I was present with a group of friends when we were graced with the presence of Representative Jeff Landry (R-3rd district). He spoke of his activity in the House of Representatives and commented on much of what’s going on in Washington.
One of the most important things said was his answer to a reporter in The Daily Beast Blog when asked about who comprises the membership of the Tea Party. It was his stance and public statement the Tea Party movement isn’t a political party in the standard form but more a “grass roots” operation composed of many people over the age of 55. These people are the children of the “Greatest Generation”; the generation sacrificing the most in recent history in their participation on the world stage to stem Nazi and Imperial Japanese efforts at world conquest. That same generation leapt to action against the growth and tempering of the Iron Curtain and Red Chinese insurgency in Korea.
The effort was selfless, unquestioning and displaying a sense of loyalty to American concepts of fair play, personal integrity and overarching patriotism of a particularly American nature. It was the familial and parental sacrifice devoted to the protection of American ideals and principles. This drove the Greatest Generation to stand straight, tall and true and fight for what was right and protective of the futures of their children. As governments failed in their duty to their people these people never failed in their duty to each other, or their families at home. They taught with their selfless sacrifice and the deliverance of a birthright of principled action children learned at their knee so they too could pay it forward to benefit their children.
But, in the loving attention they paid, they fell under the spell of a wish all parents have for their offspring. They didn’t want them to suffer the hardships they endured. They wanted their kids to have what they never had. They wanted their kids to “make it” with fewer challenging obstacles them and making them uncomfortable in their lives. They meant well.
This group, as the progeny of this “Greatest Generation”, took it all to heart. These people climbed socio-economic ladders and reached social plateaus their parents only dreamed of when they were young. College degrees were earned at spectacular speeds and numbers indicated an ascendant generation, proving the value and worth their parents saw in them in their pride for their development. The kids accepted academia as a utopian element deserving their recognition even though there was no reality to that utopian concept. The kids let speculation and postulation supersede the principles learned at the feet of mentors more experienced in the real ways of the world than theoreticians practicing their delivery of pomp and circumstance as the new potential “norm”.
In the luxury of their circumstances and the fact they didn’t suffer the same tragedies as their parents, they didn’t herald advances with the benchmarks of lands liberated or refused an enemy; complacency grew. They didn’t understand that doing what’s right sometimes calls for sacrifice, for loss and memorial and the slow, plodding effort of putting one foot in front of the other as they rehabilitate themselves, their communities and OUR country.
In this modern time, when people are accustomed to the calculating herding nature of paternalistic oppressive and intrusive government grown overly impressed with itself and a self-instituted class system ensuring the political “trail drive” of the damned; there’s a resistance movement against this treatment. It’s a resistance composed of the people now remembering their responsibility to their children and grandchildren. It’s the same responsibility the “Greatest Generation” engendered in them as they were allowed to wander freely in their wonder at what they learned.
Tea Party people are now awake. They’re aware. They’re involved and ready, willing and able to sacrifice so the next generation doesn’t lose all of the liberties and freedoms millions of their ancestors gave their lives to protect for them. This movement is a real, integrity bound and honest attempt at returning to true American principles.
That’s more than can be said for most politicians.
Thanks for listening
