The Obama administration is considering forced vaccination of children and adults in response to the possibility of a swine flu epidemic this fall.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been preparing public school superintendents for the possibility that their schools will be used by the government as inoculation centers for a nationwide swine flu vaccination program which may include mandatory vaccination of public school students who are already required to receive several other government mandated vaccinations.
While there is a genuine threat of a swine flu pandemic, it does not justify the level of fear mongering being engaged in by the Obama Administration at a time which makes it look very much as if they are using this issue to advance their health care agenda. Although numbers like 90,000 deaths and 1.2 million hospitalizations from the CDC seem frightening, they fall within the parameters for the effects of the yearly outbreaks of other kinds of flu.
There is no legitimate reason for any program of forced mass vaccination, especially directed at school children and using state mandated public education requirements as a threat to force parents to comply. Mandatory vaccination programs are a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy and personal security. It is especially important that the rights of children and the rights of their parents to make decisions about their childrens’ welfare be protected.
Here in Texas we saw an attempt at forced vaccination when Governor Rick Perry tried to mandate that all teenage girls be given the Human Paphaloma Virus vaccine at a cost of over $400 per vaccination to the taxpayers. Outrage over the huge tax cost of the program was exceeded only by anger over having this vaccine forced on teenagers. Protests were so effective that the program was killed. Now we need to do the same on a nationwide basis.
The issue of vaccination – in fact the entire healthcare debate – comes down to one very simple question. Who should make the healthcare decisions for you and your family? Should it be you or should it be legislators or commissions of nameless and faceless government bureaucrats like those created by proposed healthcare legislation.
This issue is so important and so personal that giving up control to government is terrifying. As a result, we are seeing massive nationwide grassroots protests against government run healthcare because whatever the faults of the current system, people want to keep control and make their own health care decisions.
Vaccines are one of the great advancements of modern medicine and for the most part they are safe and important for protecting children and adults from real health threats. Nonetheless it is still morally wrong for government to force any kind of choice like this on citizens against their will. Government should protect freedom of choice, not take it away.
The Republican Liberty Caucus is working to oppose both so-called healthcare reform and mandated vaccination programs.
Citizens have the right to make their own health care decisions, including opting out of current school vaccination requirements and not being forced to comply with any future government inoculation program.
Americans should be trusted to make responsible decisions about the health of their family members and the safety of the community. The role of the government should be to protect citizens and their rights, not to make medical decisions for them without their consent.
So I ask again, who do you want making your health care decisions?
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
What an exciting five months it has been since our RLC of Florida State Convention. The newly seated RLC of Florida Board of Directors is been off to a great start in accomplishing our 2009 Strategic Objectives (.doc).
Below please find a brief update to things that are occurring around the state:
Chartering Local Groups
Our 2009 Strategic Objectives placed high priority in assembling organized groups of RLC Chapters around the state. By having organized groups that regularly meet, discuss upcoming events and get to know one another, we will become more effective at spreading the message of liberty.
We officially chartered our first two groups: Northeast Florida, Chaired by John Stevens and Central East Florida, chaired by Matthew Nye. Both of these men and their boards are demonstrating great leadership and are now holding regular RLC meetings with upwards of 150 persons in attendance.
Additionally we have groups in Tallahassee, Pensacola, Clay County and St. Johns County actively working to become chartered. We have a student in the University of Florida Law School that is in the process of chartering a UF School of Law RLC group.
If you are interested in starting a county chapter or a student chapter formed and chartered please contact RLCFL Vice-Chair Steven Talcott Smithor Board member Michael Durden.
The Chartering Committee completed a chartering application template for local groups to easily become chartered by the RLC of Florida. Essentially, the group needs paid ten members within a county or student group to petition to become chartered. Also, we have a standing conference call for all leadership around the state who wants to become more active. If you would like to begin building a group, we welcome your participation.
