As anyone active in politics would know, infighting is the quickest way to derail attempts to make progress. When faced with a problem, it becomes very easy to shift focus away from the problem itself, and instead focus on those who have a different analysis of that problem. In the end, those who otherwise could have made a difference expend their energy fighting each other, leaving the problem free to grow. I believe that this is what America is facing today in regard to the current political climate.

Our problem is a government that has spiraled out of control. In my estimation, Americans are now losing their freedom faster than at any other point in our history. Our elected officials knowingly and blatantly disregard the Constitution, violate individual liberty, and steal from the taxpayers to enrich themselves and their wealthiest supporters. For once, Americans of all political persuasions are recognizing, despite their differences of opinion, that there is a problem with our current political system. Conservatives, libertarians, greens, and many others are increasingly concerned that their government is now free to do anything it wants without regard to the rule of law. Now, more than ever, we need to follow the example of those who would become federalists and antifederalists, who fought together for freedom from Great Britain, and work together with those who recognize the corruption in our current system.

While conservatives, libertarians, greens, etc. have widely varying ideas on how to make the system right, we all recognize that the current system is wrong. While some of us favor smaller government, and some of us favor more active government, we all believe that government should be restrained by the rule of law. I argue that our greatest problem at the moment is not liberalism or conservatism, but despotism. I call on all Tea Party supporters to focus on the problem at hand, and at least temporarily work with others who wish to help make things right.

Josh Hanson
Chair, DuPage Libertarians

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

America’s Independence Day Tea Party to Take Place in 

Chicago July 4^th

Chicago, Il –FreeAndEqual.org and ReTeaParty.com have recently coordinated to host Tea Parties around the country on Saturday July 4^th.

The America’s Independence Day Tea Party Movement is a nationwide demonstration forum for any and all groups and individuals dissatisfied with the current governance of the United States, regardless of ideology, partisan identity, or political affiliation. On July 4^th, 2009, we are asking Americans everywhere to re-declare our inalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Chicago’s Tea Party will take place next Saturday, July 4^th, 2009. The event will take place from 12 Noon until 4pm in Gateway Park at Navy Pier.

The Independence Day Tea Parties are very different in nature from other tea parties taking place around the nation. The Free & Equal/ ReTea Parties are non-partisan in nature, and will feature speakers and guests from across the political spectrum.

“The Chicago Independence Day Tea Party is a fully nonpartisan event, with guests from all across the political spectrum,” said Free and Equal CEO and event organizer Christina Tobin.

Tobin added, “This will be a forum for any and all groups and individuals dissatisfied with the current governance of the United States, regardless of ideology, partisan identity, or political affiliation.  While we may disagree on the solutions, on July 4th, 2009 we will come together as Americans to peacefully express our dissent from the current political status quo.”

Confirmed speakers include:

* Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United, Illinois

* Paul Jacob, President of the Citizens in Charge Foundation

* Theresa Amato, Campaign Manager for Ralph Nader for President 2004, and author of The Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny.

The full speakers list for the Chicago Tea Party will be announced early next week. For more information on this, and other Free & Equal/ ReTea Parties, contact Christina Tobin, or log on to www.ReTeaParty.com

####

For media inquiries, please contact Christina Tobin at 312-320-4101, or by e-mail at Christina@freeandequal.org

Gotta gripe? I bet you do! And now it can be made into a song!

In the spirit of http://complaintschoir.org/choirs.html but within the scope of ReTea and Free & Equal — send/post your political complaints, be succinct, as they wil be set to music, perhaps a Sousa melody. Complain now, complain often, complain for 7/4! It’s cathartic AND creative! Make it global, make it national, local or very personal, but make it non-partisan. Thank you!

Title: Chicago ReTea Party June Meetup #4
Location: Oak Park Library - Maze Branch
Link out: Click here
Description: For those who have never been to this location, the library is a small building on the northwest corner of Gunderson Ave. and Harrison St.
Start Time: 19:30
Date: 2009-06-30
End Time: 21:00

Title: Chicago Independence Day Tea Party
Location: Gateway Park at Navy Pier
Link out: Click here
Description: Join us at Gateway Park (just outside of Navy Pier) for the Chicago Independence Day Tea Party!
Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2009-07-04
End Time: 16:00

Hello, my name is Peter Lewis. I was the Illinois State Coordinator for the Ralph Nader for President 2008 campaign. I’m writing you today to invite you to the July 4th Chicago ReTea Party, sponsored by Free & Equal. Free & Equal is a non-partisan election reform and activist organization dedicated to improving ballot-access laws and uniting third parties in common causes.

The Chicago ReTea Party is one of many national ReTea Parties, all of which aim to harness the powerful voices of a universally-outraged population. The movement rests on four key principles, which supporters demand that elected representatives adhere to:

• Bailouts, Taxes, and Spending Responsibility: There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations, and government should never grant private organizations license to commit criminal or fraudulent acts. We must also seek greater transparency of the Federal Reserve System through investigation, evaluation, and audit of its relationships with banking, corporate, and other financial institutions.
• Respect the Integrity of the Constitution: We believe that the Constitution was instituted to restrain the arbitrary exercise of government power and to safeguard liberty. A government that routinely disregards the Constitution for the sake of political expediency cannot remain a defender of the rights of its citizens.
• Reducing the National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust; it has greatly diminished the power of our dollar and threatens to undo decades of economic progress.
• Individual Freedom: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons.

