Adam Andrzejewski gets a mention…
What I Saw at the Tea Party Convention
Mr. Phillip isn’t the only black tea-party candidate in the deep south—Angela McGlowan, who spoke in Nashville, has entered the Republican primary in Mississippi’s first district—and primary challenges aren’t the only way activists are exerting influence. Cincinnati tea-party activists are running candidates for Republican precinct executive in every precinct in their area—if elected, these candidates will help set policy platforms within the GOP and have sway over which candidates the party endorses. Activists in other states are doing the same. Adam Andrzejewski, who ran in the Republican primary for governor in Illinois, told me he will run candidates in each of Illinois’ precincts, and Utah activists are turning that state’s convention-based nominating system into a trial for incumbent Republican Sen. Robert Bennett. Plus, tea-party activists used their convention to launch a political action committee.
Nice mention of Adam Andrzejewski. People should go to his site to see the model of a credible outsider candidacy. You need to be a policy heavy weight, with detailed, workable ideas, all based upon principles, not sound bites. Any so-called conservative run on brain-candy for blog commentators. That might get you 5-7%, but it can’t and won’t win a general election.
If the tea-party is to become a force, it’s leaders need to either a) get in party positions (precinct/local offices) or b) begin the process of starting a new party. For now, Republicans should be the natural home for these folks, but if the current crop of Republican patronage pigs retains the power to reject the new blood, then the energy behind the tea party should start something new. It doesn’t need a majority for clout. It merely needs party status. With Party Status (and every state differs in establishing said status) the Tea Party can become the tail that wags the Republican Dog.
Both options require detailed knowledge of Policy and Party Politics. It may have been started with a tea party, but it needs to be finished with a Declaration of Independence from the past, and a re-commitment to the principles outlined in the Constitution. That won’t be accomplished with an angry mob stomping their feet in a “two minutes hate” against Mark Kirk Republicans. Only a committed group of knowledgeable, presentable, principled ideologues will suffice.