And like a tsunami, its energy was not spent at the beaches.
It continued to push on, and last night it engulfed what Democrats had smugly taken to calling the “Teddy Kennedy Seat.” Indeed, the defining moment in this campaign would be when Scott Brown reminded David Gergen during a debate that it was, despite the Left’s best efforts to re-shape reality, what it had always been – the people’s seat.
And those of you that have been active in the Tea Party movement – born less than one year ago – should know that last night’s results had more to do with you than the Republican Party.
I am proud of you all; when you had to do it, when it was all on the line, after you got knocked down by the media and academia and the effete snobs of the chattering class you got up, wiped off the slime, and punched back. Hard.
For years, for decades, while you were educating yourselves, building your future, raising your families, and paying your taxes, you – ordinary, hard-working Americans – were demonized, insulted, taken for granted and told to shut up and like it. Those who spoke up against the politically-correct insanity that slowly crept over our society like a fungus were labeled as racists, bigots, xenophobes, homophobes and worst of all, ignorant, bitter people clinging to your guns and bibles.
They thought they had you beaten. They did not.
Having no real grasp of the history of this country, they underestimated you, and they underestimated the intensity of the fire that burns within Americans who believe that they should be free from the burden of nanny-state regulations and a controlled economy; free from the burdens of misguided wealth-redistribution; and free from the insulting left-wing drumbeat that somehow the United States of America, the greatest force for good in the history of the world, was somehow to be blamed for all that was wrong with the planet.
And so you rose up and did what you had to do. Not the Republican Party, not your elected representatives, not the slick media-men, not the well-funded think-tanks – you. And me. And millions of other plain folks who had had enough.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." These words were attributed to Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who led the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. How ironic that an enemy of America understood this country better than the man who occupies the Oval Office today.
The victory in Massachusetts last night belongs to the Tea Party movement far more than it belongs to the Republican Party, who lately seems to be hesitant to enter the fight until the little guy has softened up the bully for them. But for a small handful, no Republican was quick to embrace the Tea Party movement, frightened, as they were, that we were unacceptably politically incorrect.
Our work has paid off, but of course our work is not yet done; we should be encouraged, but not complacent. Do NOT be fooled into thinking that an astounding victory in January guarantees a sweeping victory in November – it does not. We cannot let up – now is the time to push harder and harder; as long as there is an attempt to pass radical, anti-free-market legislation, the pressure must be intensified, not relaxed.
This Democrat Congress has been an unmitigated disaster for America, and they must be recalled.
November looms.
