THE PATRIOT'S HANDBOOK: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESTORING LIBERTY

[First Coast Tea Party]

James M. Simpson - Writer, Speaker, and Investigative Journalist

The Patriot’s Handbook: a Practical Guide to Restoring Liberty

A Country in Crisis

America is a country in crisis. From financial meltdown to economic hardship; from a growing list of hostile foes to grave doubts among our allies; from failures in schools and fractured families to federal government intrusion into virtually every aspect of life, our country faces a profound, multi-dimensional crisis that threatens to destroy our livelihoods, our form of government and our very way of life. It casts a bleak shadow on the future for our children, their children and all future generations.

The events of the Obama administration’s first two years have brought this crisis into sharp focus. Never in recent memory have any President and Congress attempted to move so far, so fast to radically transform our country. They have sought to impose vast new regulatory regimes against our will, and engaged in a budget busting spending spree – robbing a flagging economy of much-needed resources and raising the specter of rampant inflation. And while threatening economic stability at home, the administration pursues a foreign policy of indulging our enemies and undermining national defense.

But this radical leftist administration and Democrat-controlled Congress are only a symptom of a larger systemic problem. The radical Left represents an indescribably destructive system of thinking and philosophy of government that has gradually been “mainstreamed” over the past century. It infests our grade schools and college campuses. It pervades the thinking of most among our media elite, the political class and even the church. It must be expunged from our national psyche if we are ever to rescue ourselves from this crisis.

America has become detached and largely ignorant of the core principles that made this country great. It is critical to our long-term survival that we rediscover and embrace again the key concepts of individual freedom, individual responsibility, limited government and the rule of law.

The founders of this country gave us an incredible set of documents: the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. These documents provide a firm road map to return our country to fiscal and moral responsibility, and are the reason we have been a beacon of hope for the rest of the world for over two centuries.

The Solution

"It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." Samuel Adams

America’s unique spirit of freedom and independence has bred in us a brave, resourceful and innovative nature. In times of past crises, Americans have always risen to the occasion. Now Americans have answered the call once more, as the Tea Party movement, or perhaps it should be called the Liberty Movement, blossomed spontaneously to meet these challenges.

At rallies and town halls over the spring and summer of 2009, the American people expressed a growing chorus of concern. The massive Washington, DC rally on Sept. 12th removed any doubt that there was a nationwide movement afoot. Stunning political reversals in New Jersey and Virginia’s special elections last fall were stern warnings to the liberals, and the January 2010 election of a Republican to fill the seat left by the death of ultra-liberal Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was, like Concord, Massachusetts, 235 years before, “the shot heard round the world.” Primaries and special elections in 2010, including the first Hawaiian Republican Congressman in 20 years, and primaries to date further confirm this sea change in national outlook.

The April 2010 Battleground Poll, considered to be one of the most accurate political polls, found that 59 percent of Americans identify themselves as conservative. Since 2002, this number has never gone below 58 percent. This is three-fifths of the population!

Polls indicate that a majority of the American people support the Tea Party message. A whopping 58 percent of mainstream voters have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party movement. A recent Rasmussen poll says that 24 percent of all Americans say that they or someone close to them is a Tea Partier. That is one quarter of the population.

While not all tea partiers are conservatives and vice versa, we share a common goal. That is to scale back massive government intrusion into our lives and restore America’s constitutional principles: limited government and the rule of law.

Combined, we represent an overwhelming majority of Americans. “We surround them,” as Glenn Beck says. In fact, about the only people who oppose our message are the radical Left. In other words, we are America!

Our potential political power is vast, but we have a long way to go to realize that potential. The Left is deeply entrenched within our institutions. Vladimir Lenin exhorted his followers: “Organize, organize, organize.” The Left took this lesson to heart and today acts largely as one mass organism – the various groups operating with common goals and coordinated activities. In any policy debate they speak with one voice, and that voice is endlessly echoed in the mass media mouthpiece they control.

We have to take a cue from Lenin and fuse our potential into organized action. We must commit ourselves to working together as one movement to retake the levers of power at all levels of government. Our goal is to scale back government’s massive growth, and rid ourselves of the leftist termites that for decades have been ceaselessly gnawing away at the foundations of our institutions, our culture and our Constitution.

