Updates from February, 2010

  • Premiere Activist Program, Offered at Hillsdale College

    Wes Nakagiri 10:00 pm on February 6, 2010 | 3 Permalink | Reply
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    Good news for conservative activists in Michigan!  The Leadership Institute is once again offering a weekend training program at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI.  I attended this same program last year and it was awesome. The training provided me with the knowledge and confidence to form a Tea Party group in Livingston County Michigan.

    This intensive two-day session is being offered on the weekend of March 13-14, 2010.  The total cost is just $30.00.  This includes the training, all meals, and lodging.  You cannot beat this deal – it is the best training value you’ll ever run across.  This flier contains more detail and contact information to enroll in the course.

    (Note: This is an intensive two-day course.  If you decide to attend you really should plan on staying for both days.  In my opinion, the second day was the most informative.)

    If I can provide you further information regarding my experiences with this course please email me with your contact information and I will call you to discuss.  You can email me at wes@limitgovnow.com

     

  • Your Contribution of $0.76 Makes a Difference

    Wes Nakagiri 8:25 pm on January 17, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
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    Concerned Americans are contributing both their money and their time to defeat leftist candidates throughout our great nation.  I am personally aware of friends and neighbors in Michigan who are volunteering their time and their money to help in the Massachusetts Senate race.  People understand the importance of this race to our nation to slowing the leftist agenda.

    For the first time ever, my wife and I made campaign contributions to candidates who are outside of our own district, including candidates in other states.  We have contributed to Doug Hoffman in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, and to a PAC endorsing Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race. 

    Whether one decides to contribute financially to support a political campaign, as we have, is a personal decision.  If you decide to contribute financially, too, I have one request:

    Rather than making a contribution that is rounded off to the nearest dollar, add 76 cents.  For instance, if you decide to contribute $20.00, contribute $20.76 instead.  We’ve started doing this and think others should do it, too.  (We picked 76 cents in honor of the year of our nation’s independence, 1776.)

    How could adding just 76 cents make a difference?

    Adding 76 cents will serve as a potent symbol of support and puts the candidate on notice that the contributor is part of a larger movement.  It identifies the contribution as one that was made by someone who is a both a strong supporter of our Constitution and a strong supporter of fiscal responsibility.  In other words, the contribution was made by a Tea Partier. 

    If this idea grows, when a political candidate receives thousands of contributions ending in $0.76 he or she will know that constitutionally aware citizens are both supporting and watching.  If elected, the candidate will know we expect him or her to support legislation that expands individual freedom and reigns in runaway spending.  The candidate also will know that we are well organized and we won’t just go away after the election.  We will be watching. 

    Adding 76 cents also benefits the Tea Party movement by enabling us to identify our like-minded colleagues across a larger geographic area.  How so?  Campaign finance laws require each candidate to report contributions to state and federal election authorities.  The names and addresses of contributors along with the amounts they gave are a matter of public record.  So, an examination of campaign finance records enables Tea Partiers to readily identify allies for future election battles.

    Being able to identify allies will be helpful later if we need to oust a political fraud.  Say, for instance, a Republican candidate promises fiscal responsibility during the campaign but spends like a drunken sailor after getting elected.  This candidate may think that as long as he spends a little bit less than a liberal rival, then you, the voter, are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  He may think you have no choice but to re-elect the lesser of two evils.  Well, this fiscal fraud is mistaken.  As long as the Tea Party movement stays organized the fraudulent candidate can be voted out of office during the next primary election season. 

    So, stand with me.  Add 76 cents to your next political campaign contribution – and tell everyone you know to add 76 cents, too.

     

    Your 76 cents can make a difference in 2010, 2012 and beyond!

     

  • Recruit New Tea Party Members

    Wes Nakagiri 6:21 pm on January 8, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
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    I will be participating in a Tea Party Rally outside Somerset Mall on January 16, 2010. In addition to voicing my opposition to Obama Care I want to recruit new members to the Tea Party movement. To do this I will print up cards with the names, website addresses, and points of contact for every Tea Party group in Southeast Michigan and nearby areas. I will then canvass the crowd and hand out the card to anyone who is not currently affiliated with a Tea Party group. This enables people to join the Tea Party group that is closest to their home. We need to grow our ranks as we prepare for 2010. Obama’s group, Organizing for America, is already building their network in Michigan. We need to stay ahead of them.

