Tea Party Speech: Unsustainable

Hello Brighton, Michigan!

We’ve got nine days left until perhaps the most important election in our lifetime.  After listening to Michelle and Trevor, are you as fired up to elect Mitt Romney as I am? 

By the way, I loved Mitt Romney’s Sesame Street satire at a recent charity event.  He said, “Barack Obama, brought to you by the letter ‘O’ and the number ‘sixteen trillion’”.  Romney’s satiric reference to our national debt of $16 trillion highlights the sustainability crisis of the current administration. 

It’s really ironic that radicals like Obama constantly harp about sustainable energy and sustainable environment, and yet his administration has led us to an unsustainable economic future called “the fiscal cliff”.

The reckless policies of the Obama administration are so unsustainable, that our grim situation is not even about politics any more.  It’s not about left or right, or conservative or liberal.  It doesn’t matter if you’re in the 1%, the 47%, or the 99% -- if the government can’t afford its life style, everything it promises is an illusion.    

Let’s take a deeper look at how unsustainable Obama’s current path is:

1)      Social Security is unsustainable if it isn’t fixed.  The social security trust fund is an illusion of uncollectible IOU’s – it’s phantom $2.5 trillion in assets have all been lent to the general fund of the government and squandered on wasteful things like windmills and corrupt green energy companies.  Payments into the program have been cut for political expediency.  We need a leader like Mitt Romney who will stop lying to our seniors and who will courageously take the necessary steps to make Social Security solvent again. 

2)      The Federal Government’s finances are unsustainable, with its skyrocketing $16 trillion debt.  In 2011 alone, the federal government borrowed almost 40% of its operating expenses.  It borrowed from China, it borrowed from our children, and it borrowed imaginary monopoly money printed by the Federal Reserve.  In 2011, the government borrowed $1.3 trillion, while only collecting $1.1 trillion in personal income taxes.  Think about that -- to eliminate the deficit for just 2011, we would have had to more than double all personal income taxes, not just taxes paid by the rich.  We need a president like Mitt Romney who understands finance and how to balance budgets, not a professional community organizer who only understands victimhood and class warfare.

3)      How can we sustain a secure place in a dangerous world -- a world threatened by Islamic terrorism, Russian aggression, and Chinese expansion -- when the radicals in Washington drastically cut military spending to pay for transfers of wealth to union cronies and to people who don’t want to work?  We are rotting from within as our enemies abroad grow stronger.  We need a president like Mitt Romney who will exercise the first and most important responsibility of his office, which is to protect us from harm here and abroad.  We need a leader who realizes that an apology tour and constant appeasement are not legitimate substitutes for a strong national defense.

4)      Our civil society is unsustainable when 48% of the voters pay zero federal income tax.  Today, we have more and more free riders in our society, and fewer and fewer people pulling the wagon.  The percentage of people working in America is at a 40 year low, and the number of people on food stamps and disability are both at record highs.  We need a president like Mitt Romney who realizes that prosperity is a result of people working and investing, and not a result of people taking handouts and condemning those who actually did build that.

5)      Our freedom and individual rights will be unsustainable if the radicals in Washington are allowed to push us ever closer to Socialism.  Socialism always leads to totalitarianism, because it is a philosophy based on force rather than freedom.  Consider these threats to your freedom from an ever-expanding government:

• When the government transfers income from productive citizens to unproductive citizens, they essentially are taking hard-earned wealth with the implied force of the IRS and its power to imprison those who fail to conform.

• When the government takes over the health care industry, it will inevitably take over our behavior.  It starts with regulating soft drinks and school lunches, it will never end.

• When the government takes over the energy industry, it will inevitably take over our behavior.   It starts with regulating light bulbs and gas mileage, it will never end.

• When the government harasses small businesses with regulations and taxes and forced unionization, it begins the process of taking over the entire economy.  It will never stop.

As Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  The radicals in Washington are tempting America with the temporary safety of big government.  In doing so, they are imposing on us an unending parade of unaccountable czars, unconstitutional executive orders, and other abuses of our individual freedoms.

We are frogs being slowly boiled in a pot of socialism.  If we don’t stop the radicals, the middle class will perish, caught in a pincer movement between the poor, who won’t be able to pay for the government’s reckless spending, and the rich, who will simply find somewhere else to safeguard their wealth.  We in the middle class will be left holding the bag.    

Remember, every socialist country in history has devoured its middle class.   We’re already seeing this happen in America:  middle class wealth is down 20% in the last ten years, middle class incomes are down, the prices of food, gas, health care, and education are up, and middle class retirement savings are evaporating.  The road to socialism will always lead to unsustainable government and unsustainable civil society.   Just as Margaret Thatcher said, socialism is fine until you run out of other people’s money.  It is truly unsustainable.

Ironically, we Americans already have a fabulous blueprint for a sustainable government and a sustainable society.  It’s called the U.S. Constitution.  That grand vision of our forefathers is the greatest blueprint for sustainable society in the history of the world.

But, the Obama administration wants to continue ignoring our Constitution and moving this country leftward – he calls it forward – toward socialism.  So, let me ask all of you, are you ready to fight for limited government in America?  Are you ready to fight to defend the sanctity of the Constitution?  Like our forefathers, are you ready to fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?   In other words, are you ready to deliver Michigan for Mitt Romney and fire Barack Obama on November 6^th?

Let’s do this!  Thank you.

Tea Party Speech: We Can Be Heroes

Fellow Patriots!

Since this is a Tea Party, I’m going to get you riled up.  Let’s start with this -- Federal government spending has increased 21% in the past two years.  Let me ask you, have you all gotten 21% raises?  Has the value of your house gone up 21%?  Have your investments increased 21%?   So tell me, are you ready to stop the insane spending by our government?

There are only 17 days until we begin the limited government revolution in America.  There are only 17 days until we fire Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.  There are only 17 days until we patriots have a lot more to say about what goes on in Lansing and Washington!

This is a momentous time.  Just when we thought there were no more heroes, we discovered through the Tea Party movement that we the people are the heroes.  Our movement has accomplished extraordinary things.  We have fueled conservative activism and energy that seemed unimaginable just 18 months ago.  We have reintroduced the concept of limited government into mainstream political discussion.  We have taught nervous politicians that “We the People” is no longer a trite patriotic phrase, but rather the battle cry of an organized movement with tremendous clout.

And yet, the Tea Party movement has many important things left to do.  First, we all need to vote in 17 days.  Limited Government champions like Tim Walberg, Ruth Johnson, Bill Schuette, Bob Young, Marybeth Kelly, and Rob Steele need to get more votes than the Big Government apologists running against them.   After this election, we need to actively recruit and support the next wave of limited government champions for 2012 and beyond.  The Tea Party revolution is not just about one election; it is about fundamentally rejecting Big Government for generations to come.    