This will not be easy. Not only are we threatening an ideology the Left has spent decades implanting in the American psyche, we are threatening a vast and lucrative power structure that has enriched people willing to promote leftist goals. The Left is its own industry.

This is why we are being ceaselessly attacked and vilified in the press as dangerous, right-wing extremists. The Left recognizes us as a mortal threat to their interests, and in the past their tactics have been very effective in silencing critics.

But there is a difference this time. Instead of singling out one person or a small group – easy targets for the leftist machine, they are attempting to marginalize the entire population of mainstream America! They are the extremists, and we all know it. But the unfortunate fact is that as long as the Left controls the message their intimidation methods can be effective anyway.

There are still many people unaware of what is happening in America, people who are willing to be influenced by the mass media’s carefully crafted propaganda. But the media’s message is a threat to everyone: identifying with the Liberty movement means you are odd. You are an extremist. You are the enemy! And what does a society do with extremists? Monitor them? Arrest them? At best, it marginalizes them. For many people, especially those who are either insecure or not fully cognizant of the danger we face as a nation, these threats will easily defeat reason, because they are implicit threats against both one’s life and place in society.

The Left will continue to do all it can to marginalize, intimidate and discourage us from our task. And these attacks, now apparently including physical attacks, will increase. There are a number of things all Patriots should do to inoculate themselves from these pressures:

1. Join a Tea Party, or conservative political club of your choice. Become a formal part of a party organization.
2. Maintain regular contact with like-minded individuals, hang out together regularly and join in movement activities suggested in this pamphlet as a group.
3. Read, read, read. Educate yourself on the issues to build confidence, help inform others and reinforce your commitment.
4. Remember that we surround them. They are a loud but small minority. They can only win if we let them.

This little pamphlet was written to assist us in our fight, for our greatest weapon is information. With information, we can discover the enemy’s weak points. With information, we can deflect his strategies, and turn them against him. With information, we can educate others to join our cause. With information, we can overcome the mountain of misinformation produced by the Left’s media propagandists.

With information we can win.

What You Can Do Right Now to Save Your Country

Get off the sidelines. Jump in and participate. Fully acknowledge to yourself that this is a battle for the heart, soul and future of our Nation. Accept the lesson Americans of countless past generations have taught: if you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself. Commit to taking action.

I. First Things First

Electing the right people this coming November is a critical first step to restoring our liberty. It is up to you as a citizen to play what part you can in every election – local, state and national. Without conservative majorities across the land and especially in the U.S. Congress next year, eventual victory may be out of reach. Here are twenty ways you can get involved:

