I had the honor to be asked to speak at the Rhode Island 9/12 Project’s September 12 rally in Providence on the State House steps. Below is the speech I delivered, and the note I read to our RI brothers and sisters from the NH TeaParty Coalition, along with a few pics. It wasn’t Washington DC, but the messages, and the enthusiasm were the same. People I had conversations with were shocked to hear that NH is talking an income tax and forced sick pay for businesses of 10 or more people.
I assured them that the big government/ big spending sickness afflicting them and Washington is affecting us here in the Granite State, too.
All in all, we felt like we were here in NH, listening to the messages and reading the signs. Different states, maybe, but we are all on the same page. That is the amazing thing about the Tea Party movement all across America. Nobody needs to be "organized." Those who take part simply know what to do. Liberty is at stake and must be defended…
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When I was asked to speak here today, I thought, what am I going to say? After all, I left this state, the state of my birth and youth, to create a new life with my young family nearly 25 years ago. But, the great people of the movement to preserve liberty here in Rhode Island saw fit to invite me, so here goes. After all, we’re all Americans, no matter where we might happen to live. It’s a great honor to be here, and I am humbled for the opportunity to speak at this event as we stand in solidarity with like-minded fellow citizens gathered down in the Nation’s capitol, and all across this great land today.
A few words about myself—I was born in Woonsocket, raised in Cumberland, and was schooled by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart at Mount Saint Charles. Those were the good old days–ones in which worries about losing freedom and squandering the precious and fragile gifts bequeathed us by the Founders never really entered my mind. And why should it have, really? I was a young American pursuing life, liberty, and happiness as the Founders intended. In his famous work, Democracy in America, the famed Frenchman Alexis DeTocqueville remarked that
“Nothing is more striking to a European traveler in the United States, than the absence of what we term the Government, or the Administration.”
And so it was, at least for me, at that time.
Following those idyllic days of my youth here in the Ocean State, work took me a little farther North in New England to New Hampshire, where I live today. Along the way, I got married to my wonderful wife, started a business, and had two wonderful children that are pretty much adults at this point. Indeed, life’s been pretty good so far, all things considered. Oh, it hasn’t always been easy, but with help from family, friends, and, of course, God, we’ve made it this far. You see, I was lucky. My family was lucky. And many of you are lucky. Lucky to have been born into the greatest country on earth. Thanks to the luck of fate, rather than being born someplace else—perhaps in a place of virtual slavery and captivity—think North Korea or most places in the radical Islamic areas of world—we were born –or had the good fortune to end up– here in America. You see, I have lived the American Dream.
So why am I here today? Why do I step away from my happy dream to gather and march and speak out against the government of the country I love so much? Why not simply enjoy the weekend and the gifts with which I have been blessed? You know why—Because everything handed down to us by our Founders is now, suddenly at stake! That “absence of government” DeToqueville so approvingly noted so many years ago is not so absent anymore, is it? The American Dream is becoming quickly that- a mere fantasy that can no longer become, as it has for generations before us, reality.
Thanks to years of apathy and a lack of civic involvement on the part of large numbers of ordinary citizens, our government has become overrun with so-called “leaders” that have come to the belief that we are somehow not worthy, not capable of taking care of ourselves using the tools and opportunities afforded by a free society. We are too stupid and weak to fend for ourselves anymore, and therefore need the helping hand of government to help us through. And here we are today—Under the thumb of an out of control government that, in the name of helping us through our helpless little lives, has come to the point of stealing our freedoms and liberties wholesale, all the while sending us the bill. This must stop!
If we don’t wake up, and fast, there will be no American Dream left for our children and grandchildren. It is up to us. I will not sit by and let that happen!
Like the first tenet of the 9-12 Project- I believe that America is good. It is good to its citizens. It is good to others. Despite what the naysayers would have us believe, we are the most giving, most generous people on the planet. While the president feels the need to constantly apologize for past acts, I stand here today and make no apologies! Well, actually I will make one—I apologize for not being active enough in defending our great nation and its legacy against those who would tear it down. No more!
Several weeks back, I heard a Texas pastor call into a talk radio program state quite plainly what we must do. It was quite simple, really, and beautiful:
Become informed. Obtain knowledge—it’s not hard to do given the modern tools at our fingertips. Then, share what you have learned with others so that they will know, and then follow it up with action. DO SOMETHING. Said the pastor:
We must EDUCATE, COMMUNICATE, and ACTIVATE.
In the years prior to the American Revolution, Samuel Adams desperately sought ways to rekindle and bolster patriotic spirits in the face of setback and opposition. To that end, he created pamphlets and letters to be circulated among members of the cause. The Governor Hutchinson scoffed at him. Trying to correspond with towns around Massachusetts
“which is such a foolish scheme they must necessarily make themselves ridiculous.”
They were dark days and the future looked bleak.
One Patriot reported to Adams, on the movement and its partisans:
“They are dead, and the dead cannot be raised without a miracle. “Nil desperandum,” Adams admonished him. “Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead, and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.”
The letters of correspondence were sent. And sent. Again and again. Citizens of the varied colonies educated themselves. And communicated. And activated. In March of 1773, the House of Burgesses in Virginia named eleven members to maintain a correspondence with the sister colonies. Four months after Sam Adams had linked the towns of Massachusetts, Virginia was expanding his plan into a full-fledged network across America. As author AJ Langguth writes in his book, Patriots,
“it was only made of ppaper, but Adams had forged a union.”
Educate. Communicate. Activate.
I will close with a note I was asked to deliver to you today. This is from our New Hampshire Tea Party Coalition, of which I am proud to be a part.
To our fellow brothers and sisters in Rhode Island- Greetings.
The NH-Tea Party Coalition sends a warm welcome to our fellow laborers in the cause. Our coalition is an assembly of many local issue groups that have common cause and common concern.
Although we are separated by a number of borders and miles, we are still your fellow patriots in the cause of liberty. Liberty- That word has a nice ring to it, doesn‘t it?
Like the rest of our fellow patriots throughout this land, our hearts are knit as one with you. Within this one, uniquely American heart, beats the universal pulse of freedom. That longing and desire of all humanity throughout the ages.
That dream was finally realized in the American struggle for independence.
Like them, we now find ourselves facing oppression from our own government. Then, as now, our liberties hang in the balance.
Although we are talking, many legislators are not listening any longer. They refuse to believe that we reject the sirens’ soothing song of socialism. They can not fathom the fact that we can think for ourselves and that we refuse their handouts. We know that there is a price to be paid for everything, and that nothing is free.
The price they are asking for all of their programs is our liberty. Like you, we in New Hampshire believe that price is too high!
We offer you these words of encouragement; YOU-ARE-NOT-ALONE!
Though the clouds of doubt appear, press on. Though the media demonizes you, press on. Though it looks like the whole world is about ready to fall down around your ears, press on. For these are signs that victory is at hand.
Their power is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Ours is the power of the people.
Finally, we make this proclamation to you- While life holds in our limbs, we will not break faith or allegiance with you or the American people.
You will never be alone- Press on!
[END]
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At one point, the crowd grew to what appeared to be some 350-500 people
This attracted a lot of attention during the day. Many folks had not seen this org chart of the bureacracy that will be created should HB 3200 become the law of the land.
This girl was everywhere with this sign. She should be concerned, as, in addition to paying the bill, she’ll have to live… or die, under the plan.
More popular than Obama in this crowd!
Obviously part of what NH Dem Chairman calls the "unhinged mob"
It must be fall…