For almost two years, the Tea Party movement has been warning America that many of our government leaders are dragging us down a deadly path that is contrary to our Constitution and our founding principles.

Let’s examine the cold, bitter reality of the predicament that these traitorous leaders have put our country in:

• ·        There is no money left in the Social Security trust fund.  Every penny has been given to the general fund of the government, and it has all been wastefully spent.  Now, the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare are greater than the GDP of the entire world!  As baby boomers start to retire, the government will have to either raise taxes or cut their benefits.   If the managers of a private pension fund did this, they would be thrown in jail.
• ·        The government is borrowing 43% of what it is spending this year.  It is clearly living beyond its means.  If a business did this, it would be declared bankrupt and its officers would be fired.   
• ·        The federal government has 380,000 employees who make over $100,000 per year, an increase of 50% since Obama took office.  We don’t need millions of overpaid bureaucrats in Washington watching over us and telling us what we can’t do.  My six year old son needs babysitting.  I don’t.     
• ·        The U6 unemployment rate, which includes workers who have simply stopped looking for work, is now at 17%.  It was 12% when Obama was elected.  So, after trillions in bailouts and stimulus spending, the U6 unemployment rate is five points worse.  The radicals are not only squandering our future, they are ruining our present.  Guess which city in America has the lowest unemployment rate?  Washington D.C.!  Guess which city has the richest suburbs?  Washington D.C.!  The only things booming in America are Big Government and the production of purple SEIU shirts.
• ·        In the year 2000, Michigan ranked 19^th among the states in per capita income.  Today, we rank 37^th.  In just ten years, we have become a national laughing stock, and businesses avoid our state like the plague.  Jennifer Granholm is probably grateful for term limits, because otherwise she would be fired by angry Michiganders in November.    
• ·        In just four years, Obama will accumulate more debt than the previous 43 presidents combined over 233 years.  His multi-year budget will leave us 20 trillion dollars in debt.  If you lined up 20 trillion one dollar bills end-to-end in a straight line, it would reach from the earth to the sun and back 20 times.
• ·        30% percent of personal income in America now comes from government transfer payments of some type.  America is becoming a nation of dependents and freeloaders.  Our radical leaders would rather have government bureaucrats handing out food stamps than business owners handing out paychecks.   Here’s what hope and change has gotten us so far:  A record 36 million Americans are now on food stamps, including 25% of all children. 
• ·        The government took over 17% of the economy with Obamacare.  The government also took over GM, Chrysler, and a large number of banks.  There are now more unionized government workers than unionized private sector workers.  This is socialism, and it has to stop!    
• ·        The radicals say they will only tax the rich, but if the government was required to balance its budget this year by raising taxes rather than borrowing from our children and from China, they would have to tax 100% of the income of everyone making $75,000 or more.  The radicals in Washington will eventually obliterate the middle class in order to implement socialism.

This is serious business.  We are facing the biggest political crisis in America since the Civil War.  On November 2^nd, we are going to choose the future identity of our country.  Our domestic enemies will vote for more socialism, bigger government, end-runs around the Constitution, bailing out failed businesses and irresponsible people, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and weakness abroad.  We patriots are going to vote for free markets, limited government, the rule of law based on the U.S. Constitution, personal responsibility, secure borders, and a strong national defense.  In other words, we are voting to protect and nurture the American Dream.

The choices we make as a country in the 2010 and 2012 elections will decide everything.  If we have not removed Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the other radicals from office by 2012, then may our children forgive us, and may God have mercy on our souls.  If we fail, the America of Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, and Reagan will no longer exist.

Our mission is clear.  In the next two elections, we need to replace Big Government apologists with limited government champions in at least 39 seats in the House, ten seats in the Senate, and one seat in the White House.  And then we need to hold every single politician in America accountable to the Constitution, no matter which side of the aisle they sit on. 

Month after month and year after year, our elected officials need to hear from us, clearly and loudly, that we will not tolerate backsliding toward Big Government.  It does us no good to elect false conservatives and RINO’s who will move us along toward socialism just a little bit slower than the liberals. 

The blessings of liberty require eternal vigilance by the people.   The Tea Party movement cannot be a passing fad; it must be a continuous way of life that defends our freedom from oppressive government.  The Tea Party movement is not just about winning one election; it is about defending liberty and the U.S. Constitution for the rest of time. 

I’m wearing my father’s paratrooper wings on my shirt today.  These wings are the greatest gift he left me.  They remind me that millions of brave men and women in the armed forces have risked their lives to defend America and its principles.  We cannot allow the bloodshed of our military heroes to be wasted.  Therefore, we must be political heroes.  As Reagan said, it is now up to us to save America and to preserve the freedom that our soldiers sacrificed so much for. 

To win this political battle, we need to recruit the votes of every like-minded relative, friend, and co-worker.  In the name of everything that is exceptional about America, I am challenging you to convince the political fence-sitters to get off their asses and help us rescue America on November 2^nd!  Convince them that there is nothing more important to do than to join us in this political house cleaning!  It all comes down to this.  We the People can take a giant step toward saving this country in 17 days.  Not Glenn Beck.  Not Fox News.  Us!  You and I!  We are going to be the heroes!

And this election is just the beginning.  We need to continue our momentum and recruit more and more like-minded Americans into the Tea Party movement.  As the years unfold, we need to challenge ourselves and our fellow patriots to become precinct delegates, poll watchers, campaign volunteers, fund raisers, letter writers, e-mail generators, phone callers, and media monitors.  We need to be the defenders of liberty and the guardians of our sacred Constitution decade after decade.  We need to be the engine of a new America.  We patriots need to be the heroes responsible for saving this country! 

Thank you. 

(If you enjoyed this speech, please consider purchasing the author's new book by clicking on this link to "We've Been Had:  How Obama and the Radicals Conned Middle Class America".  You can also view the author's Facebook page by clicking on this link to We've Been Had.)

TEA Party Speech: "Individual Rights versus Socialism"

Hello Plymouth Michigan!

It’s great to be here among so many enthusiastic fellow Patriots and TEA Partiers. 

TEA Partiers are often accused of being extremists.  The accusers intend it as an insult.  I wear it as a badge of honor. 

I embrace Barry Goldwater’s view of extremism.  He said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

Goldwater outlined our path in his book, Conscience of a Conservative.  He said, “I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size.  I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom.  My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them.  It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution.”

Likewise, we TEA Partiers are extremists who insist on a limited government constrained by the U.S. Constitution.

We TEA Partiers are extremists who insist on holding our elected officials accountable to that Constitution.

We TEA Partiers are extremists who will take back our country on behalf of ‘We the People’!

Today, our country is at war.  Unlike other wars, we are not being attacked by foreign invaders.  We are being assaulted by domestic enemies, radicals who seek to take more and more of our wealth and liberty.  We will fight these radicals at the ballot box.  

