Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Tea Party Movement

CHICAGO - APRIL 15: Demonstrators participate ...

The Tea Party Movement Has Had a Positive Impact on American Politics

By J. Wesley Fox

In the last few decades there has been no political movement comparable to the Tea Parties. The Tea Party Movement is unique because it is entirely grassroots and desires to change American politics from the bottom-up. The mainstream media and the Democratic leadership all misunderstand and grossly underestimate the movement. They have labeled it a movement of extreme right-wing nuts that are angry at having a black President, or don't want to pay taxes, or "cling to guns and religion". They are wrong. In fact, the Tea Party Movement is a mainstream "awakening" that has been long overdue and will not whither and die within a couple years as some predict.

The Tea Party groups are a loose and decentralized coalition of libertarians, conservatives, disenchanted independents and moderate democrats. Tea Partiers are not a concentrated group of ideologues but a diverse collection of regular groups that are alarmed at the direction of the country. It began with the wasteful Stimulus Package and was further amplified by taxes built into cap'n'trade and healthcare reform. Tea Partiers are also upset at the corruption and utter lack of transparency in the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress.

The biggest issues for Tea Partiers are excessive government spending, the economy and the expansion of government power over the past two years. Some tea party groups may have additional issues of concern or have differing priorities but nearly all tea party groups share these concerns. Tea Partiers also share three core ideals: (1) limited government/individual freedom; (2) fiscal responsibility; and (3) free markets. They strongly support limiting the power of the federal government and are alarmed at the dramatic increase in federal power. Tea Partiers are also outraged at the massive budget deficits, the growth of the national debt, and the generational theft taking place. Finally, they are strong proponents of economic freedom and believe strongly that President Obama and the Democratic Congress are dismantling are free market economy in favor of a more centralized, socialist economy.

Another important element of the movement is their attitude toward partisan politics. Tea Partiers have consistently expressed their frustration and discontent with the Republicans as well as Democrats. In general, Tea Partiers are anti-establishment and want wholesale changes in their representatives. They are highly suspicious of career politicians and the influence of the national party leadership in local elections. As a result, they have rejected the traditional or establishment candidates in a number of primaries, preferring more independent or activist candidates.

The Tea Party Movement is not all-white, all-conservative, violent or racist. These accusations have been thrown out without any evidence to back them up. Polls have found that supporters of the Tea Party Movement are largely mainstream in terms of demographics. About 49% of Tea Party supporters are Republican while a surprising 43% are independents. They come from every socio-economic class, age group, and ethnic group. Only 79% of Tea Party supporters are white which is comparable to the percentage of whites in the general population. Despite the despicable accusations of Democrats and elitist media personalities, Tea Partiers are representative of the American people in almost every way.

Another baseless accusation is that Tea Partiers are violent gun-touting maniacs. The movement does not advocate the violent overthrow of the government. At nearly every demonstration and protest, Tea Partiers have countless signs reading "remember in November". Tea Partiers want change through elections not gunfire. Like any other movement, there are individuals that are unhinged and violent, but the media's focus on this extremely small sect demonstrates their lack of integrity and liberal bias. In reality, the Tea Party Movement is one of the most peaceful large scale political protests in recent memory.

The objective of the Tea Party Movement is to change the Republican Party from within. The Tea Parties have already flexed their muscle in a number of primary elections. In Illinois, the son of former Speaker Dennis Hastert was defeated by a lesser-known Tea Party candidate named Randy Hultgren. In the Nevada and Kentucky Senate primaries the Republican establishment strongly supported Sue Lowden and Tray Grayson. However, their close relations with the party leadership led to suspicion and their eventual defeat to lesser known candidates Sharron Angle and Rand Paul.

The Tea Party Movement has also contributed to the removal of incumbent Republicans including Sen. Arlen Specter, who was forced to switch parties. Other defeated incumbents include Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina and Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah. The primaries of the past few months clearly demonstrate the Tea Party Movement is very influential within the Republican Party and has already had a number of successes getting their own candidates on the ballot in November. In other words, they are successfully changing the party.

Restore America's Legacy and the Tea Party Movement have a lot in common in terms of ideology. The Tea Party strongly supports three of RAL's five principles (limited government, fiscal responsibility, free markets). The Tea Party has also made a very strong effort to become better informed and more active in the traditional political process. RAL wishes to do the same, providing information to supporters, raising funds to support campaigns, and evaluating candidates using a unique and selective criteria. Both also are highly critical of career politicians and want to support candidates with real world experience.

The Tea Party Movement is a positive development in American politics and RAL strongly supports their activities. If the Tea Party Movement is successful in the Midterm elections, it will prove that career politicians can be held accountable and that it is the people that hold the power. It would also prove that a strong anti-establishment and anti-government movement can manifest itself peacefully through a massive grassroots effort and legitimate political activity, not intimidation or violence. It will also strike a blow to cynics who believe that the people cannot change Washington. RAL hopes the Tea Party Movement will succeed in its efforts to bring new leadership to Congress in 2010 and to the White House in 2012.

