This past weekend I had the privilege of meeting Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, the Co-Founders and National Coordinators of the Tea Party Patriots. Mark and Jenny Beth told their stories of how they became involved in the Tea Party movement. Both were very disenchanted with both the Republican and Democrat parties and both were looking for a way to vent their frustration with the political system which they saw as being “broken”.
Neither of these individuals set out to start a movement. It was a situation where they became involved and one thing led to another. In Mark’s case, he has given up his law practice to work on the Tea Party movement full-time. Jenny Beth and her husband had just gone though some very difficult financial troubles. In neither case was their involvement “convenient”. And in both cases, their involvement was a sacrifice.
I deeply admire people like Mark and Jenny Beth who love their country and put their country ahead of personal gain. We have a lot to learn from their commitment. They, like the Tea Party activists who threw tea into the Boston Harbor, have put love of country above all else. I salute them.
