by Matt Kibbe
SUBTERRANEAN HOMESPUN VALUES
I AM FROM THE REPUBLICAN WING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. MY loyalty is not to a political party; I am committed to a set of values: Jeffersonian republicanism. I am this type of republican who, in the words of Senator Rand Paul, “actually believes in limited government and individual freedom.” Is that radical? If it is, that radicalism is deeply rooted in America.
America’s exceptionalism was never dependent on the wisdom and generosity of our chief executive officer. Our greatness never came from the beneficence of an exclusive board of directors—the “different depositaries” and departments, cabinet secretaries, senators, congressmen, and even Rules Committee staffers—that would guide the operations of the American enterprise from inside closed doors, armed with the best data provided by the most knowing experts, and vested with the responsibility to make budget allocations and production decisions for us.
No, the American spirit was different.
“What reasonable social and political order could conceivably be built and maintained where authority was questioned before it was obeyed, where social differences were considered to be incidental rather than essential to community order, and where superiority, suspect in principle, was not allowed to concentrate in the hands of a few but was scattered broadly through the populace,” asks Bailyn, referring to the Whig mash-up of republicanism, ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment, and the inherently stubborn independence of people who had by and large chosen to be free by traveling at great sacrifice to the New World.7
The details of this new world were not as yet clearly depicted; but faith ran high that a better world than any that had ever been known could be built where authority was distrusted and held in constant scrutiny; where the status of men flowed from their achievements and from their personal qualities, not from distinctions ascribed to them at birth; and where the use of power over the lives of men was jealously guarded and severely restricted. It was only where there was this defiance, this refusal to truckle, this distrust of all authority, political or social, that institutions would express human aspirations, not crush them.8
The intellectual foment of the 1760s, with its pamphleteers and grassroots rallies under the Liberty Tree, is not so different from the happy mob of Tea Partiers that gathered by choice in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 2009, to petition the government in defense of their liberties.
From beautiful chaos emerges an essential order. We don’t follow leaders. But we jealously watch the “parking meters”—the rules of the game, the limits on authority We the People temporarily grant to the government monopolist, and the nonnegotiable principle that everyone be treated exactly like everyone else under the laws of the land. If you choose to park here in America, you put in your quarter just like the next guy. But the meter maid cannot—will not—shake you down for tribute, steal your fruit scale, and slap your face, simply because she can, and simply because she works for the government.
THE HOSTILE TAKEOVER
OUR NATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT THE AUTONOMY OF THE SHAREHOLDERS, stakeholders with an unalienable property right in their shares of the company. Our nation is about the men and women in the streets, in their hometowns, lacking the proper lineage, having no family connections, and absolutely no pull with the man in charge. The citizenry is free, operating outside the top-down structures of hierarchical decision-making; independent of royals, emperors, kings, and czars.
Is it possible that George Washington’s distaste for unfettered executive power, for kings and permanent presidents alike, was part and parcel of this bottom-up, uniquely American ethos? Was he, too, responding to how his fellow citizens might judge him? Did he value, as Adam Smith believed we all do, the positive judgments of others?
Did peer pressure from the public square, from the homespun values of grassroots America, make even George Washington more accountable?
Each of us is endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the wildly radical notion that potentates, governors, crony corporatists, and any and all manner of rent-seekers, lever-pullers, influence-dealers, and earmarking hucksters shouldn’t get special privileges. The elites have to drop a quarter in the meter just like the rest of us. No cutting in line, and no jetting to Washington in your Gulfstream V when your customers have deemed both your business model and your product unwanted. The insiders don’t get to decide, for you, how to spend your tax dollars, the value of those dollars, or even whether or not birth control pills will be included in your mandated, government-dictated health insurance benefits package.
Who do they think they are? Better yet, who do you think it is that’s going to stop them?
We know that politicians can’t be trusted with power; that, once in office, they will collude with other powerful elites to the betterment of their interests, not ours. But you want to believe it, knowing that the alternative would shift the blame of failure squarely back on your shoulders—the shoulders of the shareholders, of We the People.
