16. April 2009 by David A. Peterson.

The 1974 edition of The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the meaning of Grassroots as “society at the local level as distinguished from the centers of political leadership“

I’m as grassroots as you can get. In fact I may not have actually rooted yet. I’m not a professional writer or a journalist. I’m not rich or poor. I’m not a politician, nor do I aspire to be one. 5 months ago I realized that I had not actively participated in the 2008 election cycle. As my penance I created USA Reference - A moderate conservative blog.

The Atlanta Tea Party was the first political rally I have ever attended. I brought my son with me and I think we both knew it would be special when the first person we saw in the crowd was my neighbor passing out pocketed sized booklets containing the U.S. Constitution.

Then I ran into an ex co-worker who said she just saw another friend. Truly this was a community coming together for one purpose. There were a sea of people at the event. There were 15,000 people packed onto one street in front of the Capital building. The event was energetic, fun, and well organized. I would like to give a shout-out to AtlantaTeaParty.net who organized the event.

The mainstream media tried to ignore the Tea Party events happening around the country. They labeled the attendees as Right Wing Extremist, misguided and misinformed masses.

One CNN reporter, Susan Roesgen, went so far as to berate a poor guy holding his baby at a Chicago event. Then she when on to say that these were anti government and anti CNN protests. I bet after she reviews the tape today is going to be very embarrassed. I feel sorry for her, she definitely left her objectivity in the car and got a little to close to this story. She’s probably hiding in bed right now with the covers over her head.

After the event I turned on ABC Nightline to see how they would cover the Tea Parties. Here is a program that got its start covering the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979 with Ted Koppel reporting. Last night the Tea Party story managed to get squeezed in right behind the kid who is a genius, and a story on pirates. Wouldn’t you know the host confidently stated that the attendees were misguided.

Misguided? What is really misguided is how our media and our politicians have missed this movement. I’m about as moderate of a Republican as you can get. I have strong conservative fiscal views but my social views tend to be more centered. I am so fiscally conservative (okay - cheap) that my dictionary is from 1974! Yet here I was with my son in the middle of 15,000 people - just like me.

So what makes these 15,000 people just like me? What are our political views that united 15,000 in Atlanta and probably around 250,000 in the U.S. yesterday?

Here are just a few of the themes that may have ultimately united us:

• Down with big government - Hmm
• No to government health care - Could be
• Fair tax - A bunch of these folks were there
• Government out of control - Heard that one
• Government debt - Another theme of the night
• Government intrusiveness - Heard that one too
• Tax and spend - Certainly
• Elite politicians - I wouldn’t want to be a national politician today their phones are probably ringing off their hooks

There were all of these themes and more last night. However… All of the messages above have been around for years. In fact we hear them in every election cycle. So what was the ultimate message of last night? One that was meant for all local, state, and federal politicians throughout the land?

I’ll sum it up for you:

SHUT UP AND LISTEN - YOU WORK FOR US, WE DON’T WORK FOR YOU!

That is the message that brought Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Moderates and Conservatives together yesterday all throughout the United States. I wonder if your favorite politician heard that message yesterday? I can guarantee our state politicians who work at the Georgia State Capital heard it last night.

The Atlanta Tea Party was definitely a grassroots effort. The local community came out to separate themselves from the elite political class. The elite political class had better shut up and start listening or they will be joining some of their consituents in the unemployment line in 2010.

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8. April 2009 by David A. Peterson.

Last November I had one topic stuck on my mind - ENERGY.

Fast forward just a few months into the Obama Administration and he has placed sustainable energy as one of his pillars to our long term economic recovery. This pillar of creating a multitude of thriving renewable energy platforms is exciting and it could be a driver for the next 25 years of job growth in this country.

There is going to be a lot of debate over the next few months and years on the energy policy. As an example the “cap and trade” policy of taxing the carbon producers to force lower carbon emissions is a very unpopular debate happening right now. Cap and trade is really a hidden tax, it’s not called a tax but if you are reading this article then you can probably read between the lines.

The U.S. economy really can’t take another hidden tax placed squarely on the dinner plates of American families .

It’s this hidden tax that I am really concerned about. In the Summer of 2008 gas prices hit $4/gallon. That increase in gasoline prices amounted to an immediate $2/gallon. That $2 acted exactly like a tax. In fact many states even waived their own taxes on gasoline becuase prices got out of hand.

If you think that it was just a coincidence that the recession started in the summer of 2008 when the hidden “gas tax” was $2/gallon - think again!

As Republicans we need to get behind the President in creating a sustainable energy policy. We need to help him shape the energy policy. We need to be standing by his side, shaking his hand, and thanking him for being progressive and diligent in putting forth something this important.

Here is why we need to help the President right now…

Without Republican help the policy will be skewed to creating long term renewable energies. This is terrific and it will create millions of new high paying jobs over the long term. However, in the short term, say within the next 10 to 15 years we still need to “drill baby, drill.”

Republican need to shape the energy policy be defining near term vs. long term goals. The President is on the right track long term but no one is speaking about our short term needs.

As Americans we can’t hold China and India back. These underdeveloped countries are going to grow and grow fast. These countries will need a tremendous amount of oil to pull 100’s of millions of their own countrymen out of poverty. This growth, that is going to happen, will put a new strain on the world’s oil supply.

Regardless if America and Europe’s economies ever recover China and India will create the world’s next energy crisis.

Republicans need to get in front of the near term energy discussion. We need to get our own committees together and bring very thought out public suggestions to the President. We need to bring bipartisanship to this discussion.

The President will listen. He may not listen today, but today gasoline is at $2/gallon. Let it go to $3, $4, and then to $5/gallon and see how quickly he changes his tune. Unfortunately Republicans are not ready to offer suggestions if the problem hit as early as this summer. Republicans would be ready for sound bites but not well thought out solutions.

Republicans have forgotten about the energy crisis that just HAPPENED! If you don’t believe me can anyone please tell me who in the Republican party is leading the near term energy discussion right now? I’m not talking about sign bites that occur when it’s topical, I’m talking about who in our party is leading the energy discussion, day in - day out?

If there was ever a time for Sara Palin and Bobby Jindal to step up now is the time. Also just as Jimmy Carter worked on foreign policy over the last 30 years it wouldn’t hurt if George Bush #43 weighed in on this very current issue and made it his own.

We need to “drill baby, drill” right now. Near term energy policy has to be part of Obama’s long term strategy. Let’s give him the bipartisan support he needs. Let’s shape the short term policy by STARTING NOW before we completely forget about the summer of 2008. Let’s stop the hidden taxes before they occur!

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