America's Foundation

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to participate in an interview for a documentary by a team of journalists from the Republic of Moldova. The subject of this documentary was the role of minority parties in U.S. politics. The team sought members of the political parties that were in the minority in cities and towns throughout the United States, as well as having a keen interest in the tea party.

Myself, along with Joanne Jones and Lin Bennett participated in this program.

I was truly excited to get this opportunity. It was especially exciting for me, due to the fact that my wife Ana is from Moldova.

Moldova is a small former Soviet republic situated between Romania and Ukraine. Moldova also has the unfortunate distinction of being the poorest country in Europe. They declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, however the transition was filled with problems and in 2001 Moldova became the only former republic to elect a Communist government. The period from 2001-2009 did not see much improvement in the lives of Moldovans and corruption was rampant.

In April of 2009 an election was held, and despite exit polls showing pro-Western parties gaining control of government, the final tallies showed the Communists retaining power. International observers cited numerous irregularities and stated that the elections failed to meet international standards for free and fair elections.

This was too much for the youth of Moldova to stomach.

On April 6 students banded together in the square in front of Parliament to protest the election results. The response from Vladimir Voronin’s regime was swift. Over 10,000 protesters filled the streets and stayed in contact via text began showing nature documentaries instead of covering the protests.

Next, state security forces  entered the streets to quell the uprising. The students were not deterred, however. The protests turned violent and the protesters stormed parliament and the Presidential palace.

In the following days several protesters were killed, hundreds tortured and over 700 arrested.

However, the bloodshed would not be in vain, and the regime was forced to call new elections. These elections produced a governing coalition that was aligned with free market and democratic principles. New independent stations also popped up in the aftermath, providing a counterbalance to years of media bias.

Moldova continues to struggle, yet progress is slowly being made in implementing long overdue reforms.

On July 21, my wife and I went to meet with the crew from AICI so that I could be interviewed and they could meet my wife. The interview focused on explaining the tea party movement and activities that the tea party has engaged in and my involvement with them.

We discussed the basic principles of the tea party, such as lowering taxes and reducing government spending. I also highlighted that the need for the tea party movement arose out of the fact that government spending had spiraled out of control.

The Republican Party had long stood for limited government and controlling spending, however, in the previous decade many Republican elected officials had forgotten these principles.

Government spending over the past 11 years has been exploding at a rate that no amount of taxation could possibly keep pace.

The tea party was born in reaction to this fact. The principles of private charity and the ability of individuals to effect societal improvements, not massive government programs are what leads to true prosperity. True free markets in which businesses are allowed to fail are essential to the proper functioning of our society, not the privitazation of profits, while publicizing the losses.

The tea party is a unique coalition of vastly different individuals focused solely on these principles, not social issues, not foreign policy and due to the intellectual diversity of this coalition there are no sacred spending cows. An organic movement led by principles — not personalities — truly resonated with the team of journalists that had just experienced a bottom up revolution in Moldova.

What happened next was something I could not have imagined. The producer asked my wife to be interviewed for another program, that highlights people from Moldova living in other countries.

Ana was asked to compare and contrast differing aspects of the two countries. The purpose is to instill a sense of pride in the youth of Moldova that have long been given reason to abandon hope. Ana discussed family gatherings and celebrations, the employment process, and education.

The final question asked her to provide a message to the youth of Moldova and what lessons she has learned in America. Her response was, “In America you can be anything you want to be through hard work. In America, you can change your government and force your leaders to listen as long as you stay involved. My message to the youth of Moldova is to NEVER GIVE UP and keep trying to make Moldova a better place.”

I have long known my wife’s love for America and her amazement at the freedom and opportunity that we enjoy. However, this statement went straight to my heart.

Change never comes as rapidly as we may hope but hearing those words made every minute I have ever spent trying to get candidates I believe in elected worth it.

I went to the interview eager to educate the interviewers about the tea party and articulate my political views. Instead I saw what is the foundation of America’s greatness.

I also saw a beautiful young woman that grew up in a society that had no respect for the contributions of individuals, and has been given every reason to abandon hope, articulate the vision of our founding fathers and remind me that America remains to paraphrase the words of Ronald Reagan “that shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom for all the world to see.”