“Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty.” Our history overflows with such admonitions – warnings from our Forefathers about “power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely.” In recent decades, so confident and comfortable have We the People become in the seemingly timeless and ironclad strength of our Nation’s covenants, our eyelids have drooped and our minds grown distracted. In this vacuum of neglect, those in power – both Democrats and Republicans – have succumbed to the temptations of international interests, grown exalted and aloof in their visions of beneficent grandeur, and come to view as merely quaint those principles and values that once bound Americans in mutual trust and enlightened endeavor. In consequence, Federal legislation has been crafted to ever-decreasing common denominators, and politicians have become enthralled in an endless pander for votes. This has rendered many of our original rights all but neutered, and it has elevated people who may not even be citizens to the status of most-sought-after-voters.
We the People, through gross negligence, have aided and abetted the steady erosion of our individual rights, our states’ rights, and our national sovereignty. We have come to accept the very corruptions our forefathers warned against, until now we stand at the threshold of a tyranny not unlike that which fired the crucible of our founding: Constitutional rights have been granted to foreign enemy combatants while the groundwork has been quietly laid to strip these same rights from US citizens; fiscal policies have suppressed the economy and increased dependency on government while assuring extreme rates of taxation as well as hyperinflation; Muslims have been lauded while Christians routinely get lectured and browbeaten; campaigns to subvert our freedom of speech have been paid for with tax dollars; and the votes of elected officials have been purchased with special perks and exemptions. These are just a few of the many insults to our Constitution and rights. If we take one more step, if we fail to step back, we risk ceding our Unalienable Rights to those moneyed international interests whose prolonged meddling betrays a deep rooted intent to dissolve the United States and absorb her remains into a global socialist government.
Now is the moment to rescue our heritage of Freedom and Liberty. Now is the moment to reclaim our Birthright as Children of the Divine. Should we falter, the sands of time threaten to bury our Forefathers’ creation, and upon our heads will history lay blame for succumbing to the devils of our lesser nature. To rekindle the Trust our Forefathers bequeathed us, we therefore solemnly pledge to strive toward these goals and abide by these principles to re-empower We The People, reconstitute the Constitution, and restore our Republic:
Cut Government Waste and Reform Finances and Taxation by:
Educating all citizens on the full extent of our financial crisis while taking immediate steps to cut losses and control spending:
1.Use unspent stimulus funds to help pay down the debt.
2.Halt any further debt increase and set a timeline to reel it back down.
3.De-fund and dismantle departments and agencies that are un-Constitutional.
4.Cut pay to all elected officials by fifty percent.
5.Cut Congressional support staff by fifty percent.
6.Cut pay to remaining support staff by twenty-five percent.
7.Eliminate Czars and executive appointments that circumvent Constitutional sanction.
8.Phase out pension plans for elected officials.
Requiring our government to adopt pay-as-we-go spending-rules based on fair and just taxation: All Federal, State, and local taxes, when added together from cradle to grave, must never exceed forty-nine percent of a citizen’s total lifetime income. Any more is slavery. And forty-nine percent is too high except during a declared national emergency. Otherwise, twenty-five percent keeps better faith with our heritage.
Adopting simplified and transparent tax codes.
Auditing the privately run, credit-based money system operated by the Federal Reserve and returning monetary policy and control to transparent, sovereign, and Constitutional authority.
Reform Energy, Environmental, and Economic Policies by:
Basing decisions on hard science and national security, not models and marketing.
Developing policies that embrace real-world economics to build a bridge to the future without cutting off our past at the knees:
1.Migrate in measured incremental steps from fossil fuels to alternatives.
2.Develop fossil and nuclear resources following strict environmental safeguards.
3.Re-focus environmental efforts onto experimentally demonstrable problems and away from antagonism.
Prohibit Federal Entry Into the Private Sector by:
Disallowing Federal ownership of any business or enterprise that provides goods and services to the public.
Promoting the “Separation of Corporation and State” to curb “Corporatism” when it conflicts with national sovereignty.
Protect the 1st and 2nd Amendments by:
Reaffirming freedom of speech and the means to defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. A free people must never surrender their last means of defense against corruption in government, and a just government never need fear reprisal.
