And they said we wouldn't make it. My experience with a White Male Tea Party Member.

Loyalty to country, always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it. ~ Mark Twain

A few weeks ago I met a member of the Charlotte NC Tea Party. It was by accident because I don’t randomly go around meeting Tea Party members. I always thought I would meet a porn star before running into a tea party member. I actually didn’t realize he was a tea party member until after I met him. Let’s rewind it back to how we met.


I was at a Crossroads Charlotte event concerning the state of our city. I was making an attempt to get out and meet people. In retrospect, I should have kept my behind at home. It was a downer of an event. No offense to Crossroads Charlotte because they put on a good event. It was the subject matter that bothered me. I spent my night listening to Charlotte officials telling us how broke we were.


Side Note: Top officials in education and local government have either taken raises or decided not to cut their salaries.


So after all the presentations, we sat around in groups coming up with solutions. I went on my usual rant about politicians being on the take……blah blah blah blah. I know they said they wanted solutions but screw that. I think we need to put a foot up in someone! Or we can just vote people out of office (for the non-violent types). The Politicians in my group (i.e. all of the Republicans) liked that kind of talk. They were big on cutting taxes and holding people accountable. And to be truthful, I like the sound of that as well. We also had the HWIC (Head Woman in Charge) of our local Public Broadcasting Station in our group. She was soliciting signatures to help save her station. Yep! We are so broke we can’t even keep PBS open.


So the rest of the group consisted of my wife and some crazy cat lady. She looked like she slept in a clothes basket, woke up and put on whatever was in it. She kept talking out of turn and pissing everyone off. And she looked like she combed her hair with pine cones. But I digress…. We didn’t come up with any solutions but I met people that I normally don’t come in contact with. I signed a petition for PBS (I’m a sucker for Ken Burns Documentaries). And I took a card from Corey Thompson, candidate for Mecklenburg County Commission At Large. He told me to call him so we could talk about the issues. He seemed like a nice guy and he was a school teacher in the hood so he couldn’t be too bad. Two weeks later I checked his website and that’s when I learned about his Tea Partying (is that even a legitimate word?). Citizen Wifey didn’t like that at all. She is a registered Democrat and I am an Independent. I use to be a Democrat but if you read previous posts………….well that’s another subject for another time. Anyway, I wondered why a nice guy got hooked up with a group like that. I only really knew about the tea party from what I saw on television. When most black people think of the tea party they think “CRAZY IGNORANT WHITE FOLKS.” And it doesn’t help when they have racist signs and crazy people on the tell-lie-vision.


But recently we have found out that the Tea Party members aren’t as crazy as they appear. It appears they are educated and make a good bit of change. Lex Luthor was also educated and paid so they are in good company. I have been debating on whether or not to call Thompson. I have some questions regarding his membership with the them.

1. Why are they so upset with the Government now when we have been on a downward spiral since the last president?
2. If they are a legitimate organization, what’s up with all of the racism?
3. What do you co-workers think about your Tea Party affiliation?


Sometimes I get curious and I want to know more about this dude. Finding a tea party member is like discovering a Yeti. But on the flipside, I might talk to him and want to punch him in his face. Oh, okay…it probably wouldn’t be like that. But I don’t want to get involved in a Rush Limbaugh type conversation. I dislike when racists try to convince you that they aren’t racists. They will say something like “I have plenty of black friends!” My response - “Your maid doesn’t count dummy!!!!” Or maybe I might find out this guy isn’t as bad as his group is advertised? He might have reasoning to show why his cause is just and true. I just wonder where was this party when Dubya “The Decider” (he of the “wire taps and debt to China” set) was in office? It could go either way because you really never know a person. People can tell you what you want to hear and if you are dumb enough you’ll believe it.


As of Today, Thompson was in 3rd place after 100% of the precincts reported their votes. It looks like he will make it to November’s General Election. Now he will really be under the microscope. If people don’t know about his tea party affiliation they will now. And his Democratic challengers will make sure everyone knows.