10 Jun The Principles of Freedom vs. Public/Private Partnerships – Part 3
Address by Tom DeWeese
Freedom 21 National Conference – Dallas, Texas
PART 3
No Time to Hang Our Heads
We indeed face difficult times, dealing with issues and policies no Americans before us have had to face. The double speak, the deceit and the betrayal have left us all exhausted and depressed.
And my friends, I think that is the greatest obstacle you and I face in the battle to truly restore the Republic. It’s not the power elite, or the force of government or hidden conspiracies. It’s our own attitude.
So many in the freedom movement are quick to accept the idea that we cannot win against the forces of tyranny. We are dragging our chins on the ground and sit in despair.
Darned if I understand why.
2007 and the Democrat-controlled Congress has been one of the greatest tests for the ideas of limited government and preserving the Republic.
Forgive me for sounding like Pollyanna, but so far, we are winning a lot of battles. Frankly, this Congress has failed to pass a single significant piece of legislation to hurt us. Of course that can change quickly, but we can face that when it comes. For now, stop fretting and look at the bright side.
First, the defeat of the Senate Immigration bill is without question, the greatest victory for the Republic in several decades. While many have lamented that the American people are asleep, paying no attention to issues of the day, the fact is a full 80% of the American people opposed the guest worker scheme and saw it was truly amnesty for illegals. They saw the threat and said no.
The Senate and the White House, not used to an enflamed electorate, continually tried their usual flimflam tactics of ignoring the will of the people.
Not this time. Americans hated this bill and said so. The Senate got more phone calls and more letters than on any issue in recent memory. The Senate switchboard was shut down. And it DID NOT PASS.
Do you think they are not in a panic? They played a very heavy hand and lost. Of course they will try again and again. But each time they do, more Americans will come to understand what we say is true. They will lose more support and their position becomes weaker. Because we are here with the truth.
Some say we can’t stop the North American Union. We’re told it is a done deal. Wanna bet? Even with virtually no national media to expose it, the word is spreading like wildfire.
It’s taken them years to carefully lay the groundwork for this. We’ve only been openly fighting it for about a year. And our tiny band of activists are causing them major headaches. In fact, their only tactics have been to say either – there is no NAU – or we’re all just a bunch of nuts.
The fact is, through our efforts, Americans are starting to figure this out.
As a result, currently 18 state legislatures have now passed, or are working to pass, resolutions against the idea of a North American Union.
The Teamsters Union has filed suit to stop the Bush Administration’s plan to allow Mexican trucks to cross our borders and haul goods throughout the nation. The suit is shining a very bright spotlight on the scheme and could well sidetrack the program. And that spotlight is helping more Americans to learn that the NAU is real.
Keep in mind; all of the Americans who stood up to oppose the immigration bill are potential allies in the fight against the North American Union. It’s the same issue in different wrapping.
In Texas, just a year ago, state legislators basically denied there even was a Trans Texas Corridor. Just a highway improvement program, they said. Yet, just one year later, in landslide margins, the Texas Legislature voted overwhelmingly to put a moratorium on the project so more discussion could take place. That was a major victory. And we made that happen.
True, the Governor rose up with all the power at his disposal to stop it. As a result, many of the legislators lost their nerve at the last minute and put in amendments to basically cut the teeth out of the bill.
But first we must remember that the vote in itself was an amazing victory to expose the corridor. There can be no denial that the vote was to stop the TCC. The people of Texas said no to that Corridor.
Imagine the panic in the Governor’s office as this was going down. Now he and every legislator who betrayed the will of the people must be targeted and held accountable.
The momentum of the first vote must be used to continue the fight until we win the final victory to stop the TCC – just like we did in the immigration battle.
We actually hold a strong hand. It would be silly folly for us to now just slink away with our heads down. Are we nuts! Name names. Make them feel pain. One thing is consistent on the other side – they are cowards – cockroaches who hate the light of day. Bright lights and roach spray are what we need.
And let’s look beyond the issue of the SPP and the Corridor. There have been some astounding victories on other fronts as well.
In 2005, Freedom’s warriors were convinced the battle to stop the National ID was over after Congress passed the Real ID Act. Yet, there are now 12 states refusing to go along with implementing it.
