A Reason for Optimism
Within two days of launching this site, thousands of patriots poured out their frustrations, concerns, passion, and hearts. We are still getting through the responses. From these e-mails, one thing is certain: the cause of freedom is filled with hard-working, wise, and articulate men and women who understand the problems we face as a country today much more than the government gives us credit. With her permission, Patty has agreed to share her letter:
Mr. Santelli,
Thank you for telling it like it is in the real world. The world where schedules are insane. Where parents volunteer COUNTLESS HOURS at their parochial school to teach Art and Coach sports teams because the public schools that our tax dollars are paying for absolutely stink. The world where hard work has meant a comfortable house and providing for our children. The world where we EARN the money we make with late nights and stress and discomfort and frustration and we suck it up because it is the right thing to do. And, because it helps to teach our children that hard work pays off. And, because it is what we CHOOSE to do.
Yes, I will mail tea bags to the White House.
Yes, I would like to participate in a Tea Party.
When 3 women - 2 in their 40s and successfully self-employed, and 1 in her mid-60s have a lunch on 2/18/09 that turns into a rant about politics - specifically the fact that we are no longer a country where we are represented and we are no longer working toward capitalistic goals - you know there is something askew. This is a true story. Over a lunch last week I sat with 2 women shaking our heads collectively and agreeing to keep in touch on what we CAN do to put control back into the hands of the PEOPLE and help return this to a REPRESENTATIVE democracy, not a Socialist Dictatorship.
YES - Mr. Santelli - PLEASE go to Washington. Tell Mr. Gibbs where he can firmly place the document he so arrogantly suggested you didn’t read. While you’re there, please remind Mr. Obama that he lives in AMERICA - the land of the free. And the home of the outspoken.
Then, get back on TV and keep waking up the sleeping giant, silent majority who - if they keep silent - run the risk of losing more than a few tax dollars.
Until this past fall and winter I had never contacted my senator or congressman about anything. I have emailed anyone and everyone i could find in the past few weeks begging them to represent me and vote NO on any other bailout program.
Do we need a Tea Party? Hell yes.
I’ve been saying that we need one since the first bailout last fall. But, I am only one woman. Thankfully Rick Santelli has stamina, chutzpah, and integrity to stand up and speak his mind that reflects so many of us in the trenches too busy to do anything because we are working hard and parenting our children.
Yes. We want our free, capitalist country back - complete with its flaws and failures and imperfections. ANYTHING is better than another bandaid.
Lynne said:
Yes!!! I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it! I will not shut up. I will not sit and watch while the country I love is destroyed. I work hard and have done very well because of my work ethic and willingness to take risks. I’ve fallen several times, picked myself up and forged ahead. I’ve been successful because this country used to be a country of opportunity for honest, hard working people and for risk takers. America’s first residents were risk takers!
Now I sit and watch my weath being redistributed to the political elite and pet projects where the goal is to buy future votes. And when I hear that many of those elites don’t even pay their own fair share of taxes….. ahhhhh!
Few are representing my interests, nor is anyone respecting the fact that the money BIG GOV is redistributing is MY MONEY. It’s mine. I earned it. I am charitable to others, but Uncle Sam is scraping most of the money of the top of my tax contributions for elite pet projects and for the betterment of personal political and future non-political careers and not for people who can actually help. I could do better donating my own money directly to others.
I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!!!
February 25th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Aaron said:
Thank you Mr. Santelli,
This is a desperately needed movement!
