The formation and growth of the Tea Party movement across the United States has been nothing short of miraculous. Every day citizens are coming together in communities, towns and cities to form various groups with the common goals of liberty, freedom, fiscal responsibility and a constitutionally limited government.

Mississippi has experienced that same growth and the time has come to connect the various groups throughout the state in order to create a stronger voice for political action and representation.  Therefore, the current legal structure, name and web site of the central Mississippi tea party, officially known as “The Mississippi Tea Party”, will be transitioned into a new statewide organization through a planned state convention, with representatives from many of the organizations throughout the state. The various groups have been cooperating, sharing resources and working together for several months. Most recently, their efforts have been largely credited with obtaining over 130,000 signatures from around the state on a petition to place a photo Voter ID law on the ballot in 2011.

While participation will be voluntary, it is hoped that most, if not all, of the current groups agree to participate in the state convention, finalize the draft constitution that has been proposed, and ratify a new Constitution for the now united Mississippi Tea Party. The state convention has been scheduled for April 30 – May 1, 2010 and will be held in the Jackson area. At the end of the convention, the existing leadership of The Mississippi Tea Party will turn over the reigns of the group to the newly elected officers and then become the leadership of the brand new Central Mississippi Tea Party.

Five Tea Party Groups have been invited to be Charter Chapters of The Mississippi Tea Party and these five groups have been asked to send 5 delegates to Jackson for a two-day convention to create the By-Laws of the new state-wide organization and to elect officers and board members from the attending delegates. Committees will also be formed at this time. MeridianTeaParty.com is honored to have been invited as one of the Charter Chapters and the MeridianTeaParty.com Board has agreed to participate.

MeridianTeaParty.com will continue to operate as it always has and will retain it’s independence and complete autonomy from The Mississippi Tea Party. The goal of The Mississippi Tea Party will be to improve communications between the various Tea Party and 9-12 groups around the State by creating and enhancing the network between groups. Ultimately, the Mississippi Tea Party will publicly represent all Tea Party/9-12 groups within the state on issues that the groups agree on.

It is the belief of the Board of MeridianTeaParty.com that the key to future success is to  build links to other Tea Party groups and sharing information equally. We cannot continue depending on the mainstream media to let us know about candidates such at Scott Brown or Mark Rubio. They will learn if they haven’t already that the more accurate information we have the more powerful Tea Party groups will become. Therefore, it is our responsibility to connect to those who believe the same way we do and to leverage the individual strengths of our separate groups and to speak with one voice whenever possible. For example, MeridianTeaParty.com counts it’s membership around 500, but just the five charter chapters of the new Mississippi Tea Party can truthfully claim a state-wide membership of close to 5,000 members. This association of Tea Party groups will make it easier to approach statewide media and will give each chapter access to resources and manpower greater than we might achieve individually.

We have posted the proposed by-laws of The Mississippi Tea Party here and you can download them, review them and send your suggestions for changes to theguru@MeridianTeaParty.com. We have also posted a poll on www.MeridianTeaParty.com to get a sense of your reaction to all of this. Feel free to send us any questions you may have and we’ll try to put together a list of all the questions and answers and publish them for everyone. This message will be published on our website and you can post your comments or questions there as well.

If you are a member of MeridianTeaParty.com and would like to participate as one of our delegates to the By-Laws Convention in Jackson, please contact us here. If we get more than five volunteers, we’ll come up with a way to select the five delegates at our March meeting (TBA).

For more information on The Mississippi Tea Party: www.themsteaparty.org

In the bluest of blue states, the people of Massachuetts went to the polls and voted for the most conservative candidate and in doing so they voted against Ted Kennedy liberalism, ObamaCare, Pelosi, Reid, Democratic control of the Senate, Socialism and the liberal agenda being forced down the throats of all Americans. I heard stories today that although the unions were encouraging their members to go vote, many of them were planning to vote for Brown.

Liberal Washington was sent a message when millions marched on September 12th and they ignored us. We told them we were coming when Hoffman did as well as he did in NY-23 and they ignored us. They were sent a message when millions of pink slips arrived at the Capitol and they ignored us. We were screaming into bullhorns when New Jersey and Virginia elected Republican Governors and they ignored us. But today, Scott Brown kicked in the door of the Senate and announced that the game has changed! They cannot ignore us anymore.