All of them, the Republican and Democratic parties, the teachers’ unions, the crumbling media cartel, each and every one of them wants you to fail. They, the insiders, are hoping you will do what you did before, after rising up to demand accountability and throw the bums out. Last time, after you won, you went home, thinking that politics can be left to better politicians. Maybe a better president.
But that’s not the deal. It never was the deal. “The people,” said Jefferson, “are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” He’s talking to you. You want it fixed? So fix it.
It won’t be easy, and it won’t always be fun. Senior management has circled the wagons. The board of directors has kicked you out of the company headquarters even though your investment helped build the building. The CEO refuses to even consider our shareholders resolution, a commonsense proposal that says government ought to clean up its books, eliminate money-sucking lines of business, and modernize lines of production for its core competencies. They need to get back to a business model—explicitly narrow in scope—that made the American enterprise great in the first place. But they won’t. They need to listen to their customers again. But they are certain that we are all wrong. They need to let the customer choose. But they’ve brought on the very best management consultants, and they say they already know what you want, what you need.
They still don’t think you matter, because they know that all those unanswered questions from the last annual meeting will fade with your interest in them. Sure, you elected new board members in a heroically successful challenge to the chairman, but the people’s seat at the table is a minority position. You could do it again, they know, but they are betting their privileged positions that you won’t.
However, if you don’t lose interest, if you continue to show up, if you push the matter, things will most certainly get hostile. They will call you names. Nasty names. They will respond to your request for equal treatment with a tax audit from the city of Richmond.
But you are not alone. Like the pamphleteers of the Spirit of ’76, a community of bloggers is there with you to get the story first and turn an infinite sea of facts into the knowledge required of citizens to hold their government accountable. You can connect almost instantly will millions more through a multitude of social media outlets. You can join together, based on a common set of values, toward a mutually agreed-upon purpose.
So, what are you going to do to take our country back?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TRUE TO THE BOTTOM-UP, SPONTANEOUS NATURE OF THE GRASSROOTS community known as the Tea Party, this book would have never been possible without the unplanned participation of millions of known and unknown partners across the nation. Our joint efforts are an historic venture in shareholder accountability; together, we are putting timeless principles into practice. Hopefully my work is a true reflection of, and a constructive contribution to, the work of the community.
Terry, my awesom
e wife of 25 years, served as an essential source of new ideas, and as a listener and a critic. She also let me work through the Christmas holiday to meet overly ambitious deadlines without sacrificing the demands of my day job. She’s my Honey Badger; more honey than badger.
Peter Hubbard, Senior Editor at HarperCollins, has been a great business partner, advocate, bullet-catcher and risk-taker on behalf of this project.
There are a number of colleagues at FreedomWorks whose hard work also made this book a reality. Adam Brandon, Agitator-in-Chief, got this project off the ground as he always does, by committing to the impossible. Dean Clancy, Wayne Brough, Julie Borowski, Laura Howd, Josh Withrow, and Ryan Hecker all contributed substantial research and thinking on the “policy” chapters, often putting in late hours to make good, better. Patrick Hedger, Michael Duncan and Max Pappas provided detailed copy edits to the final draft.
Since 2003, I have been the lucky beneficiary of the wisdom and mentoring of my colleague Dick Armey, a real life hero who has consistently put his principles and his commitments first, even when doing so was costly. There are few people who have accomplished what he has in Washington, D.C. for whom I can say the same. Similarly brave support has come from my Board of Directors, who have stood with the staff of FreedomWorks through thick and thin.
I have also benefited from the reactions, the insights and the fearlessness of Glenn Beck. He is inspiring. The same can be said of Judge Andrew Napolitano and Senator Mike Lee of Utah.
Chapter Thirteen and Fourteen would not have been possible without an open bar stool at Russian River Brewing Company and the insight-inducing nature of their best brew, Pliny the Elder. Other chapters drew unsanctioned inspiration from Bob Dylan, Ludwig von Mises, John Coltrane, F.A. Hayek, Jerry Garcia, Ayn Rand, The King of Limbs, and Roark the cat.
The crazy exaggerations, unhealthy obsession with Austrian economics, obtuse Big Lebowski references, and any and all errors are my responsibility alone.
NOTES
Prologue: The Hostile Takeover
1. Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), pp. 568–69.
2. Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe, “A Tea Party Manifesto,” Wall Street Journal, Aug. 17, 2010.
Chapter 1: The Central Problem
1. United States Senate website, “The Kennedy Caucus Room.” Accessed Dec. 18, 2011. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Caucus_Room.htm#3.
2. FreedomWorksAction, “Senator Schumer Shuts Down Tea Party Debt Commission.” Last modified Nov. 18, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKCnz_RgIOE.
3. MichelleMalkin, “Who’s Afraid of a Tea Party Panel?, Part II: What the Fishwrap of Record Didn’t Tell You,” MichelleMalkin.com Nov. 18, 2011. http://michellemalkin.com/2011/11/18/whos-afraid-of-a-tea-party-panel-part-ii-what-the-fishwrap-of-record-didnt-tell-you/.
4. Global Security.org, “Forum on National Security Implications of Disclosing the Identity of a Covert Intelligence Officer—Committee Hearing,” July 22, 2005, CQ Transcriptions. http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2007_hr/070316-transcript.pdf.
5. “A Tea Party ‘Hearing’ in the Senate That Wasn’t,” The Caucus Blog, Nov. 17, 2011, first posted at 4:09 p.m. and “corrected” at 5:12 p.m. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/a-tea-party-hearing-is-blocked-in-the-senate/.
6. U.S. Capitol Police, e-mail to reporters, Nov. 17, 2011, as shared with the author by the New York Times.
7. Lynden Armstrong, e-mail to Spencer Stokes, Nov. 17, 2011, 1:03 p.m., quoted in Ben Howe, “Was the Tea Party Kicked Out of the Capitol By Former Bennett Staffers Mad at Mike Lee?”
8. Spencer Stokes, e-mail to Lynden Armstrong, Nov. 17, 2011, 1:05 p.m., quoted in ibid.
9. Ryan McCoy, e-mail to Lynden Armstrong, Nov. 17, 2011, 1:10 p.m., quoted in ibid.
10. Lynden Armstrong, e-mail to Spencer Stokes, Nov. 17, 2011, 1:11 p.m., quoted in ibid.
11. U.S. Capitol Police Command Center, e-mail to all Senate staff, Nov. 17, 2011, 1:31 p.m., quoted in ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Jeff Zeleny, “Thousands Rally in Capital to Protest Big Government,” New York Times, Sep. 12, 2009.
14. WINK News, “Cape ‘Tea Party’ Cancelled; City Fears Too Many Attendees,” Mar. 3, 2009.
15. Meghan Barr and Ryan J. Foley, “Occupy Protests Cost Nation’s Cities at Least $13M,” Associated Press, Nov. 13, 2011.
16. Perry Chiaramonte, “Tea Party Alleges Double Standard by Occupy-Friendly Mayor in Virginia,” FoxNews.com, Nov. 28, 2011. Accessed Dec. 21, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/28/richmond-tea-party-claims-to-be-treated-unfairly-by-occupy-friendly-mayor/.
17. Patrik Jonsson, “Tea Party Activists Audited by City. Would That Happen to Occupy Protesters?” Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 29, 2011.
18. Annie Gowan, “As Occupy D.C. Movement Grows, So Does Tension,” Washington Post, Dec. 17, 2010.
19. Darrell Issa, “Oversight Chairman Issa Asks Interior Secretary Salazar to Explain Illegal Camping in McPherson Square and Justify Destruction of Stimulus-Funded Upgrades” (U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform press release, Dec. 12, 2010).
20. Paul Courson, “Occupy DC Demonstrators Bolstered by Migrating NYC Occupiers,” CNN.com, Jan. 2, 2012. http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-02/us/us_occupy-migration_1_protest-camps-tent-city-demonstrators?_s=PM:US.
21. Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi, “Un-American Attacks Can’t Derail Health Care Debate,” USA Today, Aug. 10, 2009.
22. Jacqueline Klingebiel, “Pelosi and the Tea Party ‘Share Views’,” ABC News, Feb. 28, 2010.
23. Bryan Fung, “Pelosi Gets Behind Occupy Wall Street,” TalkingPointsMemo.com, Oct. 6, 2011. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/pelosi-gets-behind-occupy-wall-street.php.
