THIS is the next step for the SITP

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

The Staten Island Tea Party, like so many thousands of tea party groups throughout the country, has been evolving.

Indeed, those groups that do not evolve, that remain stuck in time and place, are destined to become obsolete and will watch their influence slowly die. Those who believe that their ultimate goal is to act as noisemakers, forever shaking their fists at the powers-that-be while they stand on the outside looking in, are doomed to a future of irrelevance.

With our passion and our numbers, we have garnered tremendous attention - however, our ability to shape events and policies as outsiders is inevitably going to wane. That is my belief.

But from the inside - we can transform the way politics is done.

In a little over a year-and-a-half, we have seen our numbers grow from 2 to 2,000. But if we are to maintain our relevance we must be ready and willing to take a bold next step: we are going to fundamentally change the Republican Party on Staten Island.

We are instituting a project that will transform the Staten Island Republican County Committee into a group that reflects the conservative ideals and principles espoused by the tea party movement: fiscal sanity, free markets and a constitutionally-limited government.

In order to do this we need volunteers who are willing to move beyond rallies and campaign work, and who are ready to actually step into the process. We need men and women who are willing to take seats on the committee, in order to make sure that the reins of control are returned to the hands of the people, and to make sure that the era of “good-ol’-boy” cronyism is ended.

It is our intention to transform the committee so that we may nominate candidates not because they are next in line, or because they have friends in high places, but because they represent our core beliefs. We want to institute fresh and aggressive ideas to pro-actively grow a NEW Republican Party on Staten Island, one that will reach out to college campuses and minority communities, to show them that free-market Republican and Conservative values are the best way to achieve the American dream.

In short, we need you - hundreds of you. And because there are two seats in each Electoral District, husband-and-wife teams are especially welcomed.

You will not be asked to speak in public or to any groups; it will cost you no money; you will need to do no public campaigning and you will not become a public figure.

You will be asked to attend TWO meetings a year. That's it - two meetings a year to transform the way politics works on Staten Island.

With your help we will get this thing done; we will take this first step toward once again being a Republic of the people, by the people and for the people – and we will do it one district at a time.

I cannot stress this enough: you need no prior knowledge of the inner workings of the committee system - only a belief in the core principals of the tea party movement.

Simply visit www.teapartyinfo.com/administrators-only.html for more information and a registration form. If asked for a password, it is: constitution

Thank you for your time and dedication. Within a few days or weeks after you register, you will receive notification about a meeting at which we will explain the process in much greater detail.

When we say that we have much work to be done - these are not merely words. Thomas Paine said "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country."

I hope to hear from many, many of you soon. If it is at all possible for you to help, please do not be a sunshine patriot, and do not shrink from the service of our country.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia

Staten Island, NY

A Message to Michael

New Years Eve, 2010

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

To say that we've had quite an eventful year would be an understatement, wouldn't it? Those of us in the tea party movement, and right here in the Staten Island Tea Party, have dipped our toes into the river of history and altered its course.

We never planned to do it - we scarcely knew what we getting into at all - but we heard the call of our country and responded. I feel good about that. America was tested, and if the results of the last election were any indication, we passed. But make no mistake (and I know you don't need me to remind you) we will face more tests in the future, and we will have to be well prepared for them.

Though we elected a terrific representative in Mike Grimm, and many others who espouse the tea party values of fiscal sanity, free markets and a Constitutionally-limited government, we need to remember that words are cheap, especially so during campaigns. Washington is a fearsome place; it oozes power, and power is a virus to which few are immune.

So here's a New Year's message to our new Congressman: We believe in you - don't be afraid to make the hard choices, because we've got you covered. The 13th Congressional District of New York sent Michael Grimm to Congress to be Michael Grimm, not, as you have said many times, just another vote in the go-along-to-get-along gang. All the "cover" you will ever need to justify your voting record is right here in the hearts and minds of your constituents - and if you fight for us, we will fight like hell for you.

I think you know that if you ever become more devoted to your leadership than you are to your consituents and your country, you will lose us. We didn't walk the district, ring bells, pass out literature and spend hours on the phone to elect a party - we did all that to elect a man; a man we will continue to believe in unless he gives us reason not to.

