IN MY OPINION

Today (6/4/10) I sent this Letter to the Editor in response to Steve Gunn's editorial which appeared on June 3rd:

Editor:
Steve Gunn’s outrage at the dirty tricks he has pinned on the Michigan Democratic Party is amusing. Without benefit of proof, his verdict is guilty: the Dems have created a rumor of an official Tea Party in order to intentionally confuse voters and undermine Republicans this fall.

Item One: The Tea Party is alive and well in Michigan, and would like nothing better than to be a major player in Michigan politics. Google “tea party Michigan” and you will find no less than 67 separate tea party groups organized in and around the State. These groups advocate “enforcement of the constitution”, “taking back America” and some even bill themselves as “volunteer militias”. The Muskegon Country (sic) Tea Party Patriots, is partnered with the Tea Party Patriots, Inc., American Solutions: for Winning the Future, Smart Girl Politics, Freedom Works and Red State – all of whom are in the business of getting people elected to public office. The Tea Party of West Michigan’s mission statement: “To influence policy and affect the election of government officials who will defend and protect the original meaning of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.”

Item Two: The Republican Party is experiencing fissures from within. The attempted hijack by the Far Right is something you can’t pin on the Democrats. There are a lot of folks who, for a lot of reasons, are fed up with politics as usual. Some of them join a party and run for office and try to affect politics from within. Some of them march around with their hate-filled signs and their bullhorns in some amorphous attempt to Take America Back. If the candidates are not “tea party” enough, these folks won’t vote at all. They'll just continue to spew hate and fear from the sidelines. I’m not surprised that these patriots don’t want to go through the hassle of creating their own official party. But they should, and then let’s see how they compete with centrist Republicans in head to head elections.

Item Three: Your outrage is adorable. I’m wondering, though: where was your outrage in 2008, when Rush Limbaugh encouraged Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries? How about when Republicans everywhere donated large sums of money to help get Ralph Nader on the ballot in 2004? On the local level, I know first hand of Republicans who run as Democrats every freakin' cycle in order to split the vote right here in Blue Muskegon. And Steve, you do, too.