Protesters gathered at state Capitols and in neighborhoods and town squares all over the country today in tax-day protests designed to echo the rebellion of the Boston Tea Party. Demonstrators claim they're angry about government spending since President Barack Obama took office. I wonder if there would be this same fuss if McCain had been elected. I attended the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party in Gilbert, Arizona. There was a great turn out. I dont know how many people there were, but it looked like about 1000 - 1500 or so. There were a lot of speeches about how Obama & Co. are wrecking the country, apparently oblivious to the fact that compassionate, Christian conservative GW Bush outspent all others in the history of America. I wish they had talked more about the history of the IRS and the Federal Reserve, and the importance of reading and understanding the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and how God played into the lives of the Founding Fathers. Up in Show Low, Arizona one of our LDS state senators talked about how secret combinations are responsible for the current challenging situations many fear or are faced with already. Phoenix, Arizona also had a large TEA party this evening that may still be raging as I write.
I just got an update on the Phoenix TEA party. The security at the capitol estimated there were about 3000 - 4000 people present.
-- Edited by lundbaek on Wednesday 15th of April 2009 10:09:10 PM
The following is the speech given by recently retired AZ State Senator Karen Johnson (R-LDS) at the TEA party in Show Low, Arizona. If you don't feel like reading the entire thing, at least read the last part in blue.
Excitement is building over the hundreds, if not thousands of "Tea Parties" planned for today. In my opinion this is to herd desperate Americans into nothing more than another feel good exercise.
Do you know what the herding technique is? Do you know what "controlled opposition" means?
These tea parties are the manifistations of millions of Americans who finally got the big jolt last September when they screamed at Congress "No bailouts!" Did they listen? Heck no! and because that body of crooks, cowards and criminals have their agenda and they no longer fear the ballot box, its business as usual while we the people continue to see everything we've worked for go down the rat hole courtesy of Congress.
Because this uproar by "we the people" is growing exponentially, something must be done to herd the people in the right direction - to control opposition to the master plan of one world government and the final destruction of our constitutional republic. Now comes some good decent Americans who decide to make their voices heard by having a tea party. However, now that the level of anger has been ratcheted up considerable, a "new" face of reason on a "fair and balanced" television network picks up the anger factor and begins to exploit these millions of desperate Americans.
Dr. Ron Paul, Dr. Edwin Vieira, Peter Schiff, Gerald Clente, and many more like them as well as leaders of many churches have been trying for decades to explain the core cancer (our debauched currency and corrupted monetary system) only to be ignored or laughed at by useful fools at CNN, Fox News, etc.
So we vent our anger at a tea party and then what? Write your congressman? Write your usurper president? America crossed the Rubicon last Summer, and the worst is yet to come. Instead of tens of thousands being encouraged to get Americans the truth about the income tax (domestic Americans are not subject to the federal income tax), lets herd the peasants into more feel good exercises. Let them vent, wave signs and flags, go home and write letters proclaiming, "We'll remember in November!!!!" Sure, that worked real well last November, when all but about 27 seats out of 435 changed. More socialists were "elected", while constitutionalists were shunned by the media and voters who shouted they wanted "change!" What they did was reelect the same crooks who have brought destruction and misery to our country.
Time is of the essence. Today, millions of Americans will try to pay the IRS whatever they have left in their bank account. With the unemployment rate running as high as 13% in some states, this annual grand larceny isn't going to produce the piles of money these thieves in Washington D.C. want to fund the continuation of their immoral wars; as well as trillions needed in social spending.
While some taxes are worse that others, there is no good tax! All taxes distort production, depress economic growth and punish producers and consumers. They all violate privacy, rob us of our property, they all increase government power and reduce the scope of economic liberty. This is true of the income tax and any tax that might be designed to replace it.
The usurper president has requested a whopping "new" $83,4 BILLLION dollars that doesn't exist to fund these horrific wars when the people's purse is now overdrawn $11,1 TRILLION dollars.
Well, that is the agenda, isn't it? Loot and bankrupt this republic until the people are so desperate that they will get down on their knees and beg for mother government to "save them". The goal is world government brought on by an engineered financial crisis.
The paramilitarization of local law enforcement is beefing up and the target is you and me. Many of you here today know the big picture and understand that we are right in the crosshairs of the minions of the shadow government who run and control Congress and the White House. I received an intelligence and analysis report put out by the office of Homeland Security, that is sickening. Just because of your attendance here at this function today, YOU are a right wing extremist.
