Wednesday, April 1, 2009

What Is The Tea Party Manifesto?


Lefties have assiduously tried to paint the Tea Party movement as an "astroturf" campaign orchestrated behind the scenes by the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (notably in the retracted bogus Playboy story about the Koch Foundation; despite the retraction that one is considered received wisdom in the Left blogosphere). This push has played at least some part in the major media's dogged insistence on ignoring Tea Party events, but the problem with that theory is that the movement to date has been almost entirely inchoate, and far too disorganized to be the product of any kind of plan. Look at the local and blog reporting from the earliest wave of Tea Parties, you'll find no coherent message other than "this sucks!" While true, that isn't enough to get you anywhere in the political process.

The other day I heard Neal Boortz asking a Tea Party enthusiast caller what she wanted to accomplish out of the events. Paraphrasing, she replied along the lines of "show them how angry we are" and "make a statement." Boortz replied that he didn't see the point, and he was correct in doing so. "Expressing anger" is not a coherent platform, it's just venting. As Boortz noted, no congresscritter is going to pay any attention to a box full of tea bags on his doorstep; it's just empty symbolism.

If the Tea Party movement is going to amount to anything more than people who wouldn't normally go to a protest protesting, it's going to have to come up with a consistent set of concrete (and realistic) goals, and clearly express those goals to the press and to the rest of the public.

A Tea Party Manifesto should have no more than ten items, and each one should be a clear, achievable goal. No fair putting in platitudes like "fix the financial system," that's too much like hopey-changitude, the point here is to be practical and specific. Some suggestions:

1. A moratorium on bailouts, whether for Wall Street bankers, General Motors, or the irresponsible guy down the street who "bought" too much house. "Failures must be allowed to fail."

2. Repeal of all "Stimulus" spending for the years 2011 and beyond.

3. Repeal of all "Stimulus" pet projects in 2009-2010 with no stimulative effect.

4. Defeat of the Obama 2010 budget, with a new budget set at 2008 levels plus inflation. We've already spent too much money that we don't have.

5. Defeat of any politician who voted for the February "Stimulus" bill.

6. Complete selloff and shutdown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and an immediate ban on campaign contributions from both, as well as any other firm in Federal receivership.


That's a start. Feel free to add your own.

71 comments:

  1. With respect, I think even ten is far too many. Keep it to three or four and put the emphasis on just one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would settle for one item. It is #5 in Will's list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Only one message will resonate: Throw the bums out. We will defeat every single incumbent and start all over again. We're talking projectile vomiting here. I know: of course there are some good ones, but that argument soon gets you into the weeds. We need a Citizen's Congress. Until problems get fixed re-election rates should be 2% not 98%.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe I'm thinking big, but I'd settle for this:

    That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

    ReplyDelete
  5. #5 would be a big start. I have never thought that an elected member of Congress, that was supposedly a representative of the People would vote blind on the largest money bill in the nations history. Every time I think of what they did, like lemmings jumping into the ocean with out a clue to what was in the "Stimulus Bill" I am agog. What in the world do we need drone like idiots like that, what else will they vote on with out reading it. Without time to consider, they gave our tax money away with out knowing where. Are you really happy with Pelosi's $30 million dollar mouse or the $5 Billion Dollar bullet train for gamblers to Vegas or the other 9000 bit of pork. If they would do that on the word of a messianic duffus what else will they do. Don't trust these people, these people have to go.

    ReplyDelete
  6. IMNSVHO, the one and only point the Tea Party movement is to claw back power from DC. Do that and the rest will follow.

    M

    ReplyDelete
  7. Agree. The Tea Party movements have not settled on the "or else" clause. "I'm mad and want X to stop" is not the same as "I'm mad and want X to stop, or else I'll..."

    #5 is very good, but I think it is even easier than we think.

    I did a rough estimate on how much it will cost me in direct and indirect tax increases for Obama and this Democratic Congress to have power over the next 2 to 4 years. It will cost me, roughly, $5,000 (conservative estimate, pun intended).

    If I had given $5,000 to conservative candidates during the election cycle, and they won, I'd have come out even. Coming out even, when liberty is a side benefit, seems worth it to me.

    So despite the fact that I don't have the $5,000, nor the time to fly all over the country holding cardboard signs at Tea Party protests, I will donate to every candidate, regardless of district, who runs against a Democrat. I won't give a penny to the Republican Party, but to candidates who vow to vote against these types of spending bills, and stay within the Constitutional limits of their authority.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Less is more. As P.D. Quig says above, referencing your Item #5, "Only one message will resonate: Throw the bums out."

    Just say no to power-crazed demagogues!

    We're all anti-statists now

    ReplyDelete
  9. A Flat Tax or a "simplified" tax code -- the tax "rules" are impractical and oppressive for citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Repeal the Spendulus
    Kill the O-Budget
    Defeat the CongressPorkers

    ReplyDelete
  11. POWER CORRUPTS-All these problems are caused by the 535 men and women, of both parties,in the US Congress. They get to Washington and become corrupted by the system. No matter how pious they are in the beginning, soon their only interest is maintaining their power. Public Service becomes self service. The only long term solution is a constitutional admendment limiting the members to ONE TERM and one term only. Six years in the Senate is plenty and four years (One year OJT, three years service to the country)in the House. No need to accept campaign funds from lobbiest. Puts meaning back in public service.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is long overdue. Some obstacles for discussion:
    1. Where is the Leadership? (beyond the go-getters who organize locally? And I'm not really counting TCOT, Gingrich, etc.)
    2. Platform vs. Manifesto? There's that whole Unabomber taint.
    3. Goals/Objectives = Work. Showing up with a sign or mailing a tea bag is a start, but remains, ultimately, a lark. Organizing a committee, showing up at meetings, writing checks, that's work. Unpaid work.

    Tea Partiers - it's time to commit. It's time to unite. Protesting as an expression of anger is a superficial manifestation of what has to happen to affect change. Remember, all politics is local. A platform, unity, and a well executed local strategy will get the attention of your local representatives. That's where change begins.

    ReplyDelete
  13. You are all off base.

    Do you *seriously* think that the problem is that the Administration doesn't know what the conservative protestors want?

    Maybe if you beg really really hard, they might take pity on you and throw you some table scraps.

    Go to the Tea Parties. It shows there are people out there that think this is wrong. Build up your contacts. Do meetings together *after* the tea parties to decide what to do next.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I disagree with pairing this down to #5. Without a specific set of goals/reasons/causes, "throw the bums out" is an empty slogan, a bumper sticker. And it will surely fail.

    How about a constitutional amendment requiring bills be of a single subject--that will kill pork, horse trading of favors, omnibus tragedies, hidden disasters of every stripe. How about requiring a sunset provision on all spending bills so they have to be defended periodically?

    Yes, keep it simple. But just 1 (#5) is too simple. 10 is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  15. #5 is the key I think. But the problem is not being able to tell good from bad. At this point I feel a complete reboot is order and that means defeat of EVERY SINGLE INCUMBENT Democrat or Republican from President to dog catcher. I no longer trust a single elected official. Not because they are necessarily dishonest but simply because there is so much deal making and log rolling that one corrupt individual can taint the whole batch. I simply don't trust any of them in any way.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The message is simple -- there are a whole lot of folks pissed off about govt spending. That's all demonstrations ever communicate -- anger.

    And that's OK.

    ReplyDelete
  17. When you elect statists, you get what you expect. I'll be protesting on April 15th not to affect the current government, but the next one: when Republicans regain power I want them to behave like fiscal conservatives and put people like Jeff Flake into party leadership positions, not people like Trent Lott and Ted Stevens (good riddance to those guys).

