finally, the death of the Tea Party

I don't think there is any hard line on which on one side you are a member of a political party and the other you are not.  When I went from being a happy go lucky man in the street to a powerful potentate of the 22nd precinct in Urbana, I did not have to swear an oath to take Old Betsy out of Beagles' hands and to make him marry his gay dog.  I did not pay any dues, I never received a newsletter, and I never got a card to carry. 

You're right it was precinct committeeman.  I don't know where I got captain from, it probably just slipped into my memory because it sounds so much cooler than committeeman.  I had a friend who was an alderman and he asked me if I wanted to be a committeeman and there actually was an election, I think I voted for myself and that was that.

Two or three times around election day my buddy, the alderman, gave me sacks of democratic propaganda and I took it through the neighborhood like I did when I was a teen distributing Goldblatts circulars.  I had the power to register people to vote.  It involved a little paperwork and then they were supposed to take an oath.  I think I registered one guy.  We did the paperwork, but when the time to take the oath came he didn't want to do it.  It wasn't like he was a commie or anything, but it was just kind of a dorky thing to do, I think it required him raising his right hand.  I said oh c'mon, and he said forget about it, and I said well fine then, and he was registered, but I was a little disappointed.

It was you tea partiers (didn't you tell me you had a card?) who invented RINO, which was kind of peculiar because those were the guys who had been in the party all their lives, and you were the guys who crawled out of the swamps. How did you get to declare who was a republican?  But right from the beginning the establishment republicans were terrified of you guys.  Nobody would say a word against you.  They welcomed you into the party as fresh blood the way the Romans invited the barbarians to settle inside the walls of the empire.  Then they all claimed to be tea partiers too.  Every single guy running in the primary was a Washington outsider bent on busting up the gummint.  Even Jeb, in his low energy manner, spoke of how he had shook things up in Florida many years ago.
And then, and then, along comes Trump, and I'm not sure if you welcomed him in or if he just crashed the gates, but none of the tea partiers dared stand up to him.  I'm not sure if it would have done any good, but at least they could have showed a little pride.

I said 'you' referring to the tea party, but I'm not sure if you are still one.  I'm not sure if there is a tea party.  I think Trump has subsumed the Tea Party, he has captured the essence of it and run away with it.  I wonder what is to become of the republican party after Trump.  I don't think he will win.  If he does, well I can't imagine what will happen.  In the best case he will be ranting on Twitter while the rest of the country ignores him, in the worst case it is just science fiction.

If he doesn't win, will the moderates be able to come back and say I told you so?  I don't see a place for the tea party, but then I have been declaring its death since the day it reared its tri-corner head.  I imagine there will be a hard right, bible thumping faction headed by Cruz, which will be all that will be left, like when a star collapses upon itself into a neutron star.

But don't worry when the big girl's guys (maybe they will be big girls) come around to round you guys up for reeducation camp, I will stand up and say "Hey I was once El Capitan of precinct 22 in Urbana, and I ask that you spare The Freehold." That way we will be able to continue our search for truth in post Trump America.