We, The American Tea Party Movement – the Republic’s defenders against injustice, tyranny, and Statism, have had enough. We are ending this phony dialogue on motivations and our identity. We have allowed a year of unwarranted and unprovable attacks on our character, our identity, and our motivations to go unanswered in the vain expectation that our opposition would be rational enough to see that schoolyard taunts are not the same thing as intellectual argument. We expected our opposition to act in their own interest and cease the nonsense when it became apparent to them that no one was buying what they were selling. We assumed that our silence would be understood. On that, we were mistaken. As a result of the NAACP’s ridiculous “vote” on our character and their demand that we apologize for each and every individual within our movement who might hold racist thoughts or opinions, we have been forced to respond.

Our response is this: We are school teachers, firefighters, shopkeepers, elected officials, homemakers, retirees, students, bankers; we are police, business leaders, husbands, wives, small town merchants. We are the voice of every American who believes that his life is his own, and that his neighbor is not responsible for or entitled to either his failures or his successes. We are the voice of every American who believes that he answers to the dictate of his own conscience, not to the demands of the barrel of a gun. It matters not whether that gun is held by the hands of a street thug, or a thug in Washington, our response is the same, a gun is not an argument.

We have been stoic in the face of the intellectual equivalent of the barrel of a gun as an argument. Namely, unprovable smears that racism is the motivation for our opposition to the “fundamental transformation” of America. The fact that this transformation is coming via the hands of a black president does not change the fact that it is a transformation into Statism, which we abhor. We do not care that the vessel for that transformation is a black president, we oppose the change, not the man.

As to the man, we do not withdraw our recognition that he is a radical, regardless of his race. We do not withdraw our assertion that his past and current associations with radicals matter, and should not be ignored, regardless of his race. We do not withdraw our acknowledgment of his accomplishments or his achievements, regardless of his race. We do not believe race and identity are equivalent, though many of our opponents do.

As to our identity, we define it, we do not allow the Alinsky method to define it for us. To that end, it is interesting that we have been painted as ignorant and incompetent on one day, and well coordinated astro-turf the next. It is interesting that we have been portrayed as violent extremists one one day, and passive social security recipients the next. It is interesting that those who comment on our motivations frequently surmise that we must be unemployed layabouts while we are actively opposing policy that would make such a life untenable. It is utterly fascinating that our opponents are unable to use reason and logic. Finally, it is beyond comprehension that they have not yet figured out who we are.

We are the voice of reason in an irrational world, and we will not be silenced or muted into submission by accepting an unearned guilt. We are the choir which is the combined voices of America.

For those who have demanded that we repudiate or apologize for the small fraction of racists who may believe that they are tea party members or that they hold our values,; for those of you who demand that we do the logically impossible and, by default, prove our lack of racism – we say: are you serious? We can not, of course, prove a negative, except by implication. So we call out those who believe without evidence that we are motivated to oppose the radical that has inherited the sixty plus year old Progressive agenda at the peak of that agenda’s success, because that President happens to be black. We will be happy to engage on the merits of that argument, and on the merits of our ideas for the future of our Republic. We will not, however, continue the absurd distraction that is identity politics. We are too busy and have too much to do to engage in such nonsensical distractions.

We are too busy transforming America back to the vision our founders had for her to distract ourselves by engaging with those who wish to alter our identity in the minds of our fellow citizens, when those citizens have not yet met us face to face.

I respect and admire the professed goals of Conservative or Libertarian leaning sites.  Certainly this is the case with NewsReal, at least as reflected in their mission statement, as it shows a respect for ideas and an understanding of their importance. I only wish that that much understanding and respect was reflected in the actual analysis and reporting. We are all engaged in the battle for man’s mind, and we all are fighting for the recognition of man’s right and his need to use it. When political writers are so concrete bound that they are unable or unwilling to see the implications of evading central points or completely miss the most crucial intellectual issues underneath the material they are looking at, those writers are not helping the cause, they are standing in its way or harming it. One cannot fight a battle if one does not know the stakes, the enemy, or the means to fight it.