1. Support conservative candidates at all levels. It is critically important to rebuild a conservative majority from the ground up. There are many local and state offices: town council, county board, sheriff, state assembly, state senate, and a host of other elected positions crying for principled, conservative leadership.
2. Understand the essential role of the local party committee/precinct. READ: The Most Powerful Office in the World IS NOT the President of the U....
   • Visit Precinct Solution.org for a concise and easy-to-follow explanation.
3. Join your Party’s formal structure. Attend local Party central committee meetings and become involved.
   • Run or be appointed to a seat on the committee.
4. Help build your precinct: visit, call, e-mail; many areas have no political infrastructure.
   • Focus your efforts: build out from targeted voter lists. Get the list from your local party or registrar of voters. Focus on getting registered voters energized first.
5. Volunteer to become a precinct/block captain. These are challenging jobs but critical to identifying and motivating voters. Block captains are almost always in short supply.
6. Volunteer to be an election judge or poll watcher. Conservatives frequently leave this job to others, with predictable results. Vote fraud is an increasing problem, with much of the leftist infrastructure getting behind the effort.
   • George Soros has even funded something called the Secretary of State project, designed to elect leftists to oversee each state’s vote count.
7. Run for political office. If you feel you can make a contribution this way, consider running. The country needs you, now! Useful websites:
   • The Green Papers blog provides access to comprehensive election information by state.
   • Federal Election Commission provides campaign law, filing dates by state and other useful information.
   • Your state’s Party organizations provide detailed information about each political subdivision within the state, down to the precinct level.
8. Learn to use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instant Messaging to help promote candidates and the conservative message. Communication is key and these tools greatly facilitate spreading the message.
   • Get two great free tutorials to learn how: Facebook PDF Guide and Twitter PDF Guide, from American Majority.org.
9. Volunteer to maintain Facebook/Twitter site for candidates.
10. Use personal e-mail accounts to promote candidates and spread the conservative message.
11. Volunteer for candidate sign waving – believe it or not, this simple activity does more for candidate name recognition than many other activities.
12. Volunteer to canvas for candidates.
13. Attend candidate fundraisers.
14. Volunteer for phone banks or just to make calls. With modern technology, you can now call from your home or car. There is often no longer a need to actually go to a phone bank.
15. Get certified from your local Board of Elections to register voters. This is usually an easy step, involving a short trip to the Board of Elections office and swearing in.
16. Volunteer for door knocking.
17. Put up yard/street signs. Use and distribute candidate bumper stickers.
18. Join a political campaign. If you feel strongly about a particular candidate, focus your efforts and volunteer to work to get him/her elected.
19. 72 hour push – Last three days before November elections, volunteer for any activity to help get out the vote for your candidates.
20. On election day, work outside polls with signs, sample ballots and pamphlets, if state campaign law allows.

II. Build Strength in Numbers and Unity

In everything you do, there is strength in numbers. Keep it in the forefront of your mind that you are not alone, that you are part of a nationwide movement to save America.

You will be hearing this a lot: strength in numbers. Try to do everything as a group. There is synergy in collective action. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Any action you take is multiplied in effect when you do it as a group. Everyone in the group gets a morale boost by being a part of something rather than merely a lone voice in the wilderness. You can also accomplish more: tasks can be delegated to those best suited for them, lessening the time and resource demands on each individual.

On the other hand, one person alone making calls to Congress, writing letters or indeed, taking on some of the tasks suggested in this handbook will quickly become overwhelmed, exhausted and discouraged. Furthermore, the voice of an individual, unless a uniquely influential individual like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh for example, is largely ineffectual and quickly gets lost in the din and roar of all the others.

So, suit up and join up. We have to hang together or we will certainly hang separately.

You should begin to meet regularly with a circle of like-minded friends. Join a Tea Party, conservative or other patriotic organization in your area. Attend as many Tea Party rallies/events as you can. These are not merely feel-good exercises. They are opportunities to add your voice to the chorus, to let them know we are out there and we have strength in numbers. It’s also an opportunity to network, get news, find out what other groups are up to and learn new tactics. Most organization websites have event lists and/or search functions. National Journal has a good rundown of the top 12 tea party related organizations. Here’s a short list:

• Tea Party Patriots - Probably the best known. SEARCH for an TPP group/event near you
• FreedomWorks - Organizers of the 9-12 Rally. Congressman Dick Armey’s group
• Tax Day Tea Party - Inspired by Rick Santelli. State-by-state directory online
• Our Country Deserves Better - Founded by organizer of CA Governor Gray Davis recall; organizers of Tea Party Express bus tours. Hosted 2010 Searchlight, NV rally – home of Democrat Senator Harry Reid
• Tea Party Nation - this is a for profit group
• Campaign for Liberty - Ron Paul's organization

Other Tea Party associated groups:

• Americans for Limited Government - Information resource – free signup
• Americans for Prosperity - Dedicated to limited government/free markets
• American Majority - Trains conservative political activists/candidates
• Grassroots America We the People (Feisty East Texas organization, a model for grassroots organizing. Executive Director JoAnn Fleming initiated Justice Foundation’s Project Liberty, a citizen class-action lawsuit against Obamacare)
• Independence Caucus (Started as volunteers to elect Congressman Jason Chaffetz)
• Liberty First PAC - Actively supports conservative candidates
• 912 Project - Glenn Beck’s group
• Smart Girl Politics - Called the “Founding Sisters of the Tea Party movement” by Michelle Malkin

Remember, strength in numbers!

