Let me begin with a quick word of explanation, if not apology:

This posting should have appeared 5 days ago, but life intervened. Like more than a few people you know, I’m currently unemployed (again), going on week 6. The good news is that I have a firm offer of employment in hand, so the disaster that was last summer and fall won’t be repeated.

Sometimes pausing to take a breath is more important than we realize. Had I posted this in my first flush of anger, the title would have read “Stop Dissing Peggy Noonan, you morons!” But Peggy is a grown-up, an excellent writer and (like me) a proud baby-boomer-turned-Conservative, so she’s more than able to take care of herself. So my delayed response to recent “Peggy-vs-Tea-Party” rants (Shame on you, Sissy!) will be more measured and hopefully more helpful to those who actually take the time to read it, as many of you obviously didn’t do with Peggy’s “John Birch society” column from a week ago.

   (Read Peggy's column here.)

Let me state up-front that I support the Tea Party movement in full: it is a critical part of our national push to give the power back to the people where it belongs. That said, you youngsters need a stern tongue-lashing about your manners and a far better understanding of recent history if you really want this movement to be effective.  I have three very succinct points to make for you, so pay attention.

[1] Peggy never “dissed” the Tea Party movement in her column.  If anything she was very careful to do the opposite – I wouldn’t have been as even-handed, but that’s me – because she was and is a consummate professional, which is why I will continue to read her columns as long as we’re both still here.  We have a common understanding of the salient issues facing this country based on years of experience that some of you simply haven’t attained yet – and no, it’s not just that “older is better,” it’s because we’ve learned our lessons the hard way – just as many of you are doing now.  Growth is painful; anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something.

One of the lessons we learned from the bad old days of the Seventies – colloquially referred to as the Lost Decade – is that euphoria always fades. Why are most liberals such obvious head-cases? Because the thrill is gone from their movement and has been for several decades.  Bill Clinton was a major disappointment to the faithful (what else do you think The West Wing was about?); Al Gore turned out to be a paranoid schizophrenic – not so bad in itself, but he also became a giant pain-in-the-ass; and Barack Obama is on-track to becoming the 21^st Century’s version of Jimmy Carter.  The good ol’ days of protest marches, pro-choice rallies and the Equal Rights Amendment are long gone, and these addicts are suffering from major withdrawal symptoms.

The Tea Party Movement is vastly important at this moment, but it is temporary. People are mad, and they should be, but as Peggy pointed out: “[Political] movements based on resentment, anger and public rage always fade…they never stay.” Most of the leaders that emerged from the Golden Age of Protest either faded into obscurity or went back to their day jobs; few succeeded as political movers-and-shakers.  As the Obama Team has learned over the past 18 months, governing is dirty, hard work, and you get very little gratitude from those who were singing your praises before the last election.

Peggy’s statement that Chris Christie is the type of leader people are looking for should be obvious to anyone who truly understands our current situation, which is going to require that the entire U.S. of A. go “cold turkey” off its addiction to government handouts.  There’s too many of us not earning enough money to feed ourselves; LBJ’s Great Society is a bust.  And withdrawal is extremely unpleasant and never quick.

[2] Ron and Rand Paul are not now, nor will they ever be the future of the Conservative Movement in this country.

If you like what they say, fine, but they’re as fringe as it gets.  It amazes me that some nut-jobs who think conservative Christians are “radical” don’t blink an eye at some of the nonsense TweedleDum and TweedleDee routinely spout to their devoted followers.  What these guys are is your generation’s version of John McCain, so don’t think there’s any chance at all that the rest of us will ever climb on board your rickety bandwagon.

Yes, they have solid support in some circles.  So did Ross Perot: he got over 19 million votes in the 1992 Presidential election, which allowed Bill Clinton to waltz into the White House with less than 43% of the total vote.  Just because millions of people will vote for you, doesn’t mean you’re not a nut-job. (See previous reference to Gore, Albert.)

Which leads me to my final point, which will be the most difficult for many of you:

[3] Like it or not, politics is about numbers.

No, I am not defending the Republican Party’s current tactics or mindset.  If anything, the current Grand Old Party looks to go the way of the Whigs in 1852.  Two years later, the Republican Party was formed, and the first Republican U.S. President was elected just 6 years later. The success of the Tea Party movement will be measured by how it impacts electoral politics, not by how many rallies it holds or how many great blogs are generated to support it.

Reality check: “Members of the Tea Party are not going to vote Democratic…” for the simple reason that there are no honorable Democrats left – I think Zell Miller may have been that last of that dying breed. Take it as a compliment: the Looney Left sees you as a threat, so you’re obviously doing something right.  Prepare to get slimed, big-time.

Last but certainly not least:  how many of you have actually volunteered to work for a political campaign?  You really want to change the current elitist political system? “Grass-roots” means getting your shoes muddy.  Put your time and your heart where your mouth is; you can blog about it later.

There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?  I understand that some of you may take umbrage at my condescending, superior tone.  Tough.  As Peggy Noonan wrote, “If you came to play, get serious.”

And as that great writer/philosopher Stan Lee used to say:  “’Nuff said.”

/wwc/