Chris Adamo
Wyoming tax day "Tea Party" speech
Reclaiming our America
By Chris Adamo
This week's column is a major departure from the style and format of previous columns. It is a transcript of my speech to the "Tax Day Tea Party" gathering held on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Cheyenne Wyoming.
Today in Cheyenne, and all across our great nation, real American patriots from the grassroots have gathered together to express their outrage over the abuses being committed by the federal government and within our public institutions. The great freedoms and blessings we Americans have enjoyed are no longer assured as an inheritance to our posterity. People from "Mainstreet" who once felt confident in the future of the country are sharing their grave concerns over its very survival.
Instinctively, we all understand the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility among elected officials, as they increasingly ignore any constitutional limits on their actions. This, combined with the cultural and social collapse that has been unfolding for the past several decades, signify a course on which America simply cannot continue. In countless areas of our national life, the "unthinkable" is relentlessly visited upon us, as a new "morality" is put into place by a counterculture that is intent on dismantling the cornerstones of our heritage, all too often abetted and funded by the extra-constitutional actions of politicians. If left unchecked, they promise to erase every precept of the traditional morality and goodness that stood as guardians of our nation's former greatness.
As one ominous result, the concept of a citizen being the beneficiary of his or her own work is being systematically eradicated. In its place, we are forced to accept the notion that some "greater good," according to those who want to define "good" in "politically correct terms," requires theft from one citizen, in order to buy the loyalty of another. Government was supposed to protect the private property of the citizen. Yet increasingly we are affronted with atrocities such as the "Kelo" decision, in which the United States Supreme Court affirmed the "right" of a municipality to maximize its tax intake by selectively confiscating private property and reselling it to the highest bidder.
Can you grasp that? The public entity that was initially established to uphold the rights of the citizen now becomes the biggest threat he faces. Law, which in a free society is intended to provide a safe framework within which the people can live and grow, now has degenerated into a weapon by which an unscrupulous "ruling class" bludgeons the commoner into compliance. Therein lies the road to servitude.
Every day now, new and alarming episodes unfold. Last fall, the government hurriedly decided to spend eight hundred billion dollars in a so-called "emergency bailout" of the banks. Try to get your mind around that number. That's eight hundred thousand million dollars. Of that money, three hundred and fifty billion is currently unaccounted for. Yet just let any one of you short the IRS by $3.50 on your 1040 and see how quickly the government comes after you, demanding answers and charging penalties for every day it takes you to make good on the amount.
Of course, "We the People" are simply expected to accept this situation. We're supposed to accept the word of people such as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, with their known track records of corruption, who caused the financial catastrophe in the first place. They tell us that the "bailout" money was responsibly spent, and that they have nothing but the best of intentions. We're supposed to just ignore their treachery and believe their stories.
Meanwhile, the same government that cannot account for those billions has been busily adding to the debt with yet another trillion dollars or so in a bogus "stimulus" package that does nothing to stimulate our tanking economy, but funnels vast sums of money to the left's favorite causes. Sure members of Congress were outraged and indignant over the $165 million in bonuses for AIG executives. And the most sanctimonious among them clawed past eachother to get in front of the cameras and tell us that they would be doing everything possible, whether constitutionally authorized or not, to get that money back to us.
Meanwhile, Obama's "stimulus" bill channeled twenty four times that amount to his minions at "ACORN," the nationwide cabal of leftist "community organizers" who have been defrauding the electoral system with their dishonest and illegal activity, for the purpose of electing aspiring liberals and socialists to public office. And that is only the "tip of the iceberg" of misspent monies, ultimately coming from your pocket and your paycheck, by which this government intends to empower its favorite causes, none of which have anything to do with improving your lives or reinforcing your freedoms but everything to do with advancing the armies of liberalism.
The same could be said of the menacing government takeover of General Motors. Think about the implications of a CEO of a private company being summarily fired by Barack Obama. People, this shouldn't be happening in America. Government control of "private" industry has been tried before, and consistently, it has failed miserably.
Do we dare to imagine what kind of vehicle would result from the dysfunctional mindset that prevails inside the Beltway? Are you excited at the prospect of a car whose producers possess all of the concern for their "customers" that you might encounter at an IRS audit? Do you want to enjoy a vehicle with a fuel "efficiency" reflective of the welfare department, where a mere 22% of the funds spent ever get to the recipient? Are you waiting in breathless anticipation for the new federal issue Corvette, with a quarter mile performance dictated by someone like Nancy Pelosi, and not out of concern for that the driver may want, but in deference to the environmental zealotry of the Sierra Club? Would you feel at all safe with door-locks and anti-theft devices that function with all the effectiveness of America's border security?