Marketing / Promotions
The Northeast Florida Marketing Committee group created a fantastic standard template website for use by newly chartered groups to promote their regional or county group. You can view the new Northeast Florida RLC website template at www.rlcnef.org. Special Thanks goes Kimberly Wells, the NE Florida Vice Chairman, and Erik Setzer, NE Florida RLC Board member, for their work in developing this new website.
Additionally, we are raising money for printing of new Rack Cards, Brochures, and the new 18 Page Liberty Guide. The Liberty Guide will be a magazine type document that can be given to our state legislators or fellow Republicans in the local Republican Executive Committee’s to provide an understanding of the RLC Positions. We anticipate this entire project costing approximately $5,000 for printing. The design and graphics work of these projects are substantially complete with minor edits needed. If you are able, please make a generous donation to the RLC of Florida to help promote our cause.
Committees
We have numerous committees that are working on membership, chartering, marketing, activism, legislative issues, and numerous other topics. If you would like to join one of these state committees, please let me know. A follow up e-mail is forthcoming to discuss the committees in more detail.
Legislative Initiatives
On the legislative front, there are numerous exciting pro-liberty pieces of legislation pending in the Florida legislature this year that that the Board of Directors will be considering. We will be taking Board action to pass resolutions for and against legislation. If there is a bill that you feel the board should support or oppose, please let us know. We will be assembling a committee to head up our annual Tallahassee trip. If you would like to serve on this committee please let us know. Below are some of the specific pieces of legislation with links that the Board will be considering resolutions in support or opposition:
RLC Members around the state are actively working on a number of local and state campaigns. Additionally, candidates are seeking endorsements from our state board. If you would like to serve on the Candidate Endorsement Committee, please e-mail me.
Conclusion
It is a pleasure to serve as the Chairman of the RLC of Florida. We are never at a loss of events to attend, candidates to support or legislative efforts to rally behind. It is all of you that are the Patriots and the true Public Servants. The true public servants are those Patriots who tirelessly dedicate their time and energy without payment and their treasure without thought of monetary gain; whose efforts are often met with criticism and seldom without thanks; yet they remain undeterred in the glorious Cause of Liberty for themselves, their fellow man and their posterity.
It is these Patriots who have and will preserve our American way of life. We are making a huge difference in the public debate. Thank you the opportunity to serve this group during this exciting times.
Below you will find links and articles relating to the legislation being considered by the RLC of Florida Board of Directors:
Regulation of Firearms: Creates Florida Firearms Freedom Act; provides legislative findings & definitions; provides that specified firearms, firearm accessories, & ammunition for personal use manufactured in state are not subject to federal law or regulation; provides that importation into state of specified parts & incorporation of such parts into firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured in state does not subject firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition to federal regulation; provides that certain basic materials are not subject to federal regulation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition under interstate commerce; provides that specified firearm accessories imported into state from another state do not subject firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce; provides legislative findings with respect thereto; provides exceptions; provides applicability; requires that firearms manufactured & sold in state must bear indicia of manufacture by specified date.
Health Care Services: Proposes creation of S. 28, Art. X of State Constitution to prohibit laws or rules from compelling any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in any health care system; permit person or employer to purchase lawful health care services directly from health care provider; permit health care provider to accept direct payment from person or employer for lawful health care services; exempt persons, employers, & health care providers from penalties & fines for paying or accepting direct payment for lawful health care services; permit purchase or sale of health insurance in private health care systems; & specifies what amendment does not affect or prohibit.
I have been active in Republican Party politics for many years. I had the opportunity of helping to run hotly contested U.S. Senate, House and local races in 2004, 2006 and 2008. I have a deep passion to see the best candidates in office and have worked tirelessly to see that happen. With the recent outcome of numerous elections, from the Presidential race down to local level elections and then the appointments of moderates such as Michael Steele to positions of leadership, I have begun to re-evaluate where I stand within the Republican Party. I think that the Republican Party [leadership] has alienated candidates of true convictions, and enthusiastically pushed for electing and re-electing moderates into office, that do not hold to the same values as the base of the Republican Party.
