The New Tea Party Ritual.

(Written 9-4-09 and posted 9-11-09 )

The brewing and serving of tea in many civilizations is a strictly observed ceremony. It would be a cardinal sin to tamper with the ritual. Apparently, our new communist administration has been subjected to some discomfort at tea parties around the nation. Good students that they are, they perfected a technique to guarantee a higher level of decorum.

In my drastically gerrymandered congressional district, the public protested the decision by our party hack representative to not hold any healthcare meetings at all. The response from the three local offices was that they had no idea where the representative would be during the "break" and there were no events scheduled. This soon escalated to newsworthy status, and after several days of resistance, meetings were reluctantly scheduled in the three distinct geographical areas of the district where 506,482 persons voted in 2008.

It should be noted that our representative is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier and couldn't handle determined questioning without blowing a fuse. A method of control was configured.

The new ritual (for all three venues) is as follows, and strictly observed. Two days notice as to time and place. Venue is a church with 210 to 250 seating capacity. (So the seating for the three venues would have accommodated 0.148% of the voting public). No special preference for constituents - and seating on a first come, first served basis. No signs allowed. Meeting duration is 90 minutes.

The representative will give a presentation, followed by two more presentations by experts in the healthcare and aging fields. Questions must be submitted in writing to a committee from the League of Women Voters for screening and selection during the presentations.

No verbal questioning was permitted. The representative offered formulaic answers for the half-a-dozen questions for which time allowed - which were received with a chorus of boo's. A few intrepid attendees attempted to ask questions and when they did a policeman moved to stand next to them. There were as many as ten armed police at the entrance and in the auditorium. More than half of the attendees were pro-government supporters. People lined up for as much as three hours and never got into the hall because they exceeded the capacity by a multiple of two to three.

The recalcitrant mob (we the voting public) were effectively throttled and "managed" by our communist ringmasters. Tea parties will never be the same again.

PS: The adjacent district is held by the other party. The representative has flatly refused to hold meetings of any kind during the break. Although a one-on-one meeting may be possible if you call the Washington office to schedule an appointment. Of course, the Washington office is on break, too.

Will