#NCSEN: FreedomWorks + Greg Brannon = Game changer

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 4, 2014

Tea Party groups across the state and the Brannon for US Senate campaign are quietly lining up supporters to attend a “FreedomWorks BBQ” in Raleigh on Tuesday evening. Sources familiar with the event’s back story say that this event can be inferred as a coming-together of the Brannon campaign and the national, high-profile Tea Party-affiliated political organization. 

FreedomWorks formed as the Tea Party was just picking up steam in 2009.  It has been a clearinghouse for limited government ideas, and has led the way in educating the public on those limited government principles favored by The Tea Party.   FreedomWorks has also aligned itself with anti-establishment candidates with limited government platforms at the state and federal levels.

READ MORE! 

Defending Conservative Principles--Walter B. Jones

January 9, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) is pleased to announce that for 2013 he was ranked the most conservative member of the North Carolina congressional delegation by leading grassroots conservative organization FreedomWorks. 

“Defending America’s principles of freedom is my greatest privilege and responsibility as a member of the House of Representatives,” said Congressman Jones.  “Moving into 2014, I will continue to oppose unconstitutional government overreach and infringement on our liberties.” 

Congressman Jones earned a near-perfect score on 21 key votes in 2013 that FreedomWorks identified as displaying a commitment to “fighting for lower taxes, less government and more freedom.”

FreedomWorks recognized Congressman Jones for his votes to stop raising the debt limit, to cut wasteful government spending, to repeal and defund Obamacare, and to prevent the federal government from spying on U.S. citizens without a warrant, among other things.  You can view the entire 2013 scorecard for North Carolina members of the U.S. House of Representatives here.   

Thank you for taking the time to read about some of Congressman Jones' work for the Third District.  For daily updates, please follow him on Facebook and Twitter. To contact him or learn more about the services provided by his office, please visit his web site. 

https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=112261&c=NC03WJ

Tea partyers launch counterattack on IRS nonprofit rules

Washington Times, January 7

Tea party groups are rallying their troops for a fight over the new rules the IRS is carving out on how to regulate tax-exempt groups that participate in political activities.

ABC reported that tea party groups were caught off guard when the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service rolled out the proposed rule changes before the Thanksgiving break and now they are calling on members of the grassroots movement to weigh in on the proposed changes before the end of a 90-day comment period.

“They seem hell bent to do whatever they’re setting out to do because of the way they issued the rules and the fact that the comment period happens during the holiday season, Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, told ABC.  “I think changing the rules in an election year is extraordinarily unfair and unprecedented,” he said.  ABC reported that more than 10,000 people have responded to the call to arm by submitting their comments, which would be looked at by the IRS as it considers the new regulations.

Read more! 

The Tea Party's Winning Model

The Tea Party's Winning Model
by Matt Kibbe, FreedomWorks

Jul 20, 2012

Like a child who edges the line to see how many rules he can break, President Obama is testing America’s patience with a pattern of unconstitutional behavior that rivals any other president’s record, trading out America’s founding principles for top-down policies designed to centralize control in the federal government. No wonder Americans are fed up and eager to take back what’s theirs by staging a hostile takeover of Washington.

At its outset, the political elite ignored the Tea Party, casting it off as a partisan flash in the pan as it grew in strength in the early part of 2009. Since then, the Tea Party has transformed from a street protest movement into a political machine with an impressive slew of legislative and electoral victories under its belt. After the midterm elections in 2010, the establishment has had to recognize that the Tea Party is indeed a force to be reckoned with.

What makes the Tea Party unique as a vehicle for change is that there isn’t any grand plan. It’s millions of people in disparate places—each individual in possession of a unique perspective; particular goals, wants, and needs; and a personal knowledge of their community and circumstances—coming together in voluntary cooperation to create something far greater and more valuable than any one individual could achieve alone. The movement is an embodiment of its principles of decentralization.

The Tea Party has been able to organize in this way because of the liberating power of social media and the decentralized, open-ended online discovery process. Social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter allow individuals to engage and share with others they may never have been able to meet otherwise. In this way, grassroots organizing allows the Tea Party to mobilize itself by gaining information quicker and sparking its message across many venues.


The movement has also found victory at the ballot box, where it has challenged unprincipled Republicans in primaries and sent dozens of strong conservative to Washington in general elections. In doing so, the movement has challenged the top-down method of campaigning. The Tea Party was growing the pie, adding new potential voters to its ranks, looking in districts that hadn’t been in play before, and effectively organizing voters. It focused on social, technological, and personal networks. As it turns out, the grassroots protests were not only a good recruitment mechanism for building boots on the ground, they also created a powerful market signal to potential candidates with both the principles and the practical skills needed to win public office.


The momentum built in 2010 is continuing in 2012. Most recently, the Tea Party helped Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker win the union-backed recall. In Indiana’s Republican Senate primary, it helped conservative Richard Mourdock defeat moderate incumbent Dick Lugar. In Utah, it forced Sen. Orrin Hatch to reevaluate his commitment to conservative principles. It seems that everywhere the Tea Party is, the movement is enacting change.

In business, shareholders stage a hostile takeover of the company when the board has failed to fulfill its duties. The same is occurring in politics. The board—the Washington establishment—is no longer serving the shareholders—the American people—and refuses to change it ways. So We the People are taking Washington back. But just like shareholders taking a company back, the people must have a plan for what to do when they’ve regained power. The Tea Party has that too, in the form a wide-reaching agenda focused on decentralization and returning power back to the people at all levels of decision-making.

Americans need to break up the privileged collusion of Washington insiders and take power away from self-appointed “experts” and give it back to the people. From business and fiscal policy to the tax code to health care and education, the decentralized model that has made the Tea Party a success will return America to the standing it deserves a the greatest nation on earth.

Hatch on Tea Party: 'I despise these people'

Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch is “doggone offended” by the activists and voters standing between him and re-election, describing them as “radical libertarians.”

Hatch was first elected to the Senate in 1976. This year, major conservative groups announced their intention of defeating Hatch — who they deemed too moderate. FreedomWorks has reportedly spent at least $670,000 attacking Hatch this cycle. ...

“I despise these people,” Hatch added, “and I’m not the guy you come in and dump on without getting punched in the mouth.”

MORE:  http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/13/orrin-hatch-doggone-offended-by-radical-libertarians-trying-to-take-away-his-senate-seat/

FREEDOM WORKS: Washington Can't Ignore the Tea Party

November 17, 2011

As you know, the Senate has failed to pass a budget resolution for three years running. Now they won't even let the American people do the job for them.


This afternoon, 200 FreedomWorks members and representatives from tea party groups across the country met in the Russell Senate Office building to formally present our plan to balance the federal budget and cut $9.7 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, it seems like the only thing Washington wants to hear is excuses.

The Democrats who run the Senate Rules Committee were so afraid of the tea party plan to balance the federal budget that they ordered committee staff to remove the microphones we had set up for the event while Capitol Police blocked the doors of our hearing room, which had been reserved by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) specifically for this event more than two weeks ago. At the same time, a "suspicious package" was reported in the room next door and all visitors and staff were barred from the area.

Click below to watch footage of what happened next.

FREEDOM WORKS: (Nov. 17th) at 2:00pm ET

FREEDOM WORKS: (Nov. 17th) at 2:00pm ET, over two hundred FreedomWorks activists from across the country will converge on Capitol Hill to present the findings of our Tea Party Debt Commission before a joint hearing of Senators and Congressmen. C-SPAN will be streaming live from our Tea Party Debt Commission hearing on Capitol Hill. Don't miss a chance to be a part of this huge event! Watch online here at 2:00pm ET!


http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/