Aaron, MN
February 26th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Bruce W said:
I’ve been mad as hell. For years I write my IL and Federal Democratic congressmen. I get back polite letters saying in essence, thank you for your input but I am going to do what I think is right. I get so mad I could burst. YOU are there to REPRESENT ME. I am sick of the Socialist Dictatorship also. Why do we keep voting the same idiots in every term?? You want things to be different, keep changing Congressmen till you find one who will represent you, do what you want, not the party. This is partly our fault. We are supposed to be in charge but we blew it. We can take it back but we have to raise HELL and loudly - - Write and call your congressmen, don’t be too polite, tell them what you want, what you expect and that if they don’t represent the people they’ll be out of a job. Then FOLLOW THRU. This accountability is the only thing that will work. We haven’t been making them pay by job loss, which is the only thing they understand. I hope you don’t think they are there for the Glory or the salary, it’s the other “benefits”, the side money is much bigger than all the rest put together. The “Stimulus” is nothing but a massive fraud foisted on the American people, a Democratic wish list of everything the Dems have wanted for the last 40 years and could never get. Eric Holder’s comment, roughly: Never miss a crisis as an opportunity to get what you want. I can’t find the exact text, was a clue. Welfare is back, Government Healthcare is here; wait till you see the rest. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see you’ve been had. For years the Fed has been condoning sending jobs overseas, then they leave the borders open to anyone, including terrorists, who have been coming in. You’d be apalled at the numbers of terrorist Muslims if you saw the numbers. Don’t even believe the media or that we have 12 million illegal aliens here. It’s more like 75 million. By my personal experience they have been sneaking in here since the 1960’s. Of course, these people all get jobs while here and totally erode our wage base and take many of the best paying jobs in construction [$38./hour] and other places, making Hispanic Cliques where now you Can’t get a job because you don’t speak their language. Do you make $38./ hour PLUS free health insurance plus other benefits, they do! I personally know a guy who works in a factory making $6 an hour. Fifty years ago this factory paid higher wages than this. Need I say more? I could go on but you get the idea. There is NO reason for optimism, you HAVE to act - - write and call, talk to your friends, get them to wite and call. This is on you — your failure to fight this puts America and your family back 40 years, wait till you get the bill deducted from your meager paycheck. You’re not going to like it and it will be too late. Find your district and rep. on the internet.
February 26th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Sinking in California said:
I would like to see the tax loop-holes and not-so-loop-holes the Congress-Critters and the Administration will use to keep (and hide) their earnings while Robin Hood does his thing. I live in the state of Pelosi, Waxman, Boxer and Feinstein. Toss me a life raft!
Mr. Santelli, keep your voice resonating loud and clear in the coming months!
February 26th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Ned said:
Mr. Santelli,
There is a rumour going around on the internet, where it is reported that the Obama Administration has GRANTED EMINENT DOMAIN AS COLLATERAL TO CHINA FOR U.S. DEBTS! Please check out the following discussion thread:
http://obamacrimes.us/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=614&p=6566#p6566
I am not sure, if this rumour is true, but as I’ve mentioned in the above discussion thread, the only way to ensure the Sovereignty of American Land, if such deals can be made by the Administration, without disclosure to Congress (as was done in 1972), is to push Congress and the President for the passage and signing into law of the American Land Sovereignty Protection Act (H.R. 883), as I’ve mentioned in the above thread. Can you please bring this topic for discussion in the Tea Parties that are being organized, so that people can ask their representatives with a United Voice that this resolution be reintroduced in the Congress and subsequently signed into law?
BTW, thanks for bringing the concept of the Tea Party into the mainstream media and being the voice of WE THE PEOPLE, about whom the power brokers in Washington don’t seem to care anymore.
Regards,
Ned
February 26th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Don Perera said:
A copy of letters I sent to my “representatives”(??) in DC. I put an up-side-down American flag on the front, a sign of distress. I’vbe been working on a West Coast Tea Party for some time.
You folks in Washington really know how to make taxpayers angry. Spend! Spend! Spend! The only trouble is the Government doesn’t have the money to spend now and won’t have the money to repay the debt being created for generations.
As a taxpayer I am furious at not only the amount being spent, but what it is being spent on. PORK! PORK!! PORK!!! The amount of non-stimulus spending is outrageous. The Democrat Party is using stimulus money as campaign funds to buy votes for future elections. La Raza? ACORN?? What/who else is hidden in these monstrous funding bills? As a citizen and taxpayer I don’t think I have ever been this angry at the people in Washington who are supposed to be representing all of the citizen/taxpayers in this Country, and looking out for our welfare.
Democrats say tax the “rich”! What happens when there are no more rich to tax??? The top 10% of taxpayers already pay 70% of the taxes and the bottom 50% pay less than 3%. How much more can you squeeze any more out of the “rich” without killing the goose that that lays the golden eggs called business/innovation/employers?
