By Lou LippincottCOMMENTARY
In a February meeting of the tea party, caucus chair Rep. Michele Bachmann said, according to Politico: "It is my hope that the tea party caucus
will serve as... the best way to get America on a sound fiscal path
that adheres to the Constitutional principles on which she was founded."


This past summer, the tea party members fought so valiantly to keep
the Obama administration from additional deficit spending, so much so
that Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa) had the insensitivity to proclaim,
"This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any
money." Not long after wrongfully being labeled terrorists, the tea
party was bullied by statements from the Obama administration that Social Security and Medicare could be in danger if their persistence on limiting spending continued.


In the end what most of us know, and what the tea party knew back in
February, is that spending is the disease that is causing America to
lose credibility and economic prosperity -- not our $3 trillion in
annual tax revenue. Social Security and Medicare checks would have still
been sent, though perhaps we would have had to cut the $3 billion in
annual foreign aid to Pakistan.


The various economic plans offered by Republican candidates propose some cuts to spending, and tea party members will think this is good move for the country. Gov. Mitt Romney's plan only cuts about $30 billion in the first year, and Rick Perry's plan proposes cuts of about $100 billion.


However, only one candidate for president offers a plan that seems to embody the heart and soul of the tea party caucus -- Texas Congressman Ron Paul and his Trillion Dollar plan.
Logically, tea party members would back the plan that achieves a
balanced budget most aggressively since a balanced budget is the Holy
Grail of tea party members.


Paul's plan boldly cuts $1 trillion in the first year and returns
America to a balanced budget in his first term as president. Even more
astounding is that the budget cuts come from senseless government waste
and federal government duplicity, like maintaining active military bases
in foreign countries a half-century after the end of the war. Paul
achieves a balanced budget in just three years while keeping the
government's promise to those receiving Social Security and Medicare
benefits.


The tea party members have always been mindfully focused on fiscal
matters, and their gradual return to Paul's candidacy and spending plan
is only beginning. If, or when, the time comes for Bachmann to
withdrawal from the race, an endorsement of Paul's plan seems logical
for the tea party Caucus chair; since she will need to maintain her
fiscal validity with the tea party members in hopes of retaining their
support in the future.


Look for a reaffirmation of tea party support for Paul on December 16, 2011, the next Ron Paul 2012 online fund raising day organized by his grassroots supporters which marks the anniversary of the Boston tea party.