    Please email wes@limitgovnow.com with the name and phone number for your group’s point of contact. Also, let me know what city you generally hold meetings at so that a new recruit knows where your group is located. I will print cards for the January 16 rally and I will email you a .PDF file so you’ll have an electronic copy of the card. I need your response by Friday January 15, 2010 (at noon) to give me time to print the cards.

    Also, if you know of a group that I’ve missed please contact me so I can get in touch with them and include their information. The groups that I am currently aware of are:

    912 SE Michigan Rally (Madison Heights, MI)

    Ann Arbor Tea Party Patriots (Ann Arbor)

    Dan’s T-PP (Hazel Park)

    Jackson Michigan Tea Party (Jackson Michigan)

    Lapeer County Tea Party Patriots (Lapeer county Michigan)

    Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition (Metro Detroit )

    Metro Detroit Marchers (Metro Detroit)

    Michigan Tea Party (Madison Heights, Michigan)

    Michigan Unity (Throughout Michigan)

    New Patriot Revolution (Lansing)

    Port Huron Tea Party (Port Huron/Blue Water Area Michigan)

    Rattle With Us (Plymouth)

    Shiawassee County 912 Commission (Owosso)

    Southeast Michigan 9.12 Project (Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan (Macomb, Oakland, Wayne counties))

    Let Freedom Reign (White Lake Township)

    Campaign for Liberty

    Grassroots in Michigan (Lansing)

    It is my intent to get more people involved with our cause. It doesn’t matter to me which group a person joins. All that matters to me is that they get involved to help out in 2010.

     

  • Obama Care: Liberals Play the Race Card, Again

    Wes Nakagiri 3:32 pm on December 26, 2009 | 5 Permalink | Reply
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    I recently circulated a petition in my neighborhood against Obama Care.  You can read about this petition drive in an article that was just published by the Livingston County Press and Argus. 

    In response to this newspaper article, a Liberal writer (named Communications Guru) posted a comment on my blog calling me a racist. This phony charge was not unexpected.  Indeed, playing the racism card is just what liberals tend to do. 

    Long known in America for their culture of divisive rhetoric, liberals toss out the racism card whenever they are losing a debate.  Liberals never seem to want to talk about the facts, like the fact that a majority of citizens are against Obama Care.  Instead, they prefer to resort to name-calling.

    Liberals also know they cannot win in the arena of ideas. They know they have lost the health care debate and so do not even try to discuss important policy issues and real reforms that would make a real difference, like malpractice insurance reform, or interstate competition for health insurance, or health insurance portability.  Instead, they try to shut down further discussion by bringing out their version of the nuclear option, the racism card.  Apparently, the Liberal comment writer thinks that a person must be racist if he prefers to keep his own personalized health care plan rather than a one-size-fits-all government plan controlled by Washington.

    But every mainstream American knows the heath care debate has nothing to do with race.  Americans do not want to risk their health care by turning over control to the Washington ruling class.  Americans of all colors just want to keep their right to choose the health care plan, the doctor, the hospital, and the prescription drug plan that is best suited for their families.

    I will continue to discuss the issues as the other side attempts to divide America along racial lines.  This Liberal will not silence my voice by hurling the racism card at me.  I have endured far greater attacks against my Freedom of Speech since I started my activism earlier this year.  You may recall from an earlier blog post that someone vandalized my vehicle in retaliation for voicing opposition to Obama Care.  Left-wing zealots “keyed” my vehicle with racist messages such as “KKK” and “White Power.”  While this hate crime caused over $3300 of damage it has not and will not prevent me from moving forward and speaking out for the rights of all Americans to choose the best health care plan for their families.

    A neighborhood group is forming to fight for limited government.  This includes fighting for personalized heath care choice and preventing a Washington takeover of 17% of our economy. Email wes@limitgovnow.com for details.

     

  • Tea Party Activism Influencing Republican Party

    Wes Nakagiri 10:13 pm on December 1, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Republican Party,

    There was a recent article published in the Washington Times that discusses the Republican Party’s concern about the Tea Party Movement.  Some in the Republican Party have expressed concern that running other RINO candidates  (remember  Dede Scozzafava in New York’s 23rd Congressional District) will lead to the emergence of additional third-party conservative candidates.  As seen in the race in NY 23, a true conservative candidate would garner support from Tea Party activists; this would likely result in a split in the Republican vote that would hand victory to the Liberals.
     
