The Tea Party is not a single-issue group. Rather, it is a group that is fed up with an attitude in Washington. Tea Partyers are fed up with politicians who spend money we don’t have, racking up trillion-dollar deficits year after year.
They are tired of politicians who do not see limits in the powers of Congress and the federal government to intrude into our lives.
They are sick of being told they have to accept a mealy-mouthed version of what they believe and what they know we must do to save our country.
We must balance our budget sooner rather than later, or we will face ruin. This will require entitlement reform. Tuesday, Hoosiers voted for a candidate who publicly pledged to support the Tea Party budget in the Senate, which balances in five years.
We must repeal Obamacare and ensure that nothing like it passes ever again. Hoosier voters nominated the candidate who stood the strongest for the Constitution and for freedom.
We must fight to continue the small battles we already have won. Hoosier voters rewarded the candidate who pledged to keep the earmark ban and rejected the senator who just weeks ago voted to restore earmarks.
There is much hand-wringing also about outside groups in races such as these. Outside groups like the Tea Party groups, National Right to Work, Club for Growth and others certainly played a large role in this race, and this is as it should be. These groups are not special-interest groups lobbying for favors. They are principled organizations fighting for the government to leave them alone. The candidate who stood for such issues was rewarded and will be asked to stand for them again this fall.
Already the establishment cries that Richard Mourdock will not compromise – but compromise has been the name of the game for decades. Compromise leads to ever-escalating military and domestic spending. Washington needs statesmen, not horse traders. Our country needs principled leaders who will stand up and say no to trillion-dollar deficits.
I look forward to a class of Republican freshman senators next January who fit the bill of statesmen – and we will see this strong breed come forth out of primaries in the next few weeks and become victorious in November.
Sen. Rand Paul is a Kentucky Republican.