by activist Josie Gallows
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Dear Tea Party Patriots, which you most certainly are,
We want you to know that we understand your grievances with the Occupy movement. For every kid that blatantly disrespects an officer without just cause, we cringe as much as you do. For every American that burns a flag, we say “you’ve disgraced yourself for nothing.” For every stereotypical “dirty hippie,” we are cursed with the taint of unprofessional behavior.
But these are glaring examples that are easy to see, much like how the Tea Party has been unfairly portrayed because of a sub-section of trouble makers and hysterical pundits.
People accuse the Occupiers of being Communists, Socialists or anti-American. The truth is that the majority of Communists in America will no doubt support the Occupy movement. These people are not, however, representative of the much wider support base that makes up the Occupy movement. This has more to do with our presentation than our actual sympathies.
The same can be said for you.
People accuse the Tea Party of being potentially terrorist because of the fundamentalist militia groups that overwhelmingly support the Tea Party. When people like Ann Coulter, a pundit that no doubt gets lumped in will all other Tea Party Patriots, say “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.” many of us try to believe that not all of you agree. Statements like that are such a public approval of terrorism. They are wanton delight in the destruction of life over political conjecture. We refuse to believe that these are the heart of Tea Party Patriotism.
We have more in common than not. We believe the government has too much power. Where we might deviate is that we believe corporate interests lobby to inflate government so that government can better serve banks and multinationals rather than the people.
We do not seek to redistribute the wealth, only to remove legalized bribery from government office. We only seek to hold criminals accountable for their misappropriation of the American economy.
How do we truly differ then? Mostly over civil liberties issues. Maybe we differ over two prolonged and costly wars. The Occupy movement is accepting of liberals and makes no judgments on the issues we’re all currently putting to the side for something far more pervasive. It is also accepting of conservatives that have not fallen into the political trap of thinking all corporations have all of our best interests at heart.
To many of us it felt like the Tea Party wanted to outright reject everyone that was socially liberal. It didn’t seem to care if we were fiscally conservative or shared common threads. Maybe that was a lie perpetuated by the media? Nevertheless, suffice it to say that you’re likely being misinformed about how accepting we would be of you if you would just join with us.
We have the same goal. Topple the regime, corporate and political, that is destroying American life. We don’t care what your background is so long as you are a patriot. Whether you’re a Conservative or Liberal, whether you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior or if you’re a staunch Atheist, these personal identifiers have nothing to do with the issues of big government and big corporations.
After this is all over we can go back to bickering about our own personal ideologies. Until then, however, no progress can be made on either side until this hydra headed monster we call our current government is removed from American life.
We believe you to be patriots. Join with us in solidarity
