A Letter From The Eighth District Tea Party To Harold Johnson

Since the North Carolina 8th district Republican congressional race entered a runoff it has become one of the most contentious races in the nation. One candidate claims support from the Republican Party establishment and the Tea Party and the other candidate is being attacked by the Republican Party and attacking back while also claiming support from the Tea Party. Along with the runoff candidates espousing very different ideas of how to fix our country there abounds concerned conversations with Republican Party interference and Tea Party endorsements.

Not to be lost in all this is the real reasons we are faced with this unlikely and volatile mix to start with. It boils down to this; we have been ruled by two political parties that have financially bankrupted our nation. Their mismanagement provoked a reaction in the people who assembled en-mass to protest and form Tea Party Groups who have set out to do something about it. The result of all this is a very nasty political runoff in the 8th district.

All of this has come about because of the failure of both parties to govern with sound fiscal and moral principles and then, after seeing the response of the people they have continued to turn a deaf ear. Setting the Democrats aside it is clear that the Republican establishment has failed miserably to recognize why the Tea Party exists. Early on they began damage control and sought to capitalize on the Tea Revolution by pulling the Tea Partiers under the big tent. They wooed many by saying we share the same values while laughing at us behind closed doors. This is the result of many years of poor management of our nation’s resources and the Party that is supposed to represent conservatism bears the larger part of the blame. Here are just some of the more notable picks from our Republican establishment: John McCain, Jumping Jim Jeffords and Socialist Dede Scozzafava. Let’s be honest, there are many more like these. Has the Party changed?

What Next?

First, everyone should already know but just in case, the “Tea Party” is not a political party and doesn’t intend to be. (This should put you political operatives at ease….at least on this one issue). Anyway this is not a party it is a revolution. Additionally it will be necessary to give some history of the groups in the 8th district in order to clarify which candidate has the support of the tea party in the 8th district runoff and why.

For now it is necessary to digress so that we may set the stage before the runoff.

Last year when the revolution started it appeared to be a sudden reaction to the new Obama administrations massive bailouts, private sector takeovers and spending. I would like to point out that this was only a spark that ignited the revolution. It is what lies beneath and what came before that provided the fuel that started this whole movement. The tea party revolution is a visible, public display of something that has been fomenting for years. Here are two examples.

1. For all of my adult life I have heard, “The Republicans are taking us over the same cliff, only slower”. We would laugh as if it were a joke but the truth is this statement came out of an underlying knowledge that we were headed for a disaster and both parties were complicit in creating it. We have felt this way for more than 30 years.

2. In 2007 congress decided they wanted to push amnesty which was in effect a pool of cheap labor for industry (Republicans), and more voters (Democrats). Citizens barraged congress to voice their opinion and “burning up the phones” became a household term used to describe how conservatives of all stripes stopped Amnesty. Being a year before Barak Obama was on the radar and two years before the bailouts, what caused this sudden move to stop congress?

Revolutions are never a sudden change in the attitude of the populace. They are a public manifestation of an attitude that was in the making for some time before. It is an underlying social discontent. Some historians use the term “massive social discontent” to describe what precedes a revolution.

In this nation, unlike any other in history we are we are faced with a rare opportunity to change our government peacefully because our Forefathers, in concert with their most profound spiritual values were wise enough to pen the Bill of Rights that secures our freedom to respond to this problem. I might add that the first amendment is no small entry into the more noble annals of mankind. Consider this transcending quote by William Cobbett, “Tyranny has no enemy so formidable as the pen”. Our First amendment guarantees that we will never have to use the Second as a defense against tyranny.

Seeing that a peaceful revolution was occurring it was my intent to build a member organization capable of channeling that discontent into productive and meaningful actions that would challenge our politicians and/or replace them. After all, is there anybody that would disagree that this would be the ultimate aim of the tea revolution? Yes, all of us who identify with the principles will act accordingly on their own but it is just as true that without organization you will accomplish little. Imagine if no one had taken the time to organize the Obama/Celgard protest in Charlotte. So more than anything it is how much organization is needed and in this case I am asking you; how much organization is needed to save our nation from despotic dysfunctional Parties and tyranny?

Now who are those who we call Tea Parties and who are those groups in the 8th district that both candidates are referring to when they claim they are the Tea Party candidate?

The Tea Parties are primarily made up of fiscal conservatives and those who recognize that expansion of government is directly tied to shrinking individual freedom. With this said the core values of most “Tea” groups in our nation are fiscal sanity (which includes principles of free market economy), less government, and individual liberty. In addition there are many people who identify with the principles the Tea Parties but have never attended a meeting of any sort. Although these people believe the same they are not a “member” as the term implies.

Throughout the 8th district there are four tea groups. One is ours, We The People NC (WTPNC) and from ours came one, We the People Stanly (WTPS). Separately a group was born in Cumberland County called We The People of the Sandhills (SWTP) and another called Tea Party Patriots (TPP) which resides in Richmond County.

The Richmond county group has a philosophy that is a mix between conservatism and socialism. It is a small group of about a dozen and because their core philosophy does not concur with that of other Tea groups they have alienated themselves from the mainstream of the Tea Parties in the 8th. The Sandhills We The People started as a tea party in the spring of ’09 with around 350 patriots. Since, they have become more formally organized and have joined forces on several occasions with WTPNC. We The People Stanly, as mentioned earlier began when a group of Stanly residence who were attending the events held by WTPNC decided to start their own organization in Stanly County. They comprise of around 250 and are currently somewhat inactive. WTPNC is comprised of a list of around 700 and holds meetings in the range of 300 – 500 which makes us the largest and most active in the 8th district. Because we are at the center of the controversy it is necessary to elaborate some on who we are.

