Written and presented by: Brent Regan  (©2009, Brent Regan)

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho “Tea Party” April 15, 2009

(This is the excellent speech  Brent gave yesterday–well worth the review!–Mary)

We the people.

We are generations bound by an eternal dream; we are blood of their blood, flesh

of their flesh, our forefathers who formed a more perfect union, realizing that we

the people are endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights.

To secure those rights we the people established a government. Our

government, whose power to govern is derived from the continuing consent of

the people.

Power to be used to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the

common Defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the blessings of

Liberty to ourselves and our children.

The Constitution of these United States is the contract, the covenant that we the

people made between ourselves to allow this government, this power, to exist. It

is the Constitution that both allows and binds these powers.

But understand this: neither the Constitution nor the Government is the source of

the rights of the people.

Our rights, all people’s rights, are an endowment from the Creator. They are

intrinsic to our existence and ubiquitous among men. Without a Constitution the

Government would cease to exist, but our rights would remain.

The price of this government is taxation. As the Constitution is the vehicle of our

government, taxation is the fuel. But this fuel is precious as it is life itself.

Wealth is not money. Money is the measure of wealth; an agreed standard of

measurement just as a mile or a pound or a second. Wealth can only be created

and grown through human endeavor. It is born when muscle, mind and sweat are

brought together in the act of creation. Our eternal struggle against decay.

Be you a carpenter, farmer, architect, miner, factory worker, cook, or engineer,

you are engaged in the daily creation of true tangible personal wealth through the

trade of your most precious possession, your very life.

©2009, Brent Regan Page 2 of 7

Taxation is the ability to require labor without pay. Taken collectively, the goods

and services we produce as a country are known as the Gross Domestic

Product. Government spending confiscates a third of the GDP, a third of

everything produced.

You work for the government for four months of the year, every year, without pay.

What sort of crime do you have to commit to be sentenced to 700 hours of

community service every year?

The ability to take a thing is the ability to control a thing. So, ultimately, taxation is

about control. The more you pay in taxes, the less control you have over your

life. There is another word for having control over your own life, Freedom!

There is also a word for surrendering the fruits of your labor to someone else

who has control over your life, Slavery. These are our choices.

From time to time, politicians will propose new taxes with the assurance that the

tax will only apply to a few, the other guy, not you. This is a fiction that relies on

avarice, envy and the suspension of common sense. A tax on one is a tax on all,

regardless of which of us writes the check.

In your family you work, you pay taxes but your kids, you are lucky if they help

with the dishes let alone the taxes.

But when the Government takes money from your paycheck do your children not

suffer from the loss? Is not that loss felt at the places you shop or the services

you employ? If rather than having the government take your money and spend it,

you had your money to spend; wouldn’t the positive impact on your family and

community be immediate?

We all exist within an economy that is the reservoir of our collective wealth so

whenever the government removes wealth from that reservoir it diminishes us all.

A dollar taken from even the richest man means that dollar is no longer available

in a bank to be lent or to purchase the goods or services of others or to be

invested in a new business that will create more wealth, more jobs and improve

all our lives.

Given the toxic effect taxes have on the economy and freedom it is reasonable to

desire the smallest government practical and to only institute policies and

programs that ensure productivity and prosperity. Sadly, we are experiencing the

opposite.

A war on prosperity!

©2009, Brent Regan Page 3 of 7

Political forces divide the people into teams red and blue and set us to squabble

against ourselves about issues far more imagined than real while those we have

elected to represent us in Government expand their control over our finances,

which is, ultimately, control over our very lives.

These scoundrels encourage envy and class warfare. They institutionalize theft

and call it fairness. They claim the crime of bribery can be fully undone by simply

giving the money back.

They assert they can cure diarrhea by changing the plumbing in the bathroom

and pick up a turd by the clean end.

They believe they can buy our vote with money taken from our own wallets.

