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LiberTea Republican Congressional Debate

The Chattanooga Tea Party and Campaign for Liberty are joining together to sponsor a series of LiberTea Debates in preparation for the 2010 elections. The first of these public Debates will feature the six announced Republican candidates for Tennessee?s Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives (currently held by Zach Wamp) on Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 2:00-3:30PM. The event will be hosted at Woodland Park Baptist Church by the Community Impact Team and it is located at 6735 Standifer Gap Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. The Debate is free and open to the public.

The six candidates who have confirmed their participation in the first Debate are Tommy Crangle, Chuck Fleischmann, Tim Gobble, Van Irion, Arthur Rhodes and Robin Smith.

At the conclusion of the Debate (from 4:00-5:00PM) attendees will have an opportunity to meet with the participating candidates individually in separate rooms, thus allowing citizens to visit with the candidates in an intimate manner to further discuss issues of interest to them.

Attached for your reference and distribution is a Flyer that provides all of the information about the Debate.

I trust you will be able to attend the event. Additionally, please don't hesitate to share this email invitation with your email network, friends, co-workers and families as well as inviting your pastor and church members to attend.

EVENT FACTS:
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Debate Time: 2PM - 3:30PM
"Meet the Candidate" Time: 4PM - 5PM
Format: Moderator to present questions (submitted by public, CTP, HCFL & CIT members)
Location: Woodland Park Baptist Church (6735 Standifer Gap Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421)
PLEASE RSVP at:
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163802917049&index=1
Meetup - http://www.meetup.com/Chattanooga-Tea-Party/calendar/11700834/
If you have any questions, then please give me a call.
David Gidcumb
423-505-1467

random politicalish thought

Even during times of great perversion evangelicals need to realize that it is not the role of government to protect citizens from themselves. We need to realize that while it might seem morally advantageous to undermine the Constitution now, that in future generations that same authority will be used to persecute our posterity. The precedent we establish will come back to haunt us.

Sheriff Gobble

Here is an opinion piece that I submitted to the Chattanoogan, but it never got published. It was in response to sheriff Tim Gobble opinion piece entitled Sheriff Gobble Looking Forward Maybe it was a bit harsh, and that is why the Chattanoogan did not publish it. I just hate not questioning career politicians as they work their way up the ladder. I have heard him speak two different times and by all I can tell he is just a classic neo-conservative. Haven't we had enough of the new conservatism?

Sheriff Gobble,
You spoke at the Tea Party rally on the 15th and many of us there were shocked to see you take the stage. Your "Sheriff Gobble Looking Forward" opinion piece in the Chattanoogan exemplifies why many of us were dismayed at your participation. The main point of the Tea Party was not only that we are over-taxed, but that we are over-taxed due to our federal government over-stepping its constitutional bounds. As conservative Republicans, Democrats, Constitutionalists, Libertarians, and Independents, we came together around our Constitution, demanding that our leaders follow the road map our Founders gave us. We are tired of our Senators and House Representatives only bringing up the words Strict Constructionist and Originalist when it is politically advantageous or when Supreme Court Judges are being nominated. It is time for politicians to get a constitutional backbone, and I am afraid you have shown us exactly how you will behave if elected as our Congressman.

Sheriff Gobble, just because our out-of-control government chooses to spend our money in ways the Constitution has not specifically mandated, it does not mean you should belly up to the feeding trough. Tennessee's third district should be leading the country as stalwarts of constitutional excellence. Sheriff Gobble, I really can not imagine that you would think the federal government has any constitutional authority to get involved with the funding of police officers. The Tenth Amendment clearly makes the funding of police officers a state issue.

My two points are this. First, even if you were to take our money to fund new police officers for the next four years, the big question is how are you going to pay their salary once the grant money runs out? Sounds like either a tax increase or you are planning on President Obama's spend-our-way-out-of-debt scheme to work. Secondly, by taking this dirty money you are doing exactly what Madison in the 10th Federalist Paper referred to as an "improper or wicked project". What you are doing is taking part in indebting our children and grandchildren so that you may enjoy the security of extra police officers now.

Sheriff Gobble please answer this question: if the Bradley County Commission somehow had the power to take your great grandchildren's money to fund police officers now, would you take it? I hope you would not. You must agree that the ethical ground you tread on is part of an improper and wicked project. Sheriff Gobble it is not your money to spend. Period.

David Gidcumb http://twitter.com/davidgid j.d.gidcumb@gmail.com

James Madison on Freedom

Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation

-- James Madison 1788 speaking to the Virginia convention

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed.

This is such an interesting quote by Jefferson.

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.
...And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
---Thomas Jefferson November 13, 1787, letter to William S. Smith

thoughts on the pledge

Since becoming involved politically over the last few years, I've become involved with groups that say the pledge of allegiance before meetings. What goes across my mind while saying the pledge is "Why the heck are we doing this?" I never questioned it as a kid, but now I just can't help but wonder about the historical context. I do find it interesting that we did not start pledging allegiance until 1892. To boot it was written by a Baptist minister who was involved with the Christian Socialist movement, which by the way is completely antithetical to the thoughts of our Founding Fathers.

