Welcome to the First Coast Tea Party
TEA TIME IN DC: TALLY UP NEXT
I was invited to speak at the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives Monday night. It was a memory I will forever cherish and am thankful for the opportunity.
Michelle Bachmann reached out and asked three tea party leaders to speak on behalf of the Tea Party Movement. Her goal was to get our input on the Debt Ceiling. (Answer: Do not raise the Debt Ceiling.) The room was filled with new and more seasoned representatives who felt they identified as a tea party member.
I’m sorry to say but my Representative, Ander Crenshaw, did not show up nor did anyone from the Northeast Florida area, including Rep. John Mica who I had breakfast with the next morning for a discussion on High Speed Rail.
Our new and outspoken Rep. Allen West was there and we had a meeting with him earlier in the day in his office. Let me say this about Rep. West – “Thank God he is there! What a man of character and courage and he is certainly a leader!” (We’re talking to him about showing up for a gig in North Florida in the near future so stay tuned on that one!)
The two days in DC were exhausting and enlightening. My encounters went like this:
- Rep. Allen West – A gift from God sent to the front line in DC! He said: “Keep the Tea Party awake. This place is crazy. We must control the House in 2012 and take back the Senate too. If we don’t have a good candidate to run against Obama, then we can control thorough the power of Congress.”
- Senator Marco Rubio – Met with him for a few minutes as he was rushing out the door. He was smiling and confident. He said: “This place is more screwed up than I could have imagined. Keep up the good work with the Tea Party, we need you guys.”
- Rep. Michelle Bachmann – As she led her peers in the House Tea Party Caucus event, all she could focus on was this question: “What do the Tea Party members think about the debt ceiling?” That was the question of the night and although those in the room wanted to speak, she kept drawing the conversation back to us – the tea party members – for our input. She told the audience: “We are here to listen to them. That’s why they are here.”
- Rep. John Mica – Enjoy meeting Rep. Mica for breakfast and discussion that followed. He is very smart about transportation issues in America and how money is generated for that purpose. He said: “18.4 cents per gallon of gas sold generates about $30 billion per year in the Highway and Transportation Trust Fund. 80% is used for highways and 20% for transit. If Florida doesn’t take the money for High Speed Rail (which he said is not really high speed and the messaging is wrong(?) – Obama’s administration will take that money and use it somewhere else in a liberal state to help his campaign.” About this time, my head spins backwards and I lose my breakfast! “Playing with our money for political gain” ran through my head. First things first – we could use that money to pay down the debt but no way will that happen. Rep. Mica had more to say and has his own perspective after many years in the House. We will work with his new Chief of Staff, Wiley Deck, to get him here for a face to face discussion on transportation dollars and the “not really high speed rail issue.” We have a lot of questions and the communication coming from Rep. Mica’s office needs to be improved and he agreed it did. Let’s make sure we keep on him about that communication flow and his attendance at a meeting with us in North Florida and all tea party leaders across the state. (More to come on this one – soon!)
My overall observation was this:
- We have some good leaders and we need A LOT MORE of them in Congress. 2012 is our time to focus on this critical issue. The left is already funding campaigns for progressives and they once again are ahead of us in that deal. They are also training Summer Interns on College campuses to work towards the 2012 election! What are we doing? Where is our funding coming from? How will we keep our members engaged without deep pocket funding that the left has? How can we educate those who are paid to canvas neighborhoods and sign up people for the progressive movement?
- The Tea Party leaders in this country must start to talk to each other in a more robust fashion while focusing on 2012 results. We have leaders of individual groups doing a great job across this country and they are doing fantastic work to keep the movement alive and awake. Our focus should now be on leading our local members to find qualified conservative candidates in our own districts. Encourage them to run for the House or the Senate and back them with your time, talents and resources. Start a team in your local tea party group that will focus on this one thing and one thing only. We need leadership at the local level and leaders working together in every state to keep their state awake to conservative values. Florida is a targeted state by the left so we have work to do. We presently have a great group of people leading tea parties in Florida and we talk every day about issues. This group needs to grow and each tea party group needs to grow. Let’s get it done and start our focus on 2012 now! Remember, “Without a leader, the people perish.” Let’s go find our leaders – forge ahead!