They pile upon us a tax code so huge, so complex that even their smartest, most

indispensable Treasury Secretary doesn’t understand it. The income tax code is

so huge that if it was read aloud, beginning to end, for 8 hours a day, it would

take 3 months to complete the task. But by then they would have added more.

And they demand under penalty of perjury that we comply with every bit of it.

They are the thieves yet they treat us as the criminals.

In their quest for power, our representatives manipulate language to conceal their

duplicitous acts. They propose that a sexual act between two people only

involves one person, or that a solicitation is really a wide stance, or that a bow is

a handshake. You must believe them, not your lying eyes or your own common

sense.

They issue proclamations in dulcet rhetoric carefully designed to alternately

sooth then agitate, keeping the people off balance and confused.

By their own arrogance, compounded by incompetence, they create crisis and

then boast that the problem is so great only they can provide a solution.

A solution so urgent it must be enacted before being debated or even examined.

A solution which is ultimately more of the very thing that created the problem

compounded with additional authority given to those who have demonstrated

incompetence and inability.

The buffoonery must stop. The Jackals must be called to heel. We are

Americans and we will not go quietly into this tyranny of the weak.

The Eternal Dream is that as humans we have rights endowed by our creator.

Rights that exist independent of any government we ordain. From these rights

flows the promise of America.

©2009, Brent Regan Page 4 of 7

That promise is not a house; it is not a car or a flat screen TV or universal health

insurance. It is the promise that through hard work, creativity and perseverance

you can make a better life for yourself, your family and your community.

Government must protect and not impede this promise

Regrettably the symbiotic parasite that is our Government has grown beyond its

station. Its corpulence requires ever more from the life of the host, the people.

Finding its gluttony unsated it now turns to our futurity and seeks to indenture our

children.

As Java the Gov feasts on our wealth crumbs and crust fall from its maw,

attracting the K Street scavengers. Mewing sycophants and special interests

surround and plead for their share.

And why not? The supply seems endless.

If we don’t take action now we will, as a country become week and infirmed.

Gone will be the dream and the promise because whether you work or don’t work

you will languish in the same bland mediocrity, feasting on government cheese.

We will be domesticated, enslaved to those who should serve us. All will be

equal among the governed. All will be fair. The field of play will be level and we

will graze upon it as sheep.

We are not sheep. We are Americans.

We are Americans and we know what to do. It is the thing that drew you here

today. The beast has an Achilles Heal. It cannot create wealth. It can only

consume it.

It can be shrunk back to its useful size and returned to its rightful role as servant

to the people. All that is required is that we squeeze. Squeeze the tube that feeds

it. Put it on a diet. Reduce the flow of taxed wealth and it will shrink.

The beast will scream in terror. It will promise suffering of the people; elimination

of vital service, criminals set free, roads and bridges falling into greater disrepair,

orphans going hungry, dogs sleeping with cats, baby harp seals clubbing

themselves. Crisis, crisis!

What you will not hear about is the loss of million dollar expense accounts, or

private Air Force jets to ferry representatives about, or lavish congressional office

renovations, or freezers stuffed with cold hard cash, or pork projects or any of the

other thousands of costs that do not serve all the people.

©2009, Brent Regan Page 5 of 7

We will tighten our grip by speaking with one voice to our representatives. The

message is as clear as it is simple.

If you do not reduce taxes and eliminate deficit spending your services will no

longer be needed and you will be replaced.

As the flow of wealth slows the Government will become more fastidious and the

plate will be licked clean. Gone will be the discretionary spending, slush funds

and budget under runs that attract the lobbyists and special interests. The cost

benefit ratio of bribery will be become unfavorable. We can have a fitter, leaner,

more efficient government if we hold our resolve.

The news the other day announced that April 13th is freedom from tax day. They

said the average American worked exclusively for the Federal Government from

January 1 to April 13th.

But that is the Average. Half the population pays 97% of the income taxes while

the other half pays only 3%, and the half that pays the 3%, they were done

working off their tax debt way back on February 3rd. To pick up the slack the rest

of us won’t see a dollar of our own money until June 16th. And they still say we

don’t pay our fair share.