III. Familiarize Yourself with the Tactics of the Radical Left

The radical Left seeks to undermine this country and destroy its institutions. As they have no legitimate claim to power, their only real tactics are deception, the smear and outright confrontation. They use lies and misinformation to confuse and mislead. They use the smear to discredit and marginalize opponents. When all else fails, they use street thugs. In everything they do, the intent is to intimidate, polarize and destroy their opponents – Saul Alinsky’s most successful tactic.

In confronting this ugly truth, remember once again, strength in numbers. Their intimidation tactics can work against individuals but not a united front. We are America. It is our cause that has the moral authority. Think of our family, our children and their future – think of the great gift we have been given simply by being born Americans. We have something they never will: a cause worth fighting for! So fight smart:

• Read David Horowitz’s short pamphlets: Barack Obama’s Rules for Revolution and The Art of Political Warfare for Tea Parties.
• Read Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and/or Reveille for Radicals. Familiarize yourself with Alinsky’s 13 Rules.
• Apply/defeat Alinsky tactics: Read about the San Francisco’s Tea Party Patriots’ successful use of Alinsky tactics.
• Take a camera or video recorder with you to every rally you attend. Surround tea party “crashers” and phony “rightwing nutcase” plants as soon as you identify them. Take lots of pictures/video and urge the people you are with to do the same.
• When you attend rallies, bring eye-catching signs saying “Infil-Traitor” or “Not With Us” with arrows to point at leftist plants as Tea Partiers in several cities have done. Make this a dedicated task for willing rally participants. Take pictures and video of the phonies. Point at them and laugh.
• Challenge people who disparage our movement and/or make statements about public policy you know to be false.
• Aggressively expose all Astroturf operations.
• Get to know who the leftists are. Utilize KeyWiki, an amazing catalog of the Left by famed researcher, Trevor Loudon.

Do all you can to expose the Left for the mean-spirited, self-serving movement it really is. Document their abuses and intrusions. Nothing dries up festering boils like sunshine.

IV. Be heard

It can’t be emphasized enough: strength in numbers. Take heart from the fact that you represent America, what our country stands for, what made it great. Let your voice join the chorus of protest. Make that chorus rise to the heavens. Here are five ways you can be heard:

1. Voting is a precious and essential right to secure and maintain our constitutional republic. Register to vote, vote in all elections you can and actively help others to do the same.

2. Join Heritage Action for America:

· Communicate with Congressmen and Senators on key policy issues.
· Attend virtual town halls using online chat to discuss issues with experts.

3. Attend town council meetings, town halls, communicate with elected leaders.

4. Use the following tools to contact your Representative/Senator, look up pending legislation and track how they vote:

· E-mail your Representative/Senators
· Write/call your Representative (includes mailing labels with Member addresses)
· Write/call your Senators (includes mailing labels with Member addresses)
· These Senate, House and Library of Congress sites allow you to look up pending legislation
· Track your Congressmen’s votes with Congress.org’s Megavote – get weekly e-mail updates on how they are voting, communicate with both federal/state legislators and much more

5. Write and call local print and broadcast media. This is important. The media is largely responsible for the ascendancy of the Left. Without the media defending and promoting them, leftists and leftist ideas could never have gotten out of the cellar. But the media still has to turn a profit (in most cases). Dog them relentlessly in order to:

· Expose media bias
· Air views on key issues

V. Take Civic Action

The Left uses our money, our taxes, our donations, our corporations and even our investments to promote its anti-American agenda. They produce little of value without our unwitting assistance. We have the power in our hands to defang the Left. One last time: we have strength in numbers. Conservatives compose the majority of the American people. Let’s use our overwhelming power in coordinated action to de-fund their movement with 12 Steps to Freedom:

1. Spotlight the Radicals. Utilize David Horowitz’s wide-ranging online tool, Discover the Networks to research and identify radical organizations, funders and individuals in politics, non-profits, corporations, finance and the entertainment industry.