The TEA Party movement is waging a political battle with these domestic aggressors in Washington and Lansing.  Our mission is to remove them from their offices, regardless of which side of the aisle that they sit on.  It is up to us to save America.  As Ronald Reagan said, “We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around.” 

We have had great successes in this war already.  In just one year, the TEA Party movement has gone from being a laughingstock, to being a force that many politicians are clearly frightened of.  The TEA Party movement has a higher favorability rating than Congress, the President, and both major political parties.  Our movement helped retake the governorship in Virginia.  Our movement helped retake the governorship in New Jersey.  And in one of the most glorious of all victories, our movement helped take Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts.  Scott Brown instantly became a hero when he reminded voters that the office he was seeking did not belong to Ted Kennedy, it did not belong to a particular party, it belonged to the people!  And the people took it!

The first three words of our sacred Constitution are “We the People”.  We the people are the masters of every single bureaucrat and politician in America.  We can hire them and fire them, and a whole bunch of them deserve to be fired. 

In the coming elections, we must assert our will.  To firm our resolve, let’s review some horrific threats to our Republic:

A)                  Our leaders are mocking us:

1. Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings said, “There ain’t no rules here.  We make ‘em up as we go along.”  Ironically, he is a member of the Rules Committee.  He apparently is not aware of the U.S. Constitution.  But we are.  And we are going to hold all of them accountable to it!
2. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the health care bill: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it.”  In November, Pelosi is going to find out that she has been fired as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
3. Barack Obama said in his state of the union address that he was concerned about reckless government spending and the soaring deficit.  One week later, he introduced the biggest budget in U.S. history, with a deficit four times bigger than any other in history!  I wonder what color the sky is on his planet…

B)   Let’s talk about the spending in Washington:

1. Obama’s new budget totals $3.6 trillion.   It is 1600 pages thick.  How many of our leaders do you think actually read it?
2. Washington just passed a government takeover of health care.  This will cost another $1 trillion over ten years, but only if you believe pigs can fly.  No new government entitlement program has ever come close to its initial cost estimates.
3. The good news is that Fidel Castro congratulated us on our government takeover of healthcare.  The bad news is that Cuba recently announced they are cutting back health care services, because they cannot afford them.  America, meet your future.

C)    Washington’s spending is causing massive debt:

1. The budget deficit in 2010 of $1.6 trillion is 44% of the total budget.  In other words, almost half of what the government is spending, it is borrowing.  Explain that to your kids carefully, because they’re the ones who are going to pay it back.  Also, remind them that their generation supported Obama.   
2. In the next decade, the government is going to add $9 trillion to the national debt.  Half of it will be just interest expense on earlier debt.  We will borrow $4.8 trillion in the next ten years just to pay interest! 
3. In ten years, our debt will be $20 trillion.  That’s $67,000 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.  For a family of five, that’s $335,000 of debt.  If you took 20 trillion one dollar bills and lined them end to end in a straight line, it would stretch from the earth to the sun – 20 times!

D)   All of this spending and debt will cause tremendous pressure to raise taxes.  Here is what is likely to happen:

1. Some or all of the Bush tax cuts will expire.
2. A Value Added Tax is actively being considered by Obama’s Deficit Commission.
3. Capital gains taxes will go up.
4. Health care taxes will be imposed, long before benefits are available.
5. Cap and trade taxes will be imposed.
6. The cap on social security taxes will be raised, and benefit eligibility dates will be moved out even more.
7. State and local governments will push for tax increases to make up for revenue lost during the recession. 
8. Everybody will be affected by some or all of these tax increases, not just the rich.

Last Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office made this announcement:  “U.S. fiscal policy is unsustainable, to an extent that it can’t be solved through minor changes.  It’s a matter of arithmetic.”

Why is this happening to our country? 

There is a great moral conflict underlying this disaster.  Our society does not agree on our basic social compact.  Specifically, we do not agree on what a right is.

What really constitutes a right?  Do we all have a right to a free house?  Do we all have a right to a free car?  Do we all have a right to free food?  Do we all have a right to free health care?

Some say our rights are granted by God.  Others say our rights are inherent in nature.   Others say our rights are created by social convention, such as a constitution. 

These are all powerful arguments.  They inspired Thomas Jefferson’s famous statement in the Declaration of Independence:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These unalienable rights not only have to be respected by individual citizens, they have to be respected by our government.  Jefferson told us, “Moral laws are as compelling on whole nations as they are on individual citizens.” 

Here is an example of what he meant.  Your right to your private property is inherent in your right to life and liberty, because it is what your life and liberty produces.  If you do not have a right to the property and wealth that your life produces, then your right to life and liberty are an illusion.  There is general agreement about this in our society, up to a certain point.  For instance, we all agree that one person stealing your property is a criminal.  Ten people stealing your property is a gang of criminals.  We all agree on that.  A thousand people stealing your property is organized crime.  We all agree on that. 

A million robbers stealing your property is socialism.  Sadly, we do not have agreement in our society about whether a million socialist robbers stealing your property is good or bad. 

Let me be clear on where I stand.  Socialism, which is nothing more than millions of robbers stealing your property with the force of government, is morally wrong.  It is as criminal as one robber stealing your property.  It doesn’t matter how many people gather together to steal your property, theft is an assault on your unalienable right to life.  It doesn’t matter if 51% of the citizens vote to steal your property.  It is still immoral. 

Would we accept 51% voting the remaining 49% into slavery?  Of course not!  The notion is morally repugnant to almost everyone.  Then why would we accept the premise of socialism?  Socialism is nothing more than theft of your life in bits and pieces, under the guise of “the greater good”.   It is a form of gradual slavery.  It is involuntary servitude in the form of a thousand bureaucratic chain links. 

The socialist philosophy is morally bankrupt.  The socialist claims, for example, that we all have a right to free health care.  But who will fulfill that right?  Is health care readily available in nature, like air or water?  It is not.  It has to be provided by doctors and nurses and ambulance drivers, along with a large supporting cast.  For someone to claim the service of these people by absolute right, is the same as staking an absolute claim to their lives and their labor, or the lives and labor of others who will be forced to pay for their services on behalf of those who won’t.  When someone stakes an absolute claim to your life and labor, they have made you a slave.       

We are appalled by slavery, and rightly so.  We are appalled because it violates a person’s unalienable right to life and liberty.  Socialism is slavery too, dressed up in fancy words and dime store semantics.  Socialism is not the slavery of whips and chains.  Rather, it is the slavery of stealing your life hour by hour, day by day.  Nationalized health care?  To pay for it, you owe the state 30 days of hard labor.  Cap and trade?  To pay for it, you owe the state another 30 days of hard labor.  Trillions for bailing out irresponsible people and failed businesses?  You owe the state 6o days of hard labor. 

