The SVTP is going to start a series of classes this year, focusing on our constitution, "real" free market capitalism, and 9/12 meet ups. We are looking to educate our selves before we can educate others. Once we build up our educated numbers, we will work to pass this knowledge along to our fellow citizens through the media, the schools, and our local politicians. Keep posted to this website for more information.
We are compelled to restore our country to her principals of Liberty and a Judeo-Christian Culture from the secular progressive agenda. Blind justice, Limited government, and a faithful, virtuous people are what makes us a Great Nation.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Policy Changes Behavior
This Thursday in Sterling we are going to have our 1 year anniversary tea party. We look forward to seeing everyone there celebrating our union, protesting against this out of control government and educating our fellow man on the virtues of our beloved natural law based constitutional republic. Lets work together to bring our country back to the fundamentals. One of the best ways to do that is through education and policy change. Remember the following phrase, "policy effects behavior." This is going to be my mantra for the next few months. For every action, there is a behavioral change in our culture. Examples are Social Security has changed our attitudes on being owed something for retiring. SSI Social Security Insurance, it was not called a retirement fund. Sure, you think you deserve the money, but then you deserve ALL your taxes back and all the fees associated with government. People thought it a good idea to have a safety net, if you fell on hard times, but then people's behavior changes and became dependent upon it. Likewise for medicare and medicaid. Policy effected behavior. Look at those 50% who pay nothing into the system net net, yet they expect a refund or the same government services as those who pay into the system. Can you imagine walking up to a movie theater or going into a restaurant and demanding to see the move or have a meal and not pay for it? It is the same think with taxes. Policy changes behavior. Not all policy results in destructive or malicious behavior, but politicians and policy makers never seem to take the time to think through the effects the policies will have in the long term. That has always been my arguments against progressives - they can never see the forest through the trees and they never truly have grasped the concept that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
SVTP Update
We are up to 110 emails on our mailing list. Think of the potential we have of being a force in the Sauk Valley. If we all brought someone with us to our next Tea Party and we convinced just 2 other people to come, we could approach 500 people. This may not seem like much, but when local elections are in the 100's and state office representative positions are in the low thousands, it seems we have the ability to get our voices heard. Not to sound too much like a community organizer, but the one thing I have learned about this system we have inherited through the years is that the squeeky wheel gets the oil. It is our duty to counter balance the progressive movements and be the voice of reason and our constitution. Please get involved, not only with your opinion, but talk to your neighbors, let them know that apathy will no longer cut it. The tipping point is far closer than most care to admit. There are over 100 taxes that did not exist 100 years ago, there are thousands of regulations that constrict our individual liberties that did not exist 50 years ago, there is a mentality in Washington that government is the answer, not the problem. It is time to re-invigerate this movement with a cross section of the sauk valley and build our coalition to make the positive constitutional changes needed in the next election cycle. God Bless.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Who am I voting for?
This does not represent the views of the SVTP, just me
Lt Governor - Jason Plummer - this was a hard choice because I really liked Brad Cole. But Jason has a command of the issues and the go get'em attitude that gives me confidence in him. He is ahead in the polls and Brad is in last, so that helps solidify my decision. Don Tracy is second in the polls and a nice guy, but Jason is far more in command of where he is an wants to do in the position.
US Senate - Patrick Hughes - I know, most tea partiers are saying Judge Lowery, but I met Pat and believe him to be a stand up guy. I like Kathleen Thomas's views as well, but I think a more vibrant candidate has the best chance of winning and I think Pat is more electable and shares the same values. Not trying to come across as an ageist, but I am thinking more about November and the Democrat candidate and I think Pat simply has a better chance with the general public. For the life of me, I can not figure out why Mark Kirk is leading in the polls. I understand his name recognition, but his voting record simply does not cut the mustard with me.
Comptroller - Jim Dodge - he is from the classic Chicago School side on economics and has read Hayek. Lets put a smart financial guy in this post and not a political hack - please.
Most of the other areas have single candidates, but one comment on a district that I do not belong in. If I lived in the 14th District I would throw my support behind Randy Hultgren. I met both Ethan and Randy and like them both very much. However, I think Randy is more of an outsider. I have a feeling in my gut, Ethan is a bit more rounded than his Dad when it comes to libertarianism so if he wins, don't abandon him just because you we not happy with his Dad at the end of his career.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Who to Vote For
If you want to be told who to vote for, you came to the wrong place. If you want to be told how to arrive at a decision, please read on. Step 1, come to the Sauk Valley Voter Education Fair. Step 2, follow the following Simple Rules.