Restoring respect for the meaning of words by pushing back when traditional definitions are twisted beyond reason to suit political agendas.
Rejecting the intolerance of “political correctness.”
Reaffirming the predominant influence that shaped our country was Natural Law as filtered through Christianity. Our Forefathers espoused separation of church and state, but they dreaded separation from the inherent moral imperatives of Religion. These imperatives are essential to binding a free and responsible society: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In so far as any religion holds to these truths, we embrace that religion.
Removing all Federal encumbrance upon responsible citizens to own and carry guns.
Restore National and States’ Sovereignty by:
Withdrawing from international treaties and rescinding executive orders that compromise national sovereignty – the integrity of the US Constitution.
Requiring treaties and agreements that could impact national sovereignty to be ratified in the same manner as a Constitutional Amendment.
Repealing bench-rulings citing international law and re-trying those cases according to strict US law.
Securing our borders.
Honoring our immigrant roots by prohibiting illegal aliens from becoming US Citizens without fully conforming to the path taken by those who came to the United States legally.
Requiring photo ID and Proof of Citizenship to enter a voting booth.
Reconstituting states’ rights by repealing all laws that overstep the 9th and 10th Amendments.
Reform Foreign Policy by:
Recognizing the need to participate in global initiatives, but not at the expense of national sovereignty unless said initiative is debated and ratified as a Constitutional amendment.
Committing to consistently strengthen friendships with allies; cultivate cooperation with non-aligned nations; and remain steadfast in opposition to tyranny.
Re-committing to diplomacy first, but never as the only resort.
Reform Article II of the Constitution by:
Adopting term limits of eight years or two consecutive terms in any one office, with a maximum of sixteen years combined for an individual to hold elected and/or appointed office.
Reducing the term of a US Senator to four years.
Requiring anyone holding or seeking public office to provide public access to those documents – including long-form birth certificates – which irrefutably prove eligibility for said office.
Galvanize the “4th Branch of Government” by:
Promoting the “Separation of State and Journalism” to curtail agenda-driven reporting, cultivate objective information brokers, and restore the sacred trust bequeathed to journalists.
Restoring the will to be good citizens:
1.Encourage demonstrably factual awareness of issues and candidates as prerequisite to voting. Success would obviate the need for term limits.
2.Re-instill pride in self-reliance. Even the most disadvantaged can try to dig themselves out. Just the trying will elicit support.
3.Promote giving from the goodness of our hearts, not because bureaucrats write a mandate. Giving from the heart encourages community; legislated charity breeds resentment.
Offering age-appropriate programs and courses within public schools to rebuild awareness and rekindle respect for the principles and tacit responsibilities enumerated in our Founding Documents.
Curb Political Dynasties and Promote Citizen Politicians by:
1.Prohibiting any elected office from being passed to a direct relative of an incumbent.
2.Prohibiting relatives of an incumbent from running for his or her office within less than two full terms of that incumbent’s departure from said office.
3.Prohibiting elite benefits programs,including health and retirement plans.
Reaffirming that all laws apply equally to all citizens, and that elected officials are citizens first and foremost.
Restore Constitutional Checks and Balances by:
Removing judges who legislate from the bench.
Prohibiting the Executive Branch from overstepping its Constitutional authority:
1.The President shall not have the authority to absorb agencies into his or her purview or to create entirely new agencies without super-majority approval from Congress.
2.The President shall make no appointments to budgetary positions without majority approval from Congress.
3.Neither the President nor Congress shall have any authority to extend Constitutional protections and privileges to non-US Citizens or to withhold these protections from US Citizens.
Improving government transparency:
1.Discourage closed-door Congressional sessions.
2.Prohibit passage of any bill prior to a thirty-day public review period.
3.Adopt a formal mechanism to collect public comments.
4.Allow two weeks from the close of comments to make changes.
5.Re-post final draft and allow one week for final public comments.
Prohibiting Congress from circumventing inconvenient dissent through the manipulation of parliamentary procedures.
Requiring Congressional legislators to enumerate, within the body of their legislation, where in the Constitution they find authority and justification for proposing said legislation.