We are $13 trillion dollars in debt and counting.  We are incurring unfunded liabilities in Social Security, Medicare, and now nationalized health care, the likes of which the world has never seen before.  We have allowed ourselves to be sold into slavery to this debt.  Worse yet, we have allowed our children to be sold into slavery.

The socialists will say that our servitude is necessitated by “the will of the people” or “the greater good”.  No “will of the people” can make a slave of another person!  There is no “greater good” than protecting the right to life and liberty of every single person in our society!  Our government was instituted to protect our lives and property, not to enslave us and to steal our property!  That is precisely why we have a Constitution.  It is our fundamental pact to protect individuals from the tyranny of the majority.

Once we grant everyone the “right” to health care, what will stop claims for other so-called “rights”?  What is the difference between the right to health care and the rights to housing, food, transportation, education, clothing, energy, and iPods?  There is no difference.  Once you accept being a slave to one of these so-called rights, you have accepted being a slave to them all.   This is the slippery slope that we are on right now.  There is simply no end to what the socialists will try to grab, when the concept of rights has become so diminished. 

Vice President Joe Biden actually pointed this out, in his own stupid way.  During the health care “summit”, he alleged that we all agree government has a role in health care, and that we’re just talking about how much of a role.  He clarified the issue perfectly – if we grant that the government has a moral right to take over health care, then all we are arguing about is to what degree will all be made slaves to that right.  If we grant to the government such authority, then we have ceded the whole argument to the socialists, and the game is over for our Constitution and our way of life. 

If we surrender our fundamental rights to the government in this manner, then we deserve the scathing words of Sam Adams, who said, “May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence are the most morally profound words ever crafted in a political document.  We have a right to our life and liberty.  We do not have a right to the life and liberty of our neighbors.   This fundamental social compact has made us the greatest society in the history of the world, and the most moral society in the history of the world.   

Losing our unalienable rights to life and liberty is a moral tragedy by itself.  But, there are other hidden moral hazards if we lose these rights.  Dr. Adrian Rogers said:  “What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.  The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from someone else.  When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they worked for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.”  

It is the end of any nation, because socialism, which is what Dr. Rogers was describing, will inevitably result in lost incentive, class warfare, generational dependency and carelessness.  We have seen a microcosm of this in action very near to us.  If you want to see where Obama’s vision of hope and change is leading us, look no further than Detroit.  Detroit is the moral hazard of socialism.

Socialists believe that government should force citizens to do the work of an altruistic god they call the state.  However, altruism forced by government can never be the work of any God, it can only be destructive of individual rights and liberty.  Transfers of wealth forced by the state are not charity, they are theft on the grandest of scales.

The beauty of our Constitution is that it allows the exercise of individual liberty, including altruistic behavior, without the evil of state compulsion and confiscation.  Our Constitution creates the opportunity for moral redemption, in whatever form each individual seeks.  Socialism, on the other hand, obliterates morality with guns and tax collectors.  Ayn Rand said “morality ends where the barrel of a gun begins.”  Force is the opposite of morality, because moral behavior is inherently an exercise of free will.

Who among us has the absolute authority to mandate how each of us should allocate our time and wealth?  For anyone to claim such authority is a moral abomination.  It is tantamount to claiming that one person’s wish is superior to another person’s, and that this superiority can be manifested forcibly.  Such claims are the source of slavery and concentration camps, of gulags and re-education programs, of dictators and tyrants.  Such claims ignore the most fundamental right in our society—our right to our lives and the results of our efforts.

We cannot go half way with the socialists.  It is not possible to be half free, at least not for long.  The state has the force of guns and the very real power to confiscate wealth.  If we allow the government to decide how much liberty we can have, it will be like a wolf having dinner with a sheep.  We all know what will be on the menu.

To be sure, we have an obligation to pay taxes to fund the legitimate functions of government, which are limited and defined by the Constitution.  We do not have a moral obligation to pay taxes just to transfer wealth from one citizen to another.

Two centuries ago, we fought a military revolution over this moral issue.  We are now engaged in a political revolution to save this moral principle.  Our unalienable right to life has been defended with the blood of patriots for over two centuries.  Millions of brave men and women have sacrificed their very lives to protect this sacred principle.  I ask you, are we now going to allow socialist politicians to legislate and tax it away?   Over my dead body!

Japanese admiral Yamamoto said after the Pearl Harbor attack, “I fear that all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”  If we can thank President Obama for one thing, it is this.  He has awakened us to the harsh reality of what our politicians have been doing to America for a long time.  He has awakened the TEA Party movement.  He has awakened a sleeping giant.  He has awakened the people of America. 

It is time for another revolution.  Not a revolution of bombs and bullets, but a revolution of leadership and moral conviction.   Revolutions can happen through the ballot box as much as they can with pitchforks.

If what is happening to America doesn’t make your blood boil, you don’t have American blood in your veins.  The elections of 2010 and 2012 will decide everything.  We American patriots need to exert our political will at every level of government and on every issue critical to restoring limited government.  If we have not removed Obama, Pelosi, and Reid from power by 2012, then may our children forgive us, and may God have mercy on our souls.  There is nothing more important during the next two years than working to remove these radicals and their cohorts from office.

Politicians across America, please understand us.  We do not care whether you are Republican, Democrat, or Independent.  We only care that you faithfully represent the Constitution of the United States.  We only care that you embrace the principle of limited government.  We only care that you stop intruding in our lives.  We only care that you keep your hands off our wallets and our families. 

Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

The good men and women of America have been pushed too far.  Here’s a message for all of the politicians who have pushed us too far.  We the people are coming for you in November.  We the people will be coming for you in 2012.  We the people are going to fire you.

This great country does not belong to you politicians.  It belongs to us! 

Thank you. 

(If you enjoyed reading this speech, please consider reading my new book, "We've Been Had:  How Obama and the Radicals Conned Middle Class America."  For information about the book, click on the highlighted book title in this paragraph.)  Also, click on this link to view the author's Facebook page.

Health Care TEA Party Speech in Plymouth

Fellow Patriots, welcome to our Health Care TEA Party.

Our purpose today is to share information about the proposed government take-over of health care.

P.J. O'Rourke once said, “The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass from your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it."

That summarizes the dialogue in Washington today about this issue. Those in favor of the government takeover of health care argue that it will do unlikely things like lower cost, improve care, and make the Detroit Lions Super Bowl champions. Those opposed to it argue such goals are unachievable, because government is inherently inefficient, and private citizens will make better choices in their own interest.

Let’s begin with some high level considerations of the government’s proposal.

There’s a book called “Lyndon Johnson and The Great Society.” It describes the reasons for the failures of many government programs. The first reason can be summarized as “We didn’t realize how much funding we really needed”. The second reason can be summarized as “We had no idea how complex the problem really was.”

