"THE OPPOSITE OF BIG GOVERNMENT IS NOT SMALL GOVERNMENT BUT BIG LIBERTY" -

-- MARK STEYN (After America)

The TEA Party Maui is an active grassroots organization based on the island of  Maui, Hawaii.   The impetus for the TEA Party Movement is Excessive Government Spending and Overtaxation.   Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values:

Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.

A Monthly Publication of the TEA Party Maui 

Our May 2012 Issue is out! Check it out for articles from members, book reviews, recent TEA Party events, and more! Also, be sure to visit the News section for past issues. (Click on Pono Press banner above to link to issues.)

TEA Party Maui Monthly Meetings:

TEA Party Maui holds monthly meetings at 6:30 PM on the second Thursday of every month.  The general public is welcomed at these meetings. The June meeting will be the last held at our meeting location on 400 Hana Highway as we have lost our "lease"on this location.  So please note that beginning in July, our monthly meetings will be held in the Garden Room at the Kalama Heights Retirement Community Center on 101 Kanani Road (<- click for map) in Kihei.   Any questions, please call BILL DOYLE at (808) 269-0552 or (602) 689-5650.

Next Monthly Meeting: June 14th:

Just a reminder that our next regular monthly meeting will begin at  6:30 PM, Thursday, June 14th. A meeting agenda will be forthcoming! Keep tuned for updates! With summer vacations and all, it may be the last chance  for everyone to get together before the fall, so  we hope to see you all there!

Constitution Classes ending soon:

A comprehensive course of study on our Constitution was initiated on September 8th, and is currently ongoing, but scheduled to be completed by mid-June.  A  study guide, The Making of America, is available for $15.00.  Although it is not essential to purchase a book, it is recommended you do so.  The class takes place three Thursdays a month at 6:30 PM.  On the second Thursday of each month  the Constitution Class is replaced with our General Meeting, which also begins at 6:30.  Please check our website regularly for updates.  Hope to see you all there.

WHEN THE PEOPLE FEAR THE GOVERNMENT, THERE IS TYRANNY; WHEN THE GOVERNMENT FEARS THE PEOPLE, THERE IS LIBERTY" 

 -- THOMAS JEFFERSON

• Please take the time to watch this outstanding--> video produced by an organization called America Working. The video is nearly an hour long, but you can watch its eight separate segments individually if you wish. The segments are entitled:  (1) Our United States. (2) Economy in Crisis. (3) Politicians and Government. (4) U.S. form of Government. (5) Securing our Borders. (6) Nation of Islam. (7) Our Way Out. and (8) Closing Statement.      According to America Working, it produced the video for the following reasons:

  “Our purpose of making this video, is to help educate our people and to prepare them for the election of 2012. This is our last stand for freedom. We must come together as Americans and take back our land and government or the damage that will be done will be irreversible.

  If you love your country and are thankful for what our founding forefathers gave us, then we should do the same for our children and theirs for centuries to come. In all of history the only form of government that coincides with freedom, that stands and defends freedom, that protects WE THE PEOPLE according to the law of the land is a conservative Republic.

  It is time to restore our land. One flag, one language, one country. Help us to get this message out and thank you.” 

• You must watch this incredible video -->  "If I Wanted America To Fail".  As they say, it has gone viral! 
• The Hawaii State Legislature web site has recently been completely redesigned and updated to allow you easier and quicker access to bills as they move through the legislative process.  It is also now easier to submit public testimony which can now be done online.  Click on the "Legislature" button on the button bar at the top of this web page to find links to the US Senate, Hawaii State, and Maui County Legislative web sites  or just click on this link  --> "Legislature" to connect directly to the Hawaii State web site.
• We all have people in our lives that make an impact in ways we do not expect.  We are "tea party people" and because of leaders like Andrew Breibart, we have become stronger advocates for what we believe.  We should all plan to continue to advocate for America and to fight against "Ameritopia."  Thanks Andrew.  Click on this  link à Andrew Breitbart  to see a compendium of eulogies and remembrances of this brave and stalwart fighter for the conservative cause. 
• View the great speech by Daniel Hannan  (ß click on link) at CPAC.   As an invited guest speaker at the recent Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC) , Daniel Hannan  (conservative EU Parliament Member)  gave a stirring and incisive speech  forewarning the audience about the foreboding consequences of the current socialistic direction that our country has been rushing headlong towards under the Obama Administration.  During his speech, Daniel brandished a copy of the US Constitution and declared that we needed to return the model of government outlined in “the most brilliant document” ever created for political structure'

