Publius Returns

Typical Tea Party Rally



The “Old White People” Movement


I was a hanger-on in the Tea Party movement. I attended meetings, and I was actually a member of the steering committee on one of them. Well … sort of. I sometimes wondered what I was doing there. I am an American warrior not an activist. But at my age, what else is there to do when I see the country abandoning what I thought we stood for?

I am an Old White Guy. At the Tea Party meetings, I saw a lot of people just like me. Most are more than fifty, sometimes much more. Most are white. Why is that? Where I live the majority is Hispanic. There are also contingents of Blacks and Asians in the community. But I don’t see them at the meetings. Of sixty people who normally attend, I will see maybe 2 Hispanics; the rest are Old White People.

I remember 1968 well. I left for Southeast Asia and the war in August of that year. The protest against the war was just beginning to pick up steam. They were a bunch of young white people and some blacks. One of their slogans was “Don’t trust anyone over 30.”

Why is it that the activists engaged in protest in 1968 were primarily young white people; yet, now, in 2010, they are primarily Old White People. Are white people, young or old, simply bellyachers? If a white man was 28 in 1968, he is now 70 in 2010. Does it follow that the protesters of 1968 are now the same protesters in 2010? Or would it be that most of the protesters of today are those who did not protest in 1968? I suspect the latter. Are their values diametrically opposed to those of the 60’s protesters? They are.

We are all Americans. Why are we not all joining in? I am white, my wife is Hispanic, my youngest daughter is part Korean, and my oldest mostly Hispanic. Thus my grandchildren are Danish, German, French, Spanish, Indian, Portuguese, and Korean. My best friend in the military was Black. We are all Americans. Why are we not all protesting the assault on America’s core values? Is it because American’s core values have changed? If that is true, why?

And why is our protest not violent (at least not yet)?

A lot of questions.

I see a distinction between those who protested in the 60’s versus those protesting now. Most of the protesters in the 60’s were young; most were in their 20’s. They were full of energy, and most of them had little to lose. Part of growing up is to leave the nest, make one’s own way, and partially rebel the ways of one’s parents. During the war, it was the thing to do. A lot of them saw through the shenanigans of the politicians of their day. A few older people were taking the beatnik path, writing political and religious poetry. It suited the idealistic side of the young. Banding together gave them an identity, an empathetic brotherhood. They formed communes, soul mate groups, cared little for productivity or money, and many embraced the ideas of Marx, Alinsky, et al and those pushing their agendas. Many lived off the streets or off wealthy parents.

The protesters of today, Old White People, see their group threatened, disappearing, and their values under assault. As I look at and talk to the protesters I find that most of them have been productive throughout their lives. They owned businesses, worked hard, and made a decent living for their families. Others worked for wages as professionals: doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, or they were machinists, farmers, ranchers, sales people, or laborers. But virtually all were just too busy feeding their families to be activists. Why now?

Of course some are retired and now have the time, but not all.

Is it not odd that those in the administration have never been in the military, but they run the military? Is it not odd that those in the administration have never run a business or done actual productive work in their lives, but they are trying to run businesses? And is it not odd that those in the administration have no respect for the core values of those in the military or those who run their own businesses or work hard? Is it any surprise that those in the administration are those who sympathize with the idealism of those who led the 1968 protesters or they, themselves, were such leaders?

To the average, hard working American, government intervention does not seem odd at all. They are being hit by things they don’t like: higher taxes, more government, etc. They have come to expect that from politicians. The reason it does not seem odd is because the process of changing America’s core values has been a slow, methodical process that has taken 100 years. They don’t recognize what is happening beyond the symptoms.

A change in reading of the bible in public schools here, the disdainful look at someone having spoken a politically incorrect statement there, the removal of a public faith icon over there, a mosque in the city’s center all add up to unraveling the country one thread at a time. Ah, it’s no big deal. Our REAL problem is just higher taxes, bigger government, recognizing porn under the 1st Amendment, et al. Right?

The American elephant is being eaten one insidious bite at a time. And it has been happening for 100 years if not longer. And who is bearing the brunt of this assault: Old White People. Many Asians try to stay out of the Old White People’s politics. Most of them are working too hard to engage anyway. Many Black people think their time has come. They have little interest in the problems of Old White People, and many think honkies are about to get what they deserve. Many Hispanics believe Old White People are having less children, so why bother right now. Time will give them the future. And after all, doesn’t the South belong them anyway? Just as the President of Kaddafi said, and I paraphrase, “There is no reason for these terrorists to be doing what they do. It is just a matter of time until we take over the world by shear numbers anyway.”

It is Old White People that have the most to lose. They feel it in their gut if they do not recognize it intellectually.

But Old White People, young white people, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians need to recognize what the end run of this handover of America entails.

Many of the protesters of the ‘60’s are the socialists of today. They fill the universities, the federal government, and many of our institutions. Their agenda is to reinvent America, making it into a socialist run state and the forbearer of communism. To the idealist, the young, and those indoctrinated by public schools, it all seems so logical and virtuous: “Workers of the world unit.” Everyone will be on a level playing field; all will participate in the wealth of the nation.

Poppycock.

Can you name a country that succeeded under a communist regime? Those who tried did it on the backs of millions murdered to institute their agendas. Mao, Stalin, Marx, Pol Pot, Castro, the list goes on. They are all the same. It does not work and never will. In fact, some American extremists are proposing just that and more. Their agenda is simply to rid the country of insurance companies, corporations, or anyone else who stands in the way of their communist agenda. Where have you heard that before?

Old White People feel it in their gut. Yet many in our so called minorities feel the need to overthrow what they believe is white supremacy. The young don’t understand history well enough to know the difference. Muslims laugh, knowing the country will fall without them throwing a single rock, while they build another mosque and wait.

If we are to be successful, we have got to make Hispanics, Blacks, and Asian Americans, as well as young Americans understand where we are headed if it is not turned around. We are not going to do that by simply electing people we believe are conservative. We can only do it by educating all Americans.

E Pluribus Unum.

Yet, today’s atmosphere seems one of “Divide and Conquer.”

But wait! Have I stated the case correctly? Is there only a protest, a movement, of Old White People going on? Are the youth doing nothing in this new crisis? Not on your life. Although theirs is a much more low key movement, it is strong, adept, and malevolent. Across the country serious socialists, communists, and far left progressives are hard at work, primarily indoctrinating our very young.

We will not put an end to this struggle without understanding its genesis. Only then can we launch an effective campaign to end it. The government is a machine, rolling along with a huge amount of torque and horsepower. Throwing a conservative or two into its cogs will not even slow it down. To the contrary, it will eat them alive. One has got to understand that we are facing a machine that has rolled away from the Constitution and the ideals of the founding fathers. If we try to fight within its context, we only fight within a machine that is grotesquely out of whack.

Without understanding the machine, we have no hope of destroying it. If we deny that, our survival is at stake.

Ethnic groups of the nation unite!