To the Editor:
Since there is an active attempt by so many to smear the Tea Party with hate-filled rhetoric and outright lies, I feel it necessary, as a proud member of this energetic and patriotic movement to provide you with the facts.
First of all, the Tea Party is not an actual political party, it is rather, a movement of like-minded Americans, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, who feel compelled, many after never being been involved in politics their entire lives, to get educated and get involved to try and save your country.
Once you find out the basic principles upon which it is founded, you might begin to realize that you too are the Tea Party.
If you believe that America is a great nation, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe in a strict adherence to our Constitution, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe that our rights are “endowed by our Creator,” you are the Tea Party.
If you believe in the 2nd Amendment as a guarantee of an individual’s right to keep and bear arms and that it has nothing to do with hunting, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe in private property rights and the sovereignty of the individual, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe in smaller, less intrusive, federal, state and local government, less business-killing regulations and lower taxes, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe that government spending at all levels is out of control and that we are on a collision course with economic disaster, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe that it is a parent’s right not the government’s to raise and educate your children, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe in securing our borders, you are the Tea Party.
If you believe in personal responsibility, you are the Tea Party.
Jerry Paschal
Readyville