Birth of a Tea Partier

I consider myself an average American. Married. Employed. Homeowner. Parent. I've spent most of my life raising a family and building a career. Politics wasn't even in the top 10 of topics that interest me.

And then the national debt topped $10 trillion. And then a very left leaning Washington began to ram legislation through Congress in the dead of night. And then Michigan's state government nearly shut down because they couldn't pass a budget that Governor Granholm would sign. And then the housing market collapsed and I found my mortgage underwater while the Wall Street banks got bailed out.

And then I woke up. I became a tea partier.

Despite how the media continue to portray people who sympathize with the tea party, I am not a racist, a right-wing extremist or some kind of religious nut. I am simply fed up with the deficit spending, the expansion of government and its ever-growing intrusion on my personal liberties.

One thing that most pundits want to claim is that people in the tea party movement are "disgruntled Republicans". I'm sure some of them are--but the majority of the folks I know are almost as upset with the Republicans as they are with Democrats. We are fed up with political class, not matter what side of the aisle they occupy. We are tired of the elitist, faux intellectuals in elected offices who think they can "fundamentally transform America" right under our noses. And we will not stand for them spending our children and grandchildren into perpetual debt.

It is time to wake up. To get up. And to do something to stop the craziness before it is too late. Look what is happening in Europe. Governments cannot spend what they do not have. Period. We have tried to get that message to our representatives via the phone, email, faxes, townhalls and rallies. Still they don't listen to us. It is time for the ultimate weapon--the ballot box. We need to vote them out. Remember in November.