Sarah Palin on her Tea Party Convention speech

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In an opinion piece for USA Today, Sarah Palin explains why she intends to speak at the National Tea Party Convention this Saturday night. Here are some excerpts:

Later this week I'll head to Nashville, where I'll have the honor of speaking with members of the Tea Party movement.

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Recently, some have tried to portray this movement as a commercial endeavor rather than the grassroots uprising that it is. Those who do so don't understand the frustration everyday Americans feel when they see their government mortgaging their children's future with reckless spending. The spark of patriotic indignation that inspired those who fought for our independence and those who marched peacefully for civil rights has ignited once again. You can't buy such a sentiment. You can't AstroTurf it. It springs from love of country and the knowledge that we can make a difference if we just stand up and stand together.

I thought long and hard about my participation in this weekend's event. At the end of the day, my decision came down to this: It's important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you. Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause. Some of them will be driving hundreds of miles to Nashville. I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honor it.

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I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event. My only goal is to support the grassroots activists who are fighting for responsible, limited government — and our Constitution. In that spirit, any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause.

The nature of the Tea Party movement means there may never be a "perfectly orchestrated" event: Democracy in action doesn't come with a manual. But we must not get caught up in the politics or the controversies that some hope will distract from the heart of the movement. The focus must remain on our ideas and beliefs, and on supporting those ideas and beliefs however we can.

Once again, like the fresh breeze she is, Gov. Palin clears the air of the pollution around the Tea Party Convention that critics on both the left and right have been pumping into the atmosphere. The governor continues to speak common sense conservatism, and her op-ed should serve as a teaching moment for the circular firing squad.

Read the full Sarah Palin op-ed here.

- JP