have more power in the face of opposition. He explained that by invoking them as the “last decendant in line” he would draw the power of their wisdom and strength as they would fight to keep themselves alive by doing so. This too is what the tea party movement is doing. They want to invoke the founding fathers and their constitution to guide the nation away from those who actively seek to erase and destroy our most cherished accomplishment – the rule of law.

The “Declaration of Independence” is considered to be a national treasure. It outlines our fore fathers belief that “revolution” is just and a required duty when the Government usurps and abuses the population for which it serves.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Those who stand before us today in defiance of the sacrifices that our ancestors have endured are on a fool’s errand. They stand before us as hollow and bereft souls. We have many amongst us today that believe America, today, is an evil empire that has sprung forth from a history of oppression that is to be reviled and detested.

This message is carried by printing presses across the globe and it is spread like a disease. This message is wrong and the world knows that it is falsehood.

All through history civilization looks to their young for vitality and hope while revering its eldest for their wisdom. It is the young that ensures that time marches forward with new life while it is the old that teach the young the folly of their youthful impulses by passing the wisdom life’s lessons and in return they too will pass along the history as they reach maturity.

To deny the fact that today we are who we are is because of who we were (as a nation) is an empty argument. The modern Progressive movement has attempted to ignore our forefathers in search of a “social experiment” that has failed everywhere it has tried. Our history books have been rewritten to erase our ancestors that designed the greatest and freest nation on earth. The liberal interpretations of our Constitution from the courts have bastardized meanings that our forefathers never meant. There are those, like Obama that have stated that it is impossible for anyone today to know what our forefathers intent was when drafting this guiding document. I believe that the opposite is true.

I believe that the founding fathers knew what the Obama’s of the world would try to do to circumvent freedom and wrote the document to prevent them from doing so.

The modern Liberal today is far from the morals and decency that our forefathers lived as examples in this new America. Honor, truth, decency, moderation and fairness cannot be found in the modern liberal lexicon. The same argument can be made of most politicians on both sides of the aisle, but the Conservative politician is different.

There are many examples of dishonesty in politics today. There seems to be a culture of acceptance to this in our society, but that is changing. The reverence of the White House should be upheld as the highest of standards yet we have witnessed President after President whittle this office to a level of degradation to the point that we can no longer believe what is being said or we question everything they do.

The erosion of confidence of our leaders has reached such an alarming level that many of us are now looking to our forefathers for their example. This is at the heart of the identity of the tea party movement – to stand on their shoulders to assure they are not forgotten or relegated to erasure.