The Tea Party movement has been ineffective for several reasons. We have not learned from our founding fathers (and mothers) the simple lesson of “Unite or Die”. Most people who have risen to any type of leadership role have limited resources and are relentlessly attacked in order to marginalize their message. Many patriot groups have also narrowed their focus to one or a few issues such as immigration or 2nd amendment rights. However, there is one overriding description of this movement: we are always on the defensive.
When we attend protests or rallies, we are on defense against a government program such as health care, cap & trade or most recently, raising the debt ceiling. The other type of event we attend promotes a concept such as remembering 9/11 or “Restoring Honor” but no tangible results are achieved to ensure our future. Some politicians are starting to acknowledge our efforts, but we still are “reacting” to existing legislation and our record of success in the government’s march to Socialism is zero.
There is a simple issue that will allow us to unite in a common cause and also allow us to go on the offensive:
Quantitative Easing III
The Federal Reserve is out of ammunition to stop our economic decline as shown last week when they guaranteed the discount rate would remain close to zero through 2013. If QE I and QE II had not been put in place, our economy would have already collapsed. The government has no recourse but to put QE III into effect (probably in September) as our economy declines. Just this week, housing starts have declined, the manufacturing index declined and our dollar continues to be devalued due to our inability to restrain our government’s spending addiction.
The request to everyone and every group is simple. Congress is out of session now. If any of your congressmen hold a town hall, go and tell them now to stop QE III before it is announced. If no town halls are scheduled, write your congressmen and women a letter and tell them now to stop this next round of irresponsible fiscal policy.
QE III will only devalue our currency further and make the eventual consequences harder and longer. Let’s take the offensive position before the dollar goes the way of the original “Continental” and becomes completely worthless.
David DeGerolamo
Will include a link to this in the next email I send.
Has any politician ever requested the Congressional Research Service (CRS) or submitted a bill to have every law identified that does not meet the Constitution Article 1 section 8; including the cost of each one. If we do not know how we got here, we do not know which laws to remove. If the GOP is serious about returning us to the Constitution they will develop such a list.
I agree, go on the offense!
We do need a common, unified cause. I fully agree with you.
There is scientific proof that MIND can alter matter. A case in point: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976-77 had lost 26 consecutive games. A group of believers in the power of the mind (around the world) were asked to concentrate at a certain time and day, based on their location around the planet, to help the Buccaneers win an upcoming game. It was published in the Tampa Tribune in 1977. The Buccaneers won. My idea would be to have everyone that can be reached by phone, news media, emails, to be asked to “mantra” a statement of support for this country, on a specific day and time based on location across the country. In other words; the time in Ca. might be 8 am. while New York would be 12 pm (daylight savings time). It would not have to be religious in any way. Just “May this country come to its senses and save itself from internal destruction”.
We are always on the defensive, I couldn’t agree with you more. So much so that I have been racking my brain for a name change from tea partiers to something more acceptable to everybody. Remember it is all on how you use words in your favor. I called my Congresswoman after she voted yes and when she left me a message she was to sick to talk. So I called her and told her to call me back when she was better because what I have to say is not going to make her feel better. As for Burr, he is a lost cause and we need to find someone who is conservative to take him out next time. I realized he was a lost cause when I called his office about voting yes to gays in the military, I asked why and they said because it was going to pass anyway.
We are on the defensive because we allow ourselves to be on the defensive. No cause has ever been won while on the defensive. There is a quote that we must live by; Lead or get out of the way.
Stop moaning and groaning about this and take the initiative to lead. The local TPs must communicate more with each other and and stop working independently without organization. We will never move forward as long as we are fractionalized. Now is the time to plan for 2012; not six months from now. We have everything to lose if we are not sucessful in 2012.
You are exactly right, and unless we join, we will die. There is exactly one, and only one thing that can bring together every disparate faction of the loose conglomeration known as the Tea Party today: Restoring the Constitutional order.
If we do not, our nation is finished. Even if we survive on in name, we will no longer be the nation founded in 1776. We can solve one economic mess, but with other areas of Constitutional integrity quickly being eroded then even with QE3 stopped we will continue our descent into dissolution.
The one thing which all the different Tea Parties will be able to unite around — all those except for the few establishment astroturf incursions we have suffered — is to restore the Constitutional order in full. But to do this means compromise, just as the 13 colonies compromised with each other to form a nation, and compromised again to adopt our Constitution. The did not compromise with England, and we must not compromise with the establishment powers, but they did compromise with each other, and if we do not do likewise today then all is truly lost.
Restoring the Constitutional order means restoring the WHOLE Constitution, and not merely those parts we like. We like the controls on spending, we like the limitations on Federal power. We do not like the requirement to declare war or issue letters of marque and reprisal before committing to military action. We do not like how the Constitution does not authorize Federal prohibition, the Department of Homeland Security, and the USA PATRIOT Act.
But you can’t compromise on the Constitution, after all, that’s what got us into this mess in the first place.
We are so far gone now that there is only one way back. We fix the economy alone, and security and liberties continue to drag us into the police state. We fix spending alone and our debt and unfunded liabilities still grow unchecked. The only way to truly unite together in a large enough movement to have a serious impact on reversing the collapse of the United States, is to join together around restoring the WHOLE Constitution, and every faction involved with the understanding that all of us ALL OF US will have to compromise with each other, and to compromise many of our own beliefs in favor of a strict and holistic restoration of the Constitutional order.