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have a suggestion for a point 7. Adopt the FairTax as our issue. I've posted that suggestion over at my blog, cross posted to Will's.
    http://takemetoyourlizard.blogspot.com/2009/04/tea-party-manifesto-one-possible-plank.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. These suggestions are a way to change nothing. The change must be bold and simple.
    It should be "possible" in the sense of doable, but impossible in the sense of being politically feasible at this time. If the politicians can meet your demands, they will do so and continue the current system.

    Therefore, my suggestion is: Repeal the income tax.

    No fair tax, flat tax, etc., that will continue current spending but make it easier to collect. Repeal the income tax and shrink the size of government.

    ReplyDelete
  20. 1. Passage by national convention of 28th Amendment to the United States' Constitution:

    The President, Vice-President, and members of Congress shall be paid at a rate of $100,000/yr. A penalty of $20,000 multiplied by the percentage of the previous year's deficit to the previous year's GDP shall be applied to this rate at the start of each fiscal year.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Term limits for the crooks in congress. No more career criminals.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Insist on official recognition by Congress that government policies, designed to facilitate home-buying, were significantly culpable for the housing bubble and consequent financial crisis.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Fair Tax is a good start.

    Also a constitutional amendment limiting taxation to 20% of GDP and limiting spending to 25% of GDP. Hard limits. Let the pigs in D.C. fight over WHICH interest gets the money instead of having the option of raising taxes to pay ALL the parasites that are willing to stand in line and kick back some piece of it to their patron in Congress.

    It will never stop until we bind them with law. Hard, clear, bright lines in the form of a Constitutional Amendment. And that will have appeal for the majority of the country. Then implement #5 along the lines of whether they agree with the amendment or not.

    ReplyDelete
  24. You miss the point. DontGo Movement posted on this early this morning.

    http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/03/31/why-the-tea-party-movement-is-important-to-us/

    ReplyDelete
  25. The point of the original Boston Tea party was to protest the tea tax, so they dumped tea into the harbor and destroyed the King's ability to tax those goods.

    In the grand scheme of things it was more about symbolism than actually hurting the King's treasury.

    So why don't we withdraw our money from the financial institutions that took bailouts? Or stop buying GM cars? Or maybe hijack one of those semis carrying GM cars on the interstate and dump them in a lake? No really, don't do that last one. You might get arrested.

    ReplyDelete
  26. In addition to no longer doing business with bailed out companies (Full disclosure I have my mortgage with WAMU as the admin and Citi holding the note and I can't do anything about that at the moment) reduce your federal tax withholding the least amount you can legally. Put the savings where it can earn a little something before you write them a check next April.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I agree the Fair Tax is a good place to start. Any plan that deprives the government of money to waste is fine by me.

    ReplyDelete
  28. No Bailouts
    No Stimulus
    No Subsidies
    No Earmarks
    No Pork
    No Deficits
    No Tax Hikes
    No Nationalizations
    No Socialism
    No Public Funding
    No Government Cheese
    No Bu11$#;+
    Nobama

    ReplyDelete
  29. I think that shrinking the size and scope of the federal government to its Constitutional limits is a very worthy goal.

    I know that one problem with doing this is funding enormous obligations such as SS and Medicare. While I disagreed with him on several key issues, Harry Browne's Why Government Doesn't Work has many interesting ways this might be accomplished.

    I'd also like to see the backs of both the Democratic and Republican parties broken. (This can be helped along by simply refusing to send the DNC, RNC or their candidates money.) They've conspired at all levels of government to make it exceedingly difficult for third parties to get onto ballots, much less wage effective campaigns.

    Lastly, I'd like to see real campaign finance reform: Any individual can give as much as they like to any candidate(s) with every penny of every donation made public. No corporate donations, no PACs, no other ways to "launder" the money.

    ReplyDelete
  30. 1. We the Tea Party stand for removing from power those who have abused it. To start, we will remove from office every member of congress that voted for the stimulus and the 2009 budget.

