There are Americans who want America to be more like it was on July 4, 1776.
It didn't change much for 230 years, but it has changed a lot since then -- some would say too much.
By change, I'm not talking about the difference between writing a declaration on parchment and typing one on your iPad. I'm talking about a fundamental transformation from exceptionalism to just another country where government is your master.
On the right coast, the First Coast Tea Party is standing up for America.
Billie Tucker, a co-founder along with Carole McManus of the local group, said it began when there was “a great awakening by people who hadn't been involved in politics.” She describes herself as a businessperson, wife and soccer mom. She had been a registered Republican since the age of 18, but on the day of the bank bailout supported by President George W. Bush, she decided something was wrong.
“My clients weren't getting bailed out. I went into research mode to find out what was happening. Did that for four months. I found out so much disturbing information."
As she was wondering what to do about it, a friend called and told her there was going to be a tea party in Jacksonville, as a result of the famous rant by CNBC newsman Rick Santelli. At the first meeting, attended by 75 people, they tossed tea into the St. Johns River.
For the second meeting, they got a couple of local people as speakers. One of them was a guy named Rick Scott, who was one of Tucker's clients. They expected 500 people and instead got 5,000-plus.
Tucker emphasized that it started while Bush was president. “Obama just put it on steroids.”
It was not an offshoot of the Republican Party and “not one dime came from the Koch brothers,” she said. It was an attempt to preserve conservative values and the Constitution.
But she soon became frustrated all over again. “It didn't matter what we did -- write letters, show up in Washington offices, sign petitions or attend town hall meetings. Everyone in Washington is bought.”
As in any movement, there was turmoil. “When you do something for God, the devil is going to show up,” she said. She left the tea party in 2011, took a year to reflect, and started Grassroots for Victory USA and the Leaderboard Roundtable in Jacksonville, a local forum for conservatives.
She said the tea party, which is a movement and not a political party, is effective but, “We sent a whole new Congress to Washington and still are not getting what we want. Our ultimate goal is to put a conservative in the White House in 2016.”
She plans on taking her new effort national, going around the country, involving national tea party leaders and creating roundtables in every community. “We want to wake up people to what is good about America.”
With liberals constantly denigrating the nation, its culture and its traditions, that is a nice thought for the Fourth, and beyond.
Lloyd Brown was in the newspaper business nearly 50 years, beginning as a copy boy and retiring as editorial page editor of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. After retirement he served as a policy analyst for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