    To reduce the likelihood of this happening, a petition is circulating within the Republican Party that would require candidates to share at least 80% of the party’s main tenets in order to be eligible for financial aid from the party.  Adopting this petition will be a big step toward reaching out to the Tea Party Movement. 

    Along with Town Hall Meetings, Tea Parties, and the 912 March on Washington, this petition is another sign that the Tea Party Movement is having a significant impact upon politics in America.  Remember also, without the Tea Party Movement we would have had Obama Care rammed down our throats in July.  It is now December and they still do not have a bill signed into law.  While there is still much work to be done, we should all be proud of our progress!  The politicians in Washington are finally beginning to understand that Americans want more individual freedom and less government interference in our daily lives.

    As a Tea Party activist, I support the concept behind this petition.  If the Republican Party is to turn itself into the Party of Limited Government then candidates must adhere to constitutionally based principles.  The Republican Party should not contribute money to candidates that support liberal policies such as Obama Care, Cap and Trade, and saddling future generations with mountains of debt. 

    While I am encouraged by this petition, for now, I will only consider contributing funds directly to candidates that support my philosophy of limited government.  The Republican Party will have to earn my trust before I contribute directly to them.  I cannot take a chance that my hard-earned money might be given to a RINO.  Only if this petition passes would I reconsider contributing to the Republican Party.

     

  • Arguments Against Obama Care - Flash Flyers Part II

    Wes Nakagiri 3:25 pm on November 27, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
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    The concept of flash flyers was discussed in an earlier post.  If you recall, flash flyers are one of the most effective means of conveying your message to an uninformed or undecided person.  I have added two additional flyers since then.

    One flyer discusses the value the Federal Government places on a woman’s life relative to the value it places on a child’s life.  In my opinion both lives are equally precious.  However, the Feds do not agree.  Governmental actions indicate it is unconscionable to accept a mortality rate 4 out of 2,100,000 children (or 1 out of 525,000), while it is perfectly acceptable to let 1 out of 1904 women die from breast cancer.  If you do the math the Feds are concluding that a woman’s life is only 0.36% as valuable as a child’s life.  If government bureaucrats take over our health care you can expect more of these types of decisions.  To a bureaucrat you are just another number.

    The next flyer discusses four key points. 

    1)  How the politicians will force you out of your current health plan by forcing costly mandates on your company-provided plan.  

    2)  The virtual certainty that socialized medicine will by vastly more expensive than what is currently estimated. 

    3)  The Senate’s refusal to consider common sense methods of reducing health costs like increasing insurance competition and implementing tort reform.

    4)  The criminal penalties associated with this health bill if you do not knuckle under to the government and accept this new entitlement.

     

  • Your Neighbors Want to Fight Obama Care

    Wes Nakagiri 10:34 am on November 25, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
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    Yesterday I went door to door in my neighborhood circulating a petition in opposition to Obama Care.  The response was great!  During my hour and a half endeavor, I collected 15 signatures, only one person declined to sign.  This is a 94% success rate.  It was truly awesome to see firsthand that my neighborhood was filled with knowledgeable citizens who are as concerned about the course of our country as I am.

    In addition to sending a message to Congress, this petition drive provides me an opportunity to meet neighbors I hadn’t known before and chat with them about the state of our country.  It was reassuring to me to discover my views are right in the mainstream of other concerned Americans.  Further, the petition drive enabled me to inform my neighbors that I am running for Precinct Delegate in the Republican Party.  My message to my neighbors is that I will work to change the Republican Party to the Limited Government Party.  This message resonated with all who signed my petition!

    I have spoken with others regarding the initial success rate of this petition drive.  I am encouraging all TEA Party groups to join in.  Several colleagues have asked me to post my blank petition form on my blog so that they can use it also.  When you petition your own neighborhood I am confident that you will find the experience as rewarding as I have.  You will get to know your neighbors better and you will find like-minded people who are willing to get involved.  This is what grass roots organizing is all about.