John Kerr speaks at the Maui  Kiwanis Club

On Thursday, May 24th, 2012, John Kerr, former President and current Member-at-Large of TEA Party Maui was invited to speak to the members of the Maui Kiwanis Club by Myles Kawakami, President of Hawaii Carpet One.

John spoke about how it appeared that America was in decline with an out of control debt of more than 16 Trillion dollars or $50,000 per person for every man, woman, and child in America. He stated that our future economic condition was in crisis due to a lack of leadership and a dearth of confidence and faith and how for the first time ever in our country, our children and grandchildren were facing the prospect of a lower standard of living. He cited a recent Gallup poll that reported more than 80% of Americans were dissatisfied with the direction the US was headed.

America could only remain a prosperous welfare state if its people were wiling to accept vastly higher taxes and the rest of the world (mostly China) were willing to continue to lend us lots of money at low interest rates. But this condition is not sustainable as is already apparent in the impending collapse of socialistic and indebted countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, etc.

America needs to return to the economic ideals that made her great; the system of free enterprise that respected the right of private property, encouraged industry, a system based on merit which provided every individual the opportunity to succeed and reap the rewards of his own work. 

John reported on a Rasmussen poll stating that a vast majority of Americans still believe that free enterprise is the best  system. But the paradox is that despite the continued belief in free enterprise, progressive and statist government has been growing for over a hundred years in America. Why is this? Because Americans like free enterprise, but they also like to take advantage of free handouts!

It appears that we have failed to make our case for free enterprise/individual rights in sufficiently convincing terms.  The argument in favor of free enterprise has always been made in economic terms only. John argued that we needed a new moral/cultural frame of argument to rejuvenate the American spirit to move us all away from corporate cronyism, redistribution of wealth, and statism. John concluded by stating that the key to r restoring America is a return to the our founding principles of freedom and liberty and a rejection of government controlled economy.

For a full text of John's speech, please click on this link --> John at Kiwanis Club .

Representative George Fontaine Speaks at TEA Party Maui Meeting

Hawaii State Representative George Fontaine, District 11, (Kihei, Wailea, and Makena) was the featured speaker at the TEA Party Maui Monthly Meeting on May 17th, 2012. Mr. Fontaine serves on several Legislative Committees including Education, Transportation, Judiciary, Labor & Public Employment, and Public Safety and Military Affair and is one of only eight Republicans in the State House.

Mr. Fontaine talked about the House Minority Caucus’ 2012 Legislative Package, released on January 20, which included a  four-step recovery plan that focused on: job creation and retention; government accountability and transparency; reducing the cost of living, and protecting our communities.

Mr. Fontaine also undertook undertaking a review of the various bills that the Hawaii State Legislature considered, debated, and killed or passed during the last House session. More than 2100 bills had been introduced, with less than 200 bills actually being signed into law. 

Special guests at TEA Party Maui Special Meeting on May 10th, 2012

TEA Party Member Jim Wagoner (pictured in center above) invited Dick Rowland, President of Grassroots Institute of Hawaii (above on left) and Russ Walker, National Representative of FreedomWorks (above on right) to address TEA Party Maui at a Special Meeting on May 10th, 2012. 

