PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I sat in my comfortable chair under a shade tree, enjoying the Tea Party Express my mind wandered to all the different characters that made up the crowd. I think I observed 4 generations of Americans, maybe 5 if you wanted to count babies. The age group most represented was the group that had gray hair like my own.

Sprinkled among the American Flags, and the "Don't tread on me" flags were signs hawking people's issue of the day; Health Care, Illegal Aliens, Gun Control;I think you get the picture!

What did amaze me is how before the Tea Party Express arrived we had people taking the stage that should have never been on stage. Wandering rhetorics, Favorite T-shirts, and even a balding gray haired man with a spike mohawk singing the "Green Beret" song. The crowd was saved by the T-party bus pulling up, and then the party began! I found the actual T-party folks entertaining, and the program well done.

Because I am a conservative I enjoyed and felt comfortable with the crowd. But I can imagine my more liberal friends were not as comfortable. This made me think of how our media and politicians have managed to polarize us as a nation. We are no longer Americans! We are:

1. Afro Americans
2. Hispanic Americans
3. White Americans
4. Male Americans
5. Female Americans
6. Old Americans
7. Young Americans
8. American with disabilities
9. Veteran Americans

A long time ago a wise friend told me everyone is a Hypocrite. What we need to do is define our boundaries of hypocrisy so we can join with like Hypocrites to argue against Hypocrites we don't agree with. We are all products of our upbringing and our own experiences.

It is amusing that one of the issues of the day was the reduction of entitlements. This was coming from a crowd of at least 50% on Social Security and/or medicare! One has to think, "how much sacrifice would anyone of the above 9 categories be willing to make to bring back a country more in line with the constitution"? Good question. Our founding Fathers were an amazing group of people. Most of them, and their families, sacrificed wealth, abuse and long periods of separation to turn an idea into a working form of government which had never been seen before. They were, and still are, the example.

So the next time you make of your sign for your particular issue make sure, besides that you don't run out of room at the end, you are willing to define the length you are willing to go to champion that cause. Are you just bloviating or are you willing to educate yourself and take action? Another good question.

Bob