The necessity of engagement

The Tea Party has brought many patriotic Americans together who share a love of our great nation and the constitutionally sound principles which have gotten us where we are today. This is a step in the right direction however I feel there is one area where we seem to be dropping the ball. This area is our outreach to the younger generations and is highlighted by every meeting that I attend. We can make a difference today however if we wish for our struggles and changes to remain in the future, it will depend on the younger generations to carry the touch of freedom we have ignited.

We have our immediate goals and objectives for the Tea Party Movement. We would like to restore our government to constitutionally sound principles as written by the founding fathers in not only the Constitution, but also realize the context that has been given to the initial conception of the Constitution in the many writings by the founding fathers such as the Federalist Papers. We also wish for our government to conduct itself in a fiscally responsible manner and quit wasting taxpayer dollars on pork barrel projects and the expansion of government bureaucracies. As Thomas Paine said, “That government is best which governs least” however the truth of this statement seems to be all but forgotten by so many Americans.

Before the great awakening of those in the Tea Party movement, many of us sat idle and complacent to the many changes taking place around us. Though we didn’t particularly agree with some of the things we saw going on, we also hadn’t reached the point where we were willing to stand up and say enough is enough. We are now facing the consequences of this today with the future generations of our nation being less informed than ever. This is where I feel one of our greatest opportunities lies if we choose to take advantage of it.

In the Tea Party there are many fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. As such we already have a much higher level of credibility than any politician or teacher. What I feel we must do is develop a cohesive strategy to reach out to those younger individuals around us and leverage this credibility. As we reach out and engage them, we must also let them know the future of their nation and the world they live in will depend upon the choices they make and the officials they elect. We must stress the point that their vote does matter and they are the future of our country. We must stress how important it is for them to pay attention and look beyond the nice sounding speeches given by politicians from all parties on the campaign trail.

I know the interest is there amongst these individuals however unless we work to help them realize the stake they have in what is going on, I doubt they will do it on their own. I frequently hear from individuals, even 30+ year olds, that they probably don’t keep up with what is going on as much as they should. When this happens I ask them about current events and what they think about them. I never challenge their position or criticize their lack of knowledge as I know that will only put them on the defensive and cause them to be less receptive to the information I offer. I ask general questions to feel them out and then proceed to get deeper into the facts at the heart of the issue.

As these conversations progress and more facts come to light, I usually find most can agree with me on at least some of the facts if not all of them. This is the common ground we must find. From here we can build and develop the interest we have created to continue the dialogue and move further towards getting them involved. This will be a long and tedious process in many cases but can also be relatively easy in others. It is worth the challenge and is one I think we must all step up to. As Thomas Jefferson once said, ”Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”