24. Kevin Bogardus, “Pelosi’s Wealth Grows by 62 percent,” The Hill, On the Money blog, June 15, 2011. http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/166599-pelosis-net-worth-rises-62-percent.
25. John Wildermuth, “Pelosi’s Husband Prefers a Low Profile,” San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 2007.
26. Carolyn C. Webber, “Development of Ideas About Balanced Budgets,” Appendix D in Aaron Wildavsky, How to Limit Government Spending (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), p. 172.
27. “Time Series Chart of U.S. Government Spending.” Accessed Dec. 20, 2011. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1902_2015USp_F0xF0fF0sF0l.
28. Ibid.
29. Author’s calculation, based on data from usgovernmentspending.com.
30. “Time Series Chart of Government Revenue,” USgovernmentspending.com.
31. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presentation at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, Detroit, Mich., Aug. 26, 2010. Accessed Dec. 20, 2011. http://www.econclub.org/Multimedia/Transcripts/Admiral%20Mullen%20Speech%20082610.pdf.
32. “Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It.” Accessed Dec. 7, 2011. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np.
33. “US National Debt and Deficit History,” chart 2, usgovernmentspending.com. Accessed Dec. 18, 2011. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1792_2016USp_13s1li011mcn_H0f.
34. Ibid. For the amount of the Confederate portion of the Civil War debt, I have assumed it was comparable to or less than that of the USA, since the unrecognized Confederacy had trouble finding foreign buyers for its debt.
35. Author’s calculations, based on data from “US National Debt and Deficit History,” chart 2, cited above.
36. Joint Economic Committee, Republican staff, “What Is the Tipping Point?” Chart comparing debt at time of crisis or bailout, for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and USA. Accessed Dec. 21, 2011. http://jec.senate.gov/republicans/public/?File_id=b35ec023-c803-4bc0-8540-d2cbe0868794&a=Files.Serve&typ.%20.%20.
37. Alex Klein, “Fitch Threatens to Downgrade U.S. Credit Rating,” NYmag.com. Accessed Dec. 21, 2011. http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/fi
tch-threatens-to-downgrade-us-credit-rating.html; “Moody’s warns the US it could be downgraded again before 2013,” Buenos Aires Herald, Edition No. 3267, Aug. 8, 2011. Accessed Dec. 21, 2011. http://buenosairesherald.com/article/75365/moodys-warns-the-us-it-could-be-downgraded-again-before-2013.
38. Congressional Budget Office, “The Long-Term Budget Outlook,” alternative fiscal scenario, table 1-2, p. 6. http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10297/06-25-LTBO.pdf.
39. Joint Economic Committee, Republican staff, “2015: Downgrade Day (Avoiding Europe’s Fate),” May 28, 2010. Accessed Dec. 21, 2011. http://www.jec.senate.gov/republicans/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=3472468a-4acc-4db0-9bc9-3bfbde139ea5.
40. “U.S. Federal Budget Analyst, Interest Analysis,” usgovernmentspending.com. Accessed Dec. 21, 2011. http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/federal_budget_interest.
41. Congressional Research Service, “The Congressional Budget Timetable,” updated Mar. 20, 2008, Order Code 98-472 GOV. Accessed Dec. 18, 2011. http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-472.pdf.
42. 2 U.S.C. 632, subsection (a), Annual Adoption of Concurrent Resolution on the Budget (emphasis added). Accessed Dec. 18, 2011. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/usc_sec_02_00000632–-000-.html.
43. Author’s calculation of ten-year deficit effect of Obama FY 2012 budget, based on CBO, An Analysis of the President’s Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 2012 (Apr. 2011), and CBO, Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update (Aug. 2011), summary tables 1, 2; tables 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, and 1.8.
44. Statement from Co-Chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, Nov. 21, 2011. Accessed Dec. 18, 2011, emphasis added. http://www.cspan.org/uploadedFiles/Content/Special/Deficit_Committee/Reaction_to_SuperCommittee.pdf.
Chapter 2: What Czars Don’t Know
1. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 1776, IV.2.4-IV.2.9.