Make a difference, Michael, make a difference. We've got your back.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia

Staten Island, NY

Happy New Year!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Trashing the Constitution

Ladies and gentlemen, this guest editorial was written by Paul B. Skousen for The Daily Caller. It is re-printed with his permission.

It is important that we document - and never forget - the way the 111th Congress has re-written the constitution, chiefly by ignoring it. This should serve as a serious reminder that we have much work to do, and that occasionally "compromise" is not a good thing...

*******************************

At the close of the 111th Congress, America is deeply in the bog of Thomas Jefferson’s prophetic warning: “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” Unfortunately, the broken chains of the Constitution have failed to contain the federal government.

By way of review, let’s take a stroll through the junkyard of constitutional violations that have been painted fresh by President Obama and the 111th Congress. Here’s my top-ten list, highly abbreviated for length.

#10. — 9/11 Responders Relief Fund: We love and honor those who put themselves in harm’s way for our security. However, giving the 9/11 first responders money after the fact violates the Constitution. Article 1.8 gives Congress the right to expend funds for all the purposes itemized, provided it is done for the general welfare, NOT for individuals or preferred groups. The states may reward heroes if they so choose.

#9. — Checks and Balances Failure: The Chairmanship of the UN Security Council: Where was Congress when President Obama became the chairman of the powerful UN Security Council in 2009? The normal monthly rotation for that chair goes to the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. because Article 1.9 of the Constitution forbids the president (and all other office-holders) from accepting any present, foreign office or title from a foreign country or a foreign potentate unless it is specifically authorized by Congress. The Founders wanted to prevent deal-making, corruption, and foreign influence from affecting America’s internal affairs.

#8. — Net Neutrality: The government is trying to stop Internet providers from blocking or slowing some web traffic and prevent providers from showing favoritism. The FCC thinks it should be able to regulate the Internet like it regulates utility companies. This violates the property rights of Internet providers and interferes in the market’s free choice of which services receive funding. Article 1.8 makes it clear that the FCC is not constitutionally authorized to pass laws, especially those disguised as regulations.

#7. – Czars: The moniker for appointees who report to no one but the president has taken on a new and eerie resemblance to the dusty Russian tsars of old. Article 2.2 grants the president leeway to appoint managers, but those managers may not have any regulatory, legislative or law-making powers — such powers are reserved to the legislative branch. Today’s “czars” have the power of cabinet members without having to go through a vetting process or the confirmation process prescribed for cabinet members. Czars are unelected and untouchable political decision-makers — in violation of Article 1.1.

#6. — Cap and Trade: The Clean Energy and Security Act mandates greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, 42 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and 84 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. By 2020, this tax will extract an estimated $160 billion from the economy, or an average $1,870 per family. Once again, had the chains of Article 1.8 not been broken, America would be spared such tomfoolery. Cap and trade masked in any disguise whatsoever cannot be justified as a general welfare activity.

#5. — Cash for Clunkers: The government offered $4,500 rebates to people turning in their clunkers for more fuel-efficient vehicles. When the first program quickly ran out of the $4 billion allotted to it, another $2 billion was added. Follow-up analysis showed the program did nothing to stimulate the economy and put many people into additional debt by encouraging them to purchase cars that they otherwise would not have bought during these hard economic times. The government has zero authority to selectively give individuals tax money for purchases of vehicles, according to Articles 1.2 and 1.8 — and common sense.

#4. — TARP Funding: The original 2008 act authorized $700 billion to bail out banks and other institutions. The government has no business rescuing private financial institutions from bad judgment and risky ventures. Article 1.8 excludes permission for Congress to grant financial aid or loans to private companies. Any use of Treasury funds must go toward the general welfare, not to specific groups.

