According to the government controlled and influenced media, the Tea Party movement is nothing more than a group of radical, racists, homophobic extremist. Once again, they are wrong, totally wrong!
What can be described as nothing more than a de-centralized grass roots movement, the Tea Party movement is gaining ground by leaps and bounds. The movement, despite the fact that is does not have a central leader or headquarters, is the definition of what it means to be American. Throughout the country, citizens are uniting in communities and neighborhoods for a common cause, limited government, defense of the Constitution and fiscal responsibility. Although, each group has it's unique goal and agenda, the common thread is simple........defense of the Constitution!
In a recent attempt to bring some unity to the movement a Houston based tea-party activist, named Ryan Hecker, has created a website which includes a Contract From America. With nearly 500,000 votes recorded in less than two months, this Contract forms a blueprint of tea-party policy goals and beliefs.
The basic points covered in the Contract are as follows:
1. Protect the Constitution
Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%)
2. Reject Cap & Trade
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures. (72.20%)
3. Demand a Balanced Budget
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike. (69.69%)
4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution. (64.90%)
5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
Create a Blue Ribbon task force that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities, or ripe for wholesale reform or elimination due to our efforts to restore limited government consistent with the US Constitution’s meaning. (63.37%)
6. End Runaway Government Spending
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%)
7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries. (56.39%)
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition and jobs. (55.51%)
9. Stop the Pork
Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%)
10. Stop the Tax Hikes
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011. (53.38%)
One of the more interesting notes about the 10 points is that five (5) of these points mentions the Constitution or the Constitutionality of actions taken by the federal government. The thing that makes this so interesting is that it re-enforces the fact that the Tea Party movement is calling for a return to Constitutional values. This is further evidence that the American people are self educating themselves and are becoming more and more aware of our often subdued history. This is indeed a pleasant revelation and it appears to be a growing trend. It has often been said that the ignorance of the American people regarding the Constitution, our history, and the operations of government is what led to the corruption that now cripples our nation. If this rebirth or return to our founding principles continues, we could be witnessing a paradigm shift of revolutionary proportions. This revolution, however, will be different.
Unlike our Founding Fathers, we have in place a system that will enable us to bring about non-violent revolutionary change. The very system in which they created can be used to reel in our out of control government, remove corruption and restore integrity to our public offices. This however, will not come without sacrifice and determination.
In the coming weeks, months and years, attempts will be made to discredit the Tea Party movement, infiltrators will go above and beyond their power to tarnish the good name of real activism. The Tea Party movement must not succumb to the tactics of the Alinsky model but rather confront the opposition with the voice of TRUTH.
What can be described as nothing more than a de-centralized grass roots movement, the Tea Party movement is gaining ground by leaps and bounds. The movement, despite the fact that is does not have a central leader or headquarters, is the definition of what it means to be American. Throughout the country, citizens are uniting in communities and neighborhoods for a common cause, limited government, defense of the Constitution and fiscal responsibility. Although, each group has it's unique goal and agenda, the common thread is simple........defense of the Constitution!
In a recent attempt to bring some unity to the movement a Houston based tea-party activist, named Ryan Hecker, has created a website which includes a Contract From America. With nearly 500,000 votes recorded in less than two months, this Contract forms a blueprint of tea-party policy goals and beliefs.
The basic points covered in the Contract are as follows:
1. Protect the Constitution
Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%)
2. Reject Cap & Trade
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures. (72.20%)
3. Demand a Balanced Budget
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike. (69.69%)
4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution. (64.90%)
5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
Create a Blue Ribbon task force that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities, or ripe for wholesale reform or elimination due to our efforts to restore limited government consistent with the US Constitution’s meaning. (63.37%)
6. End Runaway Government Spending
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%)
7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries. (56.39%)
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition and jobs. (55.51%)
9. Stop the Pork
Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%)
10. Stop the Tax Hikes
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011. (53.38%)
One of the more interesting notes about the 10 points is that five (5) of these points mentions the Constitution or the Constitutionality of actions taken by the federal government. The thing that makes this so interesting is that it re-enforces the fact that the Tea Party movement is calling for a return to Constitutional values. This is further evidence that the American people are self educating themselves and are becoming more and more aware of our often subdued history. This is indeed a pleasant revelation and it appears to be a growing trend. It has often been said that the ignorance of the American people regarding the Constitution, our history, and the operations of government is what led to the corruption that now cripples our nation. If this rebirth or return to our founding principles continues, we could be witnessing a paradigm shift of revolutionary proportions. This revolution, however, will be different.
Unlike our Founding Fathers, we have in place a system that will enable us to bring about non-violent revolutionary change. The very system in which they created can be used to reel in our out of control government, remove corruption and restore integrity to our public offices. This however, will not come without sacrifice and determination.
In the coming weeks, months and years, attempts will be made to discredit the Tea Party movement, infiltrators will go above and beyond their power to tarnish the good name of real activism. The Tea Party movement must not succumb to the tactics of the Alinsky model but rather confront the opposition with the voice of TRUTH.
In order to maintain a united front it will remain a necessary fact, that we must continue to "educate and inform the whole mass of the people."
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment