Northern Ill. Patriots Meeting April 1

[Frankzilch]

David Brooks wrote: In its short life, the Tea Party movement has developed a dizzying array of conspiracy theories involving the Fed, the F.B.I., the big banks and corporations and black helicopters.

Because of this assumption, members of the Tea Party right, like the members of the New Left, spend a lot of time worrying about being co-opted. They worry that the corrupt forces of the establishment are perpetually trying to infiltrate the purity of their ranks.

I would like to take this opportunity to correct Mr. Brooks, since his "personal" opinion, stated above, is not based in reality. The Tea Party movement was born of the average American's long-term frustration with social programs that have produced only failure, public schools that graduate students that can't read or write at grade level, illegal immigration and their unscrupulous employers, a Congress that decided that everyone qualifies for a home mortgage, and a home equity line of credit( if they so desired), a financial sector that embraced their mandate and exponentially multiplied that disaster, and in the end, we all know who is going to pay that bill. All you have to do is look to Europe, if you have the common sense to do so, and see where we are headed as a nation. From his commentary, he has, obviously, never attended a Tea Party meeting, owing to his assumption that the libertarian(Ron Paul) position and the Tea Party are one and the same. I suggest that he should take some time from his busy schedule with his sinking newspaper, and the low-rated Sunday morning "news" program on which he appears and do some research, before writing a "newspaper" commentary on a subject that he obviously has not given its due diligence. I can say this with certainty, the Tea Party movement's principles are based on what is provided for in our Constitution, nothing more and nothing less. A document that we, as a nation, should become more well versed on. The siren call of expanded federal intervention in our daily lives and pocketbooks, no longer resonates with me. Harold Beadling

how do you feel about the first amendment as it pertains to religion? From what I see most Tea Party followers seem to dislike the "wall of seperation".