But here’s the thing to remember: YOU DID THIS! YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN!

No matter how the media spins the results, no matter how the Democrats try to cheat or delay or prevent Scott Brown from taking his seat, remember that this didn’t happen without each and everyone of you who donated to Brown’s campaign, volunteered to call people in Massachuetts, talked to someone you knew, participated in a Tea Party Meeting or even if you just started paying attention. It took all of those things for Brown to win, just like it will continue taking each and everyone of you participating in the process every time an opportunity comes our way.

On Thursday, January 7th, 2010, the word started to spread among Tea Parties all over this country that there might be a chance to help Scott Brown when Rasmussen reported that Brown was down by only 9 points. On Friday, January 8th, 2010 along with hundreds of other Tea Parties, we sent out a request to all our members to help Scott if they could. Average Americans began to respond over that weekend, but starting on Monday of the following week donations started pouring into the Brown campaign at the rate of over $1 Million dollars per day all in small donations! The Democrats were caught flat-footed and when they tried to respond it was too little too late. Coakley didn’t help her campaign by dissing Curt Schilling and then Obama arrived and dissed people who drive trucks. But none of that would have been useful if we all had not been paying attention to this race. Best of all, because Obama went to Martha’s aid, he owns this loss just as surely as he is ultra-liberal.

Last Friday, I was exchanging emails with a friend and we were discussing the Tea Party Movement in general. In one of my emails, I confided to him:

“We need a win. Simple, straightforward, no bs, and no spin. Tea Parties need a win that they can point to and say “We did that.” Period. I cannot over emphasize the importance of this fact. And we need a win that we can call our own WITHIN the existing two-party system. As non-partisan as we try to be that will probably be within the Republican Party. Nothing sells like a winner. Nothing feels as good as accomplishing the impossible. Nothing, but nothing exceeds feeling like a hero.“

To paraphrase Sidney Poitier in the film “In The Heat Of The Night,“ Scott Brown can feel good when he says, “They call me Senator Brown!” However, you can take pride in saying, “They Call Me A Tea Party Member!”

Revel in the moment. Enjoy the sweetness of the win. Savor the feeling of accomplishing the impossible. Relish being a hero.

Then on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 join MeridianTeaParty.com at the EMEPA Auditorium on Hwy 39 North at 6:30pm as we start the next step in continuing the process of replacing those members of Congress and the Senate who have forgotten who they work for and who sent them there. Oh, and bring a few people with you who want to be on a winning team! We need more players, it’s just getting good now!!!!!

PS: I hope Scott Brown drives his truck to Washington to take his seat. Wouldn’t it be cool if pickups lined the streets of Washington, D.C. to welcome him?

The MeridianTeaParty.com will be holding a meeting on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at the EMEPA Auditorium on Hwy 39 North starting at 6:30p.m. to discuss and introduce their first effort for 2010 which will be Voter Registration. Donna Jill Johnson, Lauderdale Circuit Clerk, will be our special guest speaker to talk about the voter registration process and how we can help her get as many voters registered as we can. She’ll also be providing us with voter registration forms to use as we try to get as many people signed up to vote.

In light of our recent petition efforts to get Voter ID on the ballot for all Mississippians to vote up or down and with the November Elections coming up this year, it is natural that we should be concerned about getting voters registered to vote. ACORN has been doing this for a long, long time and it is time for us to step up and encourage people to get involved and to excute their duty as citizens and vote!

We will also be discussing how to increase the number of members we have on our email subscriber list.

Come join us for a lively discussion and bring a friend or two with you!

The MeridianTeaParty.com’s board and membership have agreed that this is an important effort and one that we can support in our part of the state. To that end, until November 17th, MeridianTeaParty.com members will be passing out petitions and asking for signatures.

On Tuesday, November 17th, MeridianTeaParty.com will hold another public meeting at the EMEPA Auditorium to gather all the signed petitions collected and present them to Jeppie Barbour who will return to speak to us and receive the results of our efforts that night.

Blank petitions are currently available at the following locations:

• GuideOne Insurance (Directions)
• Graphic Printers (Directions)
• Quality PC of Meridian (Directions)

If you would like to have some petitions to pass out at your business, contact us here and we’ll add your business to this page! MeridianTeaParty.com is very interested in placing petitions in businesses on the West and North sides of Meridian.