#3. — Illegal Immigration: Arizona is being invaded. When that state passed SB 1070 to stem the flow of violent illegals into its sovereign territory, a derelict federal government turned around and sued. At issue was the Feds’ failure to control the border, so Arizona took it upon itself to do just that — to uphold existing federal immigration laws. It didn’t add new laws; it simply gave local authorities the power to enforce federal responsibilities. The federal government claims the right to manage immigration, but when it refuses to carry out that obligation, thereby jeopardizing the security of border states, it is derelict in its duties. Arizona should haul the federal government before the Supreme Court for malfeasance. Article 4.4 clearly states that the U.S. shall protect states from invasion — more than 400,000 illegal aliens (est.) in Arizona is, by definition, an invasion.

#2. — Economic Stimulus Bill: The $814 billion stimulus is the most backward-thinking proposition to come along since human sacrifice. Dumping borrowed money into an over-fed, bloated and out-of-control ogre doesn’t solve anything, it simply temporarily props up with blocks of melting ice cream a failed and failing government of extravagance. Not only does it illegally take money out of the economy that could be used to provide jobs, but it’s using borrowed money — with interest due.

And the worst violation of the Constitution over the past two years is …

#1. — Health Care Reform: Health care reform was the last lever needed to lift the lid off the pot of American gold and empty it out for socialism. It required all Americans to have health insurance whether they wanted it or not. Earlier this month, Federal Judge Henry E. Hudson said that the government has no power “to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market.”

The string of constitutional violations supporting the judge’s rejection is long and shocking:

For purposes of regulation, Congress invoked Article 1.8 and claimed insurance may be controlled because it falls under Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce. But insurance is not interstate commerce — you can’t buy insurance across state lines.

Language in the bill says the health care law may NOT be changed or amended by anyone once signed into law. This violates the role of Congress. Article 1.1 makes it clear that only Congress is authorized to make law, meaning it has every right to alter, amend and change the health care law. To restrict Congress is to change its constitutional duty. The 111th Congress must think it can change the Constitution without amending it — a violation of Article 5, which outlines the amendment process.

The health care bill also violates the 10th Amendment because it coerces states into complying with a new national program that reaches far into state jurisdiction.

So, what do you do when you’re navigating through a blizzard of political white-out where visibility is reduced to zero, the road is slick and slippery, and disaster is strewn about in all directions? You come to a complete stop — and put on the chains.

Paul B. Skousen is a former analyst for the CIA, an intelligence officer in the Reagan White House, and staffer for Senator Orrin Hatch.

A Christmas Message

He who has not Christmas in his heart
will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

December, 2010

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

For a few days let's put all thoughts of politics and world affairs aside, and simply appreciate the joy that a loving family and close friends can bring.

It's a time to reflect and take comfort in the knowledge that each of us has the unspoken love and support not only of those close to us, but of people of good will everywhere across this great land -- and of a loving and merciful God.

Let's celebrate not only Christmas and Hanukkah, but the greatest gift of all - the wondrous liberty with which we were endowed by our Creator. No power on earth can take it away, because that liberty exists in our hearts and minds and souls.

I tell you that we are a great nation because we are a free and loving people - and we will prevail because free men and women of good will always do.

All of us here at the Staten Island Tea Party would like to wish you and your family a joyous and blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia

Staten Island, NY

"A fine pleasant evening for your Indian caper..."

"Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!--That worst of plagues, the detested tea, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in the harbor."

-Handbill posted 29 November, 1773 in Boston

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

I couldn't let the day pass without remarking on its import. On 16 December, 1773, a group of citizens in Boston sought clearance from the British Customs Commissioner to send three ships of the British East India Company back from whence they came.

The chief cargo on board these vessels was tea - but to the colonists, the commodity, though it was much in demand, was tainted with a small but unpalatable duty charged by the British crown. Though the duty was merely a token, to the colonists it represented Parliament's attempt to prove that it had, indeed, the right to tax the American colonies - though their subjects were afforded no representation.

The Commissioner turned down the request for clearance because the duty had not been paid.

The rest, as they say, is history - at least to every schoolchild of my generation. Two hundred men, dressed as Mohawk Indians and brandishing hatchets and pistols, marched to Griffin's Wharf where the ships Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver were at anchor. When they were done, all 342 chests of tea aboard the three ships were broken open and dumped into Boston harbor.