2. Lobby Congress to De-Fund the Left. Many radical leftist organizations, like National Council of La Raza, the Council on American Islamic Relations, ACORN and the ACLU, receive government grants and appropriations to pursue their radical, destructive activities. Go online and see what ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said to the Young Democratic Socialists in a short online video to see how she views America. Grassroots conservatives should work with sympathetic members of Congress and state legislators to repeal statutes granting tax dollars to these groups and with conservative members to support a responsible agenda.

3. Boycott Leftist Media. National news media serves as the rhetorical sword and shield of the Left, while many TV shows and movie channels subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, promote the leftist message. But they all rely on advertising and/or subscription revenue to survive. Here are very simple steps that you can do from home:

· Discontinue subscriptions to newspapers and magazines with a leftist slant.
· Cease unnecessary patronage of network and cable television stations that show leftwing bias. Stop watching them.

4. Counter Biased Reporting with Phone Calls and Letters. Most TV, radio and print media have an ombudsman. Demand their reporting be based on fact and clear thoughts. Ask them to abide by their own ethical standards, requiring reporters to be fair, accurate and unbiased.

· See codes of ethics for the Washington Post, or the New York Times, for example. Their standards are in black and white. Do they abide by them?

5. Boycott Hollywood. The movie industry is controlled by leftists. They have created a blacklist against non-leftist actors that dwarfs the anti-communist blacklist of the 1950s, virtually shutting out any message except that of the radical left. Read movie reviews and avoid movies that promote leftist propaganda or send a culturally destructive message. They rely completely on our entertainment dollars. Cut ‘em off! Go bowling instead, or take your kids to miniature golf! Support your local small businesses. They are more likely to be conservative, too.

6. Protect Our Children from the Leftist Message. The Left has also introduced toxic messages to our children through their control of the media. Review both movies and TV shows for leftist and/or culturally degenerate messages. Spend more time with your kids instead!

7. Stop Donating to Leftist Charities. Many think tanks, foundations and charities are controlled by radicals and promote the radical leftist cause. Quit sending them money! Even familiar groups like the Red Cross and United Way fund radical causes. They also use disastrous events like 9-11, the Indonesian Tsunami and the Haitian earthquake as an excuse to raise funds for ongoing activities. Some will use it for nefarious purposes. For example, the money you kind-heartedly donated to the United Way 9-11 fund to assist victims families could have gone to pay legal fees for terrorism suspects. If you intend to donate funds for victims of some tragedy, check to be sure your money is earmarked for that purpose. In many cases, it isn’t. Carefully vet all organizations you intend to donate funds to:

· Read the revealing FrontPage Magazine article, Foundations of Betrayal.
· Examine the charitable giving of corporations you deal with or own stock in. Write, call or attend shareholder meetings to protest.
· See Discover the Networks’ “Funders” page for a wealth of information on the subject.
· Utilize Discover the Networks’ lists of top leftist funders and top conservative funders.
· If you don’t already know who he is, read about George Soros at Discover the Networks.
· See Discover the Networks’ extensive list of Soros funded charities.
· Here’s a few of the better-known leftist foundations and non-profits:

a. Open Society Institute
b. Tides Foundation
c. Ford Foundation
d. Rockefeller Foundation
e. MacArthur Foundation
f. Carnegie Endowment
g. Packard Foundation
h. Pew Charitable Trusts
i. Turner Foundation
j. Hewlett Foundation
k. Public Interest Research Groups
l. National Audubon Society
m. Defenders of Wildlife
n. Sierra Club
o. Natural Resources Defense Council
p. Greenpeace
q. U.S. Peace Council
r. Center for Constitutional Rights
s. National Lawyers Guild
t. American Civil Liberties Union
u. Institute for Policy Studies
v. Friends of the Earth
w. Center for American Progress
x. Industrial Areas Foundation

8. Be a Friend of the Earth: de-fund the Environmental Movement. Most mainstream environmental groups do not support American free enterprise. Their agendas tend to be about attacking capitalism more than saving the environment. Read the testimonial of Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, who has been vilified by the environmental movement for pointing this out. Because many such groups are run by radical leftists, they also use “saving the environment” as a pretext for supporting other causes. For example, Defenders of Wildlife opposes the Global War on Terror, and along with the Audubon Society and Sierra Club, has sued the government to prevent construction of the border fence.