It has become a near cultural myth that in the battle trenches of WW1, soldiers found that if three of them took turns lighting a cigarette on the same match (commodities such as matches were conserved due to short supply) , that there was enough time and light for the enemy to hone in on their target. Hence the superstition regarding using the same match for more than two smokers at once. In much the same way, when one reads three articles out of three from the same source, and those articles provide little analysis that is appropriate to the subject matter, yet much in the way of hyperbole and standard talking points, it is a sure bet that it would not be likely that one would derive much benefit by sticking around while the enemy, who ought to be easy to disarm, takes easy shots at the straw men those writers created in attempts at avoiding making philosophical arguments.

In How to Make Sure the Flight of the Intellectuals does not Become the Flight of the Conservatives, Obama Health Care Czar’s Motto? Rationing for Thee, but not for Me. And Has Obama (of all Presidents) Finally Silenced the Rap Industry?,, the writers took such a superficial approach that it allows a less than fully engaged reader to miss or to ignore the fundamental issues each article ought to address.

As an illustration of my point, in Ron Radosh’s five paragraph letter of July 17, 2010, ostensibly written to discuss the threat of Islamafascism, he spends four of them worrying about a concrete; the wishiwashiness of other Conservatives when it comes to prosecuting the war and the threat such fence sitting creates for Republicans in future elections. Seriously? Where is the discussion of the nature of religious thinking, and the mystic and statist view of reality and man, which by definition must be held by those who approach to politics via religious fundamentalism? What about the refusal of our government to assert its right to self defense? Why not face head on the specific views within Islam that lead to direct attacks on freedom and, ultimately, enslavement? Electoral concerns are treated as the most crucial thing in a letter that begins by showing sincere concern about “the very real threat posed by radical Islam” as well as worries about conservatives who “either ignore or deny that such a threat exists, or believe that it is not a dire one, and that we can pursue a modern policy that comes close to appeasement”.

If Conservatives continue in this vein and evade the crucial issues, not only are we guilty of appeasement, but we will be surrendering any claim we would have as defenders of Americanism and America. All this in a piece which announces that it will offer a way to avoid “the flight of the Conservatives” following the flight of the intellectuals. If this be the nature of today’s Conservatives, it is appropriate that intellectuals fled already.

Greg Victor’s post on July 17, 2010 ought to have charged headlong into the most pertinent criticisms possible about the nature of rap and it’s effect on those who are it’s intended targets. It could have looked at the nature of the artists who create such trash; how they show disdain for the interests of their minotity fans by presenting such horrendous attitudes in regards to women, education, responsibility, and family and the role these things play in black success. It could have decried the de-volution of the music; an art which once celebrated black individualism and creativity and placed upon an alter the notion of success in the face of adversity. Instead of focusing directly on the major complaints which black men and women themselves have about rap; that it is the modern equivalent of a minstrel show and that it reinforces the worst racial assumptions of its target and largest audience – 15-25 year old suburban white males, Victor assumes it will be far more effective in the quest to promote conservative values to take pot shots at the intellectual vigor (or lack of it)of two bit artists and their non-abandonment of a black president.

If this is the state of cultural analysis in America, it is no surprise that our culture has gotten to such a state.

