I'm Announcing My Resignation From The Florida TEA Party Political Party

Yogi Berra is quoted as saying, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." That describes perfectly why I will no longer be serving as Communications Director of the Florida TEA Party.

Over the last year the tea party movement has excited much political activity. In Orlando, the first tea party event was organized by Jason Hoyt in March 2009. Attending this small roadside rally portended much greater things to come.

It was followed by bigger grassroots 'uprisings' leading to Washington, D.C. Politics and more importantly politicians, were served notice that the people had awoken!

Recently I have been involved with helping to support a third party called the Florida TEA Party. They now have candidates that will appear on the Florida November ballot.

While I'm no stranger to controversy, aligning myself with FTP has resulted in much criticism and misunderstanding. As a result I've had to weigh the consequences of staying with this group.

My passion has always been to get people to look beyond slogans and party affiliations. I've endeavored on this blog and on Facebook to engage political exploration on a variety of topics.

For this open communication to continue, I'm sensing that I must excuse myself from direct participation in FTP. My hope is that I can now write and speak about topics that won't leave people wondering if I'm just 'fronting' for FTP.

I would also like to thank the many Facebook posters who have engaged in thoughtful discussions on this topic.

No doubt we have all faced our own forks in the road. The choices are out there, but only time will tell if you've chosen the right path. This choice was not easy; but for me I think it was the best one.

Sincerely,
Nick Egoroff

Tempests Within Tea Pots

Today some leaders of some tea party groups decided that they would try to push a number of candidates to 'withdraw' from their respective races. As crazy as it sounds, tea party supporters are condemning grassroots candidates!

The condemnation comes as a result of these candidates wanting to run under the Florida TEA Party banner. Since the Florida Division of Elections recognized TEA a a political party, lots of folks have decided to run under this new third party.

But this has not sat well with some people. These tea party activists have engaged in a relentless campaign to smear and destroy this new political party.

Their reasons boil down to 1) it will split the vote and 2) it is being funded by Democrats. None of these two objections are proven, but there are bigger problems ahead.

When people start to intimidate candidates something has gone terribly wrong. If anyone wants to run for office, they have that free right. Debate the issues and make your choices.

Let's hope that we can return to the importance of platforms and qualifications.

Name calling and rumor-mongering do little except to stir the pot of hatred. Besides, most people prefer their tea with a bit of sweetener to take away the bitterness.