Tea Parties and Afterbirf

iOTW has a post up about Erick at Red State banning Troofers and Birfers. There's nothing wrong with Red State.  I used to go there fairly often and still check in once in a while.  I'd go there more, but I guess it is just too "mainstream" for my tastes. In other words, I'm much more likely to learn about what's going on at Red State by visiting funky sites like iOTW than I am from actually visiting Red State.  I don't say all this to complain about banning or not banning certain topics on a blog.  They can do as they please.

But later in the post Erick starts talking about keeping Birthers out of the Tea Party movement.  That's where I have a little issue.  I'm a semi-birther for lack of a better description.  I don't get hung up on the issue.  I don't think it is a winning issue to pursue.  I disapprove of Obama's records being sealed up so tight.  I feel he has things to hide.  But he IS in office and trying to move his agenda, and I tend to think that is the bigger fish to fry right now. 

The whole point of the Tea Party movement is that it is a spontaneous expression of the peoples' dislike of how our government is functioning.  It had its roots in bailouts and tax policy, then became a revolt against socialized medicine.  It has absorbed other issues too like anti-corruption and anti-incumbency.  It is becoming a catch-all for people who have a beef.  I'm cool with that.  Originally it was poo-poo'd completely by the media.  Now they at least notice it and report on it, though often unfavorably.  Herein lays the problem.  The Left is in charge right now.  They will NEVER see this as a valid movement.  People like Erick would like to weed out certain elements that are too "fringy."  It doesn't matter to the media, or to those in power, who is part of the movement.  If everybody showed up at a Tea Party in an expensive suit and spoke with an Ivy League diction, it would matter very little.  The ideologues want to implement their agenda.  Period.  We will not persuade them otherwise, whether we are "rabble" or "respectable".  The only thing that matters is pure power - numbers, dollars, and energy.  The Left will never like us, respect us, or choose to do things "our" way, so our only outlet is to amass as many people and dollars as possible and steamroll them.  Trying to somehow "legitimize" the Tea Party movement and shepherd it in certain directions is an attempt to turn it into something that it isn't.  It is spontaneous and amorphous.  It is decentralized.  That is its attraction.  It ought not be cubbyholed.  There should not be a litmus test of who "belongs."  Allowing certain prominent individuals to shape it to their liking will alienate some factions whose energy is valuable.  This could be the movement's undoing.

Run your blog how you want.  Run your mouth how you want.  Leave the Tea Party movement alone.