Tea Party fights for smaller government
Local ophthalmologist Jim Savage delivers a speech on the dangers of the new health care law.
May 10, 2010 • written by Margaret Cross
Filed under News
The Tea Party movement has been receiving a lot of media hype recently for their strong verbal protests against many recent deeds of President Barack Obama’s administration, primarily the new health care law and the economic stimulus package. News media have painted them as extremely conservative and anti-Obama (also known as “NO-bama”). But what do people really know about the Tea Party?
At a general meeting of the Mid-South Tea Party, which is based right here in Memphis, on April 29, over 100 people attended while the Party discussed general business and campaigned to recruit volunteers to help run their committees. However, the Party’s main order of business was to educate the people in the Bartlett/Memphis area about how they can make a difference in their government.
“The goal of the Tea Party is to unify, empower, and amplify the voice of ‘We the People,” Mid-South Tea Party member Mark Herr said.
Contrary to what some people may believe, the Tea Partyers did not spend the whole meeting bashing Obama and plotting conspiracies to overthrow the government. They merely expressed their discontent with “big government” and “big spending,” which they believe goes beyond what the Constitution has laid out.
Herr stressed this point when he stated that the Tea Party remains unaffiliated with either the Republicans, independents, or Democrats. The Party is also working to counter stories that the organization is, as described by the Commercial Appeal, “sponsored by right-wing ideologues and corporate interests and fanned into flames by cable TV.”
In Tennessee specifically, the Tea Party has support in Congress from Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and from Representatives Steve Cohen, Josh Tanner, and Marsha Blackburn.
Plus, Tennessee has so many Tea Party branches, many have joined together to create the Tea Party Cooperative. Their main goal is to petition against the health care law Obama passed earlier this year (aka Obama-care). The group’s website has an online petition requesting support for the Tennessee Health Freedom Act, which the state feels Obama-care violates.
In fact, one doctor who was invited to speak at the Mid-South Tea Party meeting in April spoke heatedly against the health care law.
“It is not a hyperbole that Obama-care will kill people,” ophthalmologist Jim Savage, MD, said. “Many things will interfere with good care. There will still be people who can’t get care. People haven’t thought ahead about finding a doctor who will accept Medicare.”
The Tea Party is fighting to return power to the people of the United States. They believe that the federal government has become too powerful, and they will continue to express their concerns until the government decides to change.
“The government doesn’t run us,” Mid-South Tea Party member Carmon Heilmann said. “We run the government. WE gave the government the authority they have.”
Even mayoral candidates are agreeing with the objectives that are the foundation of the Mid-South Tea Party.
“The Tea Party speaks a common language,” Memphis mayoral candidate Charlotte Bergmann said. “It’s called the Constitution.”
As the Tea Party movement grows in supporters across the country, the government may end up having to make some major changes to make up for the growing power they have encountered in the past decades.
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