Thousands stood on shore in silence and watched as the Sons of Liberty made their emphatic statement. According to eyewitness accounts, when done they marched past the home of British Admiral Montague, who had been watching discreetly from a window.

Legend has it that he yelled as they passed, "Well boys, you have had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind, you have got to pay the fiddler yet!"

What the Admiral could not have known was that the debt owed to the fiddler would be paid by the British at a terrible cost of blood and treasure, and that the actions taken by those patriots on that "fine, pleasant evening" would prove to be the spark that lit the fuse of revolution.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank

A Guest Editorial

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

The following essay was written by Shmuley Boteach for the Jerusalem Post, and it falls under the category of "I wish I had written that..."

He captures succinctly and completely the reasons why conservative values surpass progressive values not only in a practical sense, but in a moral sense, and he gives us a blueprint for building a stronger bond with minority and underprivileged communities. This is something I have targeted for quite some time, and I, for one, intend to use his insight in an attempt to increase awareness and support in those communities.

The link to the original column is here. Please read and enjoy, and I welcome your comments and suggestions at taxdayteapartysiny@gmail.com

Yours in Liberty,

Frank

Why the Tea Party Resonates With Human Dignity

The Tea Party movement is far from perfect, but it taps into a hidden human desire to live a life crowned with self-esteem.

One Friday night at my home, a dear friend who runs a large charitable foundation raised his glass to toast the demise of the Tea Party, which he branded a group of racists, xenophobes and bigots. Taken aback, I responded that to my knowledge the Tea Party is focused simply on more limited government and the reduction of government spending. I didn’t know racism was part of the platform, I said.

But he was adamant that the Tea Party’s small-government rhetoric was an attack on low-income minorities.

Lost in the debate about the morality of the Tea Party is any discussion about its underpinnings in human nature. The principle purpose of government is to provide the optimal conditions under which human beings can acquire their most important necessities, the highest of which is dignity.

Governments provide many essentials for their citizens, from law and order to social services, from good roads to education. If it’s a socialist government, it may even provide cradle-to-grave benefits, or if it’s a more Right-leaning government, it may emphasize robust national defense. But the one human essential that government cannot provide is human dignity.

Dignity is something acquired through personal effort. Dignity is the human aura that comes through self-reliance.

Its underlying premise is independence. A dependent life is a fundamentally undignified life. Self-respect is earned through the sweat of one’s brow. An heir to a great fortune may travel the high seas in a 100-foot yacht and soar through the air in a Gulfstream V. But he will remain without dignity so long as he is living on someone else’s dime.

Yes, people want to pay their bills. They want nice houses and material comforts. But more than anything else they seek an existence infused with a sense of relevance and purpose. We seek redemption, but wish for it to come through our own devices.

IN MANY cultures the loss of dignity, or face, becomes a reason to terminate life itself. The Talmud states that shaming someone in public is worse than murder, because the public humiliation makes them wish they were dead.

America’s rapid rise to global economic power was not an accident, but the direct result of a fierce individualism and rugged self-reliance on the part of its citizens.

Where European populations were content to live under anointed rulers, Americans threw off the yoke of a foreign sovereign and tamed a vast wilderness. For Americans, divine right translated as manifest destiny – the ability of an immigrant nation who arrived on these shores with nothing, to spread their accomplishments from sea to shining sea. In so doing, Americans claimed a level of independence and dignity that had few historical precedents.

The welfare state claims it is more moral than capitalism, which it sees as selfish and materialistic. There is some truth to this claim, especially when capitalism is allowed to run rampant, becoming soulless and deadening. But for all its flaws, capitalism fosters an independence that promotes dignity while socialism creates a reliance that subverts self-esteem. Yes, the government must provide a safety net for a rainy day, but only selfreliance creates a sunny life.

I recently heard a philanthropist tell of visiting a soup kitchen that had asked for his support. He was skeptical that the people eating there were actually in need; perhaps they simply came because the food was free. But the rabbi who ran the facility asked him: “Are you capable of asking someone for food?”

The philanthropist answered that he was not. “Well then,” the rabbi responded, “if someone is forced to ask me to eat, I have to believe he is truly hungry.”