- Communication is lacking between those in DC and We the People. I had the pleasure of sitting with all these people in DC and listened to their concerns. Not all of us can do that. I encouraged them to find better ways to get their message out and to open communicate with their local constituents. Communication is key to good leadership and they need to focus on that – BIG TIME. Here was one of my coaching moments with a few of our leaders in DC: “Without communication, people make up stuff and fill the void. If you do not get your message out to us, we will make it for you and that’s not pretty. Keep us informed. Get back into your districts. Tell us all the news – the good, the bad and the ugly. We can take it. We are smart people and we know more than you on some of these issues because we have more time to research than you do.” Let’s hope they listened and if they didn’t – let’s find some who will!
The two days were worth the time and the efforts walking those long hallways in high heels for the sake of Liberty! Now we must get to work and it must start today. November 2012 is only 19 months away and it is time to find our new leaders to run against the RINOs and root out the Progressives. Anyone up for the job?
BY THE WAY – We are now heading to Tally next week to meet with our leaders. March 8 is our day in Tally and we hope you will make plans to attend. If you are coming from Jacksonville, we have a free bus awaiting you for the trip up and back on the same day – March 8. On the schedule will be meetings with our legislators, a rally at noon on the steps of the Capitol with some great speakers, and a press conference at 4:00 announcing the new Tea Party Caucus in Tallahassee led by Rep. Mike Weinstein from Jacksonville. We will be a part of setting up this Tea Party Caucus and developing the agendas as they move forward with this new initiative. Contact our office at (904) 683-3945 to reserve a seat on the bus.
And another note: Today, March 2, at 4:30 we will announce the First Coast Tea Party endorsements of local candidates for city council and the mayor’s race. We ask for your prayers and support as we make these announcements.
Continue to stay focused, stay awake and stay the course. Tell your friends to join our movement and get involved in securing freedom and liberty for all. Our country needs you.
P.S. – Find attached a poster we handed out at the Caucus. Print one for yourself and post it on your wall. These people showed up way before any others across this globe showed up in their city squares. The media never spoke about that day and the numbers that came to DC. And guess what happened on that day – no one got hurt, the place was clean as a whistle when we left and no media personnel were attacked. America was the first to stand for freedom and why didn’t the media report about that? Look for the First Coast Tea Party in the crowd. We were there and we plan to be a part of the next March on DC in November 2012 when we take back Congress and hopefully the White House!
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Comment by John Harvel on March 5, 2011 at 12:33pm
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In case you don't know, President Eisenhower by Executive Order mandated that all of the various units of government keep a (2nd) set of books now known as the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report = CAFR. That is where the true wealth is hidden. 85,000 government entities (local, city, county, state and federal) that had a combined total off budget assets of $100 trillion as of 2010 and still thinks it needs to tax us on all but the air we breath. These assets are being held in spite of the fact that returning this wealth back to taxpayers would generate more revenue than the 8% average they earn in the markets, not to mention the usual manipulation and corruption created by the unelected bureaucrats in charge of these funds. The most important fact the people need to know is that in collective totals government (thousands of individual government entities) owns by stock ownership; bond participation; and equity participation most of the large public traded companies such as technology; pharmaceuticals; energy; banks; insurance; and war industry groups through collective ownership (in many a cases as much as 71% to 83% ownership). All anyone ever talks about is the budget while trillions of dollars get sucked off into private accounts.
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Comment by tamara stephenson on March 5, 2011 at 10:53am
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William, I completely agree. Every pie graph of the budget has Medicare/Medicaid and Defense as the two biggest. I think if you talk all of income taxes paid per year, it almost pay for Medicare/Medicaid. It seems that with social security, it could easily be tweaked to cover itself, but Medicare is just a losing proposition. Why won't anyone talk about this? Sure, let's cut science research, Planned Parenthood, and a number of other joke-inducing programs, but God forbid anyone talk about the GIANT elephant in the room. It's sickening. But I better not get sick because I'm not old enough to be on medicare!
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Comment by William Korach on March 4, 2011 at 8:13pm
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Cutting entitlements has always been know and the 3rd rail in politics. But now is the time for leadership. If our elected leaders show some steel, articulate the moral reason why it is wrong to bankrupt the future-even the very near future. The public will come around. The left has already started there demagoguery. "Republicans are forcing granny to eat cat food while they give tax break to the rich." You know the drill.