So I wonder what our Founding Fathers would have thought about the pledged. I know they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, but my feeling is they would have serious problems with the wording of the pledge as it stands. I mean really, for those who have studied our founders and the concept of the government they endeavored to create, do you think they would have used the word "indivisible". Not. A. Chance.

luv me some bureaucracy

I am still reading through The Revolution a Manifesto by Dr. Paul and have been eating up his chapter entitled Economic Freedom.

Check this quote out:

To get an appreciation for the difference between public and private administration in terms of bureaucracy and cost-effectiveness, consider this. The Brookings Institution's John Chubb once investigated the number of bureaucrats working in the central administration office of the New York City public schools. Six telephone calls finally yielded someone who knew the answer, but that person was not allowed to disclose it. Another six calls later, Chubb had at last pinned down someone who knew the answer and could tell him what it was. There were 6,000 bureaucrats working in the central office.

Then Chubb call the Archdiocese of New York, to find out the figure there.(The city's Catholic schools educate one-fifth as many students as did the government-run schools.) Chubb's first telephone call was taken by someone who did not know the answer. Here we go again, he thought. But after a moment she said, "Wait a minute; let me count." Her answer: 26.

Getting the Home Office finished

For those who have not heard I will be working from home full time starting December 1st. I've been working on building an office out of the corner of my garage over the last 2 months. I still have a ton to do, so I made a list, which should keep me from jumping spasmodically from task to task.

~~Get the subfloor down~~(11-8)
~~Get the last socket wired~~(11-8)
~~Rough in the new AC vent~~(11-8)
~~Hang last piece of sheetrock~~(11-9)
~~Get first coat of mud on everything~~(11-11)
~~Take down old hot water heater vent~~ (11-15)
~~Patch vent hole~~(11-15)
~~Blow in insulation~~(11-16)
~~Patch holes created from insulation~~(11-16)
~~Finish floating all sheetrock~~(11-26)
~~Paint walls and ceiling~~(11-26)
~~Put down flooring~~(11-29)
~~Hang door 1~~(11-29)
~~Hang door 2~~(11-30)
~~Trim out room~~(12-04)
~~Hang new lighting~~(12-04)
~~Run 100 feet of coaxial cable under house~~(12-09)
~~Connect AC vent~~(12-09)
Box around dryer vent
Box around back of AC vent
Paint trim
spackle and caulk trim

Madison on Democracies

"...democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."
--James Madison

The budget should be balanced

Again, history should be studied for wisdom's sake.

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest we become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
-- Cicero , Rome 55 BC

More from Jefferson

I am convinced that the only way we can fix this mess we are in is by studying history. The more I study our founders the more I get answers for all the issues that plague us today. There is truly nothing new under the sun. We need to study history for the wisdom that can be attained not just to fill our brains with facts.

When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.
-- Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson's take on the Bailout

"...what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? ...a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." - Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address - Wednesday, March 1, 1801

It looks like Wamp gets it (I have not heard, but I hope he is one of the holdout Republicans.) and Corker and Alexander don't! Wait, does Alexander expect me to vote for him even if he is a Republican behaving badly? I sure hope not, my days of voting for RINOs are over.

Calling all Philosophy Majors

For several months I have, not so secretly, wondered how to help others get out of this neo-federalist thought process that both parties are stuck in. I feel strongly about the revival of a more pure and historical constructionist view of the constitution needing to take root.

The problem is that it took me years (3-10) of reading and studying history to finally be open to the possibility that the reality be presented and the arguments being made in our current political paradigm are a result of, for the lack of a better term, us having lost our way.

All that said, Blackburn, Jason, and myself were on the way back from lunch today, and we were talking about politics when Jason brought up a principle or study he had heard of that basically goes like this: New concepts, to which someone has little or no reference point, take time to introduce or else the person will think they are either silly or misguided and will dismiss them out of hand.

Does anyone know what this principle is called? I'm sure this principle is covered in a freshman philosophy class, but for the life of me I can't seem to pin it down.

I am kind of working with these keywords: conceptual change pedagogy and knowledge reconstruction

Please, someone fill me in. I really would like to understand this concept a bit better.

timing is everything

One thing we are learning about Nicholas is that he does not like to eat breakfast. This morning Aunt Heather had fixed French toast, and we were all working as hard as we could at encouraging him to eat. I tried to encourage him to try it with some honey with the hope that he would like the taste of the honey and keep eating. He finally took a bite of the French toast with nothing on it. Not liking that he agreed to try some honey. After about a minute of Nicholas staring at the French toast on the end of his fork he very slowly started moving the bite towards his mouth. I held my breath waiting for that honey soaked piece of toast to touch his tongue. At the point where the toast was millimeters from his lips John David busts out with:

"Did you know that honey is really bee vomit?"

John David's timing could not have been better. All the adults in the kitchen had so much emotionally invested in that bite that all we could do is bust out laughing. Then all the kids started laughing and Nicholas took the bite. I think he thought John David was just being silly...

babywearing on the brain

For those who might be interested, Leslie and I have started a new babywearing forum over at www.Babywearing.com. We are even running a little promotion for those who might want to help build the community. We officially opened the forum the last week of May and already have 15+ members.

This forum is something we have wanting to do for a couple of years now, but the time was never right. Over the last month or so things have fallen into place and we were able to get the forum up and running.

So, if you know anyone who might be interested in joining the community we would love to have them.