Will it last?

November is coming ever closer, and with it, Election Day 2010. I've shied away recently from writing too much about politics. Primarily, this is because of my overpopulated calendar, but it is also because I feel that there is enough news and noise out there right now that any contribution I would make to the conversation would have little value. I've already voted, marking the first time in my adult life that I've filed an absentee ballot (I'll be on business travel out of state on Election Day). So at this point, I peruse headlines, but otherwise find myself largely in spectator mode, waiting to see what happens next. I'm particularly interested to see what happens to the so-called "tea party movement" after the election.

I haven't written about the tea party movement, although I am holding in reserve dozens of links to articles and essays that attempt to define, illuminate or otherwise expound on its nature. Without a doubt, I am sympathetic to many of its aims. But before I give full-throated support for it, I want to see how it handles success (which they will likely experience in a couple of weeks). I also want to see whether it has staying power. If the tea party movement truly represents a generational awakening of the American citizenry, complete with a renewal and rediscovery of our Nation's founding principles and a desire to roll back the theft of liberty perpetrated in the name of "fairness" at the hands of a government who thinks it is more qualified to make your choices than you are, then yes, I will celebrate such a renewal of American civic life. But I do have suspicions about whether the tea party awakening can maintain its appeal once the economy improves. We shall see. I have a million other thoughts on this, and about where America stands at this point of its existence. I will save those, however, for another day.

In the meantime, allow me to summarize like this. Our elected political class likes to talk in terms of "mandates." This is ridiculous on its face, because many claim a mandate of all the people by winning 50.1 percent of the vote. If there is to be a mandate, the mandate is upon us, as the citizen class. Too often we go to the polls in November, and then go back to the sidelines and disengage until the next election cycle. If the tea party movement truly is to effect a generational shift in the direction and future survival of our Nation, our mandate should be: 1) To elect principled legislators at all levels committed to doing the hard work of preserving this Union for future generations; 2) To stay vigilant, involved, and knowledgeable about the existential issues we face; 3) To commit to serve as watchdogs over the votes our Representatives/Senators take - and to be willing to throw out anyone who kowtows to the influences of the political class at the expense of the citizen class.

But above all, we should remember that there is more to life than politics, that civil and respectful discourse remains an important virtue, and that all of this is temporary anyway.