Providing mechanisms for a minority of not less than thirty-three percent of Congress, or a simple majority of States’ Governors, to challenge the Constitutionality of any proposed legislation and request an assessment from the US Supreme Court.
Repealing and/or sun-setting all laws that are un-Constitutional.
Condemning “arrest based on suspicion” as un-Constitutional.
Setting strict ethics requirements and finance limitations for lobbying and fund raising.
Prohibiting Federal agencies from issuing defacto laws via mandates that circumvent proper legislative procedures and citizen participation.
For the support of this pledge, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Dear Tea Party Patriots,
Why Sign the Pledge? They call us “Teabaggers,” say we can't articulate what we want, and though we've rallied in millions, their agenda-driven reporters usually discount our numbers by an order of magnitude. Their efforts to suppress are unprecedented, bordering on persecution, yet throughout this ordeal our restraint has been nearly heroic. We've stood steadfast and peacefully – by and for the Constitution – no matter the mud and fists being slung. This is the mark of true patriotism. We've done our forefathers proud.
Now perseverance has begun to pay off. The special election in Massachusetts sent a powerful message, but political operatives seem determined to spin it their way. So we must drive home OUR message: This goes far beyond rejecting health care reform and out-of-control spending. Our movement is about renewing the principles and values upon which the United States of America was founded. We want to reconstitute the Constitution and restore our Republic. And this Pledge is a tool to help do that. It's a collective statement of principles and objectives upon which we stand and to which we can hold our candidates for office accountable, regardless of party. Because party has nothing to do with it. This is about Country!
We reject the agenda to break down our country and subvert the Constitution. We reassert our will to self-govern. We pledge to honor the Freedom and Liberty bequeathed to us by striving to preserve them, not just for ourselves, but for our children, for their children, and for the children of all people who yearn to live Free.
You may not fully agree with every point in the Pledge, but so long as it compliments your sensibilities by and large, please sign. Make your name COUNT. Ask your friends and neighbors to sign too. And put candidates on the spot. Their reactions should help you decide who merits support.
Once you've signed the Pledge, become a midnight rider, a town crier, and post excerpts and links to web sites, attach the abridged version to emails, and print copies to hand out. Spread the word. The more people who sign, the more who will want to, until our collective flame of conviction helps burn off the fog of conceit that so dims our land and our heritage.
God speed!
You can sign here, http://www.pledgeofrenewal.net/sign.aspx , if you feel so moved...
If You Aren't Outraged, If You Aren't Afraid For Your Country, You Aren't Paying Attention
We the People, through gross negligence, have aided and abetted the steady erosion of our individual rights, our states’ rights, and our national sovereignty. We have come to accept the very corruptions our forefathers warned against, until now we stand at the threshold of a tyranny not unlike that which fired the crucible of our founding: Constitutional rights have been granted to foreign enemy combatants while the groundwork has been quietly laid to strip these same rights from US citizens; fiscal policies have suppressed the economy and increased dependency on government while assuring extreme rates of taxation as well as hyperinflation; Muslims have been lauded while Christians routinely get lectured and browbeaten; campaigns to subvert our freedom of speech have been paid for with tax dollars; and the votes of elected officials have been purchased with special perks and exemptions. These are just a few of the many insults to our Constitution and rights. If we take one more step, if we fail to step back, we risk ceding our Unalienable Rights to those moneyed international interests whose prolonged meddling betrays a deep rooted intent to dissolve the United States and absorb her remains into a global socialist government.
Now is the moment to rescue our heritage of Freedom and Liberty. Now is the moment to reclaim our Birthright as Children of the Divine. Should we falter, the sands of time threaten to bury our Forefathers’ creation, and upon our heads will history lay blame for succumbing to the devils of our lesser nature. To rekindle the Trust our Forefathers bequeathed us, we therefore solemnly pledge to strive toward these goals and abide by these principles to re-empower We The People, reconstitute the Constitution, and restore our Republic:
Cut Government Waste and Reform Finances and Taxation by:
Educating all citizens on the full extent of our financial crisis while taking immediate steps to cut losses and control spending:
1.Use unspent stimulus funds to help pay down the debt.
2.Halt any further debt increase and set a timeline to reel it back down.
