It’s no secret that I am no fan of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) because they are traitors to the black community. Nonetheless, I did start to feel optimistic thinking their souls are not completely owned by white liberals.

I got this idea when I heard Maxine Waters ask for permission to critique President Obama. Its absurd to think that a member of Congress should ask for permission to critique a president especially since she went after President Bush with reckless abandon.

All things considered, this was a step in the right direction. With black unemployment at nearly 16% nationwide and 50% in many cities, I asked myself is this the moment that the Congressional Black Caucus finally put the needs of the American people ahead of the liberal agenda?

In today’s America, the new power lies with the Tea Party. The mess on Capitol Hill reveals the inept ability of not only Democrats to pass key legislation when they have a majority, but it also shows that Republican leaders are being made to walk the “plank” if they do not deliver on their promise of former President George H. W. Bush “No New Taxes”!! While Bush unfortunately couldn’t completely fulfill that promise, today’s Republican can’t avoid it.

In the debt talks, Republican’s are holding the line and sticking to their principles. While many may disagree with the Republicans stance on tax increases, they must learn from these political figures like Grover Norquist and the various Tea Party groups who actually force these Politicians to do what they say they will do. Imagine if citizens in Harlem forced Rep. Charlie Rangel to sign a morality pledge or to only sign onto bills that specifically dealt with housing equality in NYC.

Basically, the Tea Party is a fantastic, principled expression of ordinary Americans’ frustration with our broken politics. And along the way they demonstrate with depressing clarity the kind of laziness that got us here in the first place. In the face of complex problems they spout slogans. They propose to fix our collective roof by burning the house down while we’re all left inside. There’s no problem so complex that it can’t be solved with a can of gasoline and some oily rags.

What the Tea Party has demonstrated more than anything is how easily real concerns about concrete matters can in the this country be redirected and neutralized. Facing an angry mob? Dangle some fear of foreigners and their wicked religions, mix in some resentment of mooching minorities, and you can make them do whatever you want.

Perhaps the Tea Party will prove to be a good start, an initial step in the right direction. Maybe it will eventually spur us to care more about the details and look for serious solutions to our problems. Good things can and do happen. Or maybe the movement will just cannibalize itself in an escalating spiral of extremism and paranoia. Maybe they’ll find the “real” birth certificate. We’ll see.

Elected Tea Party incoming Members of Congress are about to fire their first volley against the Republican establishment on Capitol Hill, by insisting on a permanent ban on the corrupt practice known as “earmarking.”

The Tea Party contributed to the GOP victory by mobilizing the nation’s conservative base, but it also undermined chances for Republican control of the US Senate by nominating quirky and extreme candidates, like Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle, unacceptable choices to many Independents. On the other hand, intelligent and polished Tea Party candidates like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio won their election contests by successfully connecting with Independent voters.

Still, the instances where the wishes of Independent and Tea Party voters converge are more striking than where they part ways. Center-right America wants its elected representatives to cut spending. True, the election was a verdict reflecting the voters’ unhappiness with the state of the economy, but working Americans see a burgeoning government sector increasingly competing for resources against the private sector, the real engine of economic growth. Independents (as reported here) and Tea Party activists are united in their mutual desire to see the size of government reduced.

Contrary to expressed opinion, the 2010 midterm elections were both a referendum on the Obama Administration as well as the ability of the Democratic Party to hold its fragile coalitions together and mobilize their base. Democrats employed a cloak and dagger strategy with an okey-doke philosophy to downplay their numbers and what they wanted out of this. The Tea Party Movement of center right conservatives of all stripes took the Democrats and Republicans off of their game plan in an unpredictable disorganized non-coordinated fashion.

While candidates struggled for money, Obama sat on his $150 million surplus from the 2008 Presidential Campaign in likely anticipation of a 2012 run where he would have problems generating the same level of funds raised in 2008. Rather than appreciate the messages of the Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News stations, etc. simply for what they were — dissenting opinions; Obama the democrat went on the defense making the American people the enemy, seeing racism in any opposition to a black president with a supportive pile on expressed from the previously traditional media, and letting the President show his true colors in noting “We won and you loss,” or “They need to get to the back of the bus” or definitions of those who opposed his policies as “the enemy.”

Last night was truly a blood bath for the President and Democrats, a true “shellacking” as Obama described it today but one of his own making.

The Tea Party vision-the one that has, at least rhetorically, moved the GOP back to limited-government conservatism-and the urban Republican vision are in direct conflict.