     

  • Change The Republican Party to the Limited Government Party

    Wes Nakagiri 10:30 pm on November 21, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
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    This year I, along with millions of other citizens, have gotten off the couch and become engaged in the struggle to maintain our individual freedom in the face of an ever expanding authoritarian regime. I have attended TEA Party Rallies in Grand Rapids, Lansing, Battle Creek, Brighton, Birmingham, and Troy, Michigan. I have participated in several Obama Care protests in the Metro Detroit area, voicing my opposition to the federal government taking away our health care choices. I have traveled to our nation’s capitol on 9/12 and 11/5 to join millions of other Americans concerned about future generations being saddled with debt to pay for the left’s selfish desire for “free” health care.

    Throughout all of these rallies and protests, I observed a common theme. Americans will not bow at the altar of BIG GOVERNMENT and willingly cede control of their family’s health care. Average Americans from all walks of life have seen the Feds bankrupt every social program they have imposed on us. Americans will fight to the bitter end to prevent the Feds from ruining our health care system

    I have also observed another common theme, many of my fellow citizens are unhappy with both major political parties. While the Democrat Party is viewed as the party of big government, the Republican Party tends to be viewed as the party of somewhat big government. Most people I spoke with are longing for a party of limited government. Neither the Republican Party, and certainly not the Democrat Party represents mainstream America’s desire for truly limited government.

    That neither of the two major political parties represents the limited government values of mainstream Americans presents a quandary. Most of my colleagues do not want to vote for a third party candidate, as this will virtually guarantee victory for the Party of Big Government. Similarly, my colleagues are not thrilled about the prospects of victory for the Party of Slightly Less Big Government. What are we to do?

    Here is the solution! There is a movement underway to recruit Americans with mainstream conservative values to become precinct delegates within the Republican Party. As a precinct delegate, citizens with mainstream conservative values are able to cast votes in elections for Republican Party leadership positions. As a precinct delegate, you have the ability to help shape policies for the Republican Party. As a precinct delegate, you have the ability to turn the Republican Party into the Party of Mainstream Conservative American Values.

    Becoming a precinct delegate (also known as a precinct committeeman) is relatively easy. Obviously, each individual state will have its own specific rules but this generalized procedure provides a good overview for all states. For my home state of Michigan, I have included links for everything you will need to know before you sign up to run for a precinct delegate position. The Michigan procedure is quite simple. You do not need to circulate nominating petitions, file financial disclosure forms, or even be a dues paying member of the Republican Party!

    You have made a difference by voting in elections. You have made a difference by attending TEA Parties that have shaped public opinion. Now take the next step and shape the policies of the Republican Party!

    Follow these steps to run for precinct delegate in the State of Michigan:
    1. Determine your precinct. Your County Clerk can help.
    2. Find and contact your county’s Republican Chairman.
    3. Let your Chairman know you would like to be a precinct delegate.
    4. Your Chairman may appoint you right now if there is a vacancy.
    5. Fill out an Affidavit of Identity. Return this to your township clerk.
    6. Read the filing requirements. Filing deadline is May 11, 2010.
    7. Understand the candidate requirements.
    8. If you miss the filing deadline you can run as a write-in.

     

  • $1776 Reasons to Support Hoffman for Congress

    Wes Nakagiri 7:18 pm on October 27, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
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    The last sentence of our Declaration of Independence reads as follows:

    “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

    Placing their signatures upon this, most important document of American freedom, our Founding Fathers knew there was no going back. They were “all in” in the battle for American independence. After all, they were committing treason.

    It is spine-tingling when you consider that these citizens that were bold enough, and brave enough to give up all they had in order to fight for the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. At that moment, July 4, 1776, our Founding Fathers were more than just involved, they were committed.

    I think about what the Tea Party movement has accomplished, and it has been magical. Ordinary, every-day, run-of-the-mill Americans have battled the Washington machine to a standstill on ObamaCare. Legislation that would have been rammed down our throats in July has yet to pass as of late October. This is in large part due to our efforts and the efforts of millions of other patriotic Americans.

    Yes, we have accomplished much, but there is much more to do. I for one am yearning for more than involvement; I want to move further down the road of commitment. Am I ready to be as committed as our Founders? I hope through our efforts that I’ll never need to answer that question.

    Am I willing to pledge my Life, my Fortune, and my sacred Honor? My answer is that I’m ready to take a step in that direction. It is my strong desire to have historians look back at the Tea Party movement as a turning point in American politics, a time when committed friends and neighbors took control and placed our great republic back on its constitutional moorings.

