Posts
Samuel Adams
Facts are Stubborn Things
You know a notion is sound when it rings true in current times as much as when originally articulated.
Excellent examples abound:
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” - Margaret Thatcher
“The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.” - Ronald Reagan
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” - Benjamin Franklin
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.“ - Thomas Jefferson
That being said, the piece below, rings very true although it was written in 2002. I have left the original formatting to keep the “flavor” of the piece. (Note: I don’t personally support The Fair Tax, but these are excellent)
RECENT “MARCHES ON WASHINGTON.”
by Dick Bachert, long-time grassroots activist
These “Show Biz on the Mall” events are generally a HUGE WASTE OF TIME AND RESOURCES. The only folks who benefit from them are the airlines, restaurants and motel owners.I think folks could save some dough and time by doing more LOCALLY. When you go to DC, you’re on THEIR turf and in THEIR comfort zone and THEY find it far to easy to smile and nod while thinking “Why don’t you BOZOS go to hell.”
Galvanize the CONSTITUTIONAL/CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISTS in their states to GET BUSY organizing their like-minded fellows and SQUEEZE these guys so hard they CHANGE THEIR POSITIONS OR GET INVOLUNTARILY RETIRED (TO CUSHY JOBS WITH THE VERY LOBBYING FIRMS THEY HAVE SO ABLY REPRESENTED WHILE ON THE PUBLIC PAYROLL). Ever notice how so few of these guys ever return to their HOME STATES once out of office? Ever wonder why? Can you say “7 figure sinecure?”
Look, this is a LONG-TERM proposition — and, in terms of cleaning up the national legislature, many of us are late to the party, many of us having come ONLY for the Fair Tax. And while that IS as good a reason as any, ridding this nation of the CRAPPY, ABUSIVE MARXIST INCOME is simply TREATING A SYMPTOM OF THE DISEASE. We ALL need to get busy in our HOME STATES and CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS, exerting every effort to let all who will hear and are intelligent enough to understand the words of one Joseph D’Maestre that “People get the government they deserve.” We should thank God daily that we’re not getting all we’re paying for –YET!
A number of years ago, a 15 year-old newspaper delivery boy in the midwest delivered 12,000 legislative report cards to his congressional district informing the constituents of a really lousy congress critter exactly how the guy was voting in Washington (which was — surprise, surprise — completely OPPOSITE the votes this guy and his handmaidens in the media were reporting)..This kid delivered 12,000 of these things for 4 quarters (one year) — ON A BIKE!!!!!! The heat on the congress critter was so intense that a decent challanger arose and TOOK HIM OUT THE NEXT ELECTION!!!!!
And I have a PERSONAL story in that arena:
Around 6 am on dark morning in the early 80s, 4 of us piled into a car in Atlanta with a few hundred TRIM bulletins and other fact-packed flyers detailing how then Georgia Representative Ed Jenkins and Senator Sam Nunn were voting on issues important to all citizens. Our destination was Hartwell, Georgia and an “Eggs and Issues Breakfast” hosted by a large Hartwell church.
We arrived at the church about an hour early and deployed. As folks arrived for the buffet line, each was handed some of this highly informative literature. As they waited in line, they read and chatted as new information came to their attention. Just before the invited dignitaries were to make their 20 minute speeches (aka, pitches for re-election), we made certain a supply of these flyers made it to the head table. Ed and Sam ate precious little of the fine southern breakfast cuisine before them as they periodically glanced menacingly at the table we occupied. In unison, the 4 of us smiled sweetly and waved.
When Ed and Sam each rose to speak, each devoted 16 or 17 minutes of the allotted 20 minutes TRYING TO DEFEND their DOCUMENTED VOTING RECORDS to an increasingly hostile gathering as we returned Ed and Sam’s constant withering glares with more sweet smiles and waves. It was truly one of the highlights of my early years as a political bomb-thrower. YOU should try it!
After a bit more bomb-throwing in other parts of his district, Ed Jenkins was defeated in the next election. Because he ran state-wide and we lacked the resources and manpower to cover the entire state (and he did begin to clean up his act) Sam hung on for another term or two. (And those 2 year House terms — where the power to tax and spend repose — is where the effort must be concentrated.
Friends, THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES: DOGGED PERSISTENT EFFORT OVER TIME. It’s the only acceptable way a system such as ours can be made to operate in any meaningful way.
MAYBE IT’S TIME WE “OUTED” EVERY — AND I DO MEAN EVERY — MEMBER OF CONGRESS WITH A “FAIR TAX REPORT” AND LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY. DOCUMENT EVERY TAX AND SPEND VOTE LINKED TO EVERY ATTEMPT BY FRIEND AND FOE ALIKE TO REWARD FRIENDS AND PUNISH ENEMIES WITH THE CURRENT TAX CODE. IT MIGHT DISCLOSE THOSE OSTENSIBLE “FRIENDS OF THE FAIR TAX” WHO, WHILE CLOAKING THEMSELVES IN THE FAIR TAX RHETORIC, DO, IN FACT, CLING TO THE OLD SYSTEM AS THEY RECOGNIZE IT REALLY IS THE BASIS OF MOST OF THEIR POWER OVER THE REST OF US. AND, IF THAT IS THE CASE, THESE ARE THE GUYS WHO WILL EITHER FOLD LIKE A CHEAP SUITCASE WHEN THE FAT HITS THE FIRE OR EVEN WORK AGAINST US BEHIND THE SCENES. THAT’S A PROVEN TECHNIQUE IN OLD MALFUNCTION JUNCTION.
Perhaps these guys will start to pay attention to our DEMAND if we can demonstrate that ignoring us has SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES.
