The Tea Party’s efforts in 2010 allowed the Republican Party to regain control of the US House of Representatives. Did we vote for a candidate who understood our founding principles or did we vote against the Democrat usurpation of the government? What did the “Tea Party” candidates promise if elected and how did they fulfill their campaign commitments? If you are now represented by a candidate whom you feel is a one of these candidates, this is a question that you should be asking yourself. If we do not learn from our mistakes (and history), we are doomed to repeat them. North Carolina’s Tea Party only successful candidate in 2010 was Renee Ellmers. I would rate her performance (or lack thereof) as an F.
What we should expect from a Tea Party Congressman:
1. Holding town halls during recesses.
2. Fulfillment of their campaign promises.
3. Fulfilling the duties of their oath of office and responsibilities every day, not when it is expedient to their own agenda.
4. Understanding that civil service supersedes reelection campaigns.
5. Supporting the people over their political party’s leadership.
6. Speaking out against usurpation of the legislative branch by the executive branch and holding the president accountable for illegal expansions of power through executive orders or regulatory authority.
7. Holding hearings on corruption that actually will restore moral government instead of becoming a political campaign promotion. Fast & Furious is a good example.
8. Understanding the Constitution’s limitations on federal power and restoring states’ rights as intended instead of expanding the federal power base.
9. Understanding that they were elected to save our children’s future freedom.
10. Most importantly, we should expect no more of them than what we should expect from ourselves.
What should we expect from a Tea Party Congressman? The same standards and integrity that all Congressman should be held accountable to. We MUST ask ourselves: how effective is voting if we do not do our own due diligence prior to casting a ballot. We MUST hold all politicians accountable for their actions. Should we hold Tea Party Congressman to a higher standard? Isn’t that why we voted for them? Are we doing our due diligence in this year’s elections? I pray that we learn from the 2010 elections and do not reelect a House of Representatives that will continue to raise the debt ceiling (or continue to cede this authority to the executive branch to make a campaign issue). This election is still about both the legislative and executive branches of government in Washington: a Congress that has integrity and morally will be able to hold any president in check as our Constitution has outlined.
David DeGerolamo
Tea Party Congressmen Accept Cash From Bailed-Out Bankers
Tea Party favorites such as Stephen Fincher of Tennessee were swept into Congress on a wave of anger over government-funded bailouts of banks.
Now those incumbents are collecting thousands of dollars for re-election campaigns from the same Wall Street firms whose excesses they criticized. They have taken no significant steps to curb them or prevent future taxpayer-financed rescues.
Republican freshmen have made clear their disdain for expanding government, and openly opposed a financial regulatory overhaul enacted by Democrats in 2010 before the newcomers arrived in Washington. Their ranks include ten Tea Party-backed freshmen on the House Financial Services Committee, part of a force that won election in a populist backlash to government spending that included emergency lending to major banks and bailout of firms including U.S. automakers.
Still, the lawmakers haven’t passed, considered or even introduced legislation to address concerns about “too-big-to- fail” banks voiced by members of both parties and suchFederal Reserve bank presidents as Richard Fisher of Dallas and Jeffrey Lacker of Richmond, Virginia.
“I haven’t seen any of them putting forth legislation on breaking up the big banks or on other things that would genuinely prevent a bailout next time,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform, a Washington- based umbrella group of organizations that supported the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act and other financial regulations.
The following story outlining Renee Ellmers’ “rediscovery” of the Tea Party has another point that is being overlooked. Would anyone seriously send a Tea Party candidate to Washington to draft legislation on a Federal level that would override an individual state’s authority?
Renee Ellmers getting back to her Tea Party roots
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers has re-discovered her Tea Party roots just in time for the 2nd congressional district’s GOP primary. Many political observers say the work of The Tea Party was CRUCIAL in her 2010 upset of incumbent Bob “Boom Boom” Etheridge.
Ellmers is a fraud, she now has a advertisement to vote against the Marriage Amendment. So now she’s going against her Catholic church here in NC who is supporting the Marriage amendment…hypocrite!!