Finally, in David Catron’s work on the appointment of President Obama’s “health care” czar, who is an advocate for rationing, there is no mention of the rights of the doctor to practice medicine with his mind free from coercion, no mention of the danger presented to patients by doctors willing to work under such a system, and not a hint of criticism of the prior crown jewels of socialized medicine, Medicare and Medicaid, which most Republicans and Democrats support. Despite their failure to perform, their outrageous costs, and the implied premise smuggled into the programs – that we as individuals owe another human being health care simply because they don’t have any, Conservatives remain fans of Johnson and Roosevelt’s little children. Medicare and Medicaid (as well as Social Security) are still that pesky third rail, even for the alleged defenders of Capitalism and individualism. In a third showing in three articles, the ability or willingness of the writers to “say something original that isn’t just conservative boilerplate”; consists of avoiding the mere mention of the methods by which Conservatives could fight socialized medicine, if they genuinely desired to, and the writer focuses instead on a range of the moment weak jab against rationing and a backhanded slap at Barack Obama. If we Libertarians and Conservatives fight against Obamapelosi care in this manner, we deserve to have our healthcare rationed.

That would be three on that one match of fellow conservatives and libertarians. As an atheist, I hold no superstitions, but as committed to reason as I am, I understand that this will most likely earn the ire of potential allies, but with friends of liberty such as these, or at least with the non-message message these friends bring to the table, who needs liberals?

As a closing point, in emphasis of the three articles above, I offer three quotes by America’s philosopher.

Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.

The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.

© 2010 by carl cervini

“Slavery is freedom. Colorblindness is racism. Smears are political arguments. Thugs are freedom fighters”. Orwellian projection regarding our descent into a statist utopia is a bit trite and obvious. Media narratives regarding the “racism” of the Right have become more so. Conservatives, Libertarians, and sundry Tea Partiers now dive into the muddied waters of the Left’s latest game of “marginalize political opponents with invective and secret coding.” Ominous foreboding for the November elections.

The lines are drawn in the ideological battle for America’s soul. Intimations of Racial Jihad stir the air when the likes of Minister King Samir Shabazz of the criminally insane New Black Panther Party (NBPP) screams ‘kill some of their{cracka’s} babies.”

July 4th, 2010. Independence Day, current.

its been two hundred thirty four years, and yet we haven’t understood the lessons of history nearly as well as our founders did; and they had two hundred thirty four less years of history to learn from.  Racial unrest despite legislation, cultural standards, taboos, and the elimination of any possible legal wrangling by which those who have a racist bent can get away with depriving a single individual of their liberties.  Cynical political gamesmanship which pits every possible group against each other.  A media so devoid of journalistic integrity, common sense, and moral values that few blink when one of them declares that a sitting President — and – I — quote — is “sort of God.” (evan thomas, ed. Newsweek). damn.

That being said, what a phenomenal position we are in!  We are witnessing, in real time, the final evaporation of a cultural poison that has infected our political body for such a long time that we stopped even noticing the effects until those effects had brought the body to near ruin.  Fortunately, the poison — this parasite of Statism, no longer has the strength to feed; and it will not kill the host.

Thank all that has reason that the calm, rational voices (with only a mercifully few exceptions) of the limited government, constitutional literalists, and tea party activists have spoken loud and clear and have said “enough”.  The States are hearing these voices, as are the courts;  and even a few courageous senators and congressman are getting the message loud and clear:  We will have our independence from the overreaching authority of the  federal government.  So many are finally getting it that even the liberal wingnuts in the media are acknowledging that this President and this Congress have lost the consent of the governed.

For those of you who have condemned the opposition to your Progressive agenda as out of touch, racist, clueless, ignorant, greedy, or (fill in your favorite adjective) — those of you still hooked on the koolaid, its time you guys wake up as well.  You who believe that those of us with a conservative or libertarian bent  simply woke up a few days after Nov. 6th, 2009 and( after many of us voted for this Congress and this President) yet suddenly decided “hey, let’s go out and complain about a black president”, where the hell have you been and what friggin’ election results did you watch?  Congress has had the approval rating approaching that of foot fungus for years, and the entrenchment of the two parties and their base has been here for years,  All this, yet the President won by large margins, much of his support coming from the “teabagging rednecks” you now wish to vilify.  The earthquake you are feeling under your feet is the tremble of discontent that has been building for a hell of a long time, you guys were just too strung out on all the “hope and change”, all the “I feel your pain”, all the “ask not what your country..” that you forgot that the change and the resentment had come a long time ago, and it wasn’t brought by the new black guy at 1600 Pa. Ave.  The change was brought to our Republic while we continued to endure for decades (mostly in resigned silence) the results of the kool-aid of collectivism, socialism, mysticism, and straight on tyranny while many of you had no idea it was going on. You guys didn’t care, you were lovin’ the socialization and the progressivisation of America while you were distracted  by pluggin’ in to your Ipod, cashing in on Reagan’s eighties, freakin’ on Yasger’s farm, and crying for the Rosenbergs.  You failed to notice a damn thing till G.W. Bush went ballistic on Iraq and Afghanistan.

