Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Jon. Brown's Raid; or, Notes on the Morphology of Financing Grass-Roots Movements
Some Notes on the Morphology of Financing Grass-Roots Movements
James Duvall, M. A.
Big Bone University
The Teaparty is a Movement, not an Organization!
Recently, Jon. Brown, a member of the Boone County Board of Elections,filed a complaint against one of the local Teapartys. I don't claim to speak for any of the Teaparty groups in Boone County, only for myself, so don't sue anybody over what I am about to say. This is not Harper's Ferry; I am only exercising free speech, though I suppose there won't be much of that left either, if Jon. Brown and Prosecutor Robert Neace have their way. Jon. Brown is filing the Complaint as a private citizen, but why? Because the rest of the Board of Elections want nothing to do with it. If the Republicans were smart they would call for his head on a broken platter! I may not gain any friends in places high or low, but at least I will have my say, and so will the Teaparty!
First, I would like to say that Jon. Brown's Complaint was a preemptive strike by a Republican against the Teaparty. The Republican Party is in trouble. Everyone knows it. The reason is that party no longer speaks for real Republicans. The voice of real Republicans (as opposed to RINOs) is now in the Teaparty. Jon. Brown apparently thinks by striking at the Teaparty he can strengthen the Republican party, but this is utter foolishness; it will only weaken that party further.
Second, he made an unwarranted accusation. The Teaparty does not endorse anyone. There is no need to. As a candidate for Soil Conservation Supervisor I endorsed the Teaparty, and all of the individuals at that Teaparty meeting voted to accept my endorsement! All of the citizens have free speech and can agree, and say they agree, with anyone they want! But what sense does this make anyway to say that the Teaparty cannot endorse candidates? Rand Paul endorsed candidates — he endorsed Rick Brueggemann, and Jeff Smith lied and said he didn't! The Enquirer endorsed candidates — bad ones, like Gary Moore! That newspaper is a private corporation, and endorses candidates, but the Teaparty, a voluntary association of private citizens cannot endorse candidates? That is insane, and it cannot be allowed in a free country.
Third, it is disingenuous. Now that word is one I don't use a lot. The only person I know who uses it is Robert Neace; it seems to be his favorite word. That is how I know he is behind Jon. Brown's Complaint; it appeared in the article in the paper several times, so I knew immediately that Mr. Neace had his hands in the works. I must say that Mr. Neace was jealous of Rick Brueggemann. Mr. Neace lost his own bid for a judgeship; if he can't have it, he would rather the job go to his protege Jeff Smith. To attack the Teaparty to further his own and the “insider” (=RINO) Republican agenda he has opted to proceed in an un-ingenuous, uncreative, uncivil, undemocratic, unrepublican, and (ultimately) unsuccessful, manner.
Last, this is bad for the Republican party. Well over half of the Teaparty is made up of active citizens, who — for now — call themselves Republicans as well. They will not vote Democratic in most cases (perhaps for personal friends, and the like, they may do so occasionally). This kind of attack on the Teaparty actually promotes the growth of the Teaparty, and will likely force the Teaparty to run its own candidates (like they did me) in the future.
The Teaparty has no formal organization. There is no corporation, so there is no entity to sue or be sued. Each person retains their rights of free speech, singly, or together. There is often agreement by assent, but the Teaparty is not an organization, it is a movement. Organized people hate movements, because they cannot control them. Jon. Brown's Complaint is an attempt to crush or control the movement. At the very least it is an attempt to throw fear into its members. This will fail. We are much too smart for that.
If some meetings choose to organize more formally, that is their business. I don't think they can be sued either, but to sue the real Teaparty Movement you might just as well sue the Civil Rights Movement, or the movement to recycle plastic and glass! There is nobody to sue, though an official might illegally use his position to harass private citizens for exercising free speech, and Neace and Brown are trying to do that in this little raid. What exists is not an organization in any sense, it is an articulate and articulated desire by a large part of the population for less government and lower taxes. Simple, sensible, smart! It makes no sense to fight it. My advice to the Republican party and its current leadership is: Respect it!
Vote Teaparty 2012!
James Duvall, M. A.
Director of People Personnel and Human Racehorses
Big Bone University: A Think Tank, Research Institute, & Public Policy Center
Big Bone, Kentucky
Nec ossa solum, sed etiam sanguinem.
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