    2. We the Tea Party find the US tax code a defiance of natural law and see the code as a means of usurping individual liberty. As such, we aim to abolish the current tax system and replace it with a 10% income tax across the board. No taxation without representation and no representation without taxation.


    Those are my two big sticking points.

    ReplyDelete
  31. 1. Not all the opposition comes from "lefties"; this post makes the ludicrous assumption that everyone who's not a "leftie" agrees with the tea party movement. Here's a hint: in a recent MA party, 99.9% (no, really) of those who voted for the GOP challenger in that district did NOT turn out for their party. Does anyone (who's sane) believe that all of that lack of turnout was because they just didn't know about it or couldn't make a sign?

    2. Some of the organizations pushing the parties do have links to the Kochtopus.

    3. The MSM is ignoring the parties because the Beltway establishment isn't worried about them. That's the only conclusion that sane people can draw.

    4. It's good to see the parties finally get a set of demands after weeks of activity; most smart people would have come up with the demands first but...

    5. Some of those demands are guaranteed to turn off most Americans.

    6. If anyone wants to actually do something effective, discredit politicians on video.

    7. The tea parties are just a waste of time and will never have any effect whatsoever. Don't let Instapundit do your strategizing for you.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Overthrow of the two-party system and the return of government to the hands of the people from the laps of multinational corporations and careerist politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I don't think I'd want to throw all the incumbents out. There are notably a few honorable politicians in Congress. So let's keep Senators Coburn, DeMint and Bayh, and probably a few others that I am not aware of, and yeah, then, throw the rest of the bums out.

    As far as the Tea Party Manifesto goes, first off I wouldn't call it a manifesto. It sounds too leftist. I'd call them the "Organizing Principles of the Tea Party Protest Movement", or something like that.

    I'd add, "Establish Congressional term-limits to reduce corruption and professional politicians".

    ReplyDelete
  34. Good Start, I'd add two more.

    1. Tax cuts, especially for top earners. Bush Tax cuts should be made permanent, with the goal of getting tax rates down to zero.

    2. Deregulate anything that's still regulated, and allow markets to function. Whether it's guns, derivatives, food safety, CO2 emissions or anything else, let the Markets Be Free!

    ReplyDelete
  35. #6-Balanced Budget Amendment
    #7-Amendment requiring transparency in all spending bills and preventing earmarks.
    #8-Add the word "expressly" before the word "delegated" to the 10th Amendment to unequivically limit the federal government's expansion and expressly reestablish the limited federalism intended by the founding fathers.
    #9-Freeze spending for 2 years
    #10-Eliminate automatic Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA's)

    ReplyDelete
  36. I'm sorry, remind me who won the 2008 presidential election...by a crushing margin...oh that's right. And to the pathetic GOP minority...STFU. Nobody gives a shit about your little manifesto, your reactionary desire to go back in time so you can suckle at Reagan's teat, your fevered longings to start wars against brown people, your proud, loud belief that Intelligent Design rivals Evolution, or pretty much anything on your lame-ass agenda. Why not all of you gather in your little circle jerks and plot the next brilliant presidential campaign with your awesome leaders like Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal. Holy crap, 2012 can't come soon enough so we can kick your assess again.

    ReplyDelete
  37. This is horrible. Constitutional Republican (Ron Paul supporters) started these Tea Party's and now their getting taken over by people who are clueless. GET RID OF THE INCOME TAX. NO FAIRTAX OR FLAT TAX! ELIMINATE THE FEDERAL RESERVE! No more tiny weenie tax cuts then gigantic spending like Bush. We need a balanced budget on year 1 of term 1 of our next candidate. Enough of these clueless candidates like McCain, Palin, Jindal, Huckabee, etc. It's my money, I earned it, and I want it all back now!

    ReplyDelete
  38. If there are no tea parties in your area - would it be a good idea to post a statement on a personal blog and what should the statement include?
    Patricia
    http://theunfinishedflower.typepad.com/coquettishfleur/

    ReplyDelete
  39. Going back to Reagan-era tax levels is socialism!