I’m reminded of the document whose signing we observe in reverence on this very day, a line in which Thomas Jefferson aptly describes the situation facing the colonies and the sort of thinking that leads to tyranny:

all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed

The fact is that we on the Conservative/Libertarian side have simply been paying attention a hell of a lot longer and watching a lot closer.  We, you know, kind of like the whole freedom from tyranny and authority thing.  When we dealt with T. Roosevelt, we failed to stop the “Progress”, when we endured W. Wilson, we got clobbered, taxed, jailed, smeared, and WW One’d  into shutdown mode.  When Hoover came, very few of us saw that loser coming.  When F.D.R., that darling of the left, came and turned on the “change”, and turned the nation on to fascism with a happy face in the form of a monthly retirement check or government cheese, we temporarily got dosed with that smile on the koolaid pitcher.  When he could only get us out of the depression his policies had created by joining WWII and by creating a labor tax –and then when he stuck around for an unprecedented 3+ terms,  we changed that constitution real quick like to make sure his kind can’t stay too long. Kennedy getting us nearly nuked made us shake in fear.  Nixon made us cringe in disgust, and Ford gave us a disgusted yet bemused chuckle, still we endured. and stayed relatively silent.  Carter made us cry over our over taxed beer while he failed in getting our guys home, and empowered the one’s who are now  preparing our nation’s elimination.  Silence, and respect and deference to our Constitution and its process is what you got  from us. Reagan inspired some of us, others worried about whether his fingers were in very criminal pies.  Bush 1 kept some of us gagged into silence, and sold us out when we read his lips.  Bill Clinton just made us gag.  Bush 2 opened Pandora’s box with

“I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system”. and “Islam is a religion of peace” (“shoot to kill, shoot to kill”)

You see, my friends who claim we just are feeling a bit sour grapy over electing a bit of “hope and change” and keep asking us”where were you when…”(again, of course, you must use the Bush sidestep in avoidance of the issue at hand), and yet you conveniently forget the last, you know, seventy years or so –  we were here.  We were listening and watching, and we are now wondering about you guys, you who finally awoke momentarily to gripe over Bush….”where the hell were you”?  We’d  been sleeping, you see, enjoying the peaceful slumber that comes from knowing you have a decent security system on the house, there’s a watch dog outside, and that 911 is only a phone call away.  oh, wait.  911…let me think…

For those of us who care about liberty, who understand what it means, and who recognize and weep over the blood spilled  by patriots and martyrs in order to keep liberty’s tree watered, 9/11 was our wake up call.  We woke up to the fact that all too often, you can’t get to that phone and make that call to 9/11 because someone ripped out the phone from the wall.  We came to understand that much too frequently, someone is fully prepared to shoot the dog barking at them.  Sadly, our new apollogizer in chief and our power-lusting and money worshiping Congress are turning off the security system of Capitalism and border security;  they hate and ridicule the notion of peace in strength, and they will not ever ascribe to Jefferson’s creed of  “eternal hostility over every form of tyranny over the minds of men.”  So, forgive us if we don’t smile and politely go away so you can continue to suck down the kool aid and enable the parasite that is corruption and entitlement which has been feeding off America.   For our Nation’s survival we will not go back to sleep ever again.  When you ask us why, oh why..are you only complaining now, and why won’t you, what was it John Stewart demanded us do..”shut the fuck up?” was it?  it’s because we understand the words of Jefferson:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security

