Speech from 4/11/09 Tea Party

This is the basic text of the speech I gave on April 11th at the Tea Party in Des Moines:

Good afternoon. My name is Larry Voorhees, and I am a recovering American.
What do I mean by that phrase…”recovering American”….
Many things.
First of all, it means to me that for a period of time, I forgot what it was to be “an American”. I forgot that ours is a nation built on principles. A nation built on ideals. Built on the concepts of courtesy, being people of integrity, being people who have the capacity for perseverance, people of self-control….a nation with an indomitable spirit.

What else do I mean by stating that I am a “recovering American”? It means that while I sat back, and for a period of time, made some foolish choices, and that, either through my actions…or, more often, through my inactions, I allowed things to come into the life of my family, my community, my state, and my country….that I really shouldn’t have let happen.

But you see, I got suckered. I bought into the Great Lie. I bought into the song and dance that people were performing.

"America sucks. America is bad. We, as a nation, are evil. And the problems of this world? Why, they’re all our fault. It’s because of the very nature of the people of America that we have everything from drought to pestilence to over-weight children, to under-arm odor, to global warming to snowstorms in April…"

…oh wait.. this is Iowa….we usually get at least ONE dumping of snow in early April. Well, at least THAT hasn’t changed any.

But as I said, I bought into those lies. How did I buy into them? By sitting on my complacent rear end and saying things like “harrumph”…”gosh, that’s really bad. We really ought to do something about that.”

Anybody here ever watch the movie Blazing Saddles? Talk about a completely irreverent parody of just about everything. What I enjoy about that movie is that Mel Brooks pokes fun at everything that you’re not supposed to poke fun at. Remember the scene where they’re in the Governor’s office, and they announce there’s a problem, and immediately everyone starts saying “harrumph”?

Well…that’s what I did for a good long time. Just sit there, take it, and give the occasional “harrumph”.
Well, no longer. As I said, My name is Larry Voorhees, and I’m a recovering American. It has been several long months since I said my last “harrumph”, and decided that I was going to DO something about the lies that are being perpetrated on an all-too-complacent public by people that we (yes, myself included) have actually elected to represent us in our government.

So, I have decided that it’s time to make some statements. To take a stand. To draw a line in the sand. No, they’re not politically correct statments. You know what? I don’t give a rat’s rear end about “politically correct”. From what I’ve seen, being “politically correct” all-too-frequently equates to being “politically corrupt” or “politically emasculated”.
So…here we go. If you, too, are tired of sitting back and just “taking it”, I want to encourage you to acknowledge, with me, these statements.

1.
America Is Good.
Yes, America is GOOD. At it’s heart, we have the pulse of a nation that was brought forth on this continent in such a way that Lincoln said it was “conceived in liberty”. We have at it’s core the values of our founding fathers...and our great purpose…our Manifest Destiny, if you will, is to give people the opportunity to lift themselves up. “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.” From where I stand, that’s pretty darned good.
2.
I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the external rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.

If God be for us, who can stand against us? Our founding fathers new this to be true. Faith in God, the Creator of the Universe, was the foundation and bedrock on which they built their lives. Is it not reasonable to assume that since this new nation was predicated on Almighty God, and that they even went so far as to mention His providence several times in our Declaration of Independence and founding documents, that their intent…OUR intent…is that this is one nation UNDER God…not outside of Him?

3.
I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
“I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington

I’m a martial artist, for those of you that don’t know me. I’ve been involved in Taekwondo for over 25 years. Now…think about what just happened in your mind. Your concept of who and what a martial artist IS just changed dramatically. For some of you, your mental image of a martial artist has probably been limited to images of people like Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan…for those of you a bit older, Cynthia Rothrock, maybe Bruce Lee….TV and movie people. And that has been your limited experience with the martial arts. However…when I told you just now that I am a martial artist, you looked at me a little closer. Why? Because in your mind, your mental image of who and what a martial artist IS just shifted to also include this middle-aged guy standing in front of you. No longer was your mental picture limited to just what you’d had in mind before, but now, with new information and a slightly different perspective, you changed your perception. You HAD to change your perception…you had more information.
But that also puts a huge burden on me. You see, now YOU will be watching ME…to see what a “real” martial artist is really like. You’re going to be watching me to see if I live my life according to the Tenets of Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. And everything I do and say will ultimately have some form of impact on your mental perception of what a “martial artist” really is. You may not have ever seen Chuck Norris in person, or heard him speak, or shaken his hand. But NOW…you have a new perception. And unless I do my best to live out my life in the way I know I should in front of you…I will damage your perception of the martial arts.

In the same manner, if I want the people who I elect to govern me with integrity…to govern me with honesty….I need to make sure that first of all, I live out that example in front of them. I need to model that behavior, and lead by example. Will I do it perfectly? Nope. Last time I checked, I was still a human being, and part of failed humanity. But for me, I HAVE to make the commitment every morning to live today better than I did yesterday.

4.
The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
“It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson

We are a communal creation. God did not create us to exist in a vacuum. And the closest community that we have is the family unit. Or perhaps, I should say…DID have. Until everyone and everything decided that they could simply make up their own definition of what a “family” is. Like the Iowa Supreme Court earlier this month. They just decided that even though our legislature had passed a law, that it wasn’t good enough. Even though our elected representatives had exercised the will of the majority of the people, a court made up of less than a dozen people who are appointed, not elected, decided…”naw….we don’t like that.”
Really? OK, how about this…if we put it into the Constitution, then it’s not “un-constitutional”. So, how about it, State Legislative Leaders? How about having the courage to get the question of a marriage amendment on the general ballot, and let’s settle this question once and for all? Let the PEOPLE OF IOWA decide, rather than the mouthy minority and out-of-state special interest groups. C’mon, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Gronstal…is you’re so CERTAIN that this is the “will of the people”, then what are you afraid of?
Or is it possible that this ruling is NOT the will of the people? Could that be why you’re afraid to bring it to a vote of the populace?

