Previously I had posted my early experiences with the Tea Parties. Since then the media has accelerated their negative campaign against the movement and against all “dissenters” of the direction of the government. What follows is my look back over the past year and a half of Tea Parties and my personal awaking.
My experience with being called names began in 2003. That year I learned that admitting to being a conservative was a dangerous activity. I began to censor myself and to hide in my computer when my coworkers were denigrating all my beliefs. I often asked myself why I did not have the courage to stand up for my conservative values but I truly feared the response of those around me.
In 2008 I welcomed the 912 and Tea Party movements with open arms. For me, and many others, they were a support group. My first tea party I cried tears of joy when I discovered I was not alone. Many attendees had been like me, in hiding and denying conservative leanings, and many of us were counting heads just to assure ourselves we were not abnormal. As the weeks/months passed we moved from relief to a sense of purpose. After all if so many of us were afraid to come forward how many of our friends and neighbors were afraid? I came out of the conservative closet and began to talk. I found people excited to find they were not alone and my liberal friends and I were able to agree to disagree (often we were not so far apart on our beliefs).
My next step was to take a personal inventory. I have great friends that are black, Hispanic, gay and of many political and religious stripes. What made me ever believe that I was racist or bigoted? As for the charge of being stupid I always discounted that charge. Stupid is in the eye of the beholder and is not a word or concept we even allow to be brandished in our home. I have a college degree and am not far from having a second degree and I’m successful at my chosen career and no one that knows me has ever called me stupid – quite the reverse. Interestingly enough the same is true for the charges of racist and bigoted but it took a tea party for me to have the courage to stand against those allegations. Today I have arrived at the conclusion that am not wrong to hold my beliefs, after all I was “endowed by my maker” with the right to believe what I believe be it religious or fiscal.
This is true hate ~ This is true horror ~ This is true bigotry ~ This is NOTis
BTW: this is an example of dangerous protesters
It truly distresses me that everyone is spending so much time calling each other names and not paying attention to the true issues that plague our nation.
Here is a great video about racism and the tea party.