Seeing this at ground level has left me confused and somewhat reluctant to be a part of the Republican Party as a whole. I believe that they have strayed from their fundamental values, simply to get a Republican — any Republican, regardless of past records or liberal tendencies — elected into office. Further, I think that this way of thinking has cost us election, after election, and will continue to do so until the Republicans see the error of their thinking. We need politicians who stand for principals and standards, and will not bow to political pressure once in office.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned being around politics is to look for politicians, movements, and messages that develop leaders around or in them. Leadership is the ability to articulate a vision and motivate others in pursuit of that vision. I think Republicans lost the presidential race on this specific issue in 2008. Barack Obama articulated a vision, however vague it may have been, then he was able, in a dramatic fashion to get others motivated to get behind it.
Outstanding leaders articulate an ideological vision congruent with the deeply-held values of their followers. Real leaders display a passion for, and have a strong conviction of, what they regard as the moral correctness of their vision. They engage in outstanding or extraordinary behavior and make extraordinary self-sacrifices in the interest of their vision and mission. The Republican Party is not short on these types of leaders; they have pushed them to the fringe of the party, deciding instead to engage and praise the moderates, who often times side with liberals on the issues that are most important to their constituents. All of this has led to many Republicans being disgruntled and more importantly to the disintegration of our liberties at the federal level.
In recent years many we have seen various political and civil leaders begin to clearly state that they want to lead the fight to get our Republic back to the basic principals of smaller government and individual liberty. The treatment, by the Republican Party leadership, of these people, highlights my personal disillusionment with the Party. As a whole the Party has shown itself to be openly hostile to these leaders and their message. Party leaders have mocked and shunned those that pursue these things, even though many of them, such as RLC Advisory Board member Ron Paul, have been bringing hundreds of thousands of young people to the Party, raising millions of dollars, and hold a record more closely aligned with the Party’s stated platform and principles than anyone else in Congress. I believe that blatantly ignoring these people and their message is willful and intolerable ignorance on the part of Republican leadership. It has become clear to me that their actions seldom match their rhetoric. That is a serious problem for me as an individual who is on the front lines fighting for these principals everyday at the local level.
I agree with Benjamin Franklin, who when asked about what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had produced, replied “a Republic, if you can keep it… keeping government honest and hence our freedoms intact requires eternal vigilance”. I believe that as a whole Republicans have lost this vigilance. Franklin knew that a Republic is a difficult form of government to keep because it requires its citizens to be well informed and involved in the political process in order for a republican government to function properly. I feel that many Republicans feel that our leaders at all levels of government have betrayed us. Their response however, is to be exasperated and simply quit trying to bring the Party back to where it should be. This is what drew me to the Republican Liberty Caucus.
Let me state clearly, I consider myself to be socially conservative in my personal beliefs. I’m not about to marry a woman, encourage anyone to have an abortion, picket a military recruiting office or smoke marijuana. But I also do not believe in using the power of government to force my values on other people. In other words, the government was never meant to be the social conscience of the nation. Often Republicans wish to pick and choose what issues they wish government to be involved in. This is a mistake because it gives the government a foothold. It allows them to go the direction we believe is right, or to rule against us and take the nation down a different path. Leaving these freedoms in the hands of the people and the states protects us from giving away our liberties at a national level. (Partial Source: http://www.rlc.org/2009/06/08/social-values-and-the-rlc/.)
James Madison wrote:
”The powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people.”
The Republican Liberty Caucus agrees with James Madison and our other Founders, which government should be limited and adhere to only the functions clearly outlined in the Constitution. America needs to get back to these basic principals. The Republican Liberty Caucus believes that we must stand up for these principles with the same vigor and passion exemplified in our Founding Fathers, and that if we don’t, we will lose these liberties little by little.