Those two reasons ring true when we examine various government programs. Let’s face reality. Social Security is bankrupt. Medicare is bankrupt. The post office is bankrupt. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are bankrupt. Amtrak is bankrupt. In fact, the entire federal government would be classified as bankrupt, if it was evaluated like a private business. Major sacrifices loom on the horizon for these bankrupt programs, even before the government launches this expensive new program.

This suggests that allowing the government to take over healthcare, which represents 17% of our economy, is simply insane. Despite the rosy promises from Washington today, nationalized healthcare will become just another bankrupt program tomorrow.

Another important consideration is how the government takeover of health care will affect the middle class. Too often, our political discourse is about rich versus poor. Too often, the middle class, the group that is the heart and the soul of this country, is either ignored, or is used as a pawn. Soccer moms and soccer grandmoms: your health, and the health of your children and grandchildren, is far too precious for you to accept the role of pawn in this debate.

Again, let’s face reality. You in the middle class are probably happy with your current health care. Poll after poll bears this out. It makes no sense, then, for our politicians to dismantle the best health care system in the world. I invite you to consider whether you will be better off or worse off when the government takes over healthcare. If you already have insurance and medical care that you are happy with, it’s all downhill from here. Socialists always degrade conditions to the lowest common denominator.

A final high level consideration is the credibility of the politicians proposing this government takeover. Can we trust them to fairly, faithfully, and successfully execute this massive nationalization? Consider the following:

• The very politicians who are pushing this program are not required to participate in it.  Neither are any employees of the federal government. They have their own lucrative health plan, which they can choose to keep forever.  That alone strains credibility.
• They tell us there are 47 million uninsured people. What they don’t tell us is that 16 million are uninsured by choice, and 10 million are illegal aliens. That leaves about 21 million that are involuntarily uninsured. That’s about 7% of our population, which is certainly an issue. But it is not a reason to radically change our entire system and let the government take it over. Why not just address the 7% of uninsured appropriately and humanely? It strains credibility that the government proposal doesn’t even accomplish that simple goal. 11 million people will still be uninsured even after the government ruins the best health care system in the world.
• The President sent out a nice letter describing the wonderful aspects of the proposed program. Strangely, his letter was silent about the negative aspects. A leader interested in a true public debate would have presented a balanced assessment, including future costs, repercussions, and trade-offs, so that we could evaluate the issue honestly and fairly.
• Actually, our leaders are barely telling us anything at all. If you were shopping for insurance, you would ask what procedures are covered, how much will it cost, what are my deductibles and copayments, and which doctors can I use. None of that has been defined. They are asking us to commit a trillion dollars without answering the most basic consumer questions that you would ask before spending your own money.  
• Actually, I’m not convinced any of our leaders have even read the entire legislation. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers made this confession: {quote} “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” {end quote} Such disdain for our democracy is almost too staggering to contemplate.
• Credibility is also strained when our leaders treat average citizens as enemy combatants. A letter was circulated from Washington inviting citizens to rat on their neighbors to a White House website if they say “fishy things” to oppose the bill. That is chillingly Orwellian. The DNC issued a video that mocks protesters at town hall meetings, describing them as mobs and right wing extremists. Pelosi called health care protestors “un-American”. Our leaders are elitists who are ignoring the concerns of middle class citizens. Compare their approach with that of John F. Kennedy, who said, {quote} “No President should fear public scrutiny of his programs, for from that scrutiny comes understanding. And from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary.” {end quote} JFK’s approach is a far cry from the Chicago Way.

These credibility issues alone should cause us great alarm. But, the greater cause for alarm, like the devil, is in the details of the program. I will discuss these details now, in the context of four criteria that any informed consumer would use if they were spending their own money. These criteria are Cost, Privacy, Choice, and Quality.

Let’s talk about Cost first. Here’s a brief video highlighting the cost issue. (Pause for video).

• As the video suggests, costs will necessarily be higher because millions of uninsured will be added to the program, some involuntarily. While the merits of adding the uninsured can be debated, the fact that it will add enormous cost cannot be debated. Simple math tells us that when 15% more people are given coverage, costs will go up correspondingly.
• Costs will necessarily be higher because the bill establishes a huge infrastructure that includes new departments, facilities, laboratories, health information systems, research grants, school-based clinics, and workforce development programs.
• Costs will necessarily be higher because fraud and corruption invariably accompany large government programs. In New York alone, $2 billion per year of Medicaid and Medicare are lost to corruption and fraud. The fraud and corruption that will come with government control of 17% of our economy will dwarf that.
• Costs might be higher because illegal immigrants might participate. The bill is ambiguous about this, and it is still unfinished, but the Hispanic Caucus has reportedly been assured by Nancy Pelosi that illegal immigrants will not be excluded. The government is taking up comprehensive immigration reform after the health care bill, so perhaps that is when this issue will be settled. For now, the anti-discrimination section of the current bill indicates that no service will be denied based on “personal characteristics”, whatever that means.

The President says that he will not add to the deficit to pay for this program, but the current bill is not fully funded. The CBO says it will add $300 billion to the deficit over ten years. The President claims he will save money through efficiencies, which he actually believes will come from a massive government program. But, even his key advisor, Dr. Ezekial Emmanuel, doesn’t believe that. Emmanuel said: {quote} “Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely ‘lipstick’ cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change.” {end quote}

Increased costs must be dealt with somehow. One method will be to reduce services and procedures that are currently available. This will be a serious blow to many people who already have good insurance. Dr. Emmanuel says that Americans are too “enamored with technology”, and he is determined to reduce access to it. So, if you are elderly and you need angioplasty, bypass surgery, or joint replacements, these technologies are likely to be less available, in order to control cost. If you’re over 65, listen carefully: The bill will cut Medicare Advantage by $156 billion over ten years.

Future medical innovations will be less likely. Countries that already have government-run health care have been relying on the U.S. to pay the research and development costs for new technology and medications. The U.S. produces five times as many new drugs as Europe and Asia combined. If we adopt the cost-control policies that have stifled innovation in other countries, the entire world will be worse off. David Blumenthal, another Obama advisor, recommends slowing medical innovation to control health care spending.

The costs that are not offset by reductions in service and technology will have to be covered by increased taxes. Here are some of the taxes being discussed to fund this government takeover:

• The rich will certainly be taxed. Those making over $280,000 per year could face as much as 5.4% in additional surtaxes. This could double by 2013 if the program is still underfunded.
• But, it won’t be just the rich who have to pony up. Everyone will be affected, one way or another. Businesses that don’t provide health care for their employees will be hit with a payroll tax as high as 8%. This could devastate many small businesses, resulting in more unemployment and more outsourcing overseas.
• Conversely, the 8% fee is very cheap compared to what businesses currently pay if they do offer insurance. This will likely tempt many companies to drop their coverage and force millions onto the less attractive government plan.
• If you currently get health care benefits, those benefits might be treated as taxable income.
• A direct tax on certain citizens is being discussed. The bill says that anyone who does not have acceptable insurance will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• A Value Added Tax has been discussed. This will increase the cost of everything that you buy.
• Whichever taxation methods are chosen, the President will be abandoning the pledge he made to the middle class during his campaign, when he said {quote} “you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime.” {end quote}

Reduced services and increased taxes are not the only threats. Another threat will be to your privacy. Here’s a brief video that touches on the privacy issue. (Pause for video).

