After some years of slumbering comfortably, the American people have awakened and they are hopping mad over what they have discovered was going on while they slept.
The stunning results of yesterday's primary contests should be frightening not only to the Democrats, but to those Republicans in name only — RINOs — whose actions have been more or less barely indistinguishable from the Democratic Party's deranged left wing.
Both the RINOs and their Democratic counterparts have been showing sneering contempt for the voters for a long time and they are about to pay dearly for it. They have kicked the voters in the face for far too long a time and the chickens are now coming home to roost.
The despised Tea Party Express was a big winner Tuesday night, and as a result they have become a major voice on the political landscape, and for good reason. The Republican Party does not have a clear voice or message and they haven't had either for a long time.
It is now the tea partyers who are speaking for the nation's Republican voters. And they are speaking on behalf of good old-fashioned American values.
The void left by the GOP has been filled by ordinary Americans who are mad as hell and not taking it anymore. The Democrats say that the Republicans are the party of "no," but it might be better to describe them as the party of "don't know."
They don't know that the voters will no longer allow them to lead them around by the nose, supinely accepting commands from on high. Rank-and-file Republicans are demanding that the party pay attention to their opinions, and when those demands fall on GOP deaf ears, party bigwigs will find themselves without any followers.
The contempt they exhibit for such outstanding Republicans as Sarah Palin and South Carolina's Sen. Jim DeMint is not shared by the great majority of Republicans who admire these outstanding patriots for speaking out in favor of traditional American values in the face of vehement opposition from the left wings of both parties whose views are closer to those of Karl Marx than to those of Abraham Lincoln.
Despite sneering comments by such GOP luminaries as Karl Rove, rank-and-file Republicans, and a surprising number of independents and disaffected Democrats are flocking to the tea party banner. And they have enough political common sense to recognize that when Sarah Palin speaks, she speaks for them and for their opinions in plain simple language.
We are witnessing a long-delayed rebirth of participatory democracy where the people speak aloud and their party leadership listens. And those members of the leadership who don't hear their voices will end up in the political graveyard.
Their message is loud and clear: America's strength is in its people, not in their government. After years of seeing their states rendered all but powerless, states' rights are once more a rallying cry. And the American people are telling Washington to get its hands out of their pockets and their private lives.
It is now incumbent on the tea party-supported candidates to win in November, and for the RNC to keep in mind my father Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment — never speak ill of another Republican. And vigorously support the winners of last night's primaries whether you like them or not.
Michael Steele, wake up! Your fellow Republicans already have, as last night showed.
Mike Reagan, the elder son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation (www.reaganlegacyfoundation.org), and founder and chairman of The Reagan Group. Look for Mike’s books and other information at www.reagan.com.
© Mike Reagan