Meeting with the Neighbors:
The Sedona Tea Party
The purpose of We the People is to call forth a remarkable revolution in this nation—not through violence and divisiveness—but rather through
Bringing Americans together from all political persuasions
- Honoring and respecting one another, and
- Aligning on proposals the vast majority of Americans (67-75%) agree would upgrade and strengthen our democracy—consistent with the principles of Fairness, Honesty, Respect and The Common Good.
After reviewing our website, the leadership of the local Sedona (AZ) Tea Party invited me to attend their monthly meeting, listen to a presentation by a self-described conservative member of the Arizona State Legislature, and explore possible collaboration with their leadership. The meeting was valuable and informative—here’s my report.
First, everyone was quite polite, friendly and welcoming—in spite of the fact that I indicated that my job was to make sure I did not show any favoritism and that I could not join any group.
Second, the various Tea Party groups are pretty independent of one another and the thoughts, feelings, opinions and management of each group may vary considerably—so, as usual, stereotyping will not be very helpful.
Third, the attendees appeared seriously concerned and/or fearful about the direction of the nation—and according to the polls, that’s consistent with the vast majority of the nation.
Fourth, unlike most concerned Americans, in my opinion, the attendees demonstrated considerable courage by stepping up, organizing, making themselves heard and persisting against formidable odds.
Fifth, the local leadership indicated they agreed with and supported the stated goals of We the People and the three proposals listed to date:
- Give everyone an equal and fair opportunity to be heard by eliminating the influence of money on the political process
- Requiring complete, accurate and honest information from the government and media on matters of public policy, and
- Requiring all information from the government be intelligible to all voters
Finally, we did have a difference however in the preferred avenue to accomplish these ends. While I indicated a personal preference for amending the constitution (more about that later), the local Tea Party leadership indicated they felt amending the constitution was too burdensome and slow and they were committed to the avenue of immediate action through the voting process.
I’m looking forward to YOUR thoughts and questions on this!
Blog Entry (BE) 4 – July 9, 2011