    Actually, what this is all really about is the conservative movement being out of power. If Bush were in power and running up major deficits, we're hear nothing but crickets in the distance -- which is pretty much all we heard from his team as he, what, doubled the deficit?

    Policies mean nothing. If Obama lowered taxes on most of us, you'd still call him a commie. Oh wait, he is, and you are.

    Just don't forget: the Boston Tea Party had nothing to do with lowering taxes. It was about getting representation. If England had allowed Americans a place in its gov't, there would have been no revolution (cf., Canada, Australia, New Zealand).

    ReplyDelete
  40. We have a Constitution and Washington is trashing it. A civil society requuires a written (not living) Constitution and respect for contracts. All of this is out the window as class warfare is encouraged by the politicians. Anarchy is sure to follow.

    ReplyDelete
  41. I believe that part of the Tea Party Mission must be to educate those who think that only the “Big Guys” will pay for the spending binge, the tossing out of the rule of law by congress and the White House and their spitting on the Constitution.

    Sometime between now and summer 2009 the citizens of this great country will owe various lenders throughout the world $14.612 trillion, the population of this country as of today is approximately 306,000,000, therefore every man, woman and child, from sea to shining sea will owe $47,751.63.

    There is not enough income generated to pay off that debt simply by taxing the big guys so little by little the huge tax increases will creep down the economic ladder.

    Mr. Obama began his totalitarian regime by firing the CEO of General Motors, a symbolic action signaling his future intentions.

    In order to recoup some of our funds that he has loaned to a dying business he will eventually tell the assembly line worker how much he is permitted to earn…and spend!

    Totalitarian regimes must control the entire economic chain in order to survive. In less than three months Mr. Obama and his nodding heads Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have made more headway towards that ignominious objective than Lenin, Trotsky, Kalinin, Kirov, Martov, Axelrod and Zasulich, the leaders of the Russian Revolution, accomplished in the two years following the overthrow of the Zsar.

    The Tea Party initiative must find a way to overcome the ignorance generated and sustained by the class warfare promulgated and fed by Washington Liberals

    ReplyDelete
  42. Fat Man and his party on No. That's not playing so well out there in sanity street.

    ReplyDelete
  43. CONSUMPTION TAX!
    Not flat tax, not FAIRTAX, a FIXED SALES TAX. Can't be raised, can't be pandered with "prebates" and "exemptions"...

    SEPARATION OF UNION AND STATE!
    We pay those union govt workers to use OUR money to lobby AGAINST US: the taxpayer.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I believe it is extremely important that each tea party has a standardized set of "demands" so that they can be presented to the media and then mailed to Washington. Those demands should include the Fair Tax in some form. I do like the bills contain one item only angle. Also, I believe that members of Congress should only serve one term in any committee.

    Someone mentioned the ability to change government. That already exists in our Constitution. It is just that we have never had to exercise that right before.

    The sooner we come up with a standardized list the better it is for all.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I think the problem with so many of these suggested 'manifesto' items is that they are TOO specific and therefore easily picked apart and disregarded as either an angry disorganized mob who don't have a coherent message that the MSM can digest and regurgitate as a sound bite, or as fake grassroots protest front group a la ACORN or the G20 protesters. Now all of the suggestions have some merit, but they all have too much potential to alienate too many people, and allow the MSM and the lofty ones in Washington to dismiss the whole movement as the same old 'grassroots' (read: funded by, and carried out by the same people on the extreme ends).

    What this whole movement needs to do is to find what it is that binds us all together - We're coming from every single walk of life - Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, religious, agnostic, atheistic, old, young, city folk, country folk, business men, farmers, hairdressers, stay-at-home moms, foreign born, or with ancestors on the Mayflower and so on - Trying to bind us all with a list of manifesto specifics (flat tax, earmarks, various specifics of the 'stimulus', tax cuts, unions, throwing all the bums out, etc) is simply impossible and only tears us apart.