Rule 1. Do not vote for anyone that is not willing to immediately put forth bills that will stem corruption in Springfield or DC. Idea's such as Spending Caps tied to GDP, Term Limits, Tying government workers compensation to the average Americans income, Capping retirement benefits for elected official, eliminating institutionalized lobbying, etc.
Rule 2. Vote for candidates that understand the constitution and what Natural Law means.
Rule 3. Vote for candidates that take an oath to limit their own terms, and benefits.
Rule 4. Do not vote for any candidate that wants to utilize the power of the Government to create jobs, redistribute wealth or protect us from ourselves. The roll of legislatures, presidents are constitutionally limited to the following - insure the free flow of trade between states which means a strong and efficient transportation system; protect the borders of the US which is obviously defense spending; protect ALL INDIVIDUAL citizens Life, Liberty and Property from the force of others and from the Government itself; There are so many current laws today that already impede upon its citizens, it would take years to reverse the serious of programs and laws that have impeded life, liberty and property of every individual. Coin money - which means end the Fed Reserve and restore back the the people sovereignty over our own money.
Rule 5. Vote for the candidate that believes in equal treatment under the law. Which means, no progressive tax system, no unequal distribution of taxpayer funds, and equal playing field between the government and private industry for charitable purposes, no government health care.
Rule 6. Never vote for the incombant that has served more than one term. Rotating the crops keeps the ground fertile, even if the next crop is still a vegetable.
Rule 7. Vote for candidates that believe CO2 is NOT a Green House Gas responsible for global warming. The science is settled, we are in a cooling period and there is NO proof that man has contribued to Global warming.
Rule 8. Vote for the candidate that believes parents make better decisions about their childrens education than governments. If public schools continue to be a necessary evil, vote for the candidate that will tie money to the children, not to a building and teachers.
Rule 9. Vote for the candidate that believes conceal carry increase safety in our streets
Rule 10. Vote for the candidate that understands Life Begins at Conception and Science supports that fact far better than any science supports the idea of man made Global Warming.
If you follow these 10 rules, this country will become stronger, healthier, more prosperous and better equiped to deal with the challenges ahead.
God Bless America.
Rule 1. Do not vote for anyone that is not willing to immediately put forth bills that will stem corruption in Springfield or DC. Idea's such as Spending Caps tied to GDP, Term Limits, Tying government workers compensation to the average Americans income, Capping retirement benefits for elected official, eliminating institutionalized lobbying, etc.
Rule 2. Vote for candidates that understand the constitution and what Natural Law means.
Rule 3. Vote for candidates that take an oath to limit their own terms, and benefits.
Rule 4. Do not vote for any candidate that wants to utilize the power of the Government to create jobs, redistribute wealth or protect us from ourselves. The roll of legislatures, presidents are constitutionally limited to the following - insure the free flow of trade between states which means a strong and efficient transportation system; protect the borders of the US which is obviously defense spending; protect ALL INDIVIDUAL citizens Life, Liberty and Property from the force of others and from the Government itself; There are so many current laws today that already impede upon its citizens, it would take years to reverse the serious of programs and laws that have impeded life, liberty and property of every individual. Coin money - which means end the Fed Reserve and restore back the the people sovereignty over our own money.
Rule 5. Vote for the candidate that believes in equal treatment under the law. Which means, no progressive tax system, no unequal distribution of taxpayer funds, and equal playing field between the government and private industry for charitable purposes, no government health care.
Rule 6. Never vote for the incombant that has served more than one term. Rotating the crops keeps the ground fertile, even if the next crop is still a vegetable.
Rule 7. Vote for candidates that believe CO2 is NOT a Green House Gas responsible for global warming. The science is settled, we are in a cooling period and there is NO proof that man has contribued to Global warming.
Rule 8. Vote for the candidate that believes parents make better decisions about their childrens education than governments. If public schools continue to be a necessary evil, vote for the candidate that will tie money to the children, not to a building and teachers.
Rule 9. Vote for the candidate that believes conceal carry increase safety in our streets
Rule 10. Vote for the candidate that understands Life Begins at Conception and Science supports that fact far better than any science supports the idea of man made Global Warming.
If you follow these 10 rules, this country will become stronger, healthier, more prosperous and better equiped to deal with the challenges ahead.
God Bless America.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Compassionate Way to a Better Society
I have pondered very long on this question. There are many different ideas to "forge a better society". Rather than getting into the fallacy of the statement itself, I want to answer the question to start a dialogue with people who do believe one can social engineer for "Social and Economic Justice."
So what does it mean, "social and economic justice". My interpretation would be the following. "To insure every person has equal opportunity to reach what ever goals they set for themselves, and for every person to be protected from fraud, discrimination, and complete destitution when their choices land them in an unhealthy and/or insecure place in society." I wonder if most can agree with this definition.
