From the beginning of my involvement in the Tea Party, I’ve seen our grassroots movement as more than just a force for freedom and fiscal sanity. My hope has always been that the Tea Party would sweep away the entire corrupt system in Washington DC, and fundamentally change the way politics are conducted in this country. After all, the people I speak to around the country are not just angry about bailouts, government debt and runaway spending… they are angry about the entire charade that passes for political debate these days.
Unfortunately, I now see too many conservatives falling into the old games of personal attacks, and muckraking distractions. I understand that to some extent this will never go away from politics, but when it gets to the point where my friends and colleagues are using a teenager’s Spring Break to score political points, I fear that my dream of an issue-focused conservative movement is slipping out of reach.
Let me be clear: as the parent of three beautiful daughters, I understand the challenges of raising children in the modern world. And as someone who was a teenager not all that long ago, I remember how difficult that stage of life can be. But I can not imagine how hard it must be to be, or to raise, a teenager under the microscope that every First Family must subject itself to. Given how challenging that experience must be, I certainly can’t begrudge Malia Obama a relaxing vacation with friends.
Of course, there are some valid criticisms of Malia’s vacation; for example, some argue that the President would have done better to spend his vacation money in America. But by making an issue of the first daughter’s vacation, we conservatives are losing important strategic positions in pursuit of a not-wildly-compelling tactical criticism.
For one thing, we are validating the kinds of ugly attacks that the Left has launched in the past, most notably against Sarah Palin’s family. Some argue that we must sink to the same level, but I completely disagree. Remember that politics isn’t just about Left and Right: by using these attacks, we push more voters towards the third choice, which is apathy. With so much at stake right now in our politics, we can’t afford to turn voters off of the entire political process with these attacks. We need to convince all Americans that we are focused on solving the staggering problems, not just winning at all costs.
Which brings me to the most important reason we should move past these attacks: the reason the Tea Party has become such a power in American politics is that we have always been focused on the real issues. While Democrats and Republicans alike marched this country towards bankruptcy, we, the Tea Party, were able to get past the partisan distractions and push for action on issues that neither party really wanted to fix. In order to keep our movement strong, we must continue to remain laser-focused on the real issues: joblessness, runaway spending, government intervention in the economy and our ruinous national debt.
After all, there are so many crucial issues to discuss right now. Instead of reading and talking about Malia’s vacation, why aren’t we talking about Obama’s reckless new budget? How is a teenager’s Spring Break more important than the new Ryan budget? Eric Holder is losing support in the wake of the Fast & Furious scandal, so let’s get rid of an Attorney General with no respect for the law. Stephen Chu is coming under attack for his Department of Energy crony loans, so let’s push to end that corrupt program. Obamacare is going before the Supreme Court, so let’s rally to end the government takeover of health care.
These are the issues that affect the lives of ordinary Americans, and if we rise above the partisan distractions and insist on real solutions, the Tea Party will truly live up to its potential as the savior of American politics. By getting distracted by such personal and unimportant issues as Malia Obama’s vacation, we are squandering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When I look at my daughters, and think about the future that they are going to inherit, I remember why I am part of this movement, and why we must focus on making real change instead of scoring cheap shots against our opponents.