The story illustrates both the necessity of providing essential social services for those in need, while always being mindful never to allow that need to become a permanent dependency. True, socialist governments provide without people having to ask. But the effect is the same – a corrosive dependence on the hand that feeds. The effort to recapture the dignity that springs from selfreliance is what the Tea Party should be all about.

Countries like Britain, Greece and Spain are undertaking drastic austerity measures to rescue themselves from economic collapse. In truth, however, their move away from reckless entitlements and wholesale capitulation to organized labor has less to do with their inability to afford vast social services than it has to do with reversing the corruption these services were fostering in their populace. My progressive friends speak to me about how a compassionate society takes care of its citizens. That is true. But it must also take care to ensure that it never robs its citizens of the nobility of spirit which is their birthright.

Does having your job preserved by a union when you consistently underperform induce pride? Can you feel good about yourself when you’re in a profession in which only collective pressure keeps you receiving a paycheck?

Maimonides famously lists levels of charity, with the provision of a vocation being the highest. The Tea Party is far from perfect, but in emphasizing self-reliance, it taps into a hidden human desire to live a life crowned with self-esteem.

""Resolved: That Two Battalions of Marines Be Raised..."

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

It was a brew house built in 1693 at the intersection of Water Street and Tun Alley near the docks, and so the wooden structure built by Samuel Carpenter and his brother Joshua was ultimately known simply as Tun Tavern.

Over the decades, while fires of independence were being stoked that would eventually enflame all thirteen colonies, it became a favorite gathering place in that part of colonial Philadelphia known as Carpenter's Wharf, attracting the likes of Jefferson, Washington and Franklin. So it was that when Captain Samuel Nicholas was commissioned by the Second Continental Congress on November 10th, 1775 to raise two battalions of Marines, he appointed Robert Mullen, the proprietor of the establishment, to the position of Chief Marine Recruiter.

It must have been a raucous scene in that watering hole, night after night, as Mullen set out to attract able-bodied volunteers, though he was instructed that “no persons be appointed to office, or enlisted into said Battalions, but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required…”

The newly-established Continental Marines were to provide on-board security for the ship's Captain and crew, and during naval engagements Marine sharpshooters were dispatched to the top of the fighting masts. From there, they targeted enemy officers, gunners and helmsmen.

They wore green coats with white lapels and a distinctive high collar made of leather, designed to protect against sword and cutlass slashes. Even today, the Marine Corps dress uniform features a high collar in commemoration of those first two battalions - and they are still known as “Leathernecks.”

I could not let this date go by without asking you to think of them. I am, as you are, intensely and rightly proud of ALL branches of our military, but I must admit that I experience a little surge of adrenalin when I read the words, "The Marines have landed!"

They have defended our flag in God-forsaken, pestilent jungles across the globe. They have defended our liberty and independence with glory and honor, engaging and defeating enemies who may have had the advantage in numbers and guns, but could never surpass them in heart and courage.

They have been fighting and dying for our freedom since the days when the fate of our Republic may have depended upon the outcome of the next battle. They are symbolized by men like Sergeant Dan Daly, exhorting his Marines up and over the top against overwhelming odds in bloody Belleau Wood with the words "C'mon you sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever?"

They are the stuff of legends.

Happy 235th Birthday, Marines. We couldn't have made it without you. May God bless you and keep you, and from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

_____________________________________________________

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

- President Ronald Reagan
_____________________________________________________

The Great Debate

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

At one point during Tuesday night's debate at Wagner College, incumbent Michael McMahon smugly told challenger Michael Grimm that he was going to "school him." By the time it was all over, however, it became clear that it was McMahon who needed to learn a few things.

I arrived early. Outside the doors of Main Hall, a beautiful old building, dramatically lit, were a few hundred people holding McMahon signs - and virtually nobody displaying Grimm signs. Apparently the Congressman's campaign staff did a much better job of whipping up the volunteers than did the Grimm folks - at least, that's what I thought. Not an auspicious start.