I know some people will challenge the above definition by adding specific ideological principals, but rather than put that in the definition, lets add those to the solution to separate ideologies into their proper place.
My idea of insuring Social and Economic Justice.
1) A fundamental shift from a top down approach to a bottom up approach. Rather than making a centralized all powerful government. Who knows how to protect the vulnerable, insure equality, or help the destitute, but the ones closest to those people. Charity starts at home, it does not start in Washington. I live in Sterling, IL. We have dozens of churches, we have dozens of charitable organizations, we have some great companies and we have many people of different philosophies. Let's use those resources to help city government prioritize what needs to happen here to make a great community. The last 100 years has systematically changed our culture to where people are becoming apathetic. Having a far off bureaucrat make decisions on who gets taxed and who gets the money is not only nonsensical, but immoral. The argument those on the other side might make is, that what if the local government or community discriminates or is corrupts. The ignorance of this argument is why would someone think a stranger from some far off centralized government be any different? The key is local involvement. There once was an environmental sticker that said, "think globally, act locally". There is some truth to that. Act locally, keeping in minds the universal truths of life, liberty and property.
2) Education shift. The critical step to "create" a better tomorrow is to prepare people for the challenges in the world. The problem today is schools focus on Reading, Math, Science, Cultural sensitivity, Sex, Environmental Studies, and Globalism. What we need to focus on is Math, Science, Reading, American Exceptionalism, Capitalism, Personal Responsibility and Natural Law. Yes some of these are the responsibility of the parents, but we need to make sure that our children understand choices have consequences, that social engineering = oppression of someone, and that failure is a learning tool, not an excuse. We will prepare our children for the world with the tools to succeed, not with ready made excuses, or chips on their shoulders. Without an honest intellectual understanding of Capitalism vs Marxism, are children are doomed to Marxism, as it has been made as an emotional appeal rather than logical one.
3) Equal justice under the law. When did they take the blind fold off lady justice? We see too often, well connected people get off. A treasure secretary, a congressman, a senator that are tax cheats that are not persecuted, while regular citizens and even some wealthy actors go to jail. How about a Director who rapes a girl? Where we see people get rich off of back door deals with government officials. With millionaire Senators lecture private citizens about greed, yet take 6 figure salarys and unbelievable benefit packages while lining their pockets with favors by the vary people they attack as making too much money. It is time our justice system returns to core values - enforcing all laws that have their root in Natural Law. One of the easiest ways to insure a better society is to enforce laws and create equal penalty under the law.
These 3 fundamental ideas will create the closest thing to what those that believe in Utopia could be here on earth. It has never been tried in the history of the world. The closest thing we have ever come to this was the first 80 years of our union.
So what does it mean, "social and economic justice". My interpretation would be the following. "To insure every person has equal opportunity to reach what ever goals they set for themselves, and for every person to be protected from fraud, discrimination, and complete destitution when their choices land them in an unhealthy and/or insecure place in society." I wonder if most can agree with this definition.
I know some people will challenge the above definition by adding specific ideological principals, but rather than put that in the definition, lets add those to the solution to separate ideologies into their proper place.
My idea of insuring Social and Economic Justice.
1) A fundamental shift from a top down approach to a bottom up approach. Rather than making a centralized all powerful government. Who knows how to protect the vulnerable, insure equality, or help the destitute, but the ones closest to those people. Charity starts at home, it does not start in Washington. I live in Sterling, IL. We have dozens of churches, we have dozens of charitable organizations, we have some great companies and we have many people of different philosophies. Let's use those resources to help city government prioritize what needs to happen here to make a great community. The last 100 years has systematically changed our culture to where people are becoming apathetic. Having a far off bureaucrat make decisions on who gets taxed and who gets the money is not only nonsensical, but immoral. The argument those on the other side might make is, that what if the local government or community discriminates or is corrupts. The ignorance of this argument is why would someone think a stranger from some far off centralized government be any different? The key is local involvement. There once was an environmental sticker that said, "think globally, act locally". There is some truth to that. Act locally, keeping in minds the universal truths of life, liberty and property.
2) Education shift. The critical step to "create" a better tomorrow is to prepare people for the challenges in the world. The problem today is schools focus on Reading, Math, Science, Cultural sensitivity, Sex, Environmental Studies, and Globalism. What we need to focus on is Math, Science, Reading, American Exceptionalism, Capitalism, Personal Responsibility and Natural Law. Yes some of these are the responsibility of the parents, but we need to make sure that our children understand choices have consequences, that social engineering = oppression of someone, and that failure is a learning tool, not an excuse. We will prepare our children for the world with the tools to succeed, not with ready made excuses, or chips on their shoulders. Without an honest intellectual understanding of Capitalism vs Marxism, are children are doomed to Marxism, as it has been made as an emotional appeal rather than logical one.