    Friends and colleagues, we have an opportunity to return America back to its constitutional heritage by electing a third-party candidate for Congress. Doug Hoffman, a true conservative, is running as a third-party candidate for Congress in the 23rd district in the state of New York. He is in a tight race; some polls even have him leading both the liberal Democrat and the liberal Republican. This neophyte politician has done a remarkable job in battling the established powers in New York.

    I am asking you to join with me and donate a portion of Your Fortune to Mr. Hoffman’s campaign. I am asking you to join me in donating $17.76 to Mr. Hoffman’s campaign to make sure his message of fiscal discipline and constitutional values is heard loud and clear in these final days. To show my commitment to this historical race I’m going to match your contribution with an equal amount. For the first 100 contributions of $17.76 I will contribute my own $17.76, up to a total of $1776.00. To receive the match I’m asking that you make your contribution no later than Thursday, October 29. I will contact the Hoffman campaign to verify how many contributions of $17.76 they received and I will match that amount.

    I am 51 years old. Over my entire lifetime I’ve probably contributed less than a sum total of two-hundred dollars to political campaigns. I never saw a compelling reason to give more. This year is different. I can see that average citizens are making a difference. We have a chance to shift the balance of power back to the American people. I hope you’ll join me in moving down the path of commitment.

    Below are links that allow you to make your own independent assessment of Doug Hoffman and his campaign in New York’s 23rd district. If you wish to contribute, and I hope you do, please click on the link to Hoffman for Congress and contribute electronically via a credit card. Please make sure you contribute exactly $17.76. The Hoffman campaign will tally up these contributions and I will match them. Please contribute by credit card – do not contribute by check as there will not be enough time to include contributions made by check.

    Real Clear Politics Poll Result
    Politics Daily Poll Results
    Washington Times Article
    Doug Hoffman for Congress Website

     

  • Detroit Residents See Obama as Hero - Tea Party Sees Another Socialist

    Wes Nakagiri 5:03 pm on October 25, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
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    Sometimes you hear something that makes you stop and shake your head. You might even say to yourself, “Did I actually hear that correctly?” Here is one of those occasions for me.

    The audio clip below is from WJR radio in Detroit, Michigan. The reporter is Ken Rogulski. In this audio clip Mr. Rogulski interviewed two women who were waiting in line at Cobo Hall, a downtown convention center, for what they thought would be a $3000 government hand-out courtesy of President Barack Obama. Before you listen to the tape let me provide you with some context.

    That there were people waiting in line for a government hand-out is not remarkable in and of itself. Government hand-outs are all too common in this day and age. What is remarkable are the specific circumstances surrounding this particular government give-away of your hard earned wages and the hard earned wages of future generations.

    According to a report filed by Ross Simpson of Associated Press and aired on WJBK television in Detroit, in early October Detroit residents lined up outside Cobo Hall to apply for federal funds for an anti-homelessness program. However, many of those in line thought they were queuing up for a $3000 check direct from Obama’s stimulus program. Police were called in when the crowd got out of hand. Attendees jostled for position in line and fights broke out as they waited to receive an application for Obama-dollars. One attendee was quoted as saying, “This is bad right here, it is like three or four welfare offices mixed in one. It is irritating to me.” Police eventually had to disperse the crowd but not before 50,000 applications had been handed out. It was reported that only 3,500 applicants would actually receive funds.

    After you listen to the tape ask yourself these questions: 1) Do you think it is likely that these women are a product of the Detroit Public School System? 2) Are you surprised that these women do not know where Obama’s money comes from? 3) Do you think these women are thankful to you, the American taxpayer, for generously supporting them? 4) Do you think that liberal social policies (Democrats have ruled Detroit for nearly 5 decades) have created a mindset whereby Detroit residents expect government hand-outs? 4) Which political party benefits from having uneducated voters that rely on government largesse?

    Please forward this story to your friends and family that are slightly left of center. Ask them to consider the questions above after they listen to this audio clip. Ask them if Obama’s far left policies inspire citizens to be the best they can be. Don’t bother forwarding this to anybody on the far left, as they will not be persuaded by facts on the ground.

    Your Tax Dollars Make Obama a Hero to Detroit Residents
    (click on audio player below to hear recording)

     

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