Waiting for Godot

The resignation of Sarah Palin leaves her potential for future office in question. Romney's prospects may have suffered a fatal wound due to the failure of his Massachusetts socialized medicine scheme. Jindal's first big national appearance went over like a lead balloon. Sanford self-destructed (bullet dodged there). Gingrich sold out to the "climate change" fascists. Where's that perfect ONE GREAT VOICE who will lead conservatives to victory — in 2012 to be sure — but more importantly in 2010?

The wait could be a long one. Much like the characters in Beckett's famous play, we may not have even met this great leader. And we may not even recognize him when we see him.

Conservatives struggle under a couple of competing priorities: 1) the need to win, and 2) the need to advance conservative ideology. In McCain, we thought we had #1, and were prepared to sell out #2 in order to get it. We ended up with zero. In Palin, Jindal, et al, we are pretty sure we have #2 covered, but #1 is highly suspect. To be sure, the recent tantalizing weakness of Obama is heartening, but then we thought the same thing about Clinton before he won his second election to Dole (the pre-McCain McCain).

And then there's that pesky problem bedeviling the GOP — a tendency to nominate the "next person in line." Democrats don't often do this. It's been said (by Will Rogers, most famously) that the Democratic Party is disorganized. And perhaps that's what protects it from that patrician instinct that gave us candidate Bob Dole.

But the Tea Party movement is unexpected. Something very untraditional for conservatives. The Tea Parties began as a true grass-roots movement and continues as same. Each city has a few organizers, but there is no single conservative version of NOW or ANSWER fanning the flames of the Tea Parties. They were seemingly formed from a loose group of outraged citizens tired of ceding the political discourse to politicians who ultimately let us down. And for the first time that I can remember, they are showing up in force to let politicians of both parties have a piece of their mind. At many of the early Tea Parties, organizers refused to allow politicians to even take the stage. Now that's CHANGE.

We are the ones we've been waiting for. Famous words. But unlike when Obama said it (he was being disingenuous. What he really meant was "I am the one you've been waiting for. Lucky you.") I mean it in its truest sense. If conservatism is to flourish, WE THE PEOPLE have to finally take the lead in voicing our ideology, deciding what issues we stand for, and really choosing who we allow to speak for us. The time of letting career politicians and political parties set our course has past. The search for the NEXT GREAT VOICE is over. We're not waiting any longer.

EPILOGUE: Here's Kevin Jackson's (theblacksphere.net) take on the Tea Parties, with credit due to St. Louis organizers Bill Hennessey and Dana Loesch, plus Americans for Prosperity, iheardthepeoplesay, and Americans for Fair Taxation.