Tea Party Starts 2013 With Sharp Focus, Renewed Enthusiasm
By Space Coast Daily // January 13, 2013
Core Message Of Fiscal Responsibility
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – More than 130 people turned out Thursday night at the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors to attend an organizational meeting of the Brevard Tea Party.
The meeting was focused on returning the Tea Party to its core message of fiscal responsibility and creating the organizational structure that will allow the group to be more effective at the county level. Organizer Matt Nye said he was thrilled with the turnout.
“Attendance was incredible, especially when you consider the fact it was the same night as the local Republican Party Executive Committee meeting,” Nye said. “The best part was we had a ton of new faces – I know many pundits and commentators are trying to say the Tea Party is dead, but I can assure you based on the turnout and enthusiasm in that room that is simply not the case.”
According to Nye, the Tea Party here has acted as a sort of umbrella group since 2009, and has only organized under the Tea Party banner for large rallies like the one at the Space Coast Stadium on July 4, 2009 that drew almost 4,000 people.
“For the last three years the individual groups around the counties have organized in their respective areas, and focused on the issues and races important to them, and that will continue,” Nye said. “The difference now is some of us will begin meeting monthly under the Brevard Tea Party name in an attempt to help coordinate county-wide efforts and identify areas to achieve synergy between the groups.”
A former small business owner turned salesman for a top tier Central Florida communications company, Nye has 20 years of experience in the technology and communications sector, and plans to leverage new technologies to help manage the organization and maximize participation.
“The good news is there is a ton of really great technology out there that we can utilize to build and manage the organization,” Nye said. “The bad news is that most of those who consider themselves Tea Partiers are in an older demographic, so they’re not as comfortable with the technology as the young people who’ve been using computers and smart phones since they were in school.”
Nye says he is holding quarterly technology trainings at the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors Computer Lab to teach the basics of blogging and social media. He is also focusing on recruiting youth into the movement and says he is having success in that area.
“I’m very excited to see that some of the younger people are stepping up,” Nye said. “Many of them are awakening to the fact the policies of the left are making it much more difficult for them to achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves, and have become quite disenchanted with the current administration.”
What does the group hope to achieve? Nye says the mission of the Tea Party is, and always has been, to reduce the size and scope of government by identifying and eliminating fraud, mismanagement and wasteful spending. Nye says the government has greatly exceeded its authority by bailing out some at the expense of others.
“Government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers, and the insane spending on the bailouts was the seminal event that gave rise to the Tea Party,” Nye said. “The political issues are spending and taxes, but the simple moral message that our founders designed the Constitution around is that no man is entitled to the fruits of another man’s labor.”
The next Brevard Tea Party meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors. Social hour is from 6 to 7 p.m. and the meeting begins promptly at 7 p.m.
You can register online here: http://www.brevardteaparty.com/events/brevard-tea-party-organizational-meeting.html