I also believe that the Republican Liberty Caucus has a “big tent” mentality with room for anyone who agrees with their core principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty. They promote individual thinking and open discussion. They welcome debate and questions, and defend with pride, what they believe are the core values of their message.
What I have found is that the Republican Liberty Caucus is not just a bunch of Libertarians who have a mission to change the Republican Party to a Libertarian one. Rather they are students of history, understanding that the intention of our Founders was to promote individual liberty, the pursuit of happiness and a healthy Republic. The Republican Liberty Caucus believes that these are Republican Party concepts, and because of that they believe that they should work within it, to remind its leadership of what they should be.
Almost all of the Republican Liberty Caucus members I have met are long-time Republicans who are fundamentally conservative but also believe in the same liberty, that descended from such well respected conservatives as Edmund Burke, Samuel Adams, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and was then reinforced by the great leaders of the Republican party like Teddy Roosevelt, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. (Partial Source: http://www.rlc.org/2009/06/08/social-values-and-the-rlc/.)
Our nation is in crisis, our rights are being threatened. Our government is out of control. Because of that, the Republican Liberty Caucus believes the Nation — through the leadership of the Republican Party — must be returned to the principles on which it was founded. Achieving this should override all smaller issues. This is why I believe that the Republican Liberty Caucus is the perfect place for me and any others that believe they should be part of the fight to get Republicans back to where they should have been all along.
Kristi Dunn is a Republican Liberty Caucus member from Jacksonville, Florida.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
In Sunday’s edition of The DC Writeup — a web news journal for politically motivated young adults, author Kelse Moen, a recent Emory graduate, wrote about the need for the Republican Party to focus on principles and issues. Writes Moen:
GOP Needs to Focus on Principles, Not Twitter by Kelse Moen
It’s tough to say who is the most absurd U.S. Senator, but my vote goes to Republican Chuck Grassley, the senior senator from Iowa. The seventy-five-year-old Grassley, you see, has discovered Twitter, and now lonely College Republicans all across the country can tune in for daily bits of wisdom like this:
“End of life debate is deliberate atempt to focus attention away fr cost of Pelosi bill. Instead shld focus on lowering cost of health delivry.”
Of course, Grassley’s rapier wit is not limited to legislative topics. In another “tweet,” picked up by NPR, he fired a hefty salvo at President Barack Obama. “Pres Obama,” twote Grassley, “you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us ‘time to deliver’ on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND.”
Grassley is no Daniel Webster — but neither are any of the other 99 senators. In 2009, one is more likely to find a spark of intelligence among 100 people randomly grabbed off the street than in the Senate cloakroom. But Grassley’s Twitter page is bad even by senatorial standards. I don’t think it is any exaggeration to call it one of the most pointless, inane things to be created by a senator since Meghan McCain.
Grassley’s Twitter page, like Meghan McCain’s career as a political pundit, is driven by the belief that Republicans have been losing elections lately because they haven’t been able to connect with young people, and that all they need to do to win is become hipper and more technologically savvy. This is the mentality that led the GOP to counter Barack Obama’s presidential victory by finding a black man of their own and putting him in charge of their party. It’s what leads to videos like this and to Meghan McCain’s schoolgirl blather about which Republican congressman is the hottest.
This is a harmful mentality to have. It totally bypasses introspection by assuming that the Republicans’ downfall was started by sins of omission, rather than sins of commission, and thus avoids the important lessons that Republicans should have learned from their defeat. In reality, the GOP hasn’t lost the last two elections because they failed to harness the power of Facebook and Youtube, or because the party hasn’t reached out to the hip hop culture, to paraphrase RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
The GOP needs to look at the principles of the Bush years — big government, perpetual war, big business favoritism — and ask whether those are principles worth defending. I hope that the party big wigs realize that they are not, and will return to the creed of the Taftite Old Right, of limited government, anti-imperialism, and traditional morality — in a word, anti-statism.
