Inviting All Patriots
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!
June 24th, 2009 at 4:58 am
you have lost me with the inclusion of the “individual freedoms” paragraph and i am sure there are many more that share my feelings.
this was and should be about fiscal responsibility and smaller government. why is gitmo and torture now included?
June 24th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I’ve heard more than a few say that we’ve “lost” them due to certain phrases or principles, Leslie. We’ve held many discussions about these principles, with many different groups of people, and we feel that these represent the largest majority of people across the political spectrum. I’d caution you against jumping-ship from every movement whose principles aren’t 100% aligned with your own. Just like each of us will rarely ever find the “perfect” candidate to vote for, rarely will we ever find the “perfect” movement. It’s still important that we participate as much as possible.
Beside the fact that many of the issues addressed in the Individual Freedom principle are geared toward blatant, domestically- and internationally-illegal acts committed by our government (by which all Americans should be appalled), the ReTea Party movement has never had any intention of restricting its list of grievances with our government. You may be confusing the ReTea Party movement with the Tea Party movement. Although some of our principles and many of our supporters overlap, the ReTea Party movement intends to be a dynamic, ever-growing movement, whose principles may (and probably will) change to reflect ever-changing political circumstances. So while these four principles are cornerstone to our outpouring this July 4th, different principles may be added or substituted next July 4th (depending, again, on political circumstances).
I hope you’ll join us for this and future events; we need to unite as many from both the Left and the Right as possible if we’re ever to reclaim our government from the Top.
June 20th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Where would the best place be to protest in Chicago. I live in the northwest Suburbs, and can take the Metra down there, but I dont know where the best place to go would be. Is there some kind of way to communicate with other protesters to find out where everyone is going?
By the way, keep spreading the good word my friend.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Thank you for the comment, S.O.A.D. If you mean to protest at the rally, we’re holding it at the entrance to Navy Pier. If you’re looking, just in general, for a place to protest, I’ve always enjoyed college campuses
June 20th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I love the Tea Party idea but we need to do more to get our freedoms back since the Government thinks we are a joke at this point. Do we all need to write our congressmen or The White House with a coordinated effort? We certainly need to vote out incumbent Senators [especially Durbin] and Reps. We need accountability from them; currently there is none; they vote as THEY wish. Our having get togethers every few months fires us all up but does nothing to change the current state of affairs.I have thought that although the fourth of July is great because of it’s symbolism it is a bad time for a ‘rally’ as many of us are gone or have family obligations that day, planned far in advance. We need to do more to make it happen — vote in new blood that REPRESENTS US and ???.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:27 am
You’re absolutely right, bwit. We’ll hopefully be providing a hearty list of simple things that people can do to help reclaim our government. This list may include such things as:
-Voting out All Incumbents
-Attending Your Local Town Hall Meeting
-Calling a Local Independent Candidate’s Campaign and Asking How You Can Help
-Running for an Office
We’re still in discussion about what to include and how best to present this to the thousands of people on July 4th but rest assured that we hope to provide useful outlets for the people’s energies.