This weekend, the largely informal Tea Party movement attempts to take a step toward becoming a formal organization. Thousands are gathering in Tennessee forthe Tea Party’s first national convention and begin to organize innumerable numbers of citizens who are dissatisfied with the direction our government has been and is going in.

Although the Tea Party movement is new, the anti-government sentiment that motivates those in it, is not new. There has always been an anti-establishment and “they’re all alike” component that has motivated people and inspired attempts to create “third parties”. The most recent one to have come closest to, but still fall short of success, was sponsored and headed up by H. Ross Perot in 1992. In his first bid for the presidency, Perot’s near 19% of the vote earned him no electoral votes but did essentially throw the election to Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.

Third parties do not have a good track record in the United States. That is in large part due to the fact that we have a two Party system. It is not solely a two Party system, but it essentially is. Even so, there do exist many official third parties. Take a state like New York. There in addition to Democrats and Republicans you have four other major parties. There is the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Libertarian Party and the Right To Life Party.

There are even more than that, but those are the four most prominent. They often run their own candidates but more often than not, they cross endorse candidates.

For instance a Democrat may occasionally be found also running on the Conservative line. Usually, the Republican is endorsed by the Conservative Party and the Democrat is endorsed by the Liberal Party. On many occassions, Republicans run on the Conservative and Right To Life lines. These crossed endorsed candidacies have the total vote on the Republican line added to the total votes that they get on the Right To Life and Conservative Party lines.

What this essentially does is give individuals who can’t get themselves to pull the lever for a Republican, the opportunity to vote for the Republican, but on the Conservative or Right To Life line.

This is how Rudy Giuliani became Mayor of overwhelmingly Democrat New York City.

He won the Republican nomination but there were far too many New Yorkers who refused to ever vote Republican, even if they did like Rudy. So what did he do? He got enough signatures to create a third Party line called the “Independent Fusion Party.”

It was that line that gave Rudy enough votes to win, because the total he received on the Republican line would never have been enough to elect him.

But the point to all this is that regardless of these third party entities that may exist, they more often than not, align themselves with either the Republican or the Democrat candidate. Why? Because we are essentially a two Party nation. For some of us the two Parties represent clear differences. To some of us, it is not so much Republican or Democrat as it is right or wrong. It is that clear cut. For others, both Parties are the same. These angry voters are today calling themselves Tea Party members.

And so at their convention, they are organizing.

For those who could afford the exorbitantly high priced tickets that are required for each of the events at their convention, they are being offered workshops such as “How to do Voter Registration Drives and Where to Find Conservative Votes” & “Women in Politics” or a workshop sponsored by the Young Americans for Freedom called “How to Involve the Youth in the Conservative Movement”. Training in these areas are crucial for any movement so I commend the organizers of the Tea Party convention for understanding what needs to be done to be a successful activist.

But my question to all these new activists and their newfound enthusiasm is ………Where the hell have you been??

Why did it take elected Republicans who went astray and the most left leaning, socialist admiring, wealth spreading, President in history, to wake you up and get you up off of your collective arses?

And now that you have finally woken up to the fact that we are losing our country and shredding its Constitution, what are you doing?

You’re trying to take the same historic path to failure that others who believe the grass is greener on some imaginary third side of the street took. And that is despite the fact that you know there are only two sides to a street.

I find myself greatly frustrated by the new awakening that suddenly has millions of people saying “hey, wait a minute, that isn’t right” or “Hey, can they do that”. What “they” have been doing hasn’t been right for years, but your lack of civic responsibility allowed it to get to where it is today.

Which brings me to the direction I advise that Tea Party activists take.

Now that our government has your attetion, use the Tea Party Convention well. Be inspired by its speakers. Absorb the organizational knowledge being provided in the truly useful workshops that the convention offers. Then take that inspiration and knowledge and do what you should have started doing a long time ago. Apply that organizational ability and activism into taking over the two Parties that exist. Make those Parties the political organization that represent what you want them to represent, not what the establishment political class wants it to stand for.

Start at the local level.

Whether you know it or not, there are elections held that elect your local Republican or Democrat Leaders. The first subset of leaders are your local committeemen. One man and one woman within small sections of your neighborhood are elected by the registered voters of the respective Parties who live in that area. They are usually called “election districts”. The people who win the election in their respective election district or precinct, then become municpal or district committeemen. At the same time, there is also usually an election for either district leaders or Municipal Chairmen. These people organize the district or municipality represented by district or precinct committeemen. In some cases these leaders are not voted on in the general election but by the town or precinct committeemen who were elected by the voters in a general election.

District Leaders or Municipal Chairs then organize their committeemen and together they select County Chairmen. This occurs at a county convention where the county committeemen elect the County Chairmen.

As we climb the organizational pyramid, at a state Party convention, County Chairmen elect a State Chairman and at national conventions, State Chairmen elect a national Chairman.

This is how the Parties, that Tea Party protestors so despise, organize.

Now if only these Tea Party Patriots participated in that process, they could be controlling the Parties and stop being controlled by the Parties.

It should also be known that in many cases, the same process that elects the Party leadership, also takes place in regards to the official endorsement process of candidates. In many cases, it is how nominees of the respective Parties are selected when local, county or state offices open up, especially in the event of seats that become vacant. In those cases, the same process that elected your district or municipal chairmen will select the nominee who will run in a special State Senate, State Assembly or City Council election.

Understanding this process is essential to any Tea Party Patriot.

By understanding the methodology involved, instead of trying to build a third side to a street, you can rebuild the existing side that you prefer and make it into what you want.

If you can get Tea Party Patriots elected to County Committeemen positions, you can put into office the Republican or Democrat Party leader of your municipality. Elect Tea Party Patriots to Municipal Chairmen positions and they can elect the Tea Party protestors that they want to be Republican or Democrat County Chairs. From there you do the same with State Chairmen and ultimately the Chairmen of the Democrat and Republican National Committees. It is also how you effect and in many cases select the candidates for state assembly, state senate, Governor, Congress, and the Senate.

If you were apart of that process, you could shape your party platform, you could also be a part of the screening process that endorses candidates and throws the full weight of the Party establishment behind those endorsed candidates. If you were a part of that process, you would be the establishment and you would be able to eventually take credit for electing people who will take this country in the direction that you want to see it go in.

So my advice to Tea Party Patriots is this. Change things from the inside out. Energize, stay angry and motivated, stay focused and become a part of the process instead of fighting the process and succumbing to the failure of all other third Parties.

Do you want to cross endorse or throw your weight behind the establishment’s candidates or do you want be the candidates that others cross endorse and help? Don’t fight with the political Parties………..

TAKE THEM OVER AND MAKE THEM REPRESENT YOU AND WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO REPRESENT!!!!