    So what then does bind us together? It's simple, if you think about it, all the work has already been done for us;

    One need only read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

    So since we are holding tea parties, why not look to our past again, and simply use our Declaration of Independence, a document I believe all of us can agree to ideologically, as the template? It has been a long time since I read it in full, and reading it again now, it has some startling correlations with where we are now. In fact, many of the listed grievances don't even need to be updated much to apply to our current situation (i.e. "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.")

    And I wholeheartedly agree with what Robin said above that we need to come up with this standardized list ASAP, but like I said before, this cannot be a movement that is fueled by specific 'party platform' issues, this is not about liberal, conservative, libertarian, etc, this is about We the People wanting our leaders to take a moment and read (for many, for the first time, probably) the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and ask themselves: Is this legislation in accordance with the principles expressed in these documents?

    ReplyDelete
  46. People marching in the streets is too good to waste. Fix the fundamental problems. Need term limits and fiscal management amendments.

    http://way2opinionated.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/the-process/

    ReplyDelete
  47. If you really want to overthrow Statist tyranny, bankrupt the Ivy Towers of Higher Indoctrination which are polluting minds and killing Capitalism.

    Ending protectionist tenure will solve 90% of America's problems.

    If America did not have so many useful idiot professors indocrinating Statism then we would be free to live in Liberty.

    ReplyDelete
  48. WE NEED TO SEND A CRUSHING MESSAGE TO WASHINGTON OF #4 VOTE DOWN THIS UNPRECEDENTED SPENDING THAT WILL BRING OUR ECONOMY TO A STANDSTILL AND THIS COUNTRY TO ITS KNEES. WE CANT
    DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE REPRESENTATIVES THAT ARE THERE FOR TWO MORE YEARS. BACKUP #4 WITH THE THREAT OF #5 AND THE CONSEQUENCE OF #6. This corrupt administration is SPENDING us into SOCIALISM and will bankrupt our country, taking complete control of our lives, dictating how we live, and controlling our free markets.

    ReplyDelete
  49. What the messiah is doing to the economy will take us one or two administrations to correct if we get a fiscally conservative government. What he is doing to our constitution will take longer to repair.
    Limit campaign contributions. You can only contribute to a politician that is running in the district for which you are registered to vote. All donations are deductible only up to a $100. (adjusted for inflation). All contributions have to be posted on line within 24 hours of when they are received.
    Congress gets theire power over business by way of the tax code. A flat tax would still be a problem. eliminate that and have a consumption tax that excludes food and medicine, nothing else.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Check out the American People's Manifesto at http://americanpeoplesmanifesto.blogspot.com/. It's agenda includes a lot of the things people are talking about here. Add your own comments and suggestions to it. Let's get America back on track!

    ReplyDelete
  51. CJ Casey wrote:

    That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government . . .

    The original context of this quote was a call for armed revolutionary violence to overthrow the existing government. Is this really and truley and non-hyperbolically what the Tea Party movement stands for, or is it the rehetorical equivalent of masturbation?

    ReplyDelete
  52. How about this?

    Use the Constitution as our guide. Spending bills are ONLY to originate in the House. That's not how they are doing things now, and that's just one unConstituional thing Congress has been doing for a long time...

    1. Where in the Constitution does it give the Federal government the power to bail out anyone? End them all, NOW, and never do them again.

    2. Does the Constition say something about only making budgets for 2 years? Any budget talking about spending beyond that is unConstititional.

    3. Where is the Constitutional justification for these pet projects, no matter what years they are for?

    4. Since much of this budget is intended to fund items outside the Constitutional powers of the Federal government, I'm all for this idea.

    5. If any politician voted for the "Stimulus" bill, they voted contrary to the Constitution. Vote them out of office at the earliest opportunity.

    6. Where in the Constitution is the Federal goverment empowered to be involved with entities such as Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac? Can't argue with this idea.

    It all comes down to the Constitution. Much of what the Federal government does, is outside it's Constitutionally mandated powers. Social Security, Medicare, funding medical research, funding schools.