Yet these are the arrogant bureaucrats who dare to tell an American auto manufacturer, and eventually by default every business owner in the country, how to conduct themselves in the modern marketplace. These are the class of Washington insiders who intend to control and direct the economy of what has been the most prosperous nation on earth, though they cannot properly conduct their Constitutionally stated business without hemorrhaging the nation's wealth in pursuit of their self-serving extra-constitutional endeavors.
It's time "We the people" tell them "No More!" It's time we begin calling them to an accountability that is commensurate with their positions of power, and hold those who abuse that power responsible.
I know all of you, like myself, have wanted to vent on these infuriating issues for some time. I hope you've been able to do so. And I hope you are enjoying this event as an unprecedented opportunity to do so. But my gravest concern is that, having spoken your minds, you might leave here feeling you've accomplished what needed to be done. If that is the result, we will be doing worse than merely failing to address the problem. We will be the problem. People, this gathering is not the culmination of our anger and frustration over the current actions of our nation and its government. It is merely a starting point. It is a "call to action" for those who do not intend to sit idly by while their nation is torn from them.
I urge each and every one of you to get involved and remain involved, at the local, state, and federal levels. If ACORN can fundamentally fracture and remake our nation by way of its tactics of local agitation, intimidation, and voter fraud, imagine what we can do to restore our great country by loudly and unabashedly proclaiming the truth to our fellow citizens, to our children, and most urgently, to those in office who need to know that we are out here and we intend to hold them accountable.
No doubt the opposition will try, as it has so successfully done in the past, to marginalize and humiliate us into submission or at least, into silence. Sadly, in our attempts to be reasonable we conceded too much philosophical ground to them over the years. We can see what that ever got for us. It's up to us whether or not we allow them to succeed this time. Today we say "enough!" Today we determine to stand against any further erosion of our great nation with every ounce of our beings. Today we begin to retake America for those who live here, and who are yet to be born, that they may have a great land in which to live life, enjoy liberty, and pursue happiness.
I thank you. And may God truly bless each and every one of you as you undertake this effort.
© Chris Adamo
April 16, 2009
This week's column is a major departure from the style and format of previous columns. It is a transcript of my speech to the "Tax Day Tea Party" gathering held on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Cheyenne Wyoming.
Today in Cheyenne, and all across our great nation, real American patriots from the grassroots have gathered together to express their outrage over the abuses being committed by the federal government and within our public institutions. The great freedoms and blessings we Americans have enjoyed are no longer assured as an inheritance to our posterity. People from "Mainstreet" who once felt confident in the future of the country are sharing their grave concerns over its very survival.
Instinctively, we all understand the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility among elected officials, as they increasingly ignore any constitutional limits on their actions. This, combined with the cultural and social collapse that has been unfolding for the past several decades, signify a course on which America simply cannot continue. In countless areas of our national life, the "unthinkable" is relentlessly visited upon us, as a new "morality" is put into place by a counterculture that is intent on dismantling the cornerstones of our heritage, all too often abetted and funded by the extra-constitutional actions of politicians. If left unchecked, they promise to erase every precept of the traditional morality and goodness that stood as guardians of our nation's former greatness.
As one ominous result, the concept of a citizen being the beneficiary of his or her own work is being systematically eradicated. In its place, we are forced to accept the notion that some "greater good," according to those who want to define "good" in "politically correct terms," requires theft from one citizen, in order to buy the loyalty of another. Government was supposed to protect the private property of the citizen. Yet increasingly we are affronted with atrocities such as the "Kelo" decision, in which the United States Supreme Court affirmed the "right" of a municipality to maximize its tax intake by selectively confiscating private property and reselling it to the highest bidder.
Can you grasp that? The public entity that was initially established to uphold the rights of the citizen now becomes the biggest threat he faces. Law, which in a free society is intended to provide a safe framework within which the people can live and grow, now has degenerated into a weapon by which an unscrupulous "ruling class" bludgeons the commoner into compliance. Therein lies the road to servitude.
Every day now, new and alarming episodes unfold. Last fall, the government hurriedly decided to spend eight hundred billion dollars in a so-called "emergency bailout" of the banks. Try to get your mind around that number. That's eight hundred thousand million dollars. Of that money, three hundred and fifty billion is currently unaccounted for. Yet just let any one of you short the IRS by $3.50 on your 1040 and see how quickly the government comes after you, demanding answers and charging penalties for every day it takes you to make good on the amount.