3) Equal justice under the law. When did they take the blind fold off lady justice? We see too often, well connected people get off. A treasure secretary, a congressman, a senator that are tax cheats that are not persecuted, while regular citizens and even some wealthy actors go to jail. How about a Director who rapes a girl? Where we see people get rich off of back door deals with government officials. With millionaire Senators lecture private citizens about greed, yet take 6 figure salarys and unbelievable benefit packages while lining their pockets with favors by the vary people they attack as making too much money. It is time our justice system returns to core values - enforcing all laws that have their root in Natural Law. One of the easiest ways to insure a better society is to enforce laws and create equal penalty under the law.
These 3 fundamental ideas will create the closest thing to what those that believe in Utopia could be here on earth. It has never been tried in the history of the world. The closest thing we have ever come to this was the first 80 years of our union.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Congratulations Sauk Valley
Wow, what a great day for liberty! Thanks so much for everyone that contributed in making yesterday an amazing day. 100's of people came out to show their support, and 1 came out to protest. Not sure what he was exactly protesting by disrupting us by pretending to vomit and pass out in front of us. Something about minimum wage, can't afford health care and what would Jesus do. I would have loved to have an intellectual and theological conversation with him, but I doubt we could change his mind. Years of Marxist indoctrination is not easily to overcome.
Unlike a Leftist rally, like those in Minneapolis during the Republican convention, where the protesters threw things at elderly conventioneers and spat on them. We believe in the first amendment and allow even ridiculous people have their 1 minute of unintelligible public display.
It was awesome to see the wide range of people at our rally. People who came forward to speak ranged in age from 12 to 80, from as far away as the North suburbs of Chicago, legal immigrants to those who's ancestors signed the Declaration of Independents.
Thank you and God Bless those fellow citizens that helped put together this fantastic event.
Being only the 3rd Tea Party and first one that attempted to have a structure, I think we managed to pull it off. I am sure we could have done many things better, so we would love suggestions. I already know 2 things that we need to focus on immediately. First, make sure the mp3 player we use for the national anthem can be seen in the bright sun. Sorry about that. Second, I think we need to stress that all speakers to keep it under 5 minutes. Even though we all enjoyed the information, it pulled the first part from 1 hour to nearly 2. I am thinking of getting a huge clock so the speakers can pace themselves. I am guilty as anyone to lose track of time.
I think for the next Rally, we want to focus on our platform. What are the 3-4 things we really want to do as an organization. My thoughts are 1) Corruption Reform, 2) States Rights Push, 3) Local Education initiative. I left off Health Care because I believe by the time we meet again, it will be over - the majority in power will have forced something upon us. Sad but historically supported. I also believe we need to focus on building our grass roots effort to have a real re-boot revolution (non violent of course).
Suggestions are welcome.
Unlike a Leftist rally, like those in Minneapolis during the Republican convention, where the protesters threw things at elderly conventioneers and spat on them. We believe in the first amendment and allow even ridiculous people have their 1 minute of unintelligible public display.
It was awesome to see the wide range of people at our rally. People who came forward to speak ranged in age from 12 to 80, from as far away as the North suburbs of Chicago, legal immigrants to those who's ancestors signed the Declaration of Independents.
Thank you and God Bless those fellow citizens that helped put together this fantastic event.
Being only the 3rd Tea Party and first one that attempted to have a structure, I think we managed to pull it off. I am sure we could have done many things better, so we would love suggestions. I already know 2 things that we need to focus on immediately. First, make sure the mp3 player we use for the national anthem can be seen in the bright sun. Sorry about that. Second, I think we need to stress that all speakers to keep it under 5 minutes. Even though we all enjoyed the information, it pulled the first part from 1 hour to nearly 2. I am thinking of getting a huge clock so the speakers can pace themselves. I am guilty as anyone to lose track of time.
I think for the next Rally, we want to focus on our platform. What are the 3-4 things we really want to do as an organization. My thoughts are 1) Corruption Reform, 2) States Rights Push, 3) Local Education initiative. I left off Health Care because I believe by the time we meet again, it will be over - the majority in power will have forced something upon us. Sad but historically supported. I also believe we need to focus on building our grass roots effort to have a real re-boot revolution (non violent of course).
Suggestions are welcome.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Down to the Wire
We are in our last few days before the big Sauk Valley Tea Party. We are excited by the support and out reach we have received from so many people. I believe this movement has gained traction and is about to explode in size. We look forward to meeting all of you on Saturday and celebrating our American exceptionalism. God Bless.
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