It is my belief that the emerging purpose of demonstrations like these ReTea Parties is the unification of the Left and the Right on issues of the highest importance. I expect to see many movements in the near future which will be built on principles which can appeal to the vast majority of Americans, whatever their political leanings. These principles may be based on such things as: ballot-counting transparency, media reform, opening up the debates, adopting proportional representation, and ending ballot-access obstruction.

The great power of these new movements is their capacity for unification – the kind of unification that has been condemned as fraudulent or determinedly-ignored by the corporate duopoly, extreme-Left and -Right groups, and strictly partisan media. It’s no coincidence that the loudest voices on television, radio, and print, are those which discommend meaningful bipartisan efforts (especially those which seek to increase the power of our democracy).

Perhaps it is a sign of the magnitude of the challenge we face, that so many different people – separated by such wide ideological rifts – now find themselves ready to unite toward such important ends. Our country was founded in order to protect certain inalienable rights – namely, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although liberals and conservatives have long disagreed about how best to guarantee these rights, it is becoming clear to more and more Americans that neither our liberal representatives, the Democrats, nor our conservative representatives, the Republicans, give these rights the priority and respect that they deserve.

I sincerely hope you’ll join us on July 4th, as we unite with thousands of our fellow citizens to redeclare our independence, reclaim our government, and renew our voices. As Ralph Nader liked to say, “Patriotism is more than just hanging a flag on your porch.” Like the original Boston Tea Party protestors, no longer will we quietly bear the burdens and taxations of a government in which we have no legitimate representation!

Flyers for the Chicago Independence Day Tea Party have been uploaded to the site in .pdf format. Please follow the hyperlinks below to view them.

ReTeaParty Chicago Flyer_Color

ReTeaParty Chicago Flyer_B&W

There is one in color and one in black & white. The flyers are designed to be printed (double-sided) and then cut in half, resulting in a half sheet with the design on the front and principles on the back. Feel free to print these off, post them on your facebook page, or whatever you do best to spread the word.

Thanks,
Josh Hanson
630-200-9527

Title: Chicago Independence Day Tea Party Meetup - June 17th, 2009 
Location: Oak Park Main Library, 834 Lake St, Oak Park, IL 60301
Description: The second meetup of Retea Party organizers, volunteers, supporters. This is an open meeting; anyone interested is welcome to attend!

June 17, 2009 7:00 PM
Oak Park Main Library
834 Lake St
Oak Park, IL 60301
708-383-8200
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2009-06-17
End Time: 20:30

As Sean Haugh pointed out in his excellent mission-statement (located here: http://www.reteaparty.com/2009/06/01/obliterating-the-false-distinction-between-left-and-right/), many of us are coming to realize that the bigger difference isn’t between the Left and the Right but between the Robbed and the Robbers, between the Ruling Class and the Working Class. Consequently, there are many equally- if not more-important goals which we, the majority, can agree on.

I’m one of the people who believes that the emerging purpose of movements like these Retea Parties is the recognition of and united defense against the untimely division of the Left and Right. Of course, the prospect of partisan unification is irrelevant if, of all the major issues at hand, partisan issues take the highest priority in people’s minds. But I don’t think that they ought to; in fact, I don’t believe that they do. Here’s why: we all agree that every person should have Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (LLPH) and that the best vehicle toward those ends is democracy.

Well, American democracy and LLPH are dying. Our means and our end are shriveling up around us. The Left and the Right have been so busy battling over comparably-minor disputes that we’ve become oblivious to the biggest threat: the democracy-destroying, LLPH-ignoring oligarchy of the super-rich. That’s why it’s time to unite: first to reclaim democracy, second to hammer out the differences between Left and Right (in a notably more peaceful and fair way than is currently encouraged by corporate media).

Here are some of the democracy-restoring goals we might unite toward:

Instant Runoff Voting

Reforming the Media

Opening up the Debates

Adopting a National Initiative

Ending Ballot-access Obstruction

But what if you’re a person who believes that these issues just aren’t as important as partisan issues, like gun-control, abortion, and tax-reform? For all this talk of unification, I’ll be one of the first to draw a dividing line: you don’t belong here, part of this movement, if you believe that the political process isn’t broken or that these problems can be fixed by movements from solely the Left or Right (or whatever angle you’re pulling from).

And if you’re a person who straight-up doesn’t want to work with the other side, I’d say you haven’t been in the field long enough. I have met highly-intelligent, highly-moral, highly-respectable progressives, libertarians, democrats, and republicans alike. Each of these groups has thoughtful strategies and provocative questions. In the grand span of human history, is America really an ancient and wise culture? No – we’re young and we’ve tried and tested very little, despite the great tragedies and losses of human lives we’ve been through. In my opinion, it’s just too early to absolutely condemn the Left or the Right.

It’s true that there are fundamental differences between the Left and the Right and, because of these differences, we will probably never achieve a totally peaceful union. But here’s what we all keep forgetting: we’ve already agreed to disagree; no one really believes that the Left or Right are going to change each other’s minds, at least anytime soon. We argue with friends at school, family at home, or strangers on the internet but, ultimately, most of us keep getting forced back into the political game: I can’t convince you so I’m going to do everything in my power to beat you.

Isn’t it true? Isn’t that why the Left feared the hardlining Bush administration and the Right fears the Obama congressional majority? Because, in these situations, it seems, there’s no more stalemate – one side, we’re told, is actively winning (against the other half of the population, presumably).

As it turns out, it’s not the Left or the Right that’s winning but the Top.

So it’s time to unite – first to reclaim our voices and then to work out our differences in a more rational and peaceful manner. Because right now, we’re all losing.

Peter Lewis