Who’s attacking the TEA Party now?

In what will certainly exacerbate the rift within the Republican party between the establishment and the constitutional conservative Tea Party base, Newsmax reports that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is planning to spend $50 million to support establishment and business-friendly Republican candidates in next year’s congressional elections.

“Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates,” Scott Reed, the chamber’s strategist, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. “That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.”

Cleta Mitchell, One of Washington’s most respected elections attorneys and a personal acquaintance of mine had this reaction:

It’s insane. It’s based on false assumptions. When they say, ‘no fools on the ticket,’ the fact of the matter is that there were some centrist candidates who were the establishment favorites who lost in 2012,” Mitchell added. “That’s fine if they want to spend that money, but I think it’s going to be wasted money — and I don’t think it’s going to do any good in the final analysis.”

Newsmax reports that the chamber has expressed its dissatisfaction with such tea party-backed senators as Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, both of whom resisted passing a budget this year without a provision to defund Obamacare.

There can be no doubt that Mr. Reed’s battle cry of, “no fools on our ticket” will reverberate negatively among the grassroots. Once again, the inside the beltway crew just doesn’t understand what’s happening across America.

This goal of supporting centrist candidates is indeed puzzling and again reflects the establishment desire to be “Liberal Lite” — essentially a lesser version of Democrats. That has proven to be unsuccessful and as a matter of fact, it was constitutional conservatives who won back the majority for the Republican Party in 2010 — a massive victory.

Several “establishment” candidates for US Senate in recent cycles were unsuccessful in North Dakota, Montana, Virginia, and Wisconsin. And two GOP candidates who did not get Tea Party support last year, former Rep. Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana, lost their senate races solely because of outrageous comments about pregnancy and rape.

The principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual sovereignty, free market capitalism, and strong national defense are at the core of constitutional conservatism, and the policies to support those principles are central to this Republic.

It almost seems the establishment GOP is focused on being another version of big government and big business, which is not a formula for success. The GOP needs the grassroots supporters, their energy and the base support of volunteers to hit the pavement.

I seriously doubt Mr. Reed of the Chamber is going to take that route. Furthermore, local chambers are composed of many small businesses who are certainly not fat cats.

And for those who support the Democrat party, there is also a little civil war brewing between the progressive socialists and those who once known as conservative Democrats, such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa). The Democrat Party wants to move farther to the left and hail people such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and New York City’s new Mayor Bill DeBlasio, an avowed Marxist/Socialist as their champions.

Bottom line, there is clear evidence which principles have advanced the growth and prosperity of America. There can be no doubt about the fundamentals of this Constitutional Republic. There are groups on both sides of the aisle who seek not the best for our nation, but the perversion and decimation of our country as they advance their own self and special interest.

Let us never forget President Barack Obama’s desire to “fundamentally transform” America. If the US Chamber of Commerce fails to see that threat, then they are indeed part of the problem, and definitely not the solution.

Centrist GOP candidates such as Mitt Romney, John McCain, and even those who eschewed conservative principles such as Presidents George HW Bush and George W. Bush were not successful, and in the case of the latter, enabled Democrats to succeed them. These are lessons that should be learned, not dismissed.

As for me, I will stand by constitutional conservative principles, even though it was Republicans who redistricted me out and Democrats who implemented voter fraud to keep me from returning to the US House of Representatives. I’m glad to know both establishments were threatened by a principled black conservative.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com.