There has been much discussion at this convention about the future of the Tea Party movement. That is natural, because it is less than one year old. I am sure the various groups that comprise this movement will chart the right course for their future.

But one thing is clear: the Tea Party movement isn’t going away. 

That’s because people from all parts of the country are recognizing the same things that folks in Alabama are seeing: government is broke, it is arrogant, it is too expensive and it is indifferent to the needs and desires of the citizens it was created to serve. That is deeply offensive to millions of Americans, and they are increasingly unwilling to tolerate it any longer. For years, we expected our government to do the right thing.  It didn’t.  Now we are ready to hold it accountable.

Our Founding Fathers gave us a precious gift: the ability to change things.  When our government is out of control, it is not only our right to change the government; it is our responsibility to do so. The Tea Party folks understand this. So they are starting where they are, at the grassroots level and are reaching out to their neighbors, friends, relatives and coworkers. They’re telling them “I don’t like what’s going on, and I know you don’t, either. So let’s do something about it.”

And they are. They’re working through their neighborhoods, churches and personal networks. They’re making phones calls, sending e-mails and connecting with others through Facebook and Twitter. They’re standing up and making their displeasure known at rallies. Now they’re taking the next step.

They’re looking closely at candidates, checking their record and weighing them against their positions on the issues, determining which ones deliver results and which ones only offer platitudes and empty promises.  And they’re rallying behind the ones who know how to get things and who deliver real “change,” (not the fluffy kind we were promised in 2008!).

When you get right down to it, the Tea Party movement embodies the American spirit. We don’t sit back and accept tyranny. We don’t wait for someone else to “do something about it.” We roll up our sleeves, take things into our own hands and control our own destiny.

The Tea Party movement is made up Patriots.  A Patriot is someone knows what it takes to save their country, and who is ready to make that happen. Alabama, and all of America, will eventually be better because of them.