Survival is the name of the game and it must be done county by county across this country. Yes, we must continue to pound on Congress for every piece of draconian legislation these craved SOBs are trying to shove down our throats. Every call to stop giving 15-20 MILLION illegals a free pass even though they are lawbreakers will count. NOW is the time to identify candidates for 2010; This is critical. No matter how bloodied and bruised we are by November 2010, if we don't have candidates lined up for all these congressional seats, the same "traitors" will get voted back into office. We must understand that we need to work together and do all we can to get out of the system by caring for each other and serving each other. We must live as self sufficiently as possible anad be prepared for whatever "they" have is store for us. The Lord has told us over and over that if we are prepared we shall not fear. Do not be fearfull or even angry but consecrate all you have to the Lord and his kingdom. Serve your neighbor and build these communities of Show Low, Lindon, Snowflake, Taylor etc. so they can be thriving areas without the need of assistance or edicts from the federal government. Let's do all we can to take care of ourselves, our families, and fellow neighbors withour government help. We have the opportunity to tell the Feds to "Take a hike" and be a shining star up here in the White Mountain area by truly being a Zion community. May God bless us to this end.
Well, a lot of people are waking up to our awful situation, but you're right, many of them aren't taking meaningful action. Of course, there is the other extreme. Work within the system, but realize that the system doesn't include only two parties, and that there are a lot of rights (such as the right to redress of grievances) that americans frequently don't exercise.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I went to the salt lake city TEA party. I decided to go when The Today Show that morning said they were "insignificant".
I thought it was interesting that when one of the speakers said they may cut it short because of the snow, everyone said no. Rain, Snow, Sleet, and everything in between made it wet and cold, but we didn't mind.
SOme of the speakers mentioned that the original tea parties were because The West India Tea Company was too big too fail, and needed proping up by government. I thought that was interesting.
I thought 98% of the people there were reasonable patriotic citizens. I was glad to go, and am upset at the characterization that we were dangerous kooks.
(The 2% consisted of a far left protester with a sign saying on one side "Obama won, get over it." and on the other side "Franken too", and a small group of people that blamed absolutely everything on the Federal Reserve and Illegal Immigration. )
There really wasn't much reporting on it in the media.
Various alternate media are reporting that there are going to be Tea Parties all across the nation in the next few weeks. A large one is planned for Washington, D.C. July 4th. All they seem to be is people venting their frustration with increasing taxes. While the Tea Parties are a great PR stunt, I don't think they are effective at portraying the real basis of growing dissatisfaction in America--the feeling that the country is run by conspiring insiders and that we the people have no control or influence in what's left of our Republic.
On Independence Day I participated in the "Tea Party" in Gilbert, Arizona by setting up a table with literature and info about the Constitution Party, as well as a petition to get the CP on the AZ ballot for 2010. I had been invited to be one of the speakers and gave the following 1/2 minute talk:
"Today we celebrate the signing of this nations birth certificate, the American Declaration of Independence. It proclaims the existence of certain "unalienable rights" that all individuals are entitled to enjoy, and which, coming from God, are themselves divine and eternal in nature. But following the Declaration of Independence, an even greater work lay yet ahead. That was the work of raising a nation from infancy to a maturity such that it could secure the free agency for its citizens that God intended us to have. Clearly that required further help from God. I believe that God influenced the writing of the US Constitution, and hence to me our Constitution has as much authority as if it were written in the Holy Bible itself. I believe God expects us to take an active part in preserving our Constitution and our freedoms. I believe that the awful situation that we are in now is due to our failure to live up to that expectation and insist upon government in compliance with constitutional principles. If our nation is saved at all now, It will be by a righteous people who understand the principles of the Constitution according to the intent of the Founders who wrote it, and who are accurately informed as to what is really going on, and who are willing to get involved in civic affairs to rebuild our constitutional republic."
Sadly, the people participating and those in attendance represented a small fraction of the populace. And they are no way all on the same page . We are in no way united. About all we have generally in common is an awareness that certain freedoms are being revoked. I notice people are starting to ask not just what is happening, but what can they do? I'm being asked more and more these kinds of questions, especially in church. In most cases folks cannot fathom my perspective of what is happening, even when, in the case of LDS people, I use quotes from prophets and apostles. If nothing else, they get people thinking, talking and hopefully doing some homework. I guess that's a start.
It's a start. Even though it's late to be waking up, it's still good to be waking up. Here's an analogy: If you're being punched, waking up when the fist is about to hit you is too late to dodge it, but at least you can tense your muscles and not be as damaged by the punch.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
It's a start. Even though it's late to be waking up, it's still good to be waking up. Here's an analogy: If you're being punched, waking up when the fist is about to hit you is too late to dodge it, but at least you can tense your muscles and not be as damaged by the punch.
I feel like we have already been punched in the face.