Then I noticed that all the men in the crowd who were over the age of a typical college sophomore, were wearing matching shirts - crisp, new, white sweatshirts. Remembering what I was taught by never-ending commercials, I looked for the union label - and sure enough, emblazoned on the back was the logo of a labor organization which I shall not name. Those that were not wearing the sweatshirts were, well, college sophomores.

It was quite clear that this was an Astro Turf crowd; it was also quite clear that the McMahon camp had put a lot of effort into ginning up enthusiasm for their candidate. Unfortunately, they had to settle for manufactured sizzle. Truthfully, when you see all those robotic zombie-types dressed alike and taking orders from their leaders ("OK, everybody walk over here!") it smacks more of desperation than anything else.

Inside the theater we took the first empty seats on the aisle we could find - in about the ninth or tenth row - which meant that about 80% of the room was behind us.

At 7:30 the candidates walked in - McMahon first. As soon as he entered the room there was enthusiastic applause, and as he got closer to the stage virtually everybody sitting in front of me - all 8 or 9 rows - stood up and cheered. I thought it was going to be a long night with a packed McMahon crowd, until I turned around and saw that nobody behind me was standing, and only a scant handful was even applauding.

Then Grimm walked in and the room erupted. If this race was decided by an applause-meter, it would have been all over right then and there; if you were at the Healthcare Town Hall Meeting last October, it was deja vu all over again.

As for the debate itself, Grimm won handily, in my opinion. He spoke smoothly and confidently, hit all the right notes, came off as a regular guy with a passionate love of country and liberty, showed good humor, and scored multiple points.

He was obviously well-prepared. His poise and tone were quite remarkable when you consider that he has never been involved in politics in his life - another factor in his favor.

His biggest gaffe of the evening? In a question about immigration, he referred to "immigrants" when he obviously meant to refer to "illegal immigrants," and apparently didn't notice the slip. We all knew what he meant - it was quite obvious in the context of his remarks. McMahon, however, tried to pounce on him when it was his turn, pontificating about how this country was built on immigration. It was his "gotcha" moment, and hardly worthy of the mention.

However, McMahon's major gaffe was a beauty. During his response to the same question, and while defending the Administration's policy on illegals - which is to say, no policy at all - he stated that he supports deporting illegal aliens - if they commit a crime!

Mr. Grimm then pointed out that his opponent, the incumbent, might want to reflect upon the fact that "illegal" immigrants have by definition committed a crime the moment they crossed the border. Oops. Was his face red.

This is a horse race, my friends. McMahon and Grimm are driving down the stretch to the finish line; either one could win, and despite the Advance's attempt to marginalize the importance of this election (according to their editorial: "To hear some people around here talk, the fate of the republic hinges on the outcome of the election for the seat in the 13th Congressional District. Of course, all over the country, similarly outlandish claims are being made...") you and I know better: this year there are NO unimportant races. Let's make it happen.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

On the second day. On a small hill.

My Dear Fellow Patriots:

In a few days our beloved Republic, the dream of our forefathers, will be saved – or it will be lost.

Seldom in its history has a battle been fought upon which the future of the country so soundly rests; never has its fate been more assuredly determined as it will be when the last polls close in the far western reaches of the United States of America on November 2, 2010.

The closest we’ve ever come to political extinction, to being just a noble experiment in democracy wherein free men were the rulers and not the ruled, was in July of 1863 - when the Army of the Republic came within a whisker of defeat at a bloody battle in a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg.


There, on the second day of the three-day battle, on a small hill that came to be called Little Round Top, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain was tasked with defending the extreme left flank of the Union Army with a handful of men known as the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

They were citizen soldiers, barely trained, hardly battle-hardened, and could not have known when they enlisted that upon their simple shoulders would rest the fate of a nation, and because of their courage, and their courage only, a nation would endure.

Politics played no less a role in America in the 1860’s than it does today; support for the war in the North was waning as the Union Army was dealt a series of stinging defeats; now, the Army of Northern Virginia, led by the seemingly invincible Robert E. Lee, had advanced further north than at any time since the war’s inception, and defeat in Pennsylvania would put Philadelphia, Baltimore and even Washington, D.C. in jeopardy. Fear was spreading; panic was waiting in the wings. A defeat here would force Lincoln much closer to a compromise with the Confederacy, and the very real possibility of military disaster loomed. It was not a far stretch to say that the preservation of the Union was at stake.