There is legislation in Congress to repeal it outright. Americans are learning it is not a tool to fight terrorism or illegal immigration, but a plan to impose a big brother style tyranny on us all. We’re stopping it – or at least slowing it down.
A couple of years ago, Congress passed a horrible bill which literally robbed our First Amendment right of free speech. The McCain-Feingold bill severely restricted the ability to even name elected representatives in campaign ads. It was done to make it near impossible to run effective campaigns against incumbents, giving them a free election ride.
But last month the Supreme Court ruled that it was against the First Amendment to ban businesses and unions to fund advocacy campaigns in the closing months of an election. It was a huge victory for the right of free speech and the Republic.
Word has now come down from Congressional Democrats that they will not renew Fast Track authority for the president. Of course it’s a political ploy against Bush, but the fact is, Fast Track is the one policy that actually gives the President the legal authority to negotiate policy like NAFTA, GATT and the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), to implement the North American Union.
Fast Track allows the President to force policy on congress without debate and without amendments. It is a victory for our side to take that authority away from him, no matter the reason.
And look at Al Gore’s panic in trying to force climate change policies on us. Billions of dollars have been spent to get us to believe in man-made global warming. Hollywood had to give him an Oscar to get our attention.
But in fact, the American people aren’t buying it. Al’s worldwide concerts for climate change last week were the lowest rated shows on television.
Worse, for him, Senator Jim Inhofe, from just up the road in Oklahoma has become a one man wrecking crew in Congress, debunking the so-called science Al’s using. Real scientists are coming out of the woodwork now to say they are global warming skeptics.
No wonder Al and his ilk want to put us in jail for opposing them – they have nothing else left to threaten us with.
Worried about the invasion of Chinese goods now flooding the American market place? The problem may take care of itself soon.
The month of June has seen a huge backlash against Chinese goods – more powerful than any boycott could ever produce. And they are doing it to themselves. Chemicals in killer dog food have been traced back to China. The FDA has just moved to block the sale of Chinese fish because of still more chemicals. Defective Chinese tires have been discovered.
All of these things will only serve to prove to the American people that Chinese goods are inferior and undesirable. Americans may yet learn that China is a brutal communist regime that has no concern for the quality of its products. It cares only for the power of the money it makes off of them.
The Chinese debacle proves that the free market can be trusted and those who think they can manipulate it will eventually be exposed.
There are lots of good things happening in the name of freedom around the world.
Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto is becoming an international phenomenon with his advocacy of private property ownership as a means to eradicate poverty. 50 heads of state have asked him to meet with them to discuss his ideas – including such totalitarian states as Syria.
I have learned in the past few months that there are freedom fighters out there you and I have never heard of. I just spent last week in Las Vegas with 1,000 of them. They have never heard of you and you’ve never heard of them – but they are there, fighting much the same fight.
Of course there are bad things going on. Of course the forces of tyranny continue to build to enforce their will. And of course they will fight back when we win a round.
The good news is every victory they score creates new victims. Every new victim finds their way to the camp of Freedoms Heroes and our forces swell. And that can ultimately lead to freedom – if we will just get our heads out of the sand and appreciate a victory when we win one.
When you feel you can’t go on in the fight, when you feel there is no hope, remember this – there are millions in the world who really want freedom – we are not alone.
There is a great uprising beginning to take place around the world. The Internet has become an incredible tool to spread the world of freedom around the world. And oppressed people are reading and listening and dreaming of freedom for themselves.
Truth is on our side. Right is on our side. And I believe time is on our side. Call me Pollyanna if you will, but I see signs of change. The immigration battle shows people are alert. It has awakened that sleeping giant.
The truth is, in our lifetime we are never going to see America become what we might envision to be the perfect world. Frankly, many of us would disagree among ourselves about what that perfect world should be.
But, in the face of the forces of tyranny we fight today, if we can preserve our nation’s sovereignty and independence and keep the Bill of Rights alive – a document based on the three principles of freedom – then frankly that will be an incredible victory.
And for our children and grandchildren to have a hope of living in Freedom – that will be enough.