As the streets are aswarm with drum-banging, drone-chanting, increasingly unwashed mobs calling for everything from free pizza (free educations, free loans, free love, etc.) to the end of capitalism, media pundits are turning themselves inside out to see this movement as somehow having something in common with the Tea Party. I keep hearing that we have "common ground. Really? I suppose at a certain level we both have the same stick in our eye, or at least certain slivers in common, but that's where any resemblance ends. After several days for ideas swirling around in my head, I prepared this statement for anyone who will listen to explain the difference between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street (etc.):
We are TEA
We seek not to occupy, but to influence
We seek not to disrupt, but to restore
We seek not to transform, but to correct
We seek not to inflame, but to inspire
We seek not to empower government, but to restrain it
We seek not to punish success, but to encourage it
We seek not to diminish prosperity, but to enable it
We seek not to confiscate private property, but to protect it
We seek to exercise charity through giving, not taking
We seek to uphold the constitution, not abrogate it
We seek to control our own destinies, not control the destinies of others
We believe in earnings, not handouts
We believe in individuals, not groups
We believe in citizens, not classes
We believe government is subject of the people, not people as subjects of the government
We are Tea.