What Washington is doing really is stealing from my children and grand children. This is unconscionable. You Washington elite sit in your big offices in DC and get your pay, and benefits, and raises, and don’t feel any of the pain that millions are feeling.
February 26th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
green tea drinker said:
this site is hilarious…does Stephen Colbert have something to do with this site?…this is excellent theater…oh wait…is Rick Santelli that guy who is getting paid by the same people who are taking money from the governe=ment because they created bogus financing for debt instru=ments that were worthless…I think it would be better for Wall Street to refuse any money from the President…I don’t think Rick Santelli would want that…nor that annoying guy who suggested that nobody payt their mortgage…this site is good satire…I support satire…even though I disagreed with it for the past eight years…that was just bad policy and terrible theater…at least this might win a Comedy Central award…good luck…!
February 27th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Republican Pork Pie said:
hey…has anyone noticed the Republicans have fewer Senators but Mitch McConnell wants to keep the same budget…? I wonder why a fiscal conservative would give up their principles so easily…? Maybe the Republicans have given up being fiscally conservative altogether…? I know they funded two wars and boillions of no-bid contracts on the backs of the poor…the party of family values and pro-life…kills without conscience, takes away peols rights…and becomes war criminals to justify their odeologies…
I guess Washington needs more scrubbing…lather , rinse, repeat…
Gobama…! Gobama…!
February 27th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Andrew Ottiger said:
Mr. Santelli,
The numbers for the homeowner bailout plan is approximately three to four hundred billion dollars. Certainly some undeserving individuals will benefit. The credit default swaps market had a market value of about forty-five trillion at the end of 2007.
My question is this: what do you think is more damaging to the US economy as a whole: A.) homeowners who took out mortgages who had no chance of ever paying back receiving government mortgage assistance, or B.) the systemic risk posed by exposure to and overleveraging of the credit default swap market?
Thanks.
Andrew ottiger
February 27th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Gretchen said:
Dear RepublicanPorkPie and GreenTeaDrinker,
Your comments are certainly welcome here because, as of today, this country still embraces free speech. I totally agree with you that there are many guilty fiscal republicans in congress. No debate from me there. And perhaps the “silent majority” attempting to protest their fiscal outrage may fall on deaf ears. Perhaps not. And if you want to show up and protest our tea party, guess what? You can!! And if you want to teach your kids all about redistributing wealth (socialism) and it’s perks, go for it. If your so inclined, be sure not to leave out the small piece of history about the fall of Russia, because that’s where we’re headed.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Kristi said:
Let’s hear it for the Silent Majority!! I, too, am sick and tired of supporting people who should be contributing, not just riding in the wagon.
I remember watching Dr. Zhivago years ago and I sat there and kept saying to myself, “What is wrong with those people????? Don’t they see what the government is doing to them???”
Now, I guess the U.S.A. is in the same boat, and I wonder how many Obama voters wish they could rescind their votes. Of course, I’m sure in many places there were “extra” votes counted that weren’t legitimately made.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Laurie Suzuki said:
I lived my life raising my children while my husband worked 100 hour work weeks to support us. We never took from anymore nor asked for anything.
I have never been scared of our government like I am now. I have also never been a political activist. But, I must speak up now. It is all I talk about with my friends. I voted for Obama and have complete buyers’ remorse. I fear him and his policies. and I hate him demonizing the wealthy. My husband worked hand he and our family deserves everything we have. I too am a new entrepeneur and I am losing my enthusiasm too success as I lose hope for America. I hope you hear this Obama as you sit in your white house smug and secure! I refuse to feel guilty for what we work so hard for and I do not want to support anyone who is in good health who does not do the same. Shame on our government!
February 27th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Courtney Matlock said:
THANK YOU!!! Thank you for doing this — it is time we stood up & spoke out! We can do this - we can make a difference! Come on America!
February 27th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Maria Proctor said:
Dear Mr. Santelli
It seems as if our new college student for a president is letting down even the biggest of liberals by ignoring the law of economics. Even the biggest idiot knows that if you print money without anything to back it up you get inflation. At this rate we will probably see hyper inflation like so many filthy 3rd world countries have seen. Welcome to the new banana republic. I feel like castro running this country.
March 6th, 2009 at 2:48 pm