Nationalized healthcare necessarily means government intrusion into the most intimate aspects of your lives. Here are some of the proposed privacy intrusions:

• The government is going to create a national registry and data network containing all of your medical records.  The bill authorizes them to obtain your data from any other department or agency of the U.S. government.
• The bill authorizes the government to access your personal financial information in order to determine ability to pay. It also authorizes the Health Secretary to give the Attorney General access to all of your data.
• The bill authorizes the government to have direct access to your bank account for electronic funds transfers.
• The bill authorizes the government to audit the books of any private company that self-insures.
• The bill will fund grants to groups that will track your behavior, including your weight gain or loss, what you eat, your exercise patterns, tobacco use, or any other behavior that the government chooses. These grantees will be assigned to carry out a “community transformation plan”.

Another key consideration is how the government takeover of health care will limit consumer choices. Here’s a brief video that touches on the issue of choice. (Pause for video).

Here are some examples of how your choices will be limited:

• The bill establishes a government committee and a Health Choices Commissioner to decide what benefits everyone will get. Obviously, everyone can’t get everything. Dr. Emanuel, an advisor to Obama, believes that medical care should not be given to those {quote} “who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens…an obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with Dementia”. {end quote}
• The bill requires everyone to obtain health insurance, at a level specified by the government. You will not be allowed to get more health care by paying for it. Conversely, you cannot buy cheaper insurance if you are young and believe you will not need expensive care.  You cannot just purchase catastrophic coverage and pay for routine costs out of your pocket. If you make no choice at all, you will automatically be enrolled in the government plan.
• The President has claimed that you don’t have to give up your current insurance. While that is technically true in some cases, it is remarkably misleading. For example, after five years, all current policies will be discontinued, and you will be forced into the government program. This could happen even sooner than five years, because if any company makes a change to its current plan, it is automatically disqualified and you will be forced onto the government program. And only employees who work for ERISA-qualified companies (generally big companies) can temporarily keep their insurance. All non-ERISA employees must immediately go to the government plan. This includes people who buy their own insurance or who work for small businesses.
• Whether you like it or not, your tax dollars will pay for abortions. Currently, federal abortion funding is limited to cases involving rape, incest, or danger to the mother. The new public plan will cover all abortions. They will tell you that federal funds will not be directly used to pay for these abortions. That is disingenuous double-talk. You will pay taxes to the government, the government will fund part of the plan, and the plan will cover abortions.
• A critical area that is not clearly defined in the bill is how the government will ration health care as seniors become disabled and approach end of life.
• The bill does have a provision for an advance care planning consultation every five years. This includes setting up living wills, deciding what level of treatment is appropriate at the end of your life, and approving which doctors can write an end-of-life order, if such is deemed necessary.
• The mechanism for defining what treatment you will get at end of life is not defined, though. This determination is likely to be based on Comparative Effectiveness Research, which is funded by the bill. If this approach is eventually used, it will result in a formula where the cost of a treatment is divided by the number of “quality-adjusted life years” that a patient has left to live. In Britain, this formula is already in use, and it results in denying treatments for older patients who have fewer years to benefit from care than younger patients. Perhaps former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm gave us a clue about where we are headed when he bluntly suggested that the elderly have {quote} “a duty to die”. {end quote}

The final key consideration is quality.  Here’s a brief video that touches on this issue. (Pause for video).

Here are some sobering points about health care quality:

• A survey of physicians in various countries found that all except the American physicians reported major shortages of resources important in providing quality health care.
• The most critical resource shortage will be doctors. This is partly because the number of patients demanding service will go up, and partly because pay for doctors will go down. Countries with government-run healthcare save money by paying doctors less. U.S. doctors earn more than twice as much as doctors in Canada and Germany, more than three times as much as in France, and four times as much in the rest of Europe. The bill gives the government power to set compensation levels and to set the value of doctors’ time. When pay for doctors gets limited, our talented young people will choose instead to go into professions where they can earn more money and have more autonomy.
• Critical technology will also be in short supply. For example, today there are 60 CT scanners and MRI machines per million people in the U.S., compared to 18 in Canada and 13 in the U.K. Do we really want to go backward in the availability of technology?
• Results will also suffer. A 2008 study found that the five year survival rate for prostate cancer is 92% in the U.S., versus 57% in Europe. For breast cancer, it is 84% versus 73%, and for colon cancer, it is 60% versus 47%. If we emulate the European system, we will get European results.
• A 2007 study found that the U.S. was number one in preventative care. 85% of U.S women had a Pap test in the past two years, compared to 58% in the U.K. For mammograms, the difference was 84% versus 63%. Again, if we emulate the European system, we will get European results.
• Another way governments reduce health care costs is to require patients to wait for treatment. Dr. Blumenthal, Obama’s advisor, calls it “debatable” whether the timely care Americans get now is worth the cost. For a cancer patient, there is no debate. Delay in treatment is not just inconvenient, it results in suffering and sometimes even death. In Britain, the average patient has to wait 18 weeks from referral to a specialist to treatment. Canadians have to wait an average of 17 weeks. A lot of bad things can happen to a waiting patient in 17 weeks.
• The government will be piloting an HMO-like program that capitates benefits and incentivizes practitioners to keep expenditures under targeted levels in order to receive bonus payments. This will result in either long waits for service while the doctor hopes your problem goes away naturally, or it will result in your doctor being less inclined to authorize more expensive procedures. This is precisely what killed the HMO model.

Clearly, the government is going to be far more involved in your medical care and decisions than ever before. One final point is that the government is going to outsource some of that intrusive involvement in your life to “community groups”. This may include ACORN or Planned Parenthood. Since ACORN has already been contracted to work on the 2010 census for the government, it’s a good bet they will be contracted for this intimate involvement in your life too. When pressed to confirm or deny that ACORN will qualify as one of these “community organizations”, Senator Chris Dodd, who is responsible for shepherding the bill through the senate, disingenuously said, “I’m not saying yes or no”.

Massive changes are being proposed for the way our health care is administered. Unfortunately, as this government takeover of healthcare is being rushed through Congress, we are not getting honest, credible information from our leaders. Instead, we get Orwellian double-talk. The leaders in George Orwell’s “1984” had a slogan: “War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength.” Consider the following Orwellian double talk about healthcare coming out of Washington:

· They tell us that health care spending will not go up, yet they are proposing to add $1 trillion dollars to health care spending.