In the tradition of the Declaration, I’ll offer my take on why America is demanding it’s Independence today.  Just like in 1776, we have tyrants in our midst.  Just like  the times of Jefferson, Madison. Adams, Franklin, Paine, Washington, Hamilton, Revere, and so many others quiet, and wise..we have history to view, and we have two hundred thirty four more years of it than our founders had.  , We also have  a list of grievances that they left so that we can compare our abuses and usurpations to theirs:

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

– as in Congress members and the Administration’s opposition to their own federal law mandating that the federal government must protect the border.  as in the govt’s opposition to the states reflecting the same language as the federal law in their respective state laws…and then, low and behold — enforcing them.   As in the President lacking in  common sense understanding of the language of the Constitution in respect to the first amendment, the second amendment, the seventh amendment, the ninth and tenth amendments  — open calls for the fairness doctrine to limit free speech, dismissal of the clear language of the second amendment protections of the right to bear arms , trial by public ridicule and then extortion of “damages” by shame instead of a civil trial by jury for businesses not up to the Presidents high standards, and forcing through grossly Unconstitutional health care mandates and policy against the wishes of the majority of the nation which elected him.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

As in Congress and the President summoning recalcitrant individuals and business leaders for failing to act slower than they demanded when govt rammed through changes to oil drilling law and procedure, and thus experiencing the accident that logically followed not  adequately studying and then adapting the brand new procedure and providing proper new safety standards, and of course as punishment they just  needed to extort money to fix Congress’ and the President’s own mistakes.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

As in bully pulpit nullification of State law by the President, redistricting of congressional areas which are troublesome for the next election by Senators elected via Unconstitutional changes to the Constitution,  supreme and federal court nullification of state laws which they deem to not fit the times such as Prop 8 and state gun laws.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

As in the President summarily dismissing the authority of the federal courts and the Supreme Court when he disapproves of their decisions, and then plans to circumvent them.  for instance, the SCOTUS decisions on campaign donations and gun law.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

as in federal regulators coming into businesses to enforce the 45,000 federal regulations on the books, one shopkeeper at a time.  As in the czars applenty with no accountability to the states, to congress, or to the people.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

oops, my bad..not yet — but with the President calling for a “civilian defense, just as powerful, just as strong” as the military…and, oh.., and, ugh, …why? defense from who?

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

as in some within Congress, the President, administration officials, (and perhaps soon with the current supreme court wannabe) supporting the submission of the United States Constitution and its sovereign authority to international law. as in subordinating the culture and the people to the moral code, if not the “legal” practice of collectivism.

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

as in who in govt on the left or the right doesn’t advocate for regulation, taxes,  and controls that encourage or create restrictions on free and fair trade and job exporting?  anyone?  for stopping that alone. i’d vote for them.

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

please.

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

for instance, ask any business owner prosecuted under anti-trust or any drug arrestee who (with good sense) plea bargains just how that trial by jury was.

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

“we are three days away from Fundamentally transforming America” — Barack Obama, 2008.

responding to a question regarding the Constitutionality of the (then)  health care proposal :  “are you serious, are you serious…” – Nancy Pelosi, 2009.

responding to questions by a sitting member of congress demanding that  he explain where (very specifically) in the Constitution the fed got its authority to nationalize the banking industry: Secretary of the Treasury Timothy (Turbo Tax Tim) Geithner:  “under the laws of the land, of course…”.

explaining her position on the federal govt enforcing its own laws in regard to immigration:  Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi: “it’s UnAmerican”.

