The following was written by a fellow Michigander, Jeff McQueen, describing what he sees as a need for the 2nd revolution and what needs to be done. I am posting it here for the most part unedited. I do not fully agree with a few of the solutions, yet I think opening the subjects to debate is a good thing. While some of his suggestions are probably seen as radical, he makes quite a few valid points, and arrives at his conclusions from a sincere love of country and the people who make it great. Given the current political landscape, and the direction The government is taking us, it is worth noting there are many more who share Jeff’s positions. Please feel free to comment, or provide your own analysis.
Quality of Tea
My name is Jeff McQueen. I am a direct descendant of Peter McQueen, who lived in the town of Salem in Washington County, New York, and who served under Colonel John Williams in the first American Revolution. My French and Scottish ancestors were pioneer settlers of Michigan arriving here in 1701 and 1820 (respectively), before Michigan was granted statehood.
I love this state and our country, but I have now lost complete faith in our current political leadership (on both sides of the aisle) to lead us out of the financial mess we all now face. Like many of you, I could no longer sit in front of my television at night, screaming at the idiots who represent us while they try to fix the blame, instead of fixing the problem. I ordered a special flag, which I designed for the upcoming Second American Revolution (Betsy Ross flag with the Roman numeral “II” in the center of the stars), and drove to Lansing with a friend of mine who served in the Viet Nam war.
As we all know, the first American Revolution was ignited when angry citizens boarded ships in Boston Harbor and threw heavily taxed tea overboard. In America today we face higher and higher taxation with very little ethical representation. Scandal after scandal fills our nightly news, as more of our neighbors lose their jobs due to the unethical and unrestrained acts of our politicians, Wall Street, and bankers. Normally, I have a high tolerance for political scandals, like many of my fellow Americans, but the severity and quantity of the scandals has now become to huge to ignore. A second “Common Sense” strategy must now be enacted in the spirit of Thomas Paine, and a Second American Revolution must now begin if we are to rebuild our Republic and the American Dream. I propose the following strategy:
1) Recall Laws: The laws to recall politicians vary from state to state. Citizens must look at these laws and demand they are immediately rewritten to facilitate our ability to recall state and federal representatives with as few hurdles as possible.
2) Tea Parties: Future Tea Parties must take place on the doorstep of media (i.e. MSNBC, CNN, CBS and ABC) and government organizations belittling the tea parties and the “Second American Revolution,” as just a right-wing group of nuts and radicals. Media time must be purchased to campaign against the tyrannical taxation and uncontrolled spending currently occurring.
3) Consumer Confidence: Wall Street executives directly involved in creating derivatives and politicians who approved low-income mortgage program legislation, should be arrested and tried for crimes against humanity, and if found guilty, they should get stiff sentences, including being barred from working in the Financial Industry or serving in Government for the rest of their lives. This action, and only this action will return consumer confidence.
4) Recruiting an Army of Patriotic Citizens: Efforts must be made to show citizens from all walks of life, race, color, religion belong to the rising army of people angry with our government. We must fight the media’s attempt to paint our movement falsely as solely a right-wing, Anglo-Saxon, Christian movement. It must be clear to everyone the Second American Revolution is an “American” revolution and its members are as diverse as the citizens of the United States, because the desire for freedom and the “American Dream” is what makes us American.
5) Exposure (Investigative Journalism): We need to expose as many politicians for their illegal trading, bribes and malfeasance as quickly as possible. A team of investigative “patriotic” journalists must be released in Washington, D.C. to gather the information needed to expose the political leadership pushing for increased taxation and spending.
6) Term Limits: In the spirit and intention of our forefathers, we must get term limits established to eliminate the threat of the consolidation of power, which occurs with long-term political careers.
7) Prerequisites (perks): All perks currently given to politicians should be reviewed, and changed to reflect fair and equitable reward for term of service served.
8) Ethical Code of Conduct: An ethical code of conduct must be written to outline our expectations for our representatives, and the penalties for betraying the public trust. Our elected politicians must sign this code of conduct before taking office.
9) Federal, State and Local Taxation: Any overt or covert taxes currently in place must be updated every four years and on public display in front of the State Capitol buildings around the country. All Federal Taxes must be voted on and approved by a majority vote of Americans citizens every four years during our national Presidential elections. If the specific taxes are not approved they must be removed when the President take office. State and Local taxes must also be approved every four years in order to continue.
10) Federal, State and Local Programs: Any Federal, State or Local program enacted currently or in the future must expire every four years unless approved for continuation by a majority vote of U.S. citizens . Federal, State and Local programs must not be allowed eternal life without a super-majority vote of the citizens of the United States.
11) Treason: Acts of treason must be openly tried in a court of law, and just penalties must be handed out.
12) Buy America: Money must circulate in our community to get our economy to recover. The more we buy American made products, the more our will economy will improve. This simple concept has helped wealth grow in immigrant communities within the United States for centuries, and will significantly help us.
13) Fair Trade vs. Free Trade (The United States need to remove itself from the United Nations and the World Trade Organization): The U.N. and W.T.O. serve neither the United States nor its citizens. The quicker we pull out of these organizations, the quicker our economy recovers. Politicians should be barred from lobbying for foreign governments and companies in the United States.
14) English the National Language: English must be made our national language. Government documents and services must not be offered in any other language.
15) New Flag of the Second American Revolution: We need a flag to show the spread of the Second American Revolution from shore to shore. I have added the Roman numeral “II” to the center of the circle of stars in the Betsy Ross flag, and recommend this design, so our political position is clear. I am working on trying to set-up a place where people can order these flags and will broadcast the contact info when it is set up.
For the most part, the representation we have in the Democratic and Republican parties have violated our trust and must now be removed as quickly as legally possible. I recommend, all good citizens of these United States now focus all energy in your respective states to get recall laws, quickly rewritten to make it easier to recall our politicians.
Our Founding Fathers of these United States wrote our Constitution, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for a common Defense, promote general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to themselves and their Posterity. This Constitution outlined their vision, a vision which would focus our forefathers toward a common purpose, and to protect them and their posterity from those who would enslave them.
As I traveled last week to the Tea Party in Lansing, Michigan I thought about one of my favorite Chinese proverbs, which is: You never know the quality of tea, until you put it in hot water. As I walked through the thousands of attendees, it became clear people are angry and frustrated because they see the “quality of life” in America slipping away as our politicians in Michigan and Washington, D.C. raise the heat on my fellow hard-working Americans with increased taxes, and by outrageously spending our children and grandchildren into massive future debts.
We have been put in hot water by our politicians, Wall Street and the banks, it’s time for all patriotic Americans to get involved.
Freedom and Justice or no Peace!
Jeff McQueen