The political candidates who have gained positive momentum in recent years — Barack Obama, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin — did so because people saw them, rightly or wrongly, as new and interesting. These candidates weren’t hung up on being cool. In fact, Palin’s populism and Paul’s constitutionalism are, by most contemporary standards, decidedly uncool. But those candidates were genuine, unlike Grassley.
Some might say that the tide is already turning on the Democrats, that recent polls, increasingly favorable to Republicans, show that the whole “death of the Republican Party” line was hugely premature. But even if the Republicans do beat Obama in 2012, so what? Victory would come by default, the result of the president’s failures, not of the Republicans’ popularity. We can have a President Gingrich who bombs and bails just as much as Bush did, while government continues to grow. In that case, who cares whether there’s a Republican or a Democrat in the Oval Office?
Republicans need to realize that their failure was substantive, rather than aesthetic, and that it is their substance, not their aesthetics, that they need to change. But don’t count on them recognizing that. As Chuck Grassley might say, “OMG were so screwd.”
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
In the past several days, Congressman Ron Paul has been featured on two television debates (on Larry King Live) with proponents of the Democrat health care plans pending in Congress.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
Not surprisingly, Obama, the Democrats in Congress, and the complacent Republicans in Congress recently voted to extend and appropriate additional funds to Cash for Clunkers. The program is just another endless example of a temporary, short-term government solution to a problem that could be solved by the free market.
The late economist Milton Friedman, whose wife Rose sadly passed away earlier this week, used to say that “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” Generally this is true, but — despite the fact that Congress authorized an additional $2 billion in emergency funding for the bill two weeks ago — there are reports that the Cash for Clunkers program may already be out of cash yet again.
No problem, since the government has an unlimited source of revenue: namely, We the People. Another Friedman quote may be better fitting for this particular case: “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.”
Okay, so the Cash for Clunkers program is immensely popular — so why the criticism?
The program, administered by the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (you trust them, don’t you?), was created to help boost the auto industry while helping the environment.
Sounds good, right? Consumers who own a car with low fuel efficiency can receive $3,500 to $4,500 from the federal government if they buy a new car with higher fuel efficiency.
Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron explains several problems with the program, namely: 1) the program pays people to junk cars that still have economic value; 2) the program will cause an increase in driving; 3) Official government policy favors one industry (automobiles, in this case) at the expense of other industries. Miron concludes that Congress “should end the program, not expand it”.
Of course, the government solution does not come without inefficiencies. This article points out that many car dealerships are considering pulling out of the program because they are not receiving payments from the government. Many of the dealerships understandably need that money to pay their bills and meet their payroll. Surprise, surprise — the government is not responding to local car dealerships who are participating in its own program.
Finally, there is today’s headline in The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “Charities worry that car donations will go clunk” — which is very concerning. Talk about a good way to stifle the market — let’s just put charities out of business altogether and have the government save us all.
The article highlights how very worthwhile endeavors such as Kidney Cars Program and the Rawhide Boys Ranch are now competing with the government. These private charities — along with scores of others — both use donated vehicles to raise funds for their programs.
This underscores Professor Miron’s point about the negative impact of the government coming to the rescue of one industry and impacting it to the detriment of other industries.
A program like Cash for Clunkers is simply not an appropriate role for a constitutionally limited government to administer in a free society.
Cash for Clunkers is a temporary solution that will soon go broke.
We’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes for the politicians to — once again — rescue the overzealous program with the hard-earned dollars of cash-strapped American taxpayers.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
In a recent column, well-respected conservative pundit George Will wrote in his syndicated Washington Postcolumn about the absurdity of laws against online casinos, and why the online casino and poker industries should be legal in the U.S. According to Casino News Authority, an online casino news agency, “It’s a huge step for a prominent Republican columnist to come out in support of the online casino industry.”
