Grass Fires

This past spring, something remarkable began to happen across the country that seemed to signal the beginning of the end of the Democratic honeymoon that had existed, at least nominally, on the local and national level. People, furious with their government over the reckless and economically fatal spending that had taken place in Congress in the form of bailouts, stimuli, and irresponsible budgeting, began to take to the streets and protest as part of what came to be known as the “Tea Party Movement.” People who watched as their savings went up in smoke while their taxes skyrocketed showed up in droves to give their representatives in the government on the local and national levels an earful. Outside of only a couple of isolated incidents that I’m aware of, the protestors were peaceful despite their anger. On the whole, most would consider what happened to be a huge success that sent a clear message to the government to stop socializing private industries, increasing the size and scope of the government and the welfare state, and to stop doling out their money for dead-end and brain-dead projects.

The movement was non-partisan and it was aimed at multiple levels of government and all irresponsible officials, regardless of their party affiliation. Believe me, I stood on the capitol lawn this April next to a gentleman who was not only vocally upset with Governor Doyle and the Democrats, but began to shout furiously when Republican Congressman Paul Ryan took the stage because he had voted for the original TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) spending bill. However, that's not what the media wants you to hear. They want you to believe that the "Tea Party Movement” and, more recently, the demonstrations taking place at healthcare reform town hall meetings are, at best, pockets of cranky, old, white, sore loser Republicans who want to prevent the government from fixing all of your problems.

On the national level, the media has been working hard to dismiss the growing discontentment among average citizens as nothing more than an “Astroturf” movement orchestrated by major corporations and the insurance companies that are not on board with some of the changes that Obama is proposing. The news media would have you believe that anybody who could possibly have an opinion that is different than those of President Obama and the Democrats in Congress is obviously working for some large, Republican machine somewhere, if not, taking direct orders from their arch nemesis, Rush Limbaugh.

What they do not understand is that this was a tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. It was there the entire time begging to be shouted from the rooftops, but nobody could quite put their finger on it. All it took was for somebody to give it a name and light the match to start this grass-roots explosion.

Why am I rehashing all of this? Because I'm sick and tired of being put down by representatives, senators, congressman, "czars", pundits, talking heads, and everybody all the way up to Barack Obama. I am sick of left wing media personalities from Keith Olbermann to Contessa Brewer and funny men from Stephen Colbert to David Letterman downplaying what is going on in America right now. I am tired of hearing that everybody who is upset with the government is a sore loser or a shill for some kind of Republican special interest. If this is the only soap box that I have, then so be it.

I am not old, I am not rich, I am not bald, and I am not working for anybody's special interest.

What I am is a college student who is frustrated that I am about to enter a Wisconsin job market that has been seriously depleted because of foolish policies, burdensome taxation, and over-the-top governance. I have watched for the past seven years as Jim Doyle has chased jobs and industries out of this state before I even had the chance to fill out an application for a full-time job. Meanwhile, he courted and rewarded his pet special interests and doubled-back on his promises to stop heavy taxation in Wisconsin. I am a young man who is sick of having to listen to secular academia tell him that his opinion does not matter because anything but outright liberalism is hateful and outdated. I am a young man who is tired of watching this state slip closer and closer to the gutter because the union-stained public school system is churning out student after student who could tell you what Samuel L. Jackson did at the last Academy Award ceremony but could not tell you anything about Samuel Adams, save for the fact that he has a brewery named after him. These teachers still receive paychecks and pensions! I am a young man who is fed up with hearing his peers regurgitate tired, angry, and misinformed liberal monologues that they have picked up from Hollywood gossip shows, staggeringly dimwitted protest songs, and a public school system that is actively seeking to distort this country's amazing history. I am tired of watching a genuine, grass-roots movement that is seeking to reign in our out of control government being ravaged by people in the tank for the left. Most of all, I am MAD AS HELL and I am NOT going to take it anymore!

From where I'm sitting, 2010 cannot come soon enough.