9. De-fund Leftist Churches and Synagogue.s Many churches support leftist causes, knowingly or otherwise. Consult Discover the Networks resource “Religious Left Groups.” Gather like-minded individuals in your parish or congregation and discuss this issue. Obtain a list from your church office showing where and how your tithe dollars are spent. Consult the other leftist charity lists mentioned earlier. In many cases you will be horrified. Find out if your church donates to, or is a member of any of the organizations listed below. As a group, demand your church stop funding these and other radical organizations and causes or find another church.

· National Council of Churches (radical leftist promoters of “liberation theology.”) The NCC includes among its members 35 Christian denominations representing 140,000 congregations with over 50 million members. Check the list, if your church is among those denominations, find another church, NOW.
· World Council of Churches (NCC is the domestic subsidiary of the WCC.) The leader of the WCC acknowledged on CBS's 60 Minutes many years ago that the church’s philosophy was Marxism. There is also an alleged connection to the Soviet KGB.
· Church World Service – Funds leftist causes worldwide.
· American Friends Service Committee – Quaker. Has supported many radical leftist causes around the globe for years.
· Mennonite Central Committee – Strongly anti-Israel. Hosted dinner with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
· Christian Peacemaker Teams – Anti-war group posed as human shields in Iraq.
· Jews Against the Occupation – Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli Jewish group.
· Catholic Campaign for Human Development – Supports leftist causes, including Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation.
· Gamaliel Foundation – Supports network of leftist groups and scriptural relativism.

10. Take back our schools The National Education Association is a radical leftist organization and has a virtual vice grip control over public school budgets. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, however, is proving change can happen. Attend PTA meetings, obtain a seat your local PTA or run for seat on Board of Education. Inspect your child’s textbooks. Support candidates and elected officials who favor school vouchers.

11. Take Back Our Universities. Before you donate to any private secondary schools or colleges, including your alma mater, or in considering a suitable private school or college for your child, check the institution’s record on speech codes and free speech policies. Have any incidents occurred on their campuses where conservative speakers were harassed, intimidated or denied the opportunity to speak? Have any incidents of classroom bias or intimidation been reported? Utilize the following resources:

· TheFire.org: online resource for researching school speech codes and other evidence of anti-free speech bias. Excellent school search tool.
· David Horowitz Freedom Center’s Student Center: includes many tools for fighting anti-American bias on campus.
· The American Council of Trustees and Alumni: organization dedicated to academic freedom, excellence and accountability.
· National Association of Scholars: The NAS is a watchdog group dedicated to “intellectual integrity in the curriculum, in the classroom, and across the campus.”
· Freedom Forum and First Amendment Center.

12. Take Back Our Borders. This is a critical national security issue, but will require a sea-change in thinking on Capitol Hill and in many state legislatures because many lawmakers shamefully see open borders and amnesty for illegal immigrants as a vote-getter. All the more reason we must remove the current crop of liberals and replace them with solid conservatives who understand that the border must be secured. There are many things activists can do:

· Support strong conservative candidates and lawmakers at all levels.
· Let federal, state and local lawmakers know every time an immigration issue arises.
· Don’t hire immigrants who cannot prove their legal immigration status.
· Support making English the official language of the United States. The U.S. English website’s Action Center provides updates on this movement at both the state and federal level.
· Read Heritage.org backgrounders on amnesty and immigration. Heritage has a number of solid proposals for resolving the illegal immigration issue:

- Enact E-Verify to enable immediate identification of worker status.
- Enforce immigration and workplace laws.
- Secure the southern border.
- Promote economic development and good governance in Central/South America.
- Improve the temporary worker program.
- Improve efficiency at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
- Strengthen citizenship through language, history and civics education.
- Encourage states to do more. Read about Arizona’s new immigration law, for example.
- Expand Secure Communities program

VI. Reinforce Your Understanding of Constitutional Principles

Conservatives can win countless elections, but unless and until our culture and society return to a full understanding and acceptance of fundamental Constitutional concepts, like limited government, separation of powers, individual rights and responsibilities, we will face this crisis over and over again.