    We all have the power to impose "term limits". We just have to vote people out of office once they've served to that "limit". I can't agree with a "throw them all out". I'm very impressed with what I've seen/heard from Mike Pence, a freshman Republican member of the House. We need more people like him in Congress. He's new, but he's taking a leadership role, unlike other "party leaders" who have been in Congress a very long time...

    ReplyDelete
  53. Term limits decrease the power of individual legislators and increase the power of lobbyists and party officials.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Politicians and news media are ignoring the tea parties. If we want to get their attention, I suggest we should have petitions at every event and get everyone to sign them. Make copies to send to your two state Senators and your members of Congress. It might say something like, "We the undersigned voters, are opposed to the stimulus spending bill and the enormous government expenditures which will bankrupt this nation. We are opposed to government take-overs of private enterprise and massive bailouts of failed companies. We will vote against any candidate who supports them."

    ReplyDelete
  55. Colin Laney said Term limits decrease the power of individual legislators and increase the power of lobbyists and party officials.

    Explain to me how term limits increase the power of lobbiest

    ReplyDelete
  56. There is a whole host of regulations that have gotten us to this point but they can’t be listed without diluting the message.

    Right now the five points on the list are good enough plus the slogan:

    “Just say no to bailouts.”

    ReplyDelete
  57. It is about time that we, the people have woken up and are on the verge of taking our country back! In addition to the tea parties, we need to follow these up by putting incredible pressure on our members of Congress to start doing the people's business. We need to recruit average citizens to primary current members and also put up strong like-minded challengers in November 2010. This is not a democrat vs. republican movement, so let's make it an us vs. them movement!!! As we all saw with Barack Obama, it is the grassroots movements like these tea parties that will actually overwhelm the status quo. The only think we have to watch out for is that the media will not cover these honestly and will try to discourage the movement. In addition to this, watch those who have the most to lose send their 'stooges' to the tea parties with racist or derogatory signs which the media will claim belong to us.
    after the tea parties, please help us follow up with our own battle to put the pressure on the current Congress by going to OurPromiseToAmerica.org. It is a document we are going to ask anybody running for office on 2010 to sign onto. It is along the lines of Newt's Contract with America of 1994 and is very straightforward. you can sign on and help us if you choose to by helping organize statewide efforts. Some of the bullet points we are going to be having signers agree to are:

    1) We will seek to vote for term limits in a stand alone bill, once a month for every year we are in Congress. Regardless of the vote, we will serve no more than 2 terms in the House or 1 Term in the Senate, no matter how important or loved we are by the American people.
    2)We will vote to include ourselves in the same SOCIAL SECURITY program the average American is compelled to also be in. We are no better than the average working American. We then will also have a stake in fixing the problem.
    3)We will work a 40 hour work week with only 4 weeks of vacation just as the Average American does, for the good of the people.
    4)We will vote to freeze our current pay level, unless voted on in a separate, stand alone bill to raise it, as well as contributing the same percentage the average worker has to their health care benefits.
    5)We will vote to mandate that we only raise campaign funds for future elections from the people we represent in our district, or in the case of Senate elections, our state.
    6) We will not vote for pork projects, under any circumstance, in larger bills meant to hide their existence. Any money from the US taxpayer going to my district will be justified by me personally and not a staff member.
    7) We will disclose in clear, separate documents, if any of our family work for the US government or companies receiving money from it, or lobbying to it.
    8)We will vote to eliminate any pensions received from the government for our service. Because we are only going to serve for a brief period of time, we will be able to go back into the private sector and earn money there, rather than take it from the people of this country.
    9)We will mandate that all current laws which are on the books are enforced. Rather than ‘ignore’ laws we don’t like, we will vote to change them in full view of the American people.
    10)We will put every piece of legislation online for at least three BUSINESS days prior to voting on it. Absolutely no changes will be made to the legislation voted upon, unless it is reposted and given an additional three business days for scrutiny. All changes will be clearly identified and noted with the person who made the changes. We will also sign off that we have personally read each and every bill which we vote on.
    11)We will not become a lobbyist or engage in lobbying activities once we leave office under any circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Join with us - obamacrimes.com - Issue - Obama is Constitutionally ineligible/unqualified to be President as he is not "natural born" !
    I, Philip J. Berg, Esquire, have three [3] cases pending in Federal Court to have Obama removed from office as he has put forth the biggest "HOAX" in the history of our country, over 230 years.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Balanced budgets & term limits.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Did you guys see this: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/31/republican-governors-urge-congress-pass-stimulus/