5.
If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
“I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson

Can’t argue with Jefferson there. But I’d like to take this point one step further. I’m going to propose something to you that is SO radical…SO outlandish…yet, in my mind, so filled with common sense…that I’m puzzled why somebody else hasn’t brought this up.
Let’s work from the basic assumption that those who break the law go to jail. Fair assumption?
Now…you and I, through our tax dollars, are paying for those people to be in jail. We feed them, clothe them, house them, provide health care for them….actually, if it wasn’t for the whole “lack of freedom thing”, it might be a pretty cushy way to pass the time. Get to work out, get to watch cable…

People in jail are “paying their debt to society”. However, the way I’m seeing it…when they’re in jail, they’re making society pay for them. I’m not seeing a return on my investment, here.
Why not actually have them repay their debt to society? Seriously! Why not? I’m thinking…just off the top of my head, here…road work. There are some county roads that could use some work. Flood levys. Some of those need repair. What about planting trees? How about growing gardens to supplement the food? Why is it that when people are “paying their debt to society”, that it’s you and me…”society”, that ends up going into debt? What about having those who are in jail for breaking the law, help repay their debt to society by working for the society that they have actually wronged?
Think of some of the savings in tax money. Less money required for infrastructure work on roads and levys, less money for food, if they grow some of their own. We could be helping these people learn valuable skills for when they DO re-enter society, by giving them real-life working and social skills while they are doing their time.
Crazy? Just crazy enough it could work, I say.

6.
I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
“Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson is talking about the Free Will that God gives us here. But please note…just because I CHOOSE to become a pitcher for professional baseball, is no guarantee that I’m going to be extremely successful at it. Personally, do I think it would be cool to be a top-flight pitcher? Sure….the only problem is…I have absolutely ZERO skills in that area. So no matter how hard I work at it…my 50-year-old arm is never going to amount to a hill of beans. So, does that mean, just because I WANT to be a pitcher, and I suck at it, that YOU…you 12 people right over here…should kick up some money out of your pocket every month so that I can live in a fantasy world where I THINK I’m a great pitcher, but I really suck, but you pay me (or the government pays me) so that I can live as if I really WERE a great pitcher?
…I don’t think so…

7.
I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
“It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington

The Lord loves a cheerful giver. It isn’t “giving” if someone is telling me I HAVE to give. I am able to give out of my own generosity. I didn’t need someone telling me that I HAVE to do that. Let me share a quote from a Baptist minister from the 1930’s:

"You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. You cannot legislate
the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.
What one person receives without working for, another person
must work for without receiving. The Government cannot give
to anybody anything that the Government does not first take from
somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do
not have to work because the other half is going to take care of
them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good
to work because somebody else is going to get what they work
for, that is surely the end of any nation's future."

Dr Adrian Rogers a Baptist minister back in 1931.

8.
It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
“In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington

For those of you that think President Washington might not have had a sense of humor, let me paraphrase what the man said there.
Everybody has the God-given right to make a complete and total ass of themselves. Unfortunately, some people exercise that right more often than others.

What he’s saying is: I have the God-given right to speak my mind. I have the First Amendment right to disagree with authority, and to share my opinion. I would go so far as to say that it is Un-American to attempt to squelch my voice. “You cannot restrain the voice of the multitude”.

You know, as a Taekwondo referee, I’ve run into this before. When the players are fighting, I have to control the players, so there aren’t any infractions of the rules. I also have to control the coaches, because sometimes (rarely) they are also capable of rule infractions.
But what about the people up in the stands? You know…the Little League moms and dads that are yelling, “Hey, jerk, where’s the points? What are you calling? THAT wasn’t holding! Are you blind?”

Gets a little unnerving. Funniest thing I ever saw at a tournament was a fairly new referee that let the crowd rattle her. At one point, she stopped the match, turned around, and gave the CROWD a full-point deduction penalty. Everybody looked around, a bit confused…I mean…who do you take the point away from? The guy in the stands with the purple megaphone?

Our State House of Representatives attempted to do this very thing earlier this month. They attempted to penalize the “crowd”, as it were.
However, in this case….it’s not so funny. In fact, it’s insulting. Perhaps some of our legislators have forgotten how they got to sit in their cushy part-time chairs for 30+ years. Well, I can assure you…WE have not forgotten….
And that brings me to my last point.

9.
The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
“I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson

That’s right….the PEOPLE are the source of all authority in THIS nation, and in this state.
In a former life in the corporate world, I worked in customer service, and as a customer service trainer, so I know good customer service when I receive it.
Well, in my opinion, I have NOT been receiving good customer service from our state legislature. I have been receiving, in my opinion, ZERO customer service from our state legislature.

So…just in case some folks in the statehouse didn’t hear it before, let me reiterate.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the General Assembly…you work for ME…you work for US…you work for WE THE PEOPLE. If you can’t understand that, then I put it to you that the line in the sand has been drawn, and you’d best put on your big-girl panties and DEAL with it!

We will NOT sit idly by and watch you destroy our state, and the very fabric of our nation.

It’s been said that “as Iowa goes, so goes the nation”.

Keep that in mind, people….because from where I’m sitting, it’s “house cleanin’ time”.

My name is Larry Voorhees, and I AM an American. I urge you ALL…don’t sit idly by, but stand up, and TAKE BACK YOUR NATION.

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