“Having turned gambling, which once was treated as a sin, into a social policy, government looks unusually silly criminalizing online forms of it,” says Will. He notes that “gambling is productive of pleasure for tens of millions of Americans for whom it is a frequent pastime,” and he doesn’t understand why “government should try to tightly circumscribe a ubiquitous human activity that generally harms nobody.”
In 2006, Congress effectively outlawed internet gambling by making it illegal for banks or credit-card companies to process payments to online gambling operations.
Opines the Casino News Authority website, “it’s good to see a Republican that understands the gambling industry, and more importantly, understands the freedom that Americans should always have.”
Of course, I agree with George Will — “Congress … SHOULD fold its interference with Internet gambling and certainly should get its 10 thumbs off Americans’ freedom to exercise their poker skills online.” Exclamation point.
At least some Republicans understand the distinction between personal moral values and government-forced ‘moral values’.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
Some photos from Republican Liberty Caucus members and activists from the month of August (2009):
RLC members in northern Virginia had a meeting on August 20. It featured two former RLC-endorsed Congressional candidates (Amit Singh and Vern McKinley) and a 2009 RLC-endorsed candidate for Delegate, Eric Brescia. The Virginia RLC was re-chartered at the Republican Party of Virginia Convention in May.
Kentucky RLC Coordinator Michael Moreland (right) chats with the son of RLC Advisory Board member Ron Paul, Dr. Rand Paul at the Jim and Mary Bunning Family Picnic hosted by the Campbell County GOP. Dr. Rand Paul is running for the open Kentucky U.S. Senate seat.
RLC members from the DC and Virginia affiliates gathered in a studio in DC on August 9 to film an introduction to the Republican Liberty Caucus that will soon appear at RLC.org. From left is Aaron Biterman, Mitchell Bemos, Matthew Gagnon, and Nena Bartlett.
On Saturday, August 15, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Nebraska held its first-ever summer meeting.
Nebraska RLC Vice Chair, Jon Tucker, of Omaha, discussed the many faces of the liberty movement and helped RLC members discover where we fit in. The answers were not entirely clear, although it was clear by the end of the discussion that Nebraska RLC’ers are committed to continuing their efforts to promote their foundational principles of liberty within the Republican Party. Mr. Tucker is also in the process of forming a regional Republican Liberty Caucus representing the Omaha area.
Former Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mark Quandahl (left) and Nebraska’s Republican National Committeeman, Pete Ricketts (right), fielded questions from the audience during a panel discussion. Both men welcomed the involvement of Nebraska RLC members.
Quandahl expressed appreciation for the enthusiasm of the RLC’ers at Nebraska’s 2008 GOP Convention and Ricketts encouraged members to stay involved.
Nebraska RLC Secretary, Amy Haberman of Papillion, provided delegates with an overview of the Nebraska Republican Party and its structure. Amy’s presentation emphasized the importance of getting involved locally.
According to Nebraska RLC Vice Chair Jon Tucker, “All we need to do now is increase our numbers to increase our impact of the party. I can’t wait to do this again next year, but I will not wait until then to find other opportunities for us to get together to grow and educate each other and those around us about the principles of the Nebraska Republican Liberty Caucus.”
By all accounts, the meeting was a success. Members learned the GOP state structure, how to create a PAC, how to encourage others to join our efforts, who others in the liberty movement are, history of the liberty movement, and an introduction of how technology can impact the political process.
A very special thank you to Laura Ebke, Nebraska RLC Chair, who organized the meeting.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
As many of you will have heard by now, the Democrats have struck back against Town Hall protesters and grassroots activists who just want to be heard and ask their representatives reasonable questions. They are sending out thugs from the notorious SEIU to make sure that only their picked shills get into the Town Hall events and to intimidate protesters. The union thugs have already injured several activists, destroyed video equipment and in a bit of good news three of them were arrested for attacking a protester in St. Louis on Thursday. Their goal is to silence you and make sure that only one viewpoint on health care gets discussed.
