I have been a supporter and advocate for the Mechanicsville TEA Party since it’s early days.
One of the most effective endeavors that the group has done has been the famous TEA Party signs like the one above. These are located all over the area and have had a major impact on the county, the region, the state and even the federal government.
The signs are unlike any other form of media. They are placed on property owned by taxpayers – private land. So they are as pure a form of free speech as one can find. But more importantly, these signs are the only form of media that you can’t turn off or throw away. The human impulses to read the signs are too strong to overcome as you drive past or sit in traffic. Even if you want to ignore them, you can’t. As we drive by the same signs day after day or sit in traffic in our car, the brightly colored signs make an impression on your conscious as well as subconscious mind.
You can toss the Mechanicsville Local or turn off the television – or at least change the station. But you can neither avoid nor ignore the signs.
Virginia Right’s audience consists mostly of like minded Patriots and activists. We also have politicians that read the blog on a daily basis. Or when I print something discussing issues on which these politicians run afoul of Conservative principles and the will of the voters. But to read what we are writing here you must either visit the website or read the daily digest that you can subscribe to.
In other words, you have to work a little and actively seek the information. If you don’t want to read what we write, you have the power to not visit. And you also have the power to delete the daily email or unsubscribe on your own. You have 100% control. You have the power.
But not so with the TEA Party signs.
This blog reaches people who want to see it. The TV news works the same way. And newspapers.
But no matter who you are, what you believe or your political – or non political – stance, you will read the TEA Party Signs. Your brain will make sure the message is heard loud and clear.
And that kind of power simply cannot be bought at any price.
And THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT THAT THEY WORK!
Recently Delegate Chris Peace found himself on the receiving end of one of these signs and he cried foul about the notoriety and attention the sign brought to his voting record. HE believed it was not true.
The problem is, and as I told him, it was not factually untrue. He voted for a budget that created a Commission to “study” expanding Medicaid. It has been discussed ad nauseam and Peace and those that voted for the budget deny the Commission has the power to expand Medicaid, but the bill (and now the law) uses the word “shall” expand. And even though people like Senator Walter Stosch are easily duped by the Obama Administration dangling shiny things in front of his eyes (like money) we all know that the promise of 100% federal payment for the expanded Medicaid spending will turn out to be as false as other famous presidential promises like “If you like your health care you can keep it. Period” or “I didn’t have sex with that woman”.
But Delegate Peace knows how powerful that sign was. So he begged, bullied and pleaded and the Mechanicsville TEA Party caved in and took down the sign.
Now mark my words. When the Commission eventually expands Medicaid – if low information state senators like Stosch don’t do it first – as Governor McAuliffe appoints his people to the Commission – Delegate Peace and the rest of the legislators that voted for this back door deniable plausibility amendment will be saying “well, we tried”. But they took themselves out of the loop with their vote to create the Commission. Too slick by half.
And those of us that saw this coming will make the same face we made when our health insurance cancelled.
And now, just to redouble their “cover your butt” legislation, another bill is pulled out to give them more deniability. Susan Stimpson, th eformer Lt. Governor candidate exposed them here and Steve Albertson had this to say.
And I recently published a Press Release from Delegate Peace in which he stated that a bill on which he was co-patron would save Virginian’s from losing their insurance. He stated “If you like your Health care, Virginia, you can keep it”. Which was completely untrue as I pointed out here and here.
And we also have local issues with tax hikes on the horizon, unintelligent growth and unnecessary extensions of water and sewer pipes to nowhere. And some of the Hanover Supervisors, if not all, will be voting in favor of tossing more cash without purpose into the education system completely oblivious to the lack of improvement from past cash dumps. We need to fund education, but the budget shows there is no accountability. We could start with Crossing Guard Elton Wade as an example and move on to the Principal’s slush fund.
So I have a few questions for the Mechanicsville TEA Party.
Why in the world would you allow the target of a sign to even ask that it be taken down let alone do it? When they squeal you know you are doing it right. Don’t stop! You know you are over the target when you start taking fire.
Why are we wasting valuable messaging time with “feel good” signs thanking Veterans, Remembering 9/11 and quoting the Bible? As a Veteran I prefer action to thanks. As a Christian, I have my own Bible. And there’s an app for that too. And it is time we move on from remembering the terrorist attack in 2001 and focus on the assaults we see every day from Republicans and Democrats in Hanover, Richmond and Washington.
And please tell me how the MTP meeting email inviting me to come and meet Ivy Sager and Lisa Beitz who will “speak to us about the mental health services that they provide to Hanover County” even vaguely resembles the TEA Party mission.
We have Eric Cantor promising to defund ObamaCare and yet he continues to vote for blank checks for Obama. Where are those signs?
Why don’t we have signs exposing the “feel good” legislation that actually does nothing except let our elected officials point to these meaningless bills as proof they are doing something good?
WHAT HAPPENED TO FIRE AND PASSION FOR LIBERTY?
These people all work for us. They are deceiving us on a daily basis and when we stand up to them, a stern look has us back down.
Pardon my vulgarity and bluntness here, but Patrick Henry would be pissing on our legs about now if he were alive. When he said “give me Liberty or give me death” his concern was not with himself and his loss of freedom. His concern was with the future of the people living in this new world. And those to come. Which includes all of us.
If Patrick Henry could see what passes for defenders of Liberty and the Constitution in Hanover today, do you think he would have given his Liberty or death ultimatum?
You have the best tool for change in the signs anyone could possibly ask for. You dishonor the patriots that offer their land to fight for freedom by using Milquetoast messages that turn the TEA Party into nothing more than a completely ineffective politically themed social club.
If I wanted to be part of a completely ineffective politically themed social club I would hang out with the Hanover Republican Committee and applaud for people like Eric Cantor and Walter Stosch that have been doing so much harm to Virginia and America.
Now I am not picking on anyone or taking sides. I write and do an occasional music video. You guys are activists. It is easy to become disillusioned in tough times. Or complacent.
The TEA Party is a movement and the MTP has become stationary.
The signs are like Thor’s Hammer. They are devastatingly effective. The politicians that work for us must be giddy thinking that they have endured the best the Mechanicsville TEA Party storm could muster. And they are still standing.
It is time to put your Big Boy pants on and join the cause. Or close down shop and get the hell out of the way.
And if I have offended you, good. We are friends and shall remain so. But I believe you need a good kick in the rear right now. We need you in the fight.
Stop backing down when the going gets tough. That is when you have to work even harder. You must stop giving ground.
It’s time to advance.
And I will leave you with a music video I wrote and recorded. The zombies in the video are not only Eric Cantor voters, they also vote for every progressive RINO because they don’t know any better. It is our job to open their eyes. And they have to look at the signs, we already established that.
Article written by: Tom White
