Well-said. Hard to argue with the fact that we have a distinct advantage over the colonists in getting folks aligned and vocal. Also no argument that Obama has pulled off the greatest con in the history of America.
Our challenge is balancing coherent messages for action with technological speed. Speed kills in drunk driving and politics. Our issue is less about Obama than about America. It's how to stop this downward slide of 90+ years from a pre-16th Amendment nation (no income tax), to an abusive, bullying government with too much power, too much arrogance and to little sense. I know in my heart that if we organize around the principles, and back it with both our votes and our wallets, and target BOTH Republicans and Dems with solid Independent candidates, we can change America for the better in 2 election cycles or less. Recruit, fund, and elect Independents to replace current party incumbents in key states (10% is achievable) and refuse to play Republican and Democratic party games. They won't ever relenquish power until we take it from them.
I agree with you that the media and the parties are either ignoring or marginalizing this movement. I also agree it's disorganized and at times is reduced to some venting. But take heart! All dissent is scattered at the beginning, but the more those in power try to suppress it, the more focused it becomes.
Consider how the American Revolution began. Thirteen colonies having very little in common, over time, found a common enemy in an overbearing, intrusive and arrogant central government, Great Britain. The rest is history. Proposition 13 in California started with some rag-tag complainers who saw their neighbors being evicted from paid-for homes simply because they could no longer pay the property taxes. Jarvis and other leaders stepped into the void and galvanized the movement to limit taxation.
Never underestimate the power generated by a common enemy to the people and what it can do. Our enemy is big government, plain and simple, whether Republican or Democrat. By the way, your money argument is spot on, and imagine what we can do if we fund, with that money, solid Independent candidates to replace current party incumbents. Hmmm!
Your thoughts are very welcomed here. Thanks for the way in which you offered them. The principle you find offensive to you need not be. This project is very focused on the core tenets cited by our founders, one of which is the acknowledgement of, and reliance upon, a "Creator God". They weren't shy about it, nor should we shrink from that fact as believers, simply because popular culture says otherwise.
However, these same founders knew full-well the tyranny of the majority and government when they establish a "state church". They fled to America precisely to get away from that tyranny. Our freedom of religion, or in your case, the choice to be an agnostic, is guaranteed by our Constitution. It's a wonderful freedom you and I share. I, as a born-again Christian, can love and support the very same Constitution that you, an agnostic can love and support. That's all. Continue to engage. America needs us all right now.
I tend to think this discussion is really all about big government vs. small government. Did the Constitution and the Bill of Rights recommend a powerful centralized government? On a personal level today, does a parent think the government is better equipped to educate our children than themselves? Does a parent think that the state is more equipped to raise a child than a parent? Does a parent feel the government is better equipped to keep a child safe? Does the government do a better job of prioritizing and spending our tax dollars. Our answers to these questions and others like them will determine where Main Street feels we should be going. For us, we decided when, where and how our children were educated. We kept them safe. We spent our money far more wisely than did our leaders. Government is far too inefficient, too unaccountable to us, to drunk with power, and too distant from our lives to do things better than we can do for ourselves. It's time to make that message heard.
You hit on a good point about focusing on our Congressional districts. Also include in that Senators and local/county/state legislators. All politics are local, Tip O'Neil once said. He was right. I think time and ideas will begin to help us figure out how to move this Tea Party to a larger stage. Ultimately the movement has to be simple, supportable, and identifiable with most Americans before it takes root. That part can't be a gimic. That's why I keep thinking that something that asks us all whether or not we think big government or small government is better for us, will help. You can track virtually all of our woes today, taxes, invasion of privacy, too much regulation of the private sector, spending, and "one-world legislating" to an over-bearing, bloated and runaway government. It's the disease. All the issues are just the symptoms. We need to think about that. The Constitution & Bill of Rights is a good place to start. An educated electorate is the first step. This movement MUST educate all of us now.
Involvement in veterans activities or celebrations is certainly commendable and could benefit organizations like American Legion and the VFW, and 912'ers as well. As a veteran myself, consider yourself and others very welcome. I think, after having attended the Tea Party here in Boise, ID, that we have a wide variety of people now involved. Our message has to become less stratified by our age, demographic, military status, education or geography. In the end, it's really a referendum on big government versus small government. Veterans, Congressmen and women, Senators, cabinet members, judges and the President take an oath to defend the Constitution "against all threats, foreign and domestic". To that end, all of us, whether or not we served in the military should do exactly that, vote for exactly that and hold accountable all who take that oath on behalf of the people. Therein lies the solution to most of our problems today.
I agree, to an extent, with your view of the landscape. Where we probably disagree is on two levels. One is the "DNA" of our current state of the union. Two is what may be the most reasonable solution, in my view.
I agree that America has been on the slide for a long time, and we can cite many chapters and verses to the journey from more freedom to less freedom. However, for whatever reason, I think we, the people, got comfortable in our abundance and we took our eye off the ball. We liked the government doing more for us so we could do less. We voted accordingly. Government was happy to oblige and here we are. I also agree the issues are all about power and control. Where we differ is that I believe that it really IS all about the money, primarily because money buys votes. The solution is then to take the collective money and votes we, the people, represent, out for a spin at the poles and in the nominating process. We might be surprised how well we do.
It's good to reach out to these networks and attempt to be heard. If that is unsuccessful, it's useful to remember that if we are a large, united demographic block of people, boycotting these stations and all they broadcast is a great way to get their attention. The power of the purse is always useful when dealing with "for profit" concerns. They live and die on advertisers. As viewership dramatically drops on mainstream shows (not just the pundit shows), their bottom line if affected. In the same way we, the people, lowered gas prices by dramatically reducing demand, their profit margins will shrink rapidly when advertisers leave them. Just a thought. Our power is far greater in our numbers than even our anger.
I attended the Tea Party in Boise, Idaho today. Some 2,500 folks showed up in wind and rain, on a weekday, during business hours. It says a lot for the sincerity of people's concerns. After seeing the alert posted on Homeland Security's website about veterans (like me), casting us as threats, I was furious. In Nov of 1970, at San Francisco IAP, as I came home from 13 months in Southeast Asia, we were spit on by foul, disgusting anti-war demonstrators. Police prevented us from responding. The administration just did it again. Wake up America. Dissent is being attacked by brown-shirted, jack-booted oppressors. Our freedom is at stake.
We have it left, and more! We're just warming up. This slide has been ongoing for nearly 20 years. We've let it happen by letting others decide for us. Taking back the conversation is a matter of civil action and speaking our mind in the public square. It's also voting our conscience instead of our wallets. If we do that, this ship of state will reach safe harbors.
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