· They tell us that healthcare decisions will not be made by the government, yet they are setting up a new Federal Health Board and a Health Choices Commissioner to tell doctors what treatments they can offer, to whom, and under what circumstances.

· They tell us they are going to get the politics out of healthcare, yet they are putting healthcare under government control. Hopefully, you supported the right party when you need care, or when you run into ACORN.

· They say that they will replace “expensive care” with the “best care”, yet they are substituting the judgment of distant government bureaucrats for the judgment of your personal physician.

· They say that we will stop paying for things that don’t make us healthier, yet they are talking about de-emphasizing the very cutting edge technology and medicines that make us the envy of the world.

· They say that healthcare costs are gobbling up money that employers could use as wages for workers, yet they are proposing an 8% tax on some employers to pay for this program.

· As a final insult to our intelligence, they use the words “government” and “efficiency” in the same sentence.

Ironically, as our government contemplates taking over health care, countries with government-run health care are moving in the opposite direction. Almost every European country has introduced market-based reforms to reduce health costs and increase the availability and quality of care. They have learned what I learned when I lived in Canada for three years. I can say with firsthand knowledge and painful experience that in Canada the doctors are less qualified, the service is bureaucratic and frustrating, the waits are long, and the results are sub-standard. When I returned to America, I wanted to kiss the ground. There were many reasons for that urge, but the American health care system was at the top of the list.

Dr. Ezekial Emmanuel, the brother of presidential chief enforcer Rahm Emmanuel, will be influential in the proposed government takeover of healthcare. As I mentioned earlier, he suggested that it makes no sense to allocate healthcare dollars to those who will never be able to significantly contribute to society.

Soccer moms and soccer grandmoms, I’d like to share with you how Sarah Palin addressed this issue last week. As you know, Sarah has a special child of her own. She said:

{quote} "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." {end quote}

I will close with a reminder from Thomas Jefferson. He said: “We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”

I am going to participate with my heart and soul, and I invite you to also. We need to make sure that our leaders understand that they are treading on middle class voters at their own peril.

Remember, our venom is our vote. 2010 can’t come soon enough.

Thank you.

July 4th TEA Party

Happy birthday, America!

Fellow Patriots, welcome to our 4^th of July TEA party!

After the TEA Parties on April 15th, President Obama said he was unaware of them. I need your help during the next 30 seconds to make Mr. Obama aware of today’s TEA Party. At the same time, we can give America a very loud birthday salute. So, please join me in making this familiar chant loud enough to be heard in Washington. (Lead U-S-A chant).

233 years ago today, patriots just like us gathered in the old State House in Philadelphia. Just like us, they objected to a distant and intrusive government. And just like we’re doing today, they documented their complaints for the world to hear.

It is most fitting on this 4^th of July that I quote from the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson’s ideas fundamentally changed the relationship between sovereign individuals and their governments. His powerful words inspired the creation of the greatest nation on earth. I therefore recite the following with reverence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.”

Jefferson went on in the Declaration to document the complaints of the colonies against the oppressive government in London. Those complaints were so serious that patriots 233 years ago were compelled to bear arms and revolt.

And so here we are today. Once again, we are burdened with an oppressive government, this time in Washington. Once again, we are documenting complaints that are severe enough to cause us to rise up and challenge our leaders. I present now just two of these complaints:

1. Complaint #1: This administration is imposing on us a public debt beyond all comprehension. Here are a few examples:
   1. Obama’s budget deficits in just four years will be greater than the combined deficits of all of the other presidents over the course of 233 years, from George Washington to George W. Bush.
   2. The national debt at the end of Obama’s first term will be greater than our entire annual Gross Domestic Product.
   3. The true deficit of the federal government is actually $65.5 trillion, if you include total unfunded obligations like social security and Medicare. This exceeds the annual GDP of the entire world.
   4. This reckless spending is destroying our “Triple A” credit rating and driving interest rates up. It now costs more to buy credit default insurance on U.S. government bonds than on debt issued by McDonald’s. In other words, a hamburger joint is now considered a safer investment than the United States of America.
   5. Since the world is now reluctant to buy our government bonds to cover our debts, we are essentially printing money to buy our own bonds. This means that future inflation will devalue the assets of every American.

1. Complaint #2: This administration is establishing socialism in America. Here are a few examples:
   1. They are nationalizing the banking, finance, and automotive industries. They are appointing CEO’s, setting compensation levels, and acquiring equity in private companies. This is the very definition of socialism.
   2. GM and Chrysler dealership owners have been summarily relieved of their profitable franchises and their property rights by the government. We will hear more about this today in the form of a letter from dealership owner and former POW Marvin Tamaroff.
   3. They have established 22 czars to take control of our lives and our economy. That’s more czars than the Romanov’s in Russia appointed.
   4. They are ignoring bankruptcy law. 2000 families who own GM bonds will get nothing, even though they are secured creditors. Instead, the UAW, which is an unsecured creditor but a political patron of the administration, will get partial ownership of the new GM.
   5. The mainstream media have essentially nationalized themselves into a fourth branch of the federal government, like Pravda was in the Soviet Union. ABC broadcast a special on nationalized health care directly from the White House for free, while refusing paid airtime requests from opposing groups.

Electing Obama and the socialists was not a four year mistake, it was a forty year mistake. It will take generations to repair the damage they are doing.

A monumental change is taking place in the relationship between the state and the individual in America. We are rapidly descending from a Constitutional Republic of limited government and free and independent citizens to a European Socialist state that is larger and more oppressive than the European monarchy we revolted against two centuries ago.

Thomas Jefferson said, “Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” He was very prophetic. We are at a dangerous tipping point. Roughly fifty percent of eligible voters pay federal income taxes, and the remaining fifty percent don’t. Eventually, taxpayers could be exposed to an electoral majority that will simply vote their wealth away. We are starting to see that happen now, with the elected socialists in Washington spending a trillion here and a trillion there.

I want to speak directly to the middle class now. Too often, our political discourse is about the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak. Too often, the middle class is just a pawn used by politicians for the benefit of victims and bureaucrats. It is time for middle class Americans to be heard. It is time for you soccer moms and football dads to flex your political muscle. You are the backbone of this country. You work hard every day, you nurture your families, and you build your communities. There are enough of you to control the political fate of this country.

The socialism that is descending over America will affect you, your children, and your way of life for decades to come. Obama has proposed over $8 trillion in new spending in his first term. The rich don’t make that much money. The middle class is going to pay for it, either through increased taxes or through inflation. If the government confiscated 100% of the income of every person making $75,000 or more, it would barely have enough to cover 2009 expenditures. That means they’re eventually going to raise middle class taxes.

