Tea Party terrorists

Dear Editor:This latest federal budget fiasco has me very disappointed with a number of our elected leaders. I may not be in the majority or agree with the so-called conventional wisdom and current media diatribe, however, I believe that the so-called minority Tea Party is not as minor as the press or the President would like us to believe. My issue is with the Republicans that allowed the news, Democrats and even some Republicans to call Tea Party members terrorists and hostage takers. Where was their outrage at such blatant name-calling and demagoguing of an issue? How can any Republican that calls himself a conservative let something like this go unchallenged? I have been hesitant about joining the Tea Party, believing that conservatives can come together under the Republican Party and put up good conservative leaders that share the beliefs I value. I am starting to no longer believe this. I am a pragmatist and believe that in our political system compromise is inevitable. However, we have a president and Democratic leaders that offer no compromise, and refuse to work with conservatives. The one time Democrats had both branches of government they voted for one of the largest growths of government in history without a single conservative vote. Contrary to so-called popular belief, I fully believe that the Tea Party did the correct thing on the budget, and that moderate to liberal Republicans let them down. I am not advocating a third party yet, however, I am in support of voting out the so-called moderates and replacing them with real fiscal conservatives. Moderate conservatives that allow members of their own party to be publicly vilified for being against the largest expansion of our government in modern history need the voters of their district to vote them out. With the current national Democratic leadership, how can there be real compromise when one side wants to keep growing the government and the debt, and the other wants to reduce the size of government and reduce the debt? Slowing the rate of growth is not a compromise; it's just another way of increasing the size of the debt and the government. The Tea Party has been the only conservatives that have stood on the principal of reducing the government, not slowing the rate of growth. They were elected to stand against this unwarranted expansion and they were the ones that kept their word. The Republicans that did not stand with them need to be voted out. Becoming more moderate at the expense of your base is a death blow to the Republican Party. What the Republicans need are true conservatives that can articulate conservative beliefs and have the backbone to support them. A leader does not hold up his finger in the wind to see which way the political winds blow, they take a stand for what they believe in, and if enough people believe with them they will be elected and stay in office. Compromising your beliefs only weakens you and the party, and is a sure way to keep giving those that believe our freedoms and our future success comes from the largess of the government rather than from us. Edwin Huber Downey

********** Published: Oct. 24, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 28