3.De-fund and dismantle departments and agencies that are un-Constitutional.
4.Cut pay to all elected officials by fifty percent.
5.Cut Congressional support staff by fifty percent.
6.Cut pay to remaining support staff by twenty-five percent.
7.Eliminate Czars and executive appointments that circumvent Constitutional sanction.
8.Phase out pension plans for elected officials.
Requiring our government to adopt pay-as-we-go spending-rules based on fair and just taxation: All Federal, State, and local taxes, when added together from cradle to grave, must never exceed forty-nine percent of a citizen’s total lifetime income. Any more is slavery. And forty-nine percent is too high except during a declared national emergency. Otherwise, twenty-five percent keeps better faith with our heritage.
Adopting simplified and transparent tax codes.
Auditing the privately run, credit-based money system operated by the Federal Reserve and returning monetary policy and control to transparent, sovereign, and Constitutional authority.
Reform Energy, Environmental, and Economic Policies by:
Basing decisions on hard science and national security, not models and marketing.
Developing policies that embrace real-world economics to build a bridge to the future without cutting off our past at the knees:
1.Migrate in measured incremental steps from fossil fuels to alternatives.
2.Develop fossil and nuclear resources following strict environmental safeguards.
3.Re-focus environmental efforts onto experimentally demonstrable problems and away from antagonism.
Prohibit Federal Entry Into the Private Sector by:
Disallowing Federal ownership of any business or enterprise that provides goods and services to the public.
Promoting the “Separation of Corporation and State” to curb “Corporatism” when it conflicts with national sovereignty.
Protect the 1st and 2nd Amendments by:
Reaffirming freedom of speech and the means to defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. A free people must never surrender their last means of defense against corruption in government, and a just government never need fear reprisal.
Restoring respect for the meaning of words by pushing back when traditional definitions are twisted beyond reason to suit political agendas.
Rejecting the intolerance of “political correctness.”
Reaffirming the predominant influence that shaped our country was Natural Law as filtered through Christianity. Our Forefathers espoused separation of church and state, but they dreaded separation from the inherent moral imperatives of Religion. These imperatives are essential to binding a free and responsible society: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In so far as any religion holds to these truths, we embrace that religion.
Removing all Federal encumbrance upon responsible citizens to own and carry guns.
Restore National and States’ Sovereignty by:
Withdrawing from international treaties and rescinding executive orders that compromise national sovereignty – the integrity of the US Constitution.
Requiring treaties and agreements that could impact national sovereignty to be ratified in the same manner as a Constitutional Amendment.
Repealing bench-rulings citing international law and re-trying those cases according to strict US law.
Securing our borders.
Honoring our immigrant roots by prohibiting illegal aliens from becoming US Citizens without fully conforming to the path taken by those who came to the United States legally.
Requiring photo ID and Proof of Citizenship to enter a voting booth.
Reconstituting states’ rights by repealing all laws that overstep the 9th and 10th Amendments.
Reform Foreign Policy by:
Recognizing the need to participate in global initiatives, but not at the expense of national sovereignty unless said initiative is debated and ratified as a Constitutional amendment.
Committing to consistently strengthen friendships with allies; cultivate cooperation with non-aligned nations; and remain steadfast in opposition to tyranny.
Re-committing to diplomacy first, but never as the only resort.
Reform Article II of the Constitution by:
Adopting term limits of eight years or two consecutive terms in any one office, with a maximum of sixteen years combined for an individual to hold elected and/or appointed office.
Reducing the term of a US Senator to four years.
Requiring anyone holding or seeking public office to provide public access to those documents – including long-form birth certificates – which irrefutably prove eligibility for said office.
Galvanize the “4th Branch of Government” by:
Promoting the “Separation of State and Journalism” to curtail agenda-driven reporting, cultivate objective information brokers, and restore the sacred trust bequeathed to journalists.
Restoring the will to be good citizens:
1.Encourage demonstrably factual awareness of issues and candidates as prerequisite to voting. Success would obviate the need for term limits.
2.Re-instill pride in self-reliance. Even the most disadvantaged can try to dig themselves out. Just the trying will elicit support.
3.Promote giving from the goodness of our hearts, not because bureaucrats write a mandate. Giving from the heart encourages community; legislated charity breeds resentment.