The mission of WTPNC is “To Unite and Equip People to Preserve, Protect and Defend the U. S. Constitution”.

(You can find our statement of beliefs at http://wethepeoplenc.org/mission.htm). Dedicated to the principles of free market economy, less government and individual liberties we have worked hard to grow an organization capable of managing the activities that we see are necessary to fulfill our mission.

We were started as an organization; not as a “Tea Party” but we fully espouse the spirit of the Tea Revolution. Our meetings in 2009 were designed to reach others who were concerned about where our country was headed. Our monthly meetings grew in size very rapidly until we were meeting at 500+.

We are governed by a CEO, President and a board of directors that preside over the many activities we are engaged in. Most all activity is governed by parliamentary procedure. In addition our weekly board meetings are attended by many members who are invited to be part of the “round table”. These members are able to have as much input with their ideas as any board member. The only qualification for this participation is that they adhere to our mission, values and beliefs. This we believe has formed a successful model where there is solid management coupled with grass roots participation of the many different types of people who make up the Tea Party Revolution.

Our organizational structure is based on the goal to educate, organize and engage. It is made up of two legs; education and activism. Our education ranges from economic literacy and constitutional studies to training candidates and volunteers for future races. Our activism ranges from open protests to letter writing and organizing events for mass meetings.

Following our mission, vision and values it is necessary that in order to affect change we also needed a committee that can legally speak with a political voice and raise money for the candidates that we feel will advance our mission. Therefore we established a Political Action Committee (PAC). (More on this later.)

Now, which candidate and why.

Several weeks ago a controversy started when an article came out in the Independent Tribune with a title that originally said, “Local Tea Party Members Endorse Johnson”. The article tried to paint a picture that these people mentioned were all in the 8th district when in fact most were in the 9th and 12th. Since it is now proven that only one of those mentioned is a leader in the 8th district (TPP in Richmond County), the Independent Tribune changed the title to “Regional Tea Party leaders support Johnson”. This article was a blatant attempt of the Johnson campaign to paint Harold as the tea party candidate. We didn’t even look at ourselves that way until Johnson chose to attack us and now the attacks continue with Harold saying he is the “real tea party candidate”.

It was through WTP-PAC that we researched and had face to face Q and A meetings with many candidates with whom we asked questions that reflected our core values of free market economy, limited government (shrinking government) and individual liberty. The conclusions of that committee culminated in the endorsement of eleven politicians which were publicly recognized on April 19, 2010 at an event held at the Cabarrus County Government Center. Additionally we published the endorsements in the Independent Tribune and on a voter card which was handed to voters on Election Day. One of those endorsements went to Tim D’Annunzio.

I would like to confirm that Harold Johnson is the tea party candidate…. of some…. in the 9th and 12th districts. Trouble is that you are not running in the 9th or 12th, you are running in the 8th.

Harold, we had nothing against you and said nothing derogatory about you. You simply failed our qualifications when you sat across the table for 2½ hours and answered questions. It was absolutely clear that you were just as uninformed on the issues in early April as you were in December and woefully empty on solutions. The leadership of WTPNC, the roundtable and many others in our group have had discussions with you and drawn the same sad conclusions. In addition, with the state of our nation as it is there was no sense that you were on a mission to go to Washington with a passion to save our nation from collapse.

Further it was very disturbing to find that you were asked to come to the eighth district so that the Republican Party would have someone to run against Tim D’Annunzio.

You also failed to meet with and otherwise fill out a questionnaire that We The People Sandhills asked you to fill out. http://wethepeoplenc.org/sandquestions.htm After the same careful consideration that group, the second largest in the 8th decided on their own that you did not share their values. You have not earned the right to call yourself the tea party candidate in the 8th district. In fact you have shown by your actions that you are more prone to follow the Party by showing disdain for any Tea Partiers that disagree with you. I know this because I am intimately aware of the “back room” discussions you had.

Your own rule is that when the other guy attacks you have the right to attack back but I have more integrity than that so here is my answer to your attempt to drive a wedge in the Tea Party of the 8th. We continue to grow stronger and there are other elections coming up. Who knows, maybe by then if there are still elections you will understand these are perilous times or maybe you will still be just another empty suit given to us by a power hungry Republican Establishment who still hasn’t got it.

If there are others that think that you are capable of doing the job I hold nothing against them. If their desire is to have someone who “can beat Kissell” and it is not important that we stand up to the Party that has proven themselves so inept, so be it. If others believe as you do; that we need to “slow the growth of government” instead of stopping it and reversing it, so be it. And if others feel like they need government to help them like you say “Government’s role should be doing things for citizens that citizens cannot do for themselves” then so be it. After all this is only about whether or not we will even exist as a free and prosperous nation in 2 – 4 years.

Let the record be known as it is written here that Tim D’Annunzio is the candidate that was endorsed by WTP-PAC and represents most who call themselves members of We The People NC and We The People of the Sandhills, the two largest and most active tea party groups in the eighth district.

Michael Kelly
Founder WTPNC