To shore up your understanding of these principles there is no better resource than the Heritage Foundation. This group is an amazing resource for material on virtually any public policy issue, and most of it is available, free. Because of this, we have linked to a lot of Heritage studies and tools in this document. For constitutional issues, utilize the following resources:

· Get the free Heritage Pocket Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
· Download the free PDF book: How to Read the Federalist Papers.
· Use the Heritage website, First Principles as a regular reference. Bookmark the site.
· Get the Heritage Guide to the Constitution, by Reagan AG Edwin Meese.
· Obtain and read the book, We Still Hold These Truths, by Matthew Spaulding.

VII. Arm Yourself with Facts on Key Issues

Communicate to family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Discuss/share with fellow Tea Partiers these ten key issues and resources:

1. Understanding the financial crisis: the direct result of leftist meddling in the mortgage market:

· Familiarize yourself with Cloward & Piven and the Manufactured Crisis Strategy.
· Read A Financial Crisis of Government’s Making.

2. Global leadership, national security and immigration

· See the free online film 33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age.
· Free 1 Pager Missile Defense Brief. Includes 14 embedded links to Heritage foundation studies on aspects of this issue.
· Find out about Secure Communities, a model for immigration enforcement.
· Sign up for free weekly 33 Minutes Missile Defense Update and twice weekly National Security Update e-mails from Heritage.org.

3. Entitlements; our greatest domestic challenge

· See Heritage’s free 12 minute video: A Legacy of Debt.
· How poor are America’s “poor?” See Glenn Beck’s explanation in this short video.
· Access Heritage.org’s free resource page on entitlements, poverty & inequality.
· Sign up for free biweekly Budget Bulletin e-mail

4. The truth about the energy crisis

· Read free report Twelve Principles to Guide U.S. Energy Policy.
· Sign up for free weekly Energy and Environment Update e-mail.

5. The crisis in American education:

· Download Heritage’s free report, A Parents Guide to Education Reform
· See the video, Let Me Rise
· Sign up for free weekly Education Notebook e-mail

6. What to do about healthcare:

· Visit Heritage’s online healthcare resource: http://www.fixhealthcarepolicy.org/
· Sign up for free weekly Fix Healthcare Policy e-mail

7. Daily updates on critical issues:

· Sign up for Heritage’s free Morning Bell and Heritage Hotsheet emails

8. Take advantage of Heritage.org’s countless free resources on virtually any policy issue:

· Policy Experts – access to experts and issues
· Insider Online – free information on virtually any public policy topic
· Insider Online Toolkit – free how-to guides on internet marketing, protocol, event planning and much more
· Conservative Community – portal for access to information and tools of value to movement conservatives, including:

- Research
- Policy Experts
- Lectures, Seminars and Events

9. Use the Government Printing Office’s comprehensive online tool for access to every single document printed by the federal government. Go to: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/.

Conclusion

We hope this handbook has given you some ideas and pointers that will prove useful in the battle to take back our country. The battle has been joined. As we engage in this battle, let’s be absolutely clear on one thing: this is not a battle of Republican versus Democrat, though many of the players adopt those Party uniforms. It is not a battle of Conservative versus Liberal, though many of the players identify themselves with those titles. It is not even a battle of Right versus Left, though we speak of it in those terms. It is really a battle of right versus wrong, of good versus evil, of liberty versus tyranny.

It is the conflict for our time, and we must prevail, for we are the world’s last hope. And we will prevail, for we are Americans.

Posted by Jim Simpson at 2:05 PM

[amanda choate]

I did have time to read it. Yuck! I should leave my church because you say it is politically incorrect. You my friend are either a provocatuer or an idiot. Either way, though I support your right to say it, seriously, I beg to differ. If anyone's religion brings to them a sense of comfort, or solace, nearness to God, or moral strength, then it matters not if it is politically correct. Faith is more personal than that.

Your whole piece supports isolation from ideas that are different as though as sentient beings we aren't able to avoid being sucked into a liberal progressive hole from reading a newspaper or attending a religious service. Ugh.