The Top Three Tea Party Questions

By Karl Uppiano

If you are a part of the Tea Party movement, you might sometimes wonder, "What can I do?" Well, you can memorize, or print out and carry in your pocket, these three questions:

1. Which article of the Constitution gives government the authority to do this?

2. How does this help reduce the deficit and balance the budget?

3. Why does this have to be mandatory and not voluntary?

It matters not what the topic may be; these three questions are fundamental. Include them in every political conversation you have with your family, friends, neighbors, and especially with your elected representatives. Tea Party activists nationwide can lead the effort to make sure politicians will not step out of their offices without credible answers to these questions, on any issue whatsoever.

Which article of the Constitution gives government the authority to do this? In the US Constitution, the Enumerated Powers contain the list of things that government can do on our behalf. It liberates us to go about our daily lives without having constantly to concern ourselves with governance. Conversely, the Bill of Rights is the list of things government absolutely cannot infringe under any circumstances. Progressives have for too long marginalized the Enumerated Powers, and so We the People are now fighting desperately just to keep our government from usurping the Bill of Rights. Whatever happened to the phrase "Congress shall make no law...?"

How does this help reduce the deficit and balance the budget? Anyone who has the slightest understanding of economics knows that the current federal deficit is not sustainable. We are heading for the abyss; yet most of our politicians seem strangely unconcerned about the consequences, or about turning the ship around. If you have children, then you should be obsessing over this question. Without a solution, your kids do not have a future with anywhere near the health and prosperity to which they have become accustomed.

Why does this have to be mandatory and not voluntary? The unthinking impulse is to use the force of government to make everyone "do the right thing." Except, who gets to decide what the right thing is? The first amendment (freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion) allows us to try to persuade our fellow citizens to do what we think is right -- but not to impose our will on them. Every mandate, regulation or tax incrementally reduces everyone's liberty. Always prefer voluntary over mandatory and liberty over tyranny.

These three questions will resonate with honest people from anywhere on the political spectrum. Asking them -- again, and again, and again -- will help to restore the American form of government to the original intent of the US Constitution, with liberty and equal justice for all.

Karl Uppiano blogs at www.antikakistocrat.blogspot.com, and can be reached via email at Karl_Uppiano@msn.com.