"Money doesn't grow on trees." - It is earned by doing valuable work for fellow human beings. Far
from being mere paper or metal, it is a certificate that one has produced something useful or done
something helpful, and thus deserves something useful, or some kind of service, in return. Work is the
road to self-esteem and self-sufficiency. The government never produces anything, nor does it
generally provide very good service (witness VA hospitals, child welfare, public schools). Any money it
spends is confiscated - perhaps with good intentions, but with few results - from those who do produce
and really help.
"There is no free lunch." ("Who eats my bread, does my will") - all forms of welfare or 'bailouts',
while appearing to be a 'free lunch', put the government in the driver's seat. The needy, whether they be
a poor family or a bank, give up much of their freedom and dignity in return, and very often get a whole
lot of regulation and little real help into the bargain. Freedom is inherently risky. Freedom to succeed
means freedom to fail. 'Security' is bought at a price, a price our founding fathers scorned to pay.
"If you dance, you must pay the piper." - Sooner or later, someone will have to pay for multiple
'stimulus' packages full of pork and burgeoning federal programs that have brought our national deficit
to a staggering $13 trillion! This amounts to $42,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in this
country. There are only 3 possible ways to do this:
1 - by raising EVERYONE'S taxes astronomically,
2 -by printing more money (and lowering the real value of every dollar each of us owns or earns), or
3- by showing fiscal responsibility: slashing spending, eliminating waste and fraud, balancing the
budget, and growing the economy by lowering taxes. Every time it has been tried, lower taxes has led to
increased tax revenue, because people are incentivized to work harder and earn more. We, in the Tea
Party, believe that the only fair way to run a country is by letting people keep the money they earn, rather
than throwing it away on solutions which haven't worked yet, and are not likely ever to work.
We believe, along with Thomas Jefferson, that "Government big enough to supply everything
you need is big enough to take everything you have ." Thus, members of the Tea Parties tend to
support a return to the limits our Constitution has traditionally imposed on Big Government.
Tea party members here in Genesee County are used to being called names like 'racist', 'radical' ,
'right wing' and even 'you people' (whatever that means). Calling names is a typical tactic of people who
have no rational argument on their side, who are defending the indefensible. If we have reached the
point where common sense positions like those listed above are truly 'radical' in the United States, then
God help us all!