Of course, "We the People" are simply expected to accept this situation. We're supposed to accept the word of people such as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, with their known track records of corruption, who caused the financial catastrophe in the first place. They tell us that the "bailout" money was responsibly spent, and that they have nothing but the best of intentions. We're supposed to just ignore their treachery and believe their stories.
Meanwhile, the same government that cannot account for those billions has been busily adding to the debt with yet another trillion dollars or so in a bogus "stimulus" package that does nothing to stimulate our tanking economy, but funnels vast sums of money to the left's favorite causes. Sure members of Congress were outraged and indignant over the $165 million in bonuses for AIG executives. And the most sanctimonious among them clawed past eachother to get in front of the cameras and tell us that they would be doing everything possible, whether constitutionally authorized or not, to get that money back to us.
Meanwhile, Obama's "stimulus" bill channeled twenty four times that amount to his minions at "ACORN," the nationwide cabal of leftist "community organizers" who have been defrauding the electoral system with their dishonest and illegal activity, for the purpose of electing aspiring liberals and socialists to public office. And that is only the "tip of the iceberg" of misspent monies, ultimately coming from your pocket and your paycheck, by which this government intends to empower its favorite causes, none of which have anything to do with improving your lives or reinforcing your freedoms but everything to do with advancing the armies of liberalism.
The same could be said of the menacing government takeover of General Motors. Think about the implications of a CEO of a private company being summarily fired by Barack Obama. People, this shouldn't be happening in America. Government control of "private" industry has been tried before, and consistently, it has failed miserably.
Do we dare to imagine what kind of vehicle would result from the dysfunctional mindset that prevails inside the Beltway? Are you excited at the prospect of a car whose producers possess all of the concern for their "customers" that you might encounter at an IRS audit? Do you want to enjoy a vehicle with a fuel "efficiency" reflective of the welfare department, where a mere 22% of the funds spent ever get to the recipient? Are you waiting in breathless anticipation for the new federal issue Corvette, with a quarter mile performance dictated by someone like Nancy Pelosi, and not out of concern for that the driver may want, but in deference to the environmental zealotry of the Sierra Club? Would you feel at all safe with door-locks and anti-theft devices that function with all the effectiveness of America's border security?
Yet these are the arrogant bureaucrats who dare to tell an American auto manufacturer, and eventually by default every business owner in the country, how to conduct themselves in the modern marketplace. These are the class of Washington insiders who intend to control and direct the economy of what has been the most prosperous nation on earth, though they cannot properly conduct their Constitutionally stated business without hemorrhaging the nation's wealth in pursuit of their self-serving extra-constitutional endeavors.
It's time "We the people" tell them "No More!" It's time we begin calling them to an accountability that is commensurate with their positions of power, and hold those who abuse that power responsible.
I know all of you, like myself, have wanted to vent on these infuriating issues for some time. I hope you've been able to do so. And I hope you are enjoying this event as an unprecedented opportunity to do so. But my gravest concern is that, having spoken your minds, you might leave here feeling you've accomplished what needed to be done. If that is the result, we will be doing worse than merely failing to address the problem. We will be the problem. People, this gathering is not the culmination of our anger and frustration over the current actions of our nation and its government. It is merely a starting point. It is a "call to action" for those who do not intend to sit idly by while their nation is torn from them.
I urge each and every one of you to get involved and remain involved, at the local, state, and federal levels. If ACORN can fundamentally fracture and remake our nation by way of its tactics of local agitation, intimidation, and voter fraud, imagine what we can do to restore our great country by loudly and unabashedly proclaiming the truth to our fellow citizens, to our children, and most urgently, to those in office who need to know that we are out here and we intend to hold them accountable.
No doubt the opposition will try, as it has so successfully done in the past, to marginalize and humiliate us into submission or at least, into silence. Sadly, in our attempts to be reasonable we conceded too much philosophical ground to them over the years. We can see what that ever got for us. It's up to us whether or not we allow them to succeed this time. Today we say "enough!" Today we determine to stand against any further erosion of our great nation with every ounce of our beings. Today we begin to retake America for those who live here, and who are yet to be born, that they may have a great land in which to live life, enjoy liberty, and pursue happiness.
I thank you. And may God truly bless each and every one of you as you undertake this effort.
© Chris Adamo
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