To make collection signatures a little more competitive and exciting, prizes will be given to the following top signature getters:

• First Place: Dinner For Two Gift Certificate for a local restuarant.
• Second Place: Lunch For Two Gift Certificate for a local restuarant.
• Third Place: Free Movie Passes for Two

Finally, to give everyone a chance to win, there will be a Wild Card Winner for a free night’s stay at the Lion & Harp Bed & Breakfast! To qualify, simply gather 25 signatures and your name will be entered into the Wild Card Drawing!

There may be more wild card prizes coming soon, and we will announce them here, so check back often!

This is a major opportunity for everyone to help change Mississippi for the better and for our state to be a shining example of true and fair democracy.

One Person, One Vote & Every Vote Counts!

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After Mr. Barbour completes his presentation, we will be showing a one-hour documentary film entitled “33 Minutes” which documents the importance of missile defense to the U.S. and describes the systematic efforts by liberals in this country to dismantle our missile defense programs. This is a powerful movie and one everyone should see! With Iran’s continued march toward achieving nuclear weapons, this film is more timely than ever!

You can learn more about ‘33 Minutes’ and watch the movie trailer by clicking here.

We need to have as many people as possible attend this meeting so we can get the word out about Voter ID! With ACORN crumbling, this is the best opportunity we have had in years to bring reform to the voting process!

PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT!

Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Time: 6:30pm
Location: EMEPA Auditorium (On Hwy 39 – Click for Map)
Speaker: Jeppie Barbour

The Film ‘33 Minutes‘ will be shown after the speaker’s presentation

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Forum: Healthcare Question and Answer with Drs. Barrett, Ley and Boronow. These three Doctors have been with us from the start and are very passionate, and well-informed on the issues that affect you!

Entertainment: Special music by John Williams – a gifted patriot.

Food: Free Hamburgers and Hot Dogs (please bring your own sides, tomatoes, pickles and onions) and don’t forget the chips!

Please bring chairs and eating utensils, and remember it will be hot, so make sure to bring something that will help cool you down.

*parking and restrooms are in the Smith Wills Parking Lot.

Start Time: 11:00
Date: 2009-08-22
End Time: 14:00

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Mark S. Mayfield has sent you a message on Mississippi Tea Party

Friends and fellow Patriots,

With your help, August 22 will be a day our elected officials will not soon forget.

We are asking for your help organizing rallies at the local district offices of Bennie Thompson, Travis Childers, Roger Wicker, Thad Cochran, Greg Harper and Gene Taylor. With the Health Care vote looming in September, we have to let Mississippi and the nation hear our voice, that we say NO! To Socialized health Care.

Please let Cindy or Julia know as soon as possible if you can help organize this event.

Cindy – wilkie4@comcast.net
and/or
Julia – MsTeaParty@comcast.net

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Freedom-loving people all over this nation stood up against massive and unnecessary government spending threatening to tear our country apart. Something strange happened that day. Mothers, fathers, factory workers, office workers, retirees, doctors, lawyers,  “real” politicians (known as statesmen), children, college students, black and white and all other races, conservatives, liberals and, well…… just about any group you can imagine …… stood in public squares in towns all over this country and voiced their reasoned opinions and opposition to their leaders. More importantly, when the day was over, they did not go home and consider their duty done.  They got involved.

On July 4th, 2009, tens of thousands of Americans came back together in those same public squares to remind the self-serving politicians exactly who elected them and to publicly express their love for the hard-won freedoms and Independence that are now slipping away one by one. People from all walks of life have had it. The very foundations of the Country they love are being threatened by relentless daily assaults on liberty. What better way to honor the number one Protest Document of all time, The Declaration of Independence, than to gather together and in one voice re-assert the people’s ownership and participation in the governance of these United States.

The socialists didn’t expect a fight. After all, they won the election. They are in charge. They thought, “This simply cannot happen!”  Except they forgot one thing and that was the “silent majority” they had heard about, but never really given much credence. “The nerve of those right-wing radicals!!!” they thought.

NOW HEAR THIS!!!!! The Silent Majority Will Not Be Silent Anymore and We Are Not Done Yet!

