Can the Tea-Party Save America?

By Rev. Tim Ginter – Trustee on the Board of PeaceMakers Institute

A week ago Monday, my wife and I visited the local chapter of the TEA Party movement here in North Central Florida. It was an impressive gathering.

They meet every week and average 300 + people in their meetings. They are well organized, extremely active, and highly influential. When the current Florida Governor was running for office he took the time to answer the questions of these citizens for nearly 3 hours. When Sarah Palin came to the area to speak in 2008, she attracted the largest crowd in the presidential campaign, with approximately 70,000 people in attendance!

The TEA Party movement has been one of the most successful grass roots political organizations ever created in the history of the United States. They continue to stay engaged in the political process and hold office holders (and candidates) accountable to the Constitution and “we the people”.

Although there are some “unusual” individuals who have connected themselves with the TEA Party who seek to push their pet peeves with the government through the network of the movement, by and large it is comprised of God loving, law abiding patriots who have awakened to the fact that America’s Constitution and the rights of the people are being trampled underfoot by a minority of atheistic, progressive government leaders.

The TEA Party believes that office holders who are abusing their position by making unconstitutional decisions, marching in lock step with their party’s agenda, and forgetting the people back home need to be sent home themselves…permanently.

I agree.

They believe that according to the Constitution, “the people” have certain “inalienable rights” and that the citizens of America are the ones who are to be calling the shots, not the big-shots in Washington.

I agree.

They also believe that those who are in office need to be reminded that they are there to make decisions based upon the Constitution and represent (re-present) the people and not their own agenda.

Again, I agree.

Where I differ with the TEA Party is in their belief that the SOURCE of all of America’s problems is the government and if we can only get the government back in line with the Constitution; everything will be fine.

Once again, I wholeheartedly AGREE with the goal of replacing corrupt officeholders with men and women of common sense and integrity. This is absolutely necessary.

But the problem with focusing on the government arena alone is that it focuses on the symptoms and not the root cause of the disease eating at the core of America.

When we trace the real reason for the cause of our ills, we unavoidably arrive at the same conclusion:

There has been a huge loss of basic integrity at the functioning level of our society. There is no such thing as absolute right or wrong anymore. Everything is now “relative” and we are now living in the midst of a postmodern relativistic generation.

I submit to you that this growing lack of operational integrity in our society has created a perfect storm of character deficit large enough to affect our government, our judicial system, our educational institutions, and our economy.

Our early leaders knew that we as a nation and society would not last unless the people who comprised the society were morally sound.

Consider the following quotes from two of our forefathers:

“Republican institutions in the hands of a virtuous and God-fearing nation are the very best in the world, but in the hands of a corrupt and irreligious people they are the very worst and the most effective weapons of destruction.” (Philip Schaff)

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

(John Adams)

I am sure you get my point in all of this; we can replace our politicians with ones that will create good laws, and make wise decisions. But these laws will not, nor can they ever, deal with the source of crime, greed, dishonesty, lying, etc rampant in our society today.

These originate within the human heart.

Laws deal with civil conduct, not with internal principles.

We are only treating the symptoms and not the cause of our economic and national ills when we deal with them exclusively at the level of government. Don’t get me wrong, I believe we must stop the astronomical growth and spending. But we must also concurrently deal with the philosophical foundation and the broken moral compass of American society.

So whether we like to admit it or not, we are at war in this nation and I am not referring to the war on terrorism, I am talking about the war of ideas. Whoever wins the war of ideas and belief systems, wins it all. In a Republic such as ours, what the people believe, determines what kind of nation we are and what we will be in the future.

How then can we change the direction and future of America? How can we see America return both as a society and as a government to the principles that made it great?

It is no great secret.

The same operating principles and foundational belief systems that founded this nation and made it the greatest nation on earth are the very same principles and practices that must be employed to restore it.

Number One – We must work to get God-fearing men and women of character and wisdom into political office. We need to find and support them. This means we must work with them, give of our time and money, and last but not least, pray for them.

Number Two – We need to educate Americans, both young and old, as to what is contained in our founding documents such as The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We must systematically teach them the true history of our nation.

Number Three – We need to reintroduce the basis of all laws back into the public view of our society i.e. the Ten Commandments. We need to display them in our courtrooms, class rooms, locker rooms and break rooms. They should be visible in every public place we can post them. We must purposely turn away from the secular atheistic doctrine of government being propagated today and turn back to the Judeo-Christian principles of government that made America the envy of the world.

Number Four – We must also bring prayer back into the mainstream of our society. Our children and teachers ought to be able to pray in school, at ball games, and at their graduations without fear of being turned in by some disgruntled atheist to the ACLU or some other anti-American organization.

Number Five – We need a long range plan of training up leaders who possess a functioning moral compass and can comprehend the difference between right and wrong to take back positions of influence in our society. Yes, I am talking about taking it back!

Number Six – We need to tear the muzzle off of the mouth of the Church and let Her speak into American society again. The church is indeed “America’s Best Friend”.

Number Seven -We as Christians need to obey what our Savior told us when He said that “men ought always to pray and not faint”. We must pray for our nation as we have never prayed before. God has promised us in II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

It is easy to see that the key to America’s renewal is you and me…”we, the people”.

Where would we be today if there had not been those who counted the cost of freedom and willingly paid for it?

Where will we be tomorrow if men and women of integrity and courage do not come forward today and pay the price to reclaim a dying America?

America is worth fighting for and we serve a God big enough to save her.

Let us pray…let us act…and let us see America renewed again!”

Rev. Tim Ginter is a Trustee on the Board of PeaceMakers Institute. He is also the Founder and President of American Renewal Ministries