I will be speaking today on the state of the tea party movement and our ongoing battle against the GOP machine. I will also be signing my LRC bestseller, Direct Citizen Action.

Hidden Valley Lodge, Varysburg, NY. Enjoy our great fall foliage on the way. Free admission. 12–4pm. I speak at 2pm.

Here’s an excerpt:

The movement started in 2007 when Ron Paul ran for president and energized over 100,000 volunteers and donors. But Ron was ahead of his time and the momentum continued to build in late 2009 when the Bush Administration proposed massive bank bailouts. My point is the roots of the tea party movement predate Obama. In essence, the tea party movement is the result of the failure of the Republican Party to shrink government when it had the chance in 1980, 1994, and 2000.

The truth is, the last Republican Administration that shrank government was Warren Harding’s in 1921! What we have gotten instead is a series of utterly meaningless clichés such as “I will eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.” “I will run government like a business.” “I will cut taxes but won’t tell you how I will pay for it.” I can tell you that GOP politicians will feed you these lines of nonsense as long as you let them get away with it—as long as we keep voting for them after they tell us nothing about what they will do if elected.

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