So it was that on June 30, 1863, one of Lee’s officers sent a foraging party into that small crossroads town – in search of shoes. And because upon such tiny hinges do the doors of world-historical events open and shut, the Rebels spied elements of Union cavalry arriving south of town, and reported back to their commanding officer, General A.P. Hill. Hill decided to send a reconnaissance-in-force, about two brigades, into the town the next day, to see if he was dealing with nothing more than a troublesome Pennsylvania militia, or perhaps something else - something unexpected.

It would require a great deal of time, space and most importantly research, to properly recount the events of July 1st, 1863 in the ridges and hills west of Gettysburg, and those events are not to the purpose of this writing. What happened the following day is, because it illustrates how a small band of determined men, armed with little more than a belief in their cause, rose up to defend the nation and Constitution in which they so firmly believed.

That Thursday morning the Union army, under General George Meade, found themselves strung out in a defensive position along a line of high ground ominously known as Cemetery Ridge. They faced west, and the ridge was anchored on the southern end, their left flank, by Little Round Top, where the defensive line was arrayed in such a way as to resemble a fishhook. The last element at the end of that hook was the 20th Maine. Should they be dislodged from that position, the entire Union line could be rolled up and occupied by the Confederates, and it is unlikely that they would ever be removed. A loss at Gettysburg, and the history of this nation would be forever altered.

Starting at 4:00 PM, the rebels pounded away at that left flank, led by the 15th Alabama. Over and over they charged up that hill, and over and over they were repulsed by blistering fire from the 20th on the Union flank; so thick was the shot that the tens of thousands of rounds of Minie balls cut down swaths of trees – and swaths of men fighting and dying for their cause. Death did not choose a side.

After ninety minutes, the 20th Maine was worn out, and worse, without ammunition. But still there was fight in them – still they would refuse to surrender the cause. Knowing that they could not withstand another assault, with desperation the word went up and down the line, which had now been stretched to single file along the prow of the hill: “Fix bayonets!”

In one of the most improbable counter-attacks in the history of the United States military, the 20th Maine charged down the hill towards the Rebel line without bullets: armed with nothing but raw courage and sharp steel. As shocking as the charge was to the enemy, equally shocking was the result – the Confederates could not withstand the surprise attack, and slowly, then more quickly, began to give ground. It turned into a rout, and by daybreak the stage had been set for the final act in the battle that changed the course of the war.

Unable to dislodge the Union army from the left flank of the line, Lee decided that on the third day he would attack the center, in a desperate winner-take-all gambit. The charge would be led, with pride, by General George Edward Pickett.

We all know the outcome.I wish we knew the outcome of the battle that will be fought on the first Tuesday of November - but we do not. Like the 20th Maine. we are running low on ammunition; like the 20th Maine, we face a determined foe; and like the 20th Maine, we refuse to lose.

We refuse to allow those who would attack our freedoms and our Constitution to take the high ground. We refuse to become discouraged, to lose heart, to succumb to the relentless attack on our beliefs. We, like the 20th Maine, must find the courage and determination to rise up, to exhort our neighbors to join our common cause as if the fate of the Republic were at stake - because it just might be.

The battle is in scant days. Fix bayonets.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

Really Extreme.

Why We Vote..

Mourning this morning....

In 1984, a group called Citizens for the Republic produced one of the most famous television campaign ads ever. It was called "It's morning in America..." and was done for the re-election campaign of Ronald Reagan.

That same organization has produced a new commercial, and it's called "Mourning in America..." Here 'tis:



And here's the original:

You can't make this stuff up....

From the SITP "No Kidding" Department: Carl Paladino does not like Sheldon Silver. In fact, he appears to like him even less than he does Andy Cuomo.

So when Mr. Silver stated that he would move out of the state if Mr. Paladino won the gubernatorial election, Mr. Paladino, ever the gentleman, facilitated the move by buying Mr. Silver a ticket on Amtrak from Albany to Washington.

ALL ABOARD!