Following on the heels of successful rallies in the public squares of towns all over this great country, on September 12, 2009,  The Freedom Works Foundation is sponsoring a march in the public square of our country: Washington, D.C. to emphasize the wishes of a majority of people in this country.

Other organizations co-sponsoring the event are: The National Taxpayers Union, The Campaign for Liberty, The Tea Party Patriots, The Club for Growth, ResistNet.com, Smart Girl Politics, Americans for Tax Reform, Young Americans for Liberty, Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, Our Country Deserves Better PAC, The Leadership Institute, The Grassfire Alliance.org, The Free Republic, The Young America’s Foundation, The National Association of Rural Landowners, The Freedom Activist Network, Center for Individual Freedom, and Parcbench.

Groups from all over the nation will head toward Washington on September 11. If you can join them please do.

This could be a turning-point to win our country back from the real radicals.

Visit http://www.912dc.org for more details.

Early this afternoon, it became apparent that the Blue Dog Democrats on the Energy & Commerce Committee had reached a compromise that will allow them to reconvene the committee and vote to send the Health Care Reform Bill to the full House for consideration. However, while some $100 Billion in cuts were made to the total cost of the bill and small businesses with payrolls less than $500,000 are now exempt from paying for govenment health care, the big news is that the final vote in the House of Representatives will not take place until AFTER the August Recess. This is actually a huge win for Conservatives in a several different ways.

• First, with the full month of August to review and audit the Health Care Reform bill, opponents (ie: Tea Party Members!) will have a lot more time to fight this bill.
• Second, usually Reprentatives head back to their Districts during the recess and there will be opportunities to confront them in person for their support or opposition of this bill.
• Third, a lot can happen in 30 days and while we shouldn’t count on any mis-steps from the White House we are certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
• Fourth, it appears that the House Of Representatives will re-convene the same week in September that the 9-12 March On Washington will take place. That event will put a lot of conservative constitutents in Washington D.C. at the same time as the Legislators and potentially could make the 9-12 March even more significant and the fight on the House Floor more interesting.

Let’s be honest here. In my humble opinion, I don’t think anyone really believed that the Blue Dogs could or would stop this bill in Henry Waxman’s committee permanently. The best that we could hope for was that they could slow down this train wreck and give everyone some breathing room to absorb and digest the biggest take-over of the U.S. economy we have ever seen. The bottom line is that Blue Dogs are still Democrats and when Democrats negotiate with Democrats there will always be some compromise because Blue Dogs were not fighting to KILL the bill, they were fighting to have some impact on the final legislation.

So What Do We Do Now

Well, the fight is just beginning. In the coming weeks, MeridianTeaParty.com and all Tea Party/9-12 Organizations will continue to try to provide the most accurate information and specific action alerts to help everyone focus their efforts in the same direction. In fact, here are just 10 things we can start doing right now:

1. Educate yourself on what’s really in the Health Care Reform Bill. There’s a lot of bad information floating around on the Internet and in emails. Arm yourself with the facts and then start dialing numbers and sending emails.
2. Go to this link and click on the video link listed there. This is simply the best motivational and instructional video out there and it explains in no uncertain terms exactly the kind of fight we are now in.
3. Go to this link and start calling all of the Blue Dog Democrats and Senators in swing states and remind them who they work for and why you oppose this bill.
4. Contact your friends and relatives in every state and ask them to call their elected officials to oppose this bill.
5. Start writing letters to the editors of newspapers around our State and our Nation. Education is our most powerful weapon.
6. Start posting on any online forum you can find. The Meridian Star and WMOX.net both have forums locally. Sign up and then express yourself politely, but firmly. Trust me, people do read comments in forums. Take advantage of this!
7. Go to this link and compare & contrast the difference between Rep. Childers and Rep. Taylor.
8. Call Rep. Travis Childers’ Mississippi Office (662-841-8808) and let him know how you feel about his silence on this issue.
9. Call Rep. Gene Taylor’s Mississippi Office (601-582-3246) and thank him for standing firm against this bill.
10. Call the entire Mississippi Delegation and express yourself politely and firmly.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Do not let the media or Democrats in general make you feel like today was a failure for the Conservative movement. It was not. In fact it was the best outcome that could be expected. There will be no vote before September! This is no time to be depressed, discouraged, demoralized or defeated. Remind yourself daily if necessary that when it counted, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi DID NOT GET HER WAY and neither did the White House.

