My speech from the Greenville, SC Tea Party.

By Lenny McAllister

Hello Greenville Tea Party Patriots!

Thank you for having me here today, a day where most people believe we are here only to protest paying taxes.

And yes, we do believe that we must protest the expanding role of government, the continued deficit spending, and the threats of taxation impacting America’s ability to create American jobs and American prosperity for us all – things, as we know, are part of what makes up the American Dream.

Yet, we also understand that we are a group of citizens here today that understand the beauty of living in a nation that gives us the chance to experience liberty and pursue happiness, just as it is listed in the Declaration of Independence. Therefore, if we are a tea party group that is protesting being “taxed enough already”, we are also a partying group of Americans that celebrate the joy and power of living in the greatest nation in the world.

We come together today to challenge our governments at the local, state, and federal levels to take on endeavors that get us out of the economic blackmail we are entering into with foreign debtors that disapprove of the American Way of life. We also come together to celebrate the ability to self-determine our leaders, self-govern ourselves in a republican form of government, and self-equip ourselves with the tools to be a stronger nation. Therefore, we also challenge our fellow Americans to join us in learning more about our laws and about the possibilities of American greatness. We say to both the apathetic politician and apathetic American voter: it is time for change we can believe in, starting with voting out politicians that refuse to listen to their constituents while we inspire voters to choose leaders on issues and honor, not slogans and media sound bites.

We come together today to challenge our national leaders to uphold the honor and decorum that we expect as the beacon of goodness in the world. We come together to say that we will leverage the best of the past – such as inspiring our citizens to be more vigilant as civic-minded Americans – without sparking up the worst within the fringes of our nation. We will cease talk about people needing a test in order to vote and begin testing the mettle of our politicians and our neighbors everyday to ensure that we all pass through the tests of time that our nation faces currently. We as citizen leaders know that America is a land that loves freedom and respects the melting pot that is our nation so long as each one of us honors the laws of the land. To bring our nation back to its glory days, we must embrace and inspire everyday Americans to do more, be more, and see more for our future – and be proud to do so.

Special interest groups only have the power to inspire politicians and government bureaucracies, but tea partiers such as you – with honor for our laws and love for our country – you have the power to inspire a nation.

That power is the reason we come to protest the direction of government but celebrate the power of our people to change our government today.

Just the same, we challenge the media and some of our fellow Americans to walk with us, moving past the accusations of racism, the stories of hatred, and the belief that loving our Constitution and the self-determination that makes the United States so great also means hating some of our neighbors.

We stand today united and say to you: do not believe the reports in the media without experiencing the repore (sp) of Tea Party goers throughout the land. We say to you today: do not say that we discriminate based on race or creed if you were not there watching us collectively defend all American creeds and colors on the battlefields of the world and in the courtrooms of justice.

Fellow citizens, this started out as a protest against tax increases, but now it is a movement to unify America in the midst of historic recession, social division, and uncertain times. We celebrate the American Way – as fostered by the Constitution and the time-honored principles of this land – and know that it will help us once again build another time of American splendor and prosperity – as economic leaders in the world, as education innovators throughout the world, and as humanitarian inspirations for the world.

The folks in Washington don’t get it: tough taxes do not build that. Tough American people do – folks that are free from Washington’s central planning and unfazed by the mixed messages and lack of transparency that we have gotten from government for far too long now.

It is our Constitution that solidified freedom from tyranny in Britain, created freedom from slavery, and defeated fascism around the world. The Constitution is that commonality that binds us together, not a pick-and-choose assortment of statements that career politicians can sort through at their choosing in order to avoid listening to us, their bosses.

Despite what too many politicians seemingly believe in Washington: the law applies to us all, not just to the little people back home…and the Constitution is a mandatory guide for American politics, not a burdensome document for politicians to ignore whenever their special interest groups distract them from the true special interest group they should listen to always: Y-O-U.

That is why we gather today – to protect our nation in order to hand over a better nation to our children and grandchildren, not to our debtors and enemies. We disapprove of paying higher taxes for deficit spending brought on by a group of mini-kings and mini-queens that listen more to their “friends in high places” than they do to you and me. They seem to have forgotten that the highest places in American politics are not Capitol Hill, the White House, and the conference rooms in Washington, DC – the highest places in American politics in voting booths in Greenville, SC, and Gainesville, Florida, and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Therefore, we call out to Americans of all creeds and groups today: join us and see that we are one nation, under God, and indivisible – with a pursuit that seeks to have liberty and justice for all. If you are not willing to join us now in defending the Constitution while the role of government expands to dangerous levels for tax purposes, when will you get involved? There is now a 2000-page health care bill voted in through bribery and earmarks, a bill that will threaten to tax away small business opportunities, health care professionals, and premium health care plans for everyday Americans – yet it exempts folks working within the federal government from participating? Is that enough to make you get involved?

Will you protest with us only after the government intrudes upon the 2nd Amendment?

Will you protest with us only after the government intrudes upon the 15th Amendment?

Will you join us only after the government intrudes upon the 8th Amendment?

I say to you: that would be just too late, and we are not a nation of “too late”. We are a nation of too many believers in the power of God to allow America to fade into mediocrity. We are a nation of too many hard-working people to allow America to fade into a battle of the haves and have-nots when we can have a diversity of prosperity because of the power of American ingenuity. We are a nation of too many citizens that are now engaged in taking back America to the best of our past while forging a better future ahead.

We are not a nation that waits until it’s too late; we are a nation that says that there are too many people from all walks of life that sacrificed and died for our freedom as Americans to allow it to slip away now. It took one revolutionary war to create the United States of America. However, it may take two – a second fight of ideas and determination brought to Congress and city hall, brought to Wilson, North Carolina and Washington, DC, and points in between. Yes, it took one revolution to build a great nation, but it may take two to uphold our great nation.

So as it was before, it is now. It starts with tea parties. It starts with tea partying. It starts with everyday people celebrating the power within, not the power of government.

It is not a call to slam America with hatred. It is a call to activate America in love. It is not a call to limit the power of the vote. It is a call to empower the American voter. We are not a protest to divide America on past differences. We are a movement to unify and defend America for our common future of prosperity. We are not a nation of “too late” in the 21st century – we are a nation ready to take America to the next level of prosperity and freedom in the 21st century.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today. God Bless our efforts, and May God Bless the United States of America.

–Lenny McAllister is a syndicated political commentator, orator, and the author of the book, “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative,)” which can be purchased online at http://www.tinyurl.com/lennysdiary and http://www.amazon.com. Catch Lenny during the “We Count!” broadcast on C-SPAN March 29. You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/lennyhhr, on Facebook at http://www.tinyurl.com/lennyfacebook, and daily at http://pycmusings.blogspot.com.