Eventually, young people will catch up to Tea Partyers

Ed Dornlas, Las Vegas

Monday, April 19, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

In Friday’s Las Vegas Sun, liberal columnist Jon Ralston refers to the Searchlight Tea Party protesters as having intellectually unmoored anger. I personally think their anger is very well-moored.

The Tea Party is like the early adopters of new electronics. They both understand the long-term consequences of the ideas or the product even though both may face derision from their friends because the general public has not yet caught on to the benefits of the new idea.

In the case of the Tea Party, the advocates tend to be older and better educated and have the time to be involved. Contrast that with the young people who likely don’t have the time to think about much beyond their job, raising their family and paying their mortgage.

Sooner or later the young will realize that what the government is doing now is exactly like us going to an expensive dinner on the Strip, seeing a great show, maybe spending the night in a room with a Strip view and then the next day getting a 30-year adjustable rate loan to pay the bill.

The older demographic that the Tea Party mostly represents is amazing because these people actually don’t have much skin in the game. The reason they are angry is because they love their country and the benefits of the free market system and don’t want to see their children and grandchildren taxed and regulated into submission to an all-powerful government.

The issue is freedom from government, and the idea will catch on.