About the Author: J. Wesley Fox is the Chairman of Restore America's Legacy PAC. He is a recent graduate of DePaul University College of Law and has been active in local and national politics for several years. He currently lives in New Jersey after growing up in the Chicago suburbs. www.restoreamericaslegacy.com

Source: www.isnare.com

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Elections

Elections - It's High Time We Demanded Reforms

By Carl Hampton

We never really seem to be too far away from another election whether it’s in our communities, for the city or the state. Then there's always the “BIG” show - the Presidential election. Can anyone remember when it stopped being about issues and became a Media Circus. It's just like playing poker where the man (or woman) with the most money usually wins.

It seems to me that we have allowed the “Spin Doctors” to control our lives. Negative advertising campaigns have become the norm. Do they really think we are all that dumb? Is this the reason why election day turnout in the U.S. has dropped to one of the lowest in the free world. They (the politicians) have long since passed the point where they could be trusted to regulate themselves, so it's time we did it for them.

Campaigns for the November elections now start in late July or early August with each candidate running negative television advertising telling us why we should not vote for the other candidate. It would appear that the best way to hide their own inabilities to actually do the job for which they are seeking election is to attack the other person’s past misdeeds.

With millions of American families living well below the poverty line and hundreds of thousands of our elderly unable to buy food due to the cost of their medication, how can they (the politicians) justify spending tens of million of dollars on a Senate seat election and hundreds of millions on a Presidential election??? After all, most of these jobs pay only a few hundred thousand dollars a year in salaries at best. And what do we normally get for all this money? Answer: a lot of LIES AND SMILES. During the elections, they all promise to make a big difference in our lives and they do – funny how WE ALWAYS SEEM TO END UP WORSE OFF.

We (the people) will never ever get the politicians we deserve all the time we continue to allow “Big Business” and “Special Interest Groups” to dictate who we elect to serve us. He who pays the piper calls the tunes. It's as simple as that.

Here are two very simple changes we SHOULD demand: (1) Election Campaign Funds limited to 3 times the salary of the position they are seeking; and (2) no advertising campaigns prior to 28 days before the date of the election. Wouldn't it be nice if all politicians’ pay was related to productivity and results! I wonder how long it would take to resolve issues such as social security, healthcare and homelessness. If that was the case, I wonder how many of them would want the job then? After all, just like the rest of us, they would have to actually do something, like WORK.

About the Author: “Your” Money Matters By Carl Hampton the Author of “From Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire” http://www.carlhampton.com/ http://www.fcdtcm.com/

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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Freedom?

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Remember When We Had Freedom?

By Jim Magwood

All freedom-loving people should be extremely alarmed at the trend of silencing people for speaking their minds in public, especially in supposed free-speech, Constitutionally protected countries like the United States. Four young men were recently arrested and imprisoned in Dearborn, Michigan, for witnessing to their faith at an Islamic festival. Never mind the First Amendment. This is the beginning of its demise by allowing anyone to be able to silence anyone else from speaking their hearts and minds in a free country.

In other countries, freedom of speech can be curtailed if that country so decides. However, this is the United States and, supposedly, we have certain Constitutional rights, one being the right of free speech. As far as I know, these four young men were not preaching sedition or tyranny and were not perpetrating any violence. They were speaking of their religious faith. That they chose to do it in an area that was predominantly of another faith does not matter. They were still within the borders of the United States. Brazen: maybe. Foolish: maybe. But illegal, in America: NEVER.

Now the Counsel of Islamic Nations is pushing hard in the United Nations to implement an international law that would outlaw the preaching of the gospel anywhere in the world, which would, of course, include anywhere in the United States.

Where is our country going? Who is leading it? Is "anyone" leading it? There was a day when the leaders of the United States stood in the face of the world, either with pride in what we had done and what we could contribute, or with the demand that the world governments fix their ways as they affected us or stand in the face of our anger. Now? How fast can we give our country away seems to be the mantra.

Have you followed the speeches given by our president and other government officials? How many of the speakers have you seen stand for anything at all except apologizing for who we are and what we've done? Now it has come back to our own shores and our own rights. Our own freedoms are given away, freedoms guaranteed by our own Constitution, so we won't offend people from other countries.

Unless freedom-loving people wake up now, they will wake some day soon with all their rights of American freedom gone, locked up and thrown away by people from other countries—and even by our own government. Don't expect your president to support you in this. He has already shown where he stands. It is up to us, the citizens of this supposdly free country, to stop the give-away of our coutnry.

