Having done video coverage of almost 50 Tea Parties in over 45 cities in 25 states, it’s safe to say I know the Tea Party well. And as a 23-year-old coming from a generation primarily influenced by mainstream media, I believe the mainstream media’s lampooning and stigmatizing of our movement, while nefarious yet somewhat successful, has not been achieved entirely without some cooperation on our part. I believe in our movement, and believe we will win in November, but if we lose, here are five reasons why.

First: Let’s not overdo it with the 18^th century costumes. While festive and somewhat thematically appropriate, it doesn’t speak to my generation, and often begs the mainstream media to caricaturize us as Halloween-padded fringe throwbacks. We can all agree on restoring the constitutional vision of our founding fathers, but restoring their fashion sensibilities? You will have to call me a progressive on that one.

Second: A convenient Tea Party mantra has been the presumptuous, and seemingly amnesiac notion that President Obama “betrayed the American people,” that “We the People have spoken and never wanted Obama’s policies.”

Obama made his agenda clear during his campaign: He promised to socialize health care, to push for cap and trade, to implement tax policies that would “spread the wealth around,” he equated redistribution of wealth with “neighborliness,” supported the 2008 Wall Street bailouts, demonstrated his faith in Keynesian economics, his class warfare mentality, his distrust for the free market… (more…)

For those who may not know, Santelli has been a CNBC on-air editor since 1999, reporting a dozen or so times a day live from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade whenever the exchange is open. To this casual viewer, Santelli’s genial, down-to-earth Midwestern persona always seemed a refreshing homespun relief from the high-voltage, East Coast, guru-on-steroids style of CNBC superstar Jim “Booyah!” Cramer.

Full disclosure: I am a modest-earning playwright, not a rich hedge fund manager, and currently have no money in the stock market. I merely began following the market about 10 years ago out of theatrical curiosity—it seemed like the next best form of drama after Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams. I never imagined names like Larry Kudlow, Maria Bartiromo, and Bertha Coombs would mean a damn thing to me, but soon like Miranda in The Tempest I found myself exclaiming “O brave new world, that hath such people in it!”

Back to Rick.

Rick Santelli delivered his now famous “Shout Heard ‘Round the World”—his impromptu suggestion that America needs a Boston Tea Party redux—on February 19, 2009. As a full-fledged CNBC geek, I happened to be watching “Squawk Box” that morning, my alternative to “The View.” (Not to take anything away from Babs and her bevy, but when it comes to looks and smarts, nobody can top CNBC morning money-honeys Melissa Francis and Trish Regan.) (more…)

Last year I had written a piece for the American Thinker and I went to that site to read the comments posted. Next to the article was an ad that showed a video of Sen. Chuck Schumer saying that “the American people don’t care,” about what he called those little “porky amendments.”

Something flew all over me and I felt it was time to become more activist than simply writing a column that preached to the choir but did not reach the average New Yorker who continued to vote in parasitic corrupt politicians.

I bought a domain calling it ChangeNYin2010.com and posted that Schumer video, as well as another one featuring Charlie Rangel cursing out a reporter asking him about his ethics violations: (more…)