Hold your head up high because to paraphrase a blue-collar guy I’m sure you’ll recognize, “Obama DID NOT Git-R-Done!”

It has come to my attention that there is an effort being made in Congress to create yet another federal bureaucracy…This is certainly NOT what our country needs, especially at this moment.  More government usually means more inefficiency, more cost, more red tape, and less jobs created in the private sector.  HR 635 has been introduced into the House by Congressman Joe Bacca.  The stated purpose of this bill is to establish a “National Commission on the State’s Workers’ Compensation Laws.”  

Workers’ compensation is a matter that has been (and is) being handled by the respective states.  Creating yet another Federal bureaucracy to oversee the state’s Workers’ Comp programs is both redundant and inefficient since the various states have been (and are) dealing with Workers’ Compensation quite effectively.  Apparently, this type of “centralization” thought process seems rampant in Washington.  Duplication of effort in these trying times is not only inefficient and redundant, but in my opinion, just plain stupid!  Please use your influence to see that HR 635 and other redundant measures authorizing Washington bureaucrats to take over state run programs are not passed into law. 

As one of the largest employers in the state of Mississippi, my company is trying desperately to survive in the toughest economic environment we have encountered in our 44 years of operation.  The very last thing we need is even more regulation and inefficiency through creating yet another bureaucracy to regulate and oversee what the states have been handling re: Workers’ Compensation for many decades.  Please do not support Mr. Bacca’s HR 635!

While on the topic of inefficiency, we at Peavey also believe that the “Cap and Trade” proposal currently before you is nothing less than an incipient disaster, bundled with a thinly disguised huge tax increase that will unfairly impact those least able to pay.  From heating oil, to diesel fuel, to electricity; every aspect of American society will be impacted by the nightmare of “Cap and Trade.”  Last week, Secretary Clinton visited India and was pointedly advised that India would NOT be participating in efforts to limit “greenhouse gasses!”  China has also advised the Europeans and the US, that CHINA would also NOT abide by the proposals to reduce “greenhouse gasses”…Obviously, if two if the largest producers of so-called “greenhouse gasses” refuse to “play ball,” WHY SHOULD WE?  Especially, since the huge increases in taxes, etc, etc. will invariably increase the cost of EVERYTHING!

Sadly, it seems apparent that many in Congress have failed to grasp that when business (large or small) experiences increased costs, those costs INVARIABLY get PASSED ALONG TO THE CONSUMER!  The ONLY WAY that our nation will pull out of this economic downturn is for CONSUMER SPENDING to RETURN to previous levels.  When consumers have less disposable income, then obviously they spend less.  Imposing a “Cap and Trade” unilaterally will essentially create an “umbrella tax” that will “trickle down” into EVERY ASPECT OF U.S. SOCIETY!  The present economic situation dictates that WE NEED FEWER TAXES, NOT MORE!  If there is any “logic” to “Cap and Trade,” it certainly does not indicate that the timing of such a program is right for PRESENT economic conditions.  My personal belief is that “Cap and Trade” is really a thinly disguised program to MASSIVELY increase taxation, which will inevitably result in a HIGHER COST OF LIVING FOR EVERYBODY in the USA, while India and China will be able to grab even more manufacturing jobs from the USA!  Cap and Trade will be the “final nail in the coffin” of U.S. manufacturing!

As a major manufacturer in the state of Mississippi and as one of the largest in the music and audio in the United States, I beg you to resist destructive measures such as HR 635, Cap and Trade, and last (but certainly not least) the present Heath Care “reform” package now before Congress.  Massive taxation has never saved any nation, but has destroyed many.  The USA possibly wouldn’t exist if the King of England hadn’t implemented harsh and unreasonable taxation on the American colonists! 

The “tea parties” that are cropping up around the nation are a significant “wakeup call” that our representatives and leaders in Washington need to listen to and I hope and pray that you ARE listening to what your constituents are saying.  Thank you for your attention and consideration of this matter. 

Respectfully,
Hartley Peavey
CEO
Peavey Electronics Corp

This letter was posted with the permission of the author.

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