People, you do not have to stand for this, but in order to bring about a stop to the trend, you will have to get off the couches and into both the courts and the streets. If you don’t, the old refrain of “Never again” will soon be, “Oh, well. Remember when…”

About the Author: Jim Magwood is the author of the international mystery novel, SANCTION. Visit him and SANCTION at his website, http://www.JimMagwood.com. Jim is also the webmaster of the site, The Author’s Inn, dedicated to showcasing author’s works and connecting them with the book reading public. You can visit The Author’s Inn at http://www.the-authors-inn.com

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Saturday, July 17, 2010

Watch The Obama Deception

Monday, May 31, 2010

America in a Hole?

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America in a Hole? Stop Digging!

Author: Scott F. Paradis

Copyright (c) 2010 Scott F Paradis

The first thing to do when in a hole is stop digging. Well we've created quite a hole for ourselves. Millions out of work, entire industries failing, housing values crashing, state budgets crumbling and of course bonuses for the bankers.

The solution to this mess is not to be found by throwing more money at the problem - as Washington is keen to do. Rather the people must set this nation on a new course by taking bold and decisive action.

A real economy is built on three component elements: physical resources, labor and ideas. Market integrity is established and maintained through trust. While we have plenty of the component ingredients, we have lost the integrity of the market. Establishing trust must be priority one.

In a system of integrity economic exchange is a means of adding value, not seeking advantage. Businesses are built to solve problems. Markets are a means to satisfy wants and needs. Making money is a measure of the worth offered a market. Through hubris and greed we have allowed finance to supplant the elements of a real economy and create a condition fueling wanton speculation, unbridled consumption and facilitating an unprecedented concentration of wealth. Now what?

First we must, "Find Our Center". We are a nation of over 300 million people - people with dreams, energy, time and talent. We are blessed with limitless bounty. We are responsible for this mess, so we must fix it. The "center" to find is not at the alter of finance. Life is not meant to be an orgy of consumption. Rather, our purpose is to connect with others - to give and grow. We must return values and character to the vernacular of commerce.

In the calamity of this wreck lies an opportunity to rediscover genuine meaning. The crisis in the markets is a crisis of confidence. Confidence has been shaken because we have come to realize our financial system is a house of cards. Reconnecting with our purpose for being will cause the financial storm to subside. It is time to move from the pursuit of wealth and the passion of consumption to build on a lasting foundation - a foundation of integrity and collective self-interest.

Second, "Don't Look To Washington". Though we have generously ceded almost absolute power to our government the price in freedom has been high. Instead of taking care of the environment, we have the Environmental Protection Agency. For aging parents we have the Social Security Administration, Medicare, and Medicaid. To manage health and learning we have the departments of Health and Human Services and Education. We don't need to be responsible for anything, however, neither are we free.

Those who believe Washington can solve anything, have succumb to the grandest delusion. Government has come to mean - satisfy the moneyed special interests; mollify the populace; ensure the status quo; and alleviate the squeaky wheels.

Instead of taking a pain killer, suffer we must. Though this is no longer a government of the people, by the people, for the people - it ought to be. While Washington was complicit in this wreck and can surely contribute to the clean up, fixing the dysfunctional system rests with us.

Third, "Stop the Hubris of Imperial Overreach". Unfortunately fear is the greatest of motivators. We reacted to fear by launching a world war. We celebrated our superiority by following the well-worn path to desolation. We have attempted to extend our culture, and economic dominion around the globe to secure for the elites ever more power. In the inebriation of global supremacy we believed and acted on an assumption of divine providence to benefit a few. We must reel in imperial overreach.

We consume a disproportionate amount of the world's resources and boldly act to ensure our privileged standing. We must draw back and refocus time, talent and energy on the values that allowed our global ascendancy. The United States has been a beacon to the world not because of wealth or military power. The United States has been a beacon of hope for people who yearn to be free and are willing to take responsibility for their lives. To shine again we must rekindle the flames of self-determination - always with integrity.

Finally, "Raze and Rebuild the American Economy". We have grown finance to be the core component of the American economy at our own peril. We must relegate finance to its proper supporting role and begin again to build value through the proper, creative and innovative, management of resources and labor.

Rather than sit idly, we must be proactive. We must redefine the financial sector - reining in the excesses of financial leverage and debt ravaging the economy. We must revolutionize energy production and consumption replacing fossil fuels with clean renewable energy quickly. We must clean up our environment (air, land and water) completely to contribute to the health and vitality of our populace. We must improve our health and healthcare delivery systems now. We cannot allow ourselves to be railroaded into believing profit is the proper motive determining health. We must reinvent our education system. Great dreams require great vision, insight, creativity and innovation. We can no longer tolerate a failing education system. There is plenty to do, so let's stop digging and get to it!

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Scott F. Paradis, author of "Promise and Potential: A Life of Wisdom, Courage, Strength and Will" http://www.promiseandpotential.com/ publishes "Insights" and a free weekly ezine, "Money, Power and the Path to True Prosperity." Subscribe now at http://www.c-achieve.com/

Article Source: http://www.a1articles.com/article_1458726_30.html

TEA PARTY MOVEMENT

Wednesday, September 1, 2010