    We need to make each of our governors a target in this campaign to stop them from pushing the Obama Stimulus Plan in order to "benefit" their particular states.

    ReplyDelete
  61. All this talk about "throw the bums out" fails to assess the real impact of such a strategy. Suppose we succeed in throwing them out -- who would take their place? 535 green politicians who would quickly be overwhelmed by the unelected bureaucrats and lobbyists who really run the joint. Then we're REALLY screwed.

    No, the better, if more difficult, solution is for the American electorate to educate themselves on the issues, and take care to elect representatives of impeccable character and conviction, some of whom are already in office.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Where is Obama's birth certificate. or is it true, the constitution is dead?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Poppypundit: Did you ever stop to think that everytime a new law is passed, we all lose a little bit more of our freedom. I would rather have 535 green politicians, whose main purpose is serving America, rather than themselves. Political experience is way overblown.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Repeal the stimulus or we will replace you STARTING in 2010

    ReplyDelete
  65. We need to assign a non-partisan, non-governmental group, such as the 911 Commission or the base closure committee to peruse with a fine tooth comb all Government Agencies, then publish what will probably be a very thick book of all Agencies, subagencies, positions therein, etc. for deletion. We CANNOT keep adding governmental agencies month after month, year after year that then become a permanent fixture with no accountability OR oversight. This is not a reliable means in which to run a government and is unsustainable.

    Case in point? The Department of Energy - President Richard Nixon established the Federal Energy Office within the Executive Office of the President to oversee fuel allocation, rationing, and prices IN 1973. Simply put, this was to be an 9 YEAR DEPARTMENT. He wanted a cabinet-level agency to assume these roles and work on the commercial development of new energy technologies so that the United States could become energy self-sufficient by 1980. Now, just a mere 30 years later, what type of monstrosity has this agency become? 1)Enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; 2) works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; 3) provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; 4) and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad.

    Rather than let it go in 1980 they added more responsibilities to keep it going and growing. Some deserved maybe, but probably best run under another existing department. This is how they breed folks.

    Number of employees? 18,000

    ReplyDelete
  66. I totally agree that the Tea Parties must have a codified statement of purpose or the effort will be forgotten and fail. But we already have the statement--The Constitution. You know, that document our government has been trampling all over for decades now. We need to remind them that it exists and that they have transgressed against it.

    ReplyDelete
  67. the28thamendmentproposal.org is an organization that has put forth an initiative that addresses many of the issues put forth here in a combined proposal. Briefly the points of the amendment are:

    - a flat tax that is capped (the draft proposal puts the cap at 15%); this eliminates the concern that taxes will just be easier for feds to collect, and provides an equitable distribution of the tax burden

    - a complete elimination of the complicated tax code - no deductions, no loopholes, a simple three line tax document; income, rate, taxes owed

    - a strong balanced budget initiative, which when combined with the capped flat income tax completely handcuffs the federal government's spending authority; they will be forced to return many of the responsibilities and rights of the States and the People to the States and the People

    If interested, please go to http://the28thamendmentproposal.org/home.html

    ReplyDelete
  68. Congress must stop funding organizations that are essentially wings of the democrat party, as follows.Acorn,SEIU,NAALCP,ARP,NPR,and numerous others. I am sure that conduct is illegal.

    ReplyDelete