LIBERTY RISING

WASHINGTON — All is bleak. All is woe! I speak of the tea party movement, the movement of 2009 and 2010 that was the hot news story of those years and led to the Republican rout of the Democrats in 2010. Now the tea party movement is, according to reports in the media, in decline.

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Michael Schraa, an Oshkosh WI small business owner, has already taken on a career politician and won. State Rep. Dick Spanbauer announced he is retiring. Spanbauer was a RINO who voted against Gov Walker’s famous Budget Repair Bill last spring. That vote and others like them didn’t sit well with Michael Schraa. He decided to pursue a primary challenge against Spanbauer. 

Schraa has taken a stand for conservative leaders and issues in the past but this is his first run for political office. He previously has put up yard signs in front of his business, Leon’s Frozen Custard in Oshkosh. Because of these signs, the local teachers union decided to boycott his business. But Schraa didn’t back down. Their boycott only further encouraged him to get off the sidelines and into the game. 

Schraa attended an American Majority candidate training last November. About the training Schraa said I “felt more emboldened after sitting in on the training and hearing others stepping forward about bringing fiscal responsibility back to government.” He felt “motivated not to sit on the sidelines” and “found it very helpful.” Since he is “coming in green,” he appreciated how American Majority talked about vote goals and coming up with a win number, broken down by wards so that he can target the important townships he’ll need to win. 

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“It should be no secret to anyone who reads my columns in The American Spectator or my posts here that not only do I strongly believe that America is in crisis but that the values espoused by the conservative movement are being trampled to dust, which is such a gentle term for the reality of what is actually taking place.   Why this is happening is open to some debate and there isn’t one cause to be sure.  However, it is indisputable that the left has long had better grassroots organization and has approached the pursuit of their damaging statist agenda relentlessly.  After all, if you believe that government exists to provide to the masses, then you’re going to encourage its expansion for your own benefit.”

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Our Wisconsin state office is leading the charge as activists take to Twitter to be effective locally. American Majority-WI co-created the hashtag: #wiright with MacIver institute. It has taken off and even has their our own lefty trolls and groups using it regularly. Conservatives are using it to share good stories that highlight a conservative message. 

According to hashtracking.com, #wiright had 403 tweets generating 572,388 impressions, reaching an audience of 178,209 followers within 24 hours. Impressive considering these tweets are all centered in the state of Wisconsin.

#WIright is also breaking stories. Recently, it was reported that liberal judge issued a temporary injunction on the Voter ID law, so some folks did some digging and found that the judge had signed a recall walker petition. It was shared on #wiright and then some of us retweeted it and it created a buzz. The Wisconsin State Journal picked up on it and even credited the tweet for discovering that the judge signed the recall petition. The judge signing the recall storyline was picked up by pretty much every news organization in Wisconsin that covered the ruling. 

With so much opportunity for action online, what are you doing to be most effective?

Ned Ryun is a regular contributor to the American Spectator. This month he dove in to the history of the progressive movement as it compares to today’s tea party movement. 

Even more important, however, the Tea Party needs to realize is that its objective is not about shifting paradigms or having a short-term impact. It’s about crushing paradigms and creating a new set of rules that dictate how the game is played decades from now. America needs a renewed system of government dedicated to reversing the damage of the Progressive movement and promoting American values. The Tea Party, if it is to be remembered a hundred years from now, must shrink the bureaucratic state, returning government to its proper role. It must also fundamentally change the process of electoral politics, whether it’s a return to a caucus and convention nomination process or even repealing the 17th Amendment and the direct election of Senators. Real change is about the Tea Party and the American people transcending the Progressive system of government, the ruling class it created, breaking it and its cronies, devolving power from the federal government, and changing the playing field and rules by which the “game” of politics and government is played. Fundamental change has happened before, and it can be done again, and that is the measurement of true success the Tea Party should seek to attain.

Read the rest at Spectator.org

“I’m afraid of what we’ve done here.”

That’s how a long-time liberal incumbent of the local school board in Loudoun County, Virginia reacted to cuts made in this year’s bloated education budget. And what strikes fear into the heart of this long time big spender? A coalition of newly elected conservative members, led by the board’s new Vice Chair, freshman member Jill Turgeon. Jill, a former public school teacher, is an American Majority alumni, and her story epitomizes our nationwide strategy perfectly.

You see, just four months ago, Jill’s normal day consisted of teaching in a public school, coming home, and knocking doors every afternoon until dinnertime for her school board campaign. Now, she’s leading the coalition that has cut $13 million from her county’s exorbitant education budget. Even nationally syndicated talk radio host Mark Levin took notice of Jill’s work, and praised the new members of the Loudoun County School Board on his radio show last week.

“What we’re doing is unheard of,” Jill says. And it hasn’t been easy. “Our biggest issue this year is the status quo. There is a difference of philosophy among members of the board. Some members believe that they are representatives of the schools to the people. I believe that I am a representative of the taxpayers to the schools.”

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