We've had the Contract With American (1994). We've recently seen the Contract From America. (2010). Now we're being presented with the Contract On America.How many prepositions are left?
The DNC seeks to link Republicans with the Tea Party Movement. To illustrate their argument, they've come up with the Contract On America: Here is their video:
The campaign ad alleges the Tea Party agenda is the agenda of the Republicans, that they are "one in the same."
If only that were true.
(I don't recall seeing Tea Party protests demanding those responsible for the Gulf oil spill not be held accountable, or for a repeal of the 17th Amendment, but we'll leave the DNC's creative cut-and-paste editing aside for the moment.)
Sorry, DNC, but the establishment Rockefeller folks at the RNC have not exactly embraced the Constitution-waving, We the People, leave-us-alone, freedom loving rabble at the Tea Parties .
The effort to lump the two together under yet another contract distracts the public from seeing one of the primary reasons the Tea Party movement cropped up.
At the heart of the movement is a revival of basic constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and individual freedom. Everyday Americans have organized by the millions to exercise their right of assembly to petition the government for redress of grievances. It is a bottom-up, grassroots movement looking to effect real change in government policy.
As such, any "contract" coming out of the movement would not be some new approach to reorganizing life in American. On the contrary, the Tea Party movement has returned public discourse to the country's governing document, The Constitution. This is the contract with, from, on, (pick a preposition) America, the one that binds the power of politicians in positions of power.
The question, Where in the Constitution is the federal government empowered to do x, y, and z? has for the first time crossed the minds of many Americans. This is a very good thing. Not surprisingly but no less disheartening, even powerful politicians need reminded:
Both political parties, Congress, the courts, and the president need to be bound to this contract as a reminder there are limitations to the power they exercise over the lives and liberties of Americans.
Now if only we could get politicians to hold up their hands and swear not to break this contract when they assume office...
