July 22nd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned statements by the NAACP and members of Congress who he said are “attempting to create a false perception of the tea party movement and any other citizen activists who dare to speak out against Barack Obama’s radical agenda.”
Wilson said the “true message of the tea party movement is against endless bailouts, it is against too much spending and too much control over health care, the financial sector, and energy. It seeks to save America from the sovereign debt crisis and to restore the nation as the economic superpower of the world.”
Wilson called the attacks against the movement “shameless” and that they were designed “to intimidate and silence the American people who wish nothing more than to return the nation to the tradition of constitutional government with limited powers.”
“This is the way organizations, media outlets, and elected officials attempt to silence legitimate dissent through its delegitimization. We expect this from the Hugo Chavezes and Saul Alinskys of the world, not in America,” Wilson said.
“Ultimately, this is about control of Congress, and it is clear members of Congress will stop at nothing to discredit the primary threat to their keeping power, and that’s the American people,” Wilson added.
Wilson said the NAACP’s claims were based on prior statements by elected officials, and said the organization “is being misled and used to help construct a false narrative about the tea parties.”
Wilson pointed to House Majority Whip James Clyburn’s claim that tea parties were a “kind of terrorism.” Others have alleged that activists shouted racial epithets at members of Congress on March 20th at a protest against the health care bill, as reported by the American Thinker. Others have attested that acts of vandalism were linked to the tea parties.
“This has been Congress’ tactic against the tea parties since they began in 2009,” Wilson added, noting what he said were “consistent false portrayals of activists at tea parties and town halls throughout 2009 by Congressional Democrats.”
Majority Whip Clyburn’s attack followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote an oped in USA Today calling opponents “un-American”. Congressman Steve Kagen called opponents “uncivilized,” and Congressman Baron Hill called them “political terrorists.”
Congressman Brian Baird called opponents of the legislation “Brown Shirts” and compared them to domestic terrorists, “Some of the rhetoric that we’re hearing is… eerily reminiscent of the kind of things that drove Tim McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma.”
Wilson pointed to the bailouts of delinquent borrowers, Bear Stearns, AIG, GM, and Chrysler; the $150 billion nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program; the Federal Reserve more than doubling the money supply; the $862 billion “stimulus”; the government takeover of the financial sector; and the $2.5 trillion health care bill all as “the true motivation for this grassroots movement that only wants to restore government to its primary, limited functions under the Constitution by eliminating the entitlement state.”
Attachments:
“Dem Hour Energy,” Cartoon by William Warren, July 22nd, 2010.
“Who are the Tea Parties?” by ALG News National Correspondent Rebekah Rast, video by Andrius Vaitekunas, April 21st, 2010.
“Remember Newt Gingrich?” by ALG Communications Director Rick Manning, July 18th, 2010.
“An American Revolution,” by ALG News Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 15th, 2009.
“The Mad Tea Party,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, July 15th, 2010.
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