The Texas Patriots Tea Party is not a substitute for your brain.

An interesting thing has been going on in Johnson County and is permeating even smaller local races.  The Texas Patriots Tea Party appears to be turning into some of what it's earliest passion was against.  In addition to the pillars of lower taxes and limited government it was supposed to be for individualism and personal responsibility.  I see that fading now as more organization comes into the group and they begin to function more as an actual organized political party building up and tearing down candidates from within.  With a select, vocal few at the top tugging on the strings of many, what once was a call for everyone to break away from the confines of party politics and voting like sheep blindly following the shepherds of the past, the Texas Patriots Tea Party now seems to seek that power for itself.

Today, Republicans, tea partiers and conservatives in general do all we can to shine a light on the Democrats, liberals and progressives that continually suck in certain socio-economic voting groups and tell them that they are the party that is "for them" all the while supporting policies that only keep them hostage to more government intervention in their lives.  "Why don't those people think for themselves and make up their own minds", we wonder?  The Texas Patriots Tea Party is heading down this same road.  Back room deals out of politicized civic groups are now putting up candidates out of the internal ranks and preying on conservatives telling them that their candidate is the answer to their needs.  "If you say you're a conservative then you need to vote for our conservative", they're saying. That's a recipe for credibility decline.

Think...for yourself.

April 2009, a day of excitement and hope.

Like me, a great many of you were "tea party" before there was a name and a movement.  We held those pillars to be self-evident, but felt like we were alone.  We felt abandoned by the Republican Party which was fast losing sight of conservative values or the courage to stand up for them.  We were all perfectly kindled and just waiting for that spark in 2009 to ignite us into the fiery passion we held inside for all those years.  Don't lose sight of that and don't be fooled into blindly following what human nature has shown us happens throughout history - power corrupts.  Only a relative few have the discipline to stay true to their ideals and represent their constituents or groups as they said they would.  Stay true to yourself and your individual spirit.  Stand together when duty calls and wrongs need to be righted, but don't vote for someone because someone else tells you they are the same as you.  You may be surprised to find they are very much not.  Educate yourself on the issues and get the answers you seek from the candidates themselves. If you can't find a way to contact them or they are unwilling to answer then that should be a red flag.  When choosing candidates voters need to learn the difference between discernment and influence.  If you really know someone well then maybe their endorsement of another candidate is of value, but if all they are is a public figure, someone you've bought something from previously or an acquaintance then all you really know about them is what they want you to know about them.  Are you sure you want to blindly follow that lead? I've provided endorsements and I will again in the future.  If you blindly follow me then that's your choice, but if you've really gotten to know me then you can be confident in what I say.

It didn't declare that tea party groups
would, from that day forward, become
our  only source of good candidates.

Don't outsource your vote.  Too much blood and treasure has been spent to ensure you continue to have the right.  You owe it to yourself and your country to stand alone on election day, ballot in hand and know that the name you select is  really your individual choice.  Voters can move the government in any direction, but educated voters can move it in the right direction.

A.J.
A Tea Party of One.