Is it so unreasonable to ask, in the spirit of fairness that regardless of status, we

all work the same number of days in support of our country?

Some say that democracies are destined to fail when a majority of the population

realizes that they can vote themselves a share of the treasury. We are at that

point now. Remember, half the population pays 97% of the taxes. The other half

only 3%.

I believe we can save ourselves from the abyss because of the very thing that

makes this republic great. The promise of America. With that promise we have

the vision to endure near term hardship for long term gain.

We are the benefactors of our forefather’s legacy. As Lincoln said, we are blood

of their blood, flesh of their flesh. Together we can endure and thrive.

The advocates of invasive government pronounce these Tea Parties to be an

inconsequential and insignificant fad. They say we have no focus, no purpose. Its

all an illusion.

Their dismissive attitude betrays their dread. They understand their ranks are

filled with followers that require guidance while we are self motivated and

independent.

©2009, Brent Regan Page 6 of 7

The followers pay only 3% of the tax burden, sell their votes for a $13 a week

stimulus check and go along for the ride. We pay the other 97% and still drive our

collective prosperity forward.

The followers wait for leadership and, as moths to a bright flame, will sacrifice

their long term prosperity for a short term gain. We wait for no one as we have

always been here, working. We created this country, this beacon of freedom for

the world.

The American Promise that burns inside us inspired the giants that built this great

country and inspires us now as we stand on their shoulders, laboring to add to

their legacy. It is this strength, should we only choose to apply it, which will

sustain us in our defense of the American promise.

All we need is to do is recognize we all have the same goal. That goal is simple;

to preserve, protect and expand freedom. Taxes are slavery and we must push

them back.

This is so clear, so obvious to us that we don’t need an organization or a leader,

talking points or a platform as those things are just window dressing and can be

targeted, dissected, ridiculed and trampled. Those that seek dominion over us

are well practiced in these propaganda and intimidation tactics.

No, we will follow the example of our founders and use our wit and grit to apply

pressure from many sides at once. Not offering a focus for their venom.

We will work independently towards a single goal. We know that even the

pressure of a single finger multiplied by millions becomes and irresistible force.

Each day, as you cross the threshold of your home, ask yourself “What can I do

to apply pressure?” Answer that question and then act on the answer. Imagine

our elected officials are teenagers that have been behaving badly. What would

you do? What would you say to them?

Be it local, state or federal; remind our representatives daily that their jobs

depend on shrinking the government.

Never use violence. Never threaten force. We are a Republic and we cherish the

law. We will make it part of our daily routine. Get up, get dressed, have breakfast,

help save the Republic, go to work. What? That’s how we roll.

The results will not be immediate. But we will bring grief to them and the first

stage of grief is denial. So when they deny our effect, we will know it is working.

Hold your resolve.

©2009, Brent Regan Page 7 of 7

Our representatives and their followers will come to know that today’s gathering

is not the high water mark of our efforts; it’s was just the preview, a rumble of

distant thunder announcing the coming storm.

A storm that will bring a pressure upon them. Pressure from all sides.

Unrelenting, constant, daily pressure. A pressure that compels them to act in the

interest of the people, not in the advancement of their own agenda. Pressure to

shrink the beast, to eliminate the gluttony and waste, to preserve life and liberty

for all the people.

We must not allow the day to come where our impoverished children huddle in

the ruins of the bankrupt Republic, waiting for food brought by men in powder

blue helmets, asking themselves: “Why? Why didn’t someone stand up? Why did

they let this happen?”

No. NO! They will tell stories to their children, with pride, of how their parents

stood up, took their place among the giants and cried: Enough!

Now is the time. We are the people.

We the people. The power to govern flows from us, not to us, and when we

speak with one voice, the halls of government tremble.

Let’s give them a taste of what is coming. City Hall is just over there. Let them

hear us now.

We the people!

We the people!

We the people!

I salute and thank you.

God Bless America!