I think one of the reasons people are looking at the GOP again after booting them out of power in 2006 and 2008 is that the Dems went a bit too far to the left in regards to the stimulus and health care reform. If the GOP makes big gains or even takes Congress in this fall, expect that they will feel the wrath of voters if they focus on investigations of the Obama Adminstration instead of the economy.

I think there is a big group of people in the middle that would like to see things done. Where I tend to disagree with the “centrist caucus” folks is that the center doesn’t agree on everything or even how to get things done. While both parties have pragmatists, they are still tied to some ideology.

That said, it would be nice to see both the Dems and the GOP split up. That way we could have a more pragmatic conservative party ala the Conservatives in the UK and a pragmatic liberal party maybe more like the Liberal Democrats in the UK or the Free Democrats in Germany.

After years of being a School Counselor in the inner city, I think one of the most important things I’ve learned, from some of my most challenging students, is that everyone has a need to be understood.

Matt Bai’s column today about race and the Tea Party movement seem to answer two issues that have been making the news as of late. The first is of course, the latest round in the “Is the Tea Party racist?” meme. The answer to that question is not a simple yes/no answer. While I think there are racists that have shown up at Tea Party rallies and while I don’t think the Tea Parties are helpful to the Republican Party, I tend to think that on the whole the Tea Party is not racist.

That said, I don’t always get the impression that the Tea Partiers or the wider conservative movement goes out of its way to actively welcome minorities. So, no, the Tea Party is some modern incarnation of the Klan, but it isn’t Sesame Street either.

Both the tea party and the NAACP must be in the business of empowerment not complaining. Pointing fingers at each other like children is disingenuous and counterproductive.

Much to my surprise, I’m with Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP on this Tea Party business this week.

Jealous has called on the Tea Partiers to officially disavow the racists, such as there are, in the movement. I am pleased to see that he has been on good behavior—no melodrama, no exaggeration, no pretending it’s 1962 (which I read as one more sign that that style of race discussion is on the ropes). Complementing his call for the Tea Partiers to be explicit, he has been explicit in saying—admitting! This really is something special, folks—that the Tea Partiers themselves are not a racist body.

If he’s going to actually admit that in public, then it’s a fair trade for the Tea Partiers to speak up about racism in their organization.

Many of you have heard by now, that just this week the NAACP, decided that they would prepare to declare the TEA Party movement as racist in whole, if its leaders did not denounce any and all racist fringes. Ben Jealous cited signs saying ‘Lynch Obama’ and ‘Lynch Eric Holder’ as proof of such racist fringes. The only problem with this is that there is no such evidence that signs ever existed let alone were held up by TEA Partiers at any TEA party rally. It was a charge rather like the indelible and erroneous rumor of black congressmen being spat and called slurs, which was also proven false. Even though it was such an obvious fallacy; that didn’t stop Nancy Giles from spewing it out her mouth on Larry King Live.

Dana Loesch, a co-founder of the St. Louis TEA Party, however rightly put her and Stephanie Miller, who insisted on using the insult “teabaggers” as a means of identifying TEA partiers, in their places. Dana, in my humble opinion ran circles around the lies and misconceptions surrounding the TEA Party and its members. As for Ben Jealous, David Webb got him to admit the power of the TEA Party and rightly shot down accusations of racism against the TEA Party movement.

As a supporter of the historical contributions of the iconic civil rights organization and believer in the group’s ability to rebound from its mounting irrelevancy over the recent decade, I share common values with the NAACP for the advanced of all people, including and particularly people of color. As noted by the organization, we commonly believe in the ability to protest peacefully in America, understanding that this is a civil right that has been emblazoned on the spirit of all citizens within our nation’s borders through the sacrifice of soldiers and Freedom Fighters alike. As well, we both share the tenet that there is patriotic and personal strength and dignity found in upholding civic respect, decency, and honor through both our agreements and debates that allow for the continuation of actualized civic equality for all Americans.

However, it is with regret that I find the proud organization and I at odds over its willingness to stereotype the Tea Party Movement through its adherence to pop politics and brief media presentations instead of actual research and engagement with a swelling community of Americans that have ties to the diversity of our country. The NAACP’s willingness to take umbrage with this Movement and label a significant portion of their fellow citizens through leveraging 30-second sound bites on radio, sensationalized B-roll video clips on television, and hearsay isolated incidents is akin to those Americans that stereotype everyone with contemporary Black America as “welfare queens”, “urban terrorists”, and “burdens on American society.” Both behaviors are dangerously overreaching and wrong.