There are several health care Town Halls coming up this weekend, but the big ones are going to be the two appearances by Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, one in Chaseburg on Saturday morning and the other in La Crosse in the afternoon. Feingold has a high profile and is a major tax and spender and a big supporter of socialized medicine. He’s controversial enough to attract a big crowd and we expect a lot of RLC members and members of other liberty-oriented groups to show up at his events. I fully expect the SEIU to send thugs to every future Town Hall, but their presence will be especially strong at the Feingold events because of his high profile and the strong union presence in Wisconsin.
Hundreds of grassroots activists and hundreds of union thugs bent on keeping them from exercising their constitutional right to seek redress of their grievances is going to be a volatile situation. Whether you’re going to confront Senator Feingold on Saturday or attend one of the other Town Hall around the country over the next month, you need to be prepared.
The SEIU thugs will be there looking to rough people up and throw their weight around. Many of them will be wearing their purple logo t-shirts, but some are likely to be posing as ordinary citizens. Their goals will be to deny you access and provoke incidents which their bosses can play up in the media to make us look like a violent mob.
Your goal should be to get into the Town Hall event, ask questions and ask the speaker the hard questions which we already know they aren’t prepared to answer. You want to get this on video and you don’t want to get kicked out or shouted down.
If you want to get into the hall and play a role you don’t want to be wearing buttons or carrying a poster. In particular, don’t bring anything associating Obama or the Democrats with Nazis or Nazi symbols. Nancy Pelosi and the left media like to seize on those images and then make the ridiculous claim that you’re a Nazi. Bring compact digital video equipment you can fit in your pocket and can afford to lose or have broken, and keep it in your pocket until you need it. If you come in a group make sure several of you have video capability while others are prepped to ask questions. Be prepared to lie to the SEIU gatekeepers. Wear an Obama button. If they ask, tell them you’re a Democrat or a teacher at a local school and a union member. Go to your county Democratic Party website and look up the names of minor party officials like the Precinct Captain for your area. Drop that name and tell them he invited you.
One of the latest reports is that Democrat Party operatives are going through the crowds questioning people about their political views and why they are there. They are looking for ways to spot the “troublemakers” who they need to keep out of the event. A good response for them is “I’m just here to find out more about health care reform” or tell them that you want to know more about how the public option will help you get cheaper insurance. You don’t want to appear too knowledgeable. You want to make them think you are hopeful but confused and looking for information.
If you manage to get inside don’t start chanting or causing a disruption until it becomes clear that you and others who came with you aren’t going to get to speak or get anything useful on video. If they decide to eject you from the hall, turn on the drama and get it on video. Remember the “don’t tase me bro” guy. Speak out. Ask them why you’re being kicked out. Tell them you just want to be ask a question about health care. A specific complaint caught on video is much more effective than a protest chant. If you don’t get in at all or end up ejected, that’s the time to start chanting and raising a ruckus.
If you don’t get into the meeting or end up confronting the SEIU thugs at the door or outside of the hall, talk to them and get it on video. Ask them why they’re there and who they work for. Even ask them the questions you wanted to ask inside. Ask them if they’ve read the Constitution. Keep them off balance. Don’t let them provoke you and if they start calling you names or shoving you don’t respond with violence. Stay with your friends, stand up to them but don’t lash out. I’ve heard some activists boasting that they know martial arts or are going to be armed. That’s a terrible idea. Whoever has the superiority of numbers or force will look like the bully and if that’s us then they can use it to make us look bad. If there’s a riot it won’t matter who started it, the media will blame it on us.
Whatever happens, catch it on video. Right now they think they can get away with anything because the mainstream media isn’t reporting our side of the story. They’re telling the story the way the left wants it to be told. But if there’s enough video people will find it and no one will be able to suppress the truth. Be informed. Be outspoken. Get it on video.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