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

as in the chair of the federal reserve refusing to acknowledge any limits on the power of the federal reserve, when questioned by a sitting congressman.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

as in the President refusing to state in simple terms, and very specifically, that we are at war with radical Islam and that Islamofascists  are the enemy which we are fighting — thus  ceding the ground to an enemy he will not name.  as in stating in his own written word, that if battle lines are drawn between the United States and radical Islam, he will side with radical Islam.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

see above

You see, my friends drunk with glee with the idea that you can just shame us down with “what rights have been taken away?” type of questions, we actually have some answers to that question…and a hell of a lot of others as well.  This is because we know that our Congress, Our President are clueless, and pitiless, that they are wannabe kings, and that they are (whether by design or by default) delivering us into “benevolent dictatorship”.

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

November 6th, 2009 seems a like long way off today, not so for the Left, I’d imagine.  They were too damn excited and they moved so fast they forgot to keep things steady and accidentally woke up that sleeping giant.  A very special November awaits this year, and there are a couple more coming till the Nobampelosiprinceharry trifecta find their butts kicked to the curb, along with all on the left who support them. The traitorous sell outs of freedom on the right, as well,  know  that these Novembers are coming.  And there is a whole lot more than just voting that needs to be done to clear out the poison in the veins, but we will get it done.  What is so wonderful to know is that our Constitution has within it such little and yet powerful devices that could be engaged to protect and ensure our futures; they were designed by those who understood:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of 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.

Happy Independence Day.

Traditionally we take one day out of 365 every year to give thanks to those who died defending our nation in times of war and strife.  Why one just one day?   I don’t have a clue.  Our history, that of a nation created and dedicated on principle to create the circumstances which produce freedom and the Rights of Man,  suggests that one day, seven days, 30 days, 365 days per year are just not enough.  Not enough time at all to give thanks and reverence to the men and women who were so committed  to our values that they would lay down their lives to defend them.  But today, at least by the calendar and by tradition, is it.  It would be a no-brainer to thank the soldiers and citizen soldiers of the Greatest Generation who died defending Europe from being swallowed up by collectivism and thus stood up and defended our nation and our interests following the attack by Japan.  A no brainer, yes.  An insult to the memory of those men and women, most definitely.

Today, that same collectivism; the specter that Jonah Goldberg calls “fascism with a happy face”, is swallowing up us and the rest of the world.  Unlike the during period the Greatest Generation faced, we are doing little to stand up as they did and say “no’.  Our President and our Congress, much like in the 30s and 40s, are threatening our liberties every day and are preparing us (against our will) for the same nightmare that my Grandparents lived through, fought against, and beat down.  I will not insult them by honoring that fight when my President and my Congress engage in behavior and write legislation which will recreate those events once again. 

Today, on the day on which we honor the men and women who died defending our principles, I would like to thank the original American Generation; those men and women  who died in the War for Independence.  Unlike the fallen of Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, or even the non-war on terror war on terror, those heroes knew and understood fully that for which they were fighting, they were not insulted while being dragged off against their will or manipulated with sentimental and nostalgic rhetoric about “American values” , “sacrifice”, “duty”, “god and country” – the men and women who died in the Revolution died defending the principles of freedom, reason, personal responsibility, self-interest, self-determination, self-rule—they literally died defending the Rights of Man.  How far (far?) we’ve come since then.

We continue to ignore the struggle and the blood that they shed , and the amazing result of that struggle.  To now pretend that we honor the dead of America, on this of all days, when we ignore and betray the very values those heroes died for, fills me with sadness; and with hope.  We are beginning to fight back for those principles in Tea Parties across the nation.  Perhaps  now that America is seeing the irony and the hypocrisy of defending “Americanism” while abandoning everything America was, we will once again rise to the occasion as was done before.  Perhaps their will be a second “Greatest Generation” — one that peers  into the lens of history and understands that events do repeat themselves, if we allow ourselves to forget the premises that move those events.

We were told at the birth of America that we were being given “a Republic, if you can keep it”.  On Memorial Day, when we honor the fallen — as well as every day on which we still retain that Republic, it is beholden on all of us to do everything we can to keep it.