But increased taxes are not the only clear and present danger. Here are three other imminent threats to every single person in the middle class:

• Threat #1: Your retirement is going to be far more difficult than you imagined. Here are a few examples:

• • The government has already spent your Social Security contributions. There is not a single penny for your retirement in the trust fund. And since there are fewer and fewer workers, and more and more retirees, the government will have to raise social security taxes, or reduce social security benefits. One or the other will happen.
  • A proposal is being floated to eliminate your 401(k) tax deduction. Apparently, the government doesn’t like it when you save your own money for your own retirement.
  • Nancy Pelosi has proposed a Windfall Tax on all stock market profits, including retirement funds and 401(k)’s. When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied, “We need to raise the standard of living of our poor and unemployed.” So, after saving your entire life, you will be forced to hand it over to someone who didn’t.
  • Your retirement savings will be indirectly confiscated through inflation. As the government prints more and more money, your retirement assets will be worth less and less.
  • This administration is going to cause you to work longer, to retire with less, and to hand over your assets to someone less responsible than you.

• Threat #2: Your energy costs are going to sky rocket. Here are a few examples:
  • They are creating new bureaucracies and new taxes to “save” us from carbon dioxide, which is a gas we naturally exhale and a gas plants naturally use for food.
  • Therefore, energy costs will be higher as “cap and trade” carbon emission fees are imposed and the government forces conversion to more expensive alternative energy sources. Cap and trade will cost a typical family $3000 per year.
  • The government is preventing drilling for domestic sources of oil. This will drive the price of gas to record highs when the world economy recovers.
  • Every commodity that requires energy to be produced and distributed will cost more, especially food. The cost of doing business will go up, which will drive more jobs overseas.  Ironically, these jobs will likely go to India and China, where they have 2.3 billion people who also exhale carbon dioxide and who are not going to impose cap and trade regulations on themselves.

• Threat #3: Nationalized health care will result in higher taxes and fewer choices. Here are few examples:
  • The program will cost at least $1 trillion dollars. Here are two of the taxes being discussed to pay for it:
    • A tax on health care benefits is being considered, but without the $5000 credit that McCain proposed. Interestingly, union workers will not be subject to this tax.
    • A Value Added Tax is being considered. This will increase the cost of everything you buy.
  • Socialized health care will cost you more than money. Here are some unfortunate side-effects:
    • A government bureaucrat will come between you and your doctor. This bureaucrat will ration health care and, ultimately, determine who lives or dies. In countries with socialized medicine, old age is increasingly being used as a reason for denying access to expensive procedures. Soccer moms, heads up: In England, the most effective treatments for breast cancer are no longer covered, because they are too expensive.
    • To see how ineffective socialized health care will be, consider how government involvement has fared in other areas:
      • The government gave money to banks and car companies, then used it as an excuse to make decisions for them. When they pay for your health care, they will use the exact same excuse to make decisions for you and your family.
      • Think about how the Secretary of State office is run. You will take a number, stand in line, and wait for health care, too.
      • Think about the horror stories of poor quality health care provided by the Veterans Administration. If the government can’t even properly care for veterans who risked their lives for us, what kind of care can your family expect?
    • White House, Congress, and Federal employees will not be required to participate in the plan. That alone should tell us everything we need to know.

The middle class will be taxed more, its energy costs will skyrocket, its wealth will be stolen by inflation, its healthcare will be rationed, its employers will be hounded out of business, and its golden retirement will vanish into the nothingness of a bankrupt socialist state. To get a glimpse of your future, consider what is happening in socialist states like California. California is on the verge of issuing IOU’s to vendors and low-income seniors, because their government has run out of money. You can’t feed a family with an IOU.

This is a momentous time. We are witnessing the opening acts of the most profound restructuring of our political system since 1776. We will be making great choices, for ourselves, our children, and our nation. We are choosing between:

• Individual rights versus subservience to bureaucrats
• Individual responsibility versus chronic dependence on taxpayers
• Limited government versus a nanny state that intrudes in every aspect of our lives

We have 100 senators, 435 congressmen, and 1 president. 536 politicians, in a nation of 300 million citizens, are responsible for the predicament that we’re in. The problems in our civil society exist because these 536 politicians are focused on the next election, not on the next generation, and not on our founding principles. Abraham Lincoln told us, “We the people are the rightful masters of the congress and the courts, not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the constitution.” Given the disaster confronting us now, we have no choice but to follow Lincoln’s advice and throw the tyrants out of office!

But do we have the will to do it?

There are examples of brave people around the world revolting against their oppressive governments. Young students in Iran are risking their lives for a precious yet intangible thing called liberty. They are truly courageous, and they deserve our admiration and support.

But make no mistake. No one in the world knows the value and the cost of liberty more acutely than we Americans. Many times over, we have bought and paid for our liberty with our blood and our lives, on American battlefields called Yorktown and Gettysburg, on Normandy beaches called Omaha and Utah, and on Pacific islands called Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. Liberty is ours by right. Liberty is ours by the blood of our fallen soldiers. Liberty is something we will never surrender to socialists who are betraying us in Washington today!

I had an epiphany on election day last November. After seeing the results, my wife and I couldn’t believe what had happened to our country. We shed a few tears and fell into a depression. But later in the evening, we had a revelation, a spiritual conversion, sort of like Saul on the road to Damascus. We realized that we had not earned the right to feel sorry for ourselves, because we had not fully participated in being citizens. Sure, we had voted, but voting on election day is like going to church on Sunday. Just as being a true Christian requires participation every day, not just on Sunday, being a true citizen requires participation between election cycles, not just on election day.

We decided to become true citizens. So, here I am, an average taxpayer and a father of eight kids. I’m up on this stage because I refuse to leave the world to them in the mess that it is now. Our fathers and forefathers left our generation a priceless jewel of a country. It is on the verge of being destroyed. It is up to every one of us to save it.

Will this battle be difficult? Of course. But think about the difficulties the original patriots faced. When they signed the Declaration of Independence, 30,000 mercenary soldiers were landing in New York harbor to put down the insurrection. Signing the Declaration was like signing their own death warrants. Some of them were killed in the years that followed, and some lost their fortunes.

Ronald Reagan told us, “No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”

So, free men and women, get ready to make your voices heard, because I have a few simple questions for you.  Please answer them loudly:

· Are we going to surrender our liberty to big government in Washington?

· Are we going to allow our government to nationalize our industries and our health care?

· Are we going to allow our government to spend and tax the middle class out of existence?

· Are we going to allow our government to transfer wealth from successful businesses and hard-working individuals, to failing businesses and irresponsible individuals?

Well then, I hope you’ll join the battle and sign up to help. As for me, I’m all in. I’m all in for the U.S. Constitution, for limited government, and for sovereignty of the individual. I’m all in for doing whatever it takes to preserve liberty in America. I’m all in, just like our brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be free. I’m all in, just like our forefathers who committed their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor on a 4^th of July many years ago to give birth to America. I’m all in, just like Patrick Henry. If you’ll recall, he had something important to say about situations like these.

He said, “Give me liberty, or give me death”.

It’s tea party time in America!

Thank you!