It will not be easy. It CAN not be easy, but this is our only light at the end of the tunnel. All of the real Tea Parties can unite around a total restoration of the Constitution even if it means that some of our favored policies end up in jeopardy. And if we can demonstrate ourselves serious enough to do it, and numerous enough to make it happen, then we will start picking up all kinds of new people you can not now imagine.
You are right, we must join or die. And the one thing that we can all join around, is restoring the Constitutional order. Indeed, it is the only thing that will save the United States.
Having read all your comments, I wish you well with that and Godspeed.
One thing I wish to point out however…Every effort of man, no matter how monumental, is but a speck of dust on the road to eternity. A loving and mighty God has already ordained a beginning and an end, and IMHO there is a divine reason that unity has been so very, very elusive for our movement. If failure persists, I urge you wake each day more prepared than disappointed.
I agree with rejecting quantitative easing, but I have to say, I strongly disagree with what you said about the Tea Party movement. People have come together and have stood for many of the things that are wrong with our society. In doing that, we had serious success in the 2010 elections across the country. There are a lot of areas that need focus and I think it is ok to work toward fixing as many parts of our society as possible. I also would not change the name of the Tea Party movement because the media has given us heck about it -- at some point we need to draw a line in the sand. We need to say that we are proud of the work we are doing and we need to stand strong together. If you think about it, it does not matter what you call the movment, the media will still have negative things to say. And finally -- founding mothers? That sounds like political correctness to me… not a huge point, but I don’t think that I have ever heard the term before.
If we realistically judge our results over the past two years, our success can only be measured in an awakening to our country’s fiscal and moral state. When we started, we were 912 groups. Then the Tea Party label took hold in the media due to the first Tea Party Convention. We can label patriots and patriotism anything we want but we make first recognize that our efforts are not working.
The 2010 elections proved what? Look at Renee Ellmers. Glen Bradley is the only success we had in this state for Constitutional government and the GOP treated him like (and by extension us) like dirt.
I am surprised by your comment concerning founding mothers. Abigail Adams, Betsy Ross and a host of founding mothers were important in the Revolution. As I travelled across the state meeting groups in North Carolina, I quickly saw more women than men leading the charge (including you). I doubt anyone would accuse me of being politically correct. I for one will not underestimate or ignore the efforts of both men and women in this fight.
Knowing both you and Laura, I would say this, that you are BOTH correct. Laura sees the glass half full, and David sees it half empty, but it’s the same.
This country didn’t get off track in one year or two years or ten years and it won’t get back on track over night. It’s easy to become weary and to feel like we’ve accomplished nothing, but as I look back over the last 3-4 years, I DO see accomplishments by the people I stood shoulder to shoulder with and marched to the Capitol on 9/12. Just because NC has been slow to change, doesn’t mean changes haven’t happened. Just because Glen Bradley has been treated badly doesn’t mean there haven’t been accomplishments in the right direction at the state and local levels. So, I would disagree that “our efforts aren’t working”. I think you just aren’t satisfied with the speed. Having said that, I personally believe we have almost run out of time, and that if we don’t make a change in the White House in 2012, we won’t be able to implement the change we want. IF you think Obama isn’t going to going to grant amensty to illegals by executive order, once re-elected, you need your head examined. If that happens, we are lost. Better get ready, just in case.
Running a small business for 25 years will make you measure results differently. We are not playing horseshoes where close enough wins the future. Our efforts to stop Socialism in Washington have failed to stop this transition. We may have slowed their speed but they still scored the victory.
If I set a goal in business and get close, I did not achieve my goal. I do not go home and pat myself on the back consoling myself that I almost made it. We cannot set unrealistic goals but we have not even set a realistic goal. The success in the 2010 elections was a success for the Republican Party in both the state and US House. The elections may have slowed our descent but we have not stopped it.
If I believed the glass was half empty or half full is not relevent. Without goals and tangible victories, we will not even begin to feel anything but defeat. Whether people agree or disagree with this assessment is not the point: we have to get people thinking about an effective strategy.
How did you personally feel when Congress and the president passed the debt ceiling legislation knowing that Standard & Poor’s would downgrade our credit rating? Then ask yourself if you believe in your own heart that our efforts have been effective? The point is that we have to do more if we do not want to surrender.
Even though we are separated geographically we are united in a common goal. We are all working for a revival of Constitutional government as outlined by the Founding Fathers. There were many times that the FFs were at a stalemate. They, then, stopped and initiated a day of fasting and prayer which resulted in movement again. They believed as do many of us that this country was settled and independent through the grace of God.
This particular land was chosen by the Lord as surely as Israel was for the chosen people. We were given a land that had coastlines on three sides for trade routes and abundances of seafood. It also gave us vast oil deposits. The interior of this great country has provided us with oil, natural gas, coal, fertile farmland for crops, timber, gold, the list is almost endless. No other country has been given the riches the Lord has provided us.
We can continue to let this socialist government take these resources from us through ridiculous legislation and regulations through agencies such as the EPA or we can fight for our country that has been so good to us in the past. I choose to fight!
Good message and quite affordable:
http://www.amazon.com/Unite-die-flag-3x5-foot/dp/B0045LF5GY