By RNC Chairman Michael Steele
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In this past Sunday’s Washington Post, former Vice President Dan Quayle offered a thoughtful analysis of the Tea Party movement and its followers. He writes about the principles and motivations of their cause and why these concerned Americans are “the natural allies of the party of Reagan.” In order to gain the Tea Party’s support, he says, what “Republicans need to do is speak to its issues” and “heed its example of a confident and unapologetic challenge to a liberal president and Congress.” I agree with Mr. Quayle and believe the Republican Party is doing just that.
Tea Partiers and other Americans – of all political stripes – are tired of the failed logic that government-knows-best. They’re tired of being taxed too much for a government that spends too much, delivers too little, and charges the bill on the backs of our children and grandchildren. They’re sick of political leaders in Washington ignoring their will on issues like health care, at the expense of problems that are hitting them the hardest at home: jobs and a sluggish economy. And, perhaps most of all, they’re sick of those in power attempting to dismiss and ascribe nefarious motives to their legitimate and democratic opposition to the Obama-Pelosi-Reid leftist agenda.
These activists adhere to the Founding Fathers’ vision of a limited government that preserves individual liberty and promotes economic prosperity, then gets out of their way. They believe in the power of America’s entrepreneurial spirit, a competitive free market, and local communities working together of their own free will to solve our country’s problems. They know that America can remain that shining city on a hill, the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world, and believe that our best days are ahead of us.
Today, America is better off for having the Tea Party protesters fight for these American values and help us get back to our roots. My friends, the Republican Party shares these same principles and stands ready and willing to partner with the growing number of concerned citizens involved in the Tea Party movement and others. Together, we have the power to take back our country from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in the 2010 mid-term elections, then from President Obama in 2012.
For, as the first Republican President Abraham Lincoln once said, “We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts—not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
Michael Steele is the Chairman of the Republican National Committee