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Billie:
I can't tell you how proud I am that you are representing Jacksonville in the fight for the heart and soul of this country.
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Ditto what I said yesterday.
Nobody I know stays on top of a situation like my buddy J. R.
Tom Wright
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Comment by J.R. on March 3, 2011 at 8:36am
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Liberal agitator, John Stephenson, is nothing if not a hypocrite himself. He can't even spell the word hypocrite correctly, yet he assumes for himself a superior authority to determine the "hypocrite-factor" for the entire FCTP organization and its mission. Where is it written that a growing and evolving organization can't change its own mission statement to correspond with or influence the direction of change it must take to best deal with ever-changing circumstances in this country and its government---local, state, and national? FCTP has a very simple mission statement and its patriotic members support and follow the basic principles included in it. So, why is a liberal online troll spending so much effort to needle and insultingly challenge positive and informational contributions by Tea Party patriots to this successful website? I believe Mr. Stephenson understands full well what FCTP's mission is and that his negativity, in and of itself, is is intended to be detrimental to FCTP's mission. There is a difference between simple disagreements and deliberate undermining. A large part of FCTP's mission includes problem-solving to correct for negative changes that happen evermore rapidly in our society and government. If Mr. Stephenson cannot be a part of that problem-solving, then he is a part of the problem... a part that would not be missed were it absent. Billie consistently gives us inspiration and good leadership and sets a positive tone for the operation of this organization and its membership that grows daily. We all welcome legitimate criticism, but there is an appropriate manner for raising it without using it to publicly undermine the Tea Party itself. Engaging in proper discourse isn't rocket science and, thankfully, most people know how to engage in it in an appropriate manner.
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Comment by FCTP on March 3, 2011 at 6:01am
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John: Where in our mission statement does it say we do not endorse? We endorsed in November. We will endorse again so if you are not happy about that, leave. We have too much at stake to just sit around and talk about the issues. WE must act now and hopefully endorsements will make that happen. Can I ask you to find at least one thing we do right? Your postings are so negative. Try as hard as you can to find something positive to say and make our day. Okay?
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Comment by Lyndee on March 3, 2011 at 1:53am
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Billie:
Thank you so much for going and representing us! I second the motion that you run for the House or Senate. You would be a great representative for us. Go and lock arms in solidarity with Allen West and the others knowing we are with you every step of they way!
Ah, "The Poster". I was in it. I went early to participate in the Doctors TP Rally against the OCare Bill, protested on the steps of the IRS the next day, followed by Storming the Halls of Congress. Then I marched in the TP Rally the following day walking alongside our "boat" and linked up with some of the ladies from FCTP among other groups. At the end of the day hiking back to hotel, I had the unique pleasure of joining a group of 70 somethings in flipping the O'chopper flying directly overhead "double - birdies" (wink) as it was decending for a landing at the White House. Those old folks rock! :) My whole hotel was filled with Tea Partiers from all over the country. We met downstairs at the bar every night and talked about our day. It was one of the most fun trips I've ever had. I hope everyone gets to go next time!
As for Mica: I got in on one (count it) of his TeleTownHall meetings (they call you - hmmm). Last call I ever got. Asked if he supported term limits: NO. Well that told me everything I needed to know. He does, however reply to my letters - personally some times. You can tell he wrote it - it's not the usual canned stuff I get from all of them. I will write him about riding us on a Rail...I just think of Amtrack and it's great (choking here)"success"... Yeah like we need something to get us faster to all those jobs that keep disappearing.. Fact is we are moving more into working at home from our computers so any speed rail will fail. If folks in Orlando commute and that's a problem they should move to the city they work in (I did). That is their problem, not the state's problem.
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Billie, Great report from the front lines. Thanks for your efforts to represent us Tea Partier's. For my two cents, Mica must go. His wrong-headed thinking on HSR sounds like he is holding his hand out for a little graft to continue promoting it. Follow the money and I'll bet you will find greenbacks all the way to his back pocket. The politicians do not act for what's right anymore, they act in their best interest. Hope we can find someone to take on Mica when he next stands for re-election.
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No matter how Mica "sugar coats" it, Billie, the hi-speed train is wrong for Florida.
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