About Us In the middle of June, 2009, “The Letter” began circulating on the Internet. It was originally read on the Glenn Beck Radio Show on 06/16/2009 and then a transcript of the letter was posted on the Mandeville Tea Party website. From there, it arrived in the email inbox of three small business owners in Meridian, Mississippi. After they read the letter, they realized that the writer had written down exactly what they had been thinking and feeling for several months. Since the Presidential campaign, these small business owners had frequently discussed their fears and apprehension regarding the changes promised by the then candidate, Barack Obama. After he took office and began implementing his version of America, the fears became reality. The bail-outs of companies deemed “too big to fail”; the firing of the heads of major corporations who did not “fit the mold”; the government take over of General Motors; the hints that continued government intervention in our free enterprise system; the move to release the prisoners at Gitmo; the promised government take-over of the health care system; the announcement by Barack Obama on foreign soil that the United States was no longer a Judeao-Christian nation; bowing to a foreign king; and a thousand and one other actions by the new President bring home the reality that our country and our freedoms are in serious danger. All of this crystalized in The Letter and with a couple of emails, the idea of creating this organization was born. Within five days, the idea sprang fully formed to life and a smoldering ember has begun to burn in our hearts and minds to raise our voices and lend our support to the efforts started by millions of people nationwide on April 15th with the first tea parties. Taking their lead from the events of the Boston Tea Party and comments by Rick Santelli on CNBC, the Tea Party Movement has grown faster than any other movement any of us can remember. The question that Santelli asks the President in the clip above is “Are You Listening?” Unfortunately, the answer to the question is obvious: neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are listening to the people who made this country what it is. The politicians are more concerned with their own agendas not the people’s agenda. The people understand that you cannot spend your way into prosperity. The politicians are more interested in protecting the special interests instead of protecting The Constitution they swore to uphold when they took office. The politicians are more concerned with raising money for their re-election campaigns than they are about reducing the deficit. And, ultimately it is we, the people, who must take some responsibilty for the current state of affairs. The backbone of this country is made up of the hard working people who go to work everyday and do their duty and salute the flag and cry when they hear the Star Spangled Banner. These people live moral lives, raise their children with values that have stood the test of time, and do the best they can to live and play by the rules. They don’t spend time protesting or marching or trying to stand out in a crowd. They go to work on time, they give a 110% to their job and then go home to be with their families. They reach out to help neighbors in need, especially widows and orphans. At the appropriate times, they go to their place of worship, thank their Maker for the blessings that have been bestowed upon them. They are heroes to their children and grandchildren and they go about building their lives in quiet thankfulness that they were born in the Home Of The Free And The Brave. They shake the hands of active military personnel and veterans and thank them for their service. They are you and me. Unfortunately, the values that make up the lives of these simple American Citizens are under attack on a daily basis and it is no longer possible for them to sit on the sidelines and let the current state of affairs continue. For decades, we have been content to watch the news, shake our heads and go back to the lives we have built for ourselves, but we cannot afford to do this any more. It is time to stand up and let our voices be heard. In 1776, our Founding Fathers came together prepared to sacrifice everything they owned and even their very lives for a simple dream: a free country where every person is granted the opportunity to achieve everything they are capable of achieving. They could not guarantee success to everyone, but they wanted everyone to have the chance to pursue their own version of happiness. And they way they did this was by limiting the power of government recognizing that when a government inserted itself too much in the lives of individual, it became oppressive and would abuse it’s power. They knew that any power granted to the government was granted by the will of the people and they specifically documented this in the documents they wrote to create this nation. But we have forgotten what they did for us. We’ve forgotten that WE are the government and that without the people there is no government. The largesse that our government gives away to special interest groups is our money and we should have some say in how it is spent. People live their lives in conservative ways. They generally don’t spend money they don’t have. They don’t believe that debt is the way to prosperity. They don’t take what isn’t theirs and freely give it to those who aren’t prepared to do the hard things to earn their own way. It is time to join our voices and let our nation hear the sound of the people. It is time to remind all politicians including the President that they work for us and that they are directly answerable for their actions. The news media ignores us because we don’t fit their agenda, but we don’t need them. Our Constitution guarantees the freedom of the press and that’s what this website and this organization is all about. We are not about egos or providing a chance to complain. It is about combining our voices and finding ways to state our beliefs without anger and in non-threatening ways. The least we can do is remind people of the wonderful gift of freedom our fore-fathers gave to us. It is our duty. It is our priviledge. It is our obligation to those who stood up for a dream over 200 years ago and to those who will be here 200 years from now.