Offering age-appropriate programs and courses within public schools to rebuild awareness and rekindle respect for the principles and tacit responsibilities enumerated in our Founding Documents.
Curb Political Dynasties and Promote Citizen Politicians by:
1.Prohibiting any elected office from being passed to a direct relative of an incumbent.
2.Prohibiting relatives of an incumbent from running for his or her office within less than two full terms of that incumbent’s departure from said office.
3.Prohibiting elite benefits programs,including health and retirement plans.
Reaffirming that all laws apply equally to all citizens, and that elected officials are citizens first and foremost.
Restore Constitutional Checks and Balances by:
Removing judges who legislate from the bench.
Prohibiting the Executive Branch from overstepping its Constitutional authority:
1.The President shall not have the authority to absorb agencies into his or her purview or to create entirely new agencies without super-majority approval from Congress.
2.The President shall make no appointments to budgetary positions without majority approval from Congress.
3.Neither the President nor Congress shall have any authority to extend Constitutional protections and privileges to non-US Citizens or to withhold these protections from US Citizens.
Improving government transparency:
1.Discourage closed-door Congressional sessions.
2.Prohibit passage of any bill prior to a thirty-day public review period.
3.Adopt a formal mechanism to collect public comments.
4.Allow two weeks from the close of comments to make changes.
5.Re-post final draft and allow one week for final public comments.
Prohibiting Congress from circumventing inconvenient dissent through the manipulation of parliamentary procedures.
Requiring Congressional legislators to enumerate, within the body of their legislation, where in the Constitution they find authority and justification for proposing said legislation.
Providing mechanisms for a minority of not less than thirty-three percent of Congress, or a simple majority of States’ Governors, to challenge the Constitutionality of any proposed legislation and request an assessment from the US Supreme Court.
Repealing and/or sun-setting all laws that are un-Constitutional.
Condemning “arrest based on suspicion” as un-Constitutional.
Setting strict ethics requirements and finance limitations for lobbying and fund raising.
Prohibiting Federal agencies from issuing defacto laws via mandates that circumvent proper legislative procedures and citizen participation.
For the support of this pledge, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Dear Tea Party Patriots,
Why Sign the Pledge? They call us “Teabaggers,” say we can't articulate what we want, and though we've rallied in millions, their agenda-driven reporters usually discount our numbers by an order of magnitude. Their efforts to suppress are unprecedented, bordering on persecution, yet throughout this ordeal our restraint has been nearly heroic. We've stood steadfast and peacefully – by and for the Constitution – no matter the mud and fists being slung. This is the mark of true patriotism. We've done our forefathers proud.
Now perseverance has begun to pay off. The special election in Massachusetts sent a powerful message, but political operatives seem determined to spin it their way. So we must drive home OUR message: This goes far beyond rejecting health care reform and out-of-control spending. Our movement is about renewing the principles and values upon which the United States of America was founded. We want to reconstitute the Constitution and restore our Republic. And this Pledge is a tool to help do that. It's a collective statement of principles and objectives upon which we stand and to which we can hold our candidates for office accountable, regardless of party. Because party has nothing to do with it. This is about Country!
We reject the agenda to break down our country and subvert the Constitution. We reassert our will to self-govern. We pledge to honor the Freedom and Liberty bequeathed to us by striving to preserve them, not just for ourselves, but for our children, for their children, and for the children of all people who yearn to live Free.
You may not fully agree with every point in the Pledge, but so long as it compliments your sensibilities by and large, please sign. Make your name COUNT. Ask your friends and neighbors to sign too. And put candidates on the spot. Their reactions should help you decide who merits support.
Once you've signed the Pledge, become a midnight rider, a town crier, and post excerpts and links to web sites, attach the abridged version to emails, and print copies to hand out. Spread the word. The more people who sign, the more who will want to, until our collective flame of conviction helps burn off the fog of conceit that so dims our land and our heritage.
God speed!
You can sign here, http://www.pledgeofrenewal.net/sign.aspx , if you feel so moved...
If You Aren't Outraged, If You Aren't Afraid For Your Country, You Aren't Paying Attention
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