        Grassroots Institute:  Founded in 2001 by Richard Rowland,  Grassroots Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and the only free market think tank in Hawaii  The mission of Grassroots Institute of Hawaii is to promote individual liberty, the free market and limited accountable government. Through research papers, policy briefings, commentaries and conferences, the Institute seeks to educate and inform Hawaii’s policymakers, news media and the general public. The purpose of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is to improve the relationship between the government and the people with the objective of improving the effectiveness of the government, the business climate and in some cases, tradition, to foster an atmosphere in Hawaii that results in maximum personal freedom for every individual.

     Dick Rowland’s primary message was a simple but effective one: think of the political spectrum as up and down rather than left and right. Up is where individual is sovereign,  personal liberty reigns supreme and where the state is established and empowered to protect our God-given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Down is where the State is sovereign; the individual is a subject and not a citizen, and where there are no unalienable rights, only those rights granted by the state.  In this frame of mind, each of us should look critically at every proposed law and raise the key question: will this law move us up or down the political spectrum. Dick challenged all of us to implant this thought process like a virus into anyone and everyone that we come across.

      FreedomWorks : Founded in 1984, FreedomWorks is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers nationwide. The organization is chaired by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and the President is Matt Kibbe. According to their web site,  FreedomWorks members know that government goes to those who show up, and are leading the fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.  FreedomWorks recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes millions of volunteer activists to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom.  FreedomWorks believes individual liberty and the freedom to compete increases consumer choices and provides individuals with the greatest control over what they own and earn. FreedomWorks' aggressive, real-time campaigns activate a growing and permanent volunteer grassroots army to show up and demand policy change.

     After Russ Walker talked about the organization, mission and purpose of Freedoomworks, he went on to describe how Freedoomworks  worked  to organize and coordinate the efforts of the many  Tea Party and other conservative grassroots organizations in Indiana to assist Richard Murdoch in defeat six-term  incumbent Dick Lugar in the recent Indiana Republican primary for the US Senate seat.  It was a fascinating  and uplifting story of the strength and impact that a disparate group of Indiana Tea Parties wielded when they coordinated their efforts to elect a conservative candidate. His message was that the Tea Party movement was far from being over, rather it has morphed into an effective political machine for placing true conservative candidates into public office.  Even CNN had to admit that “Richard Murdoch…benefited from the manpower and money from Tea Party activists”.

TEA Party Maui holds a Tax Day Rally on April 16th, 2012

Some typical posters at the 2012 TPM Tax Day Rally

 On Monday April 16^th, TEA Party Maui held a Tax Day Rally at the County/State/Federal complex on S. High Street, Wailuku.  Posters, banners, and American Flags were displayed expressing concern over the deepening burden of excessive  Federal and State taxes designed to support an ever expanding and invasive Government. The public response was generally warm and affirmative. After the rally,  participants went over to Kahului Park on Onehee Ave. for a potluck (after all, what's a rally without food).

Pamela Tumpap, President, Maui Chamber of Commerce speaks at TEA Party Maui meeting

Photo of Pam Tumpap speaking to TPM audience

Pamela Tumpap, president, Maui Chamber of Commerce was the featured guest speaker at the TEA Party Maui General Meeting on Thursday, April 12th, 2012. The vibrant, energetic Ms. Tumpap gave a stirring and inspiring presentation on the congruent values held by TEA Party Maui and the Maui Chamber of Commerce.  Ms.Tumpap also echoed the sentiments expressed at another meeting earlier in the year by Myles Kawakami, President and CEO of Hawaiian Carpet One/Ceramic Tile  on the "Conservative Coalition" and how uniting the diverse demographics of small business owners/employees and various church groups in our movement can lead to a reversal of the current progressive stranglehold over Maui and State politics as a whole. Her presentation was well received by the enthusiastic audience.

TEA Party Maui bids Farewell to Sherri Kerr

TEA Party Maui: Keeping it Light (Not Really)

 From the Patriot Post:  Forward to the Unemployment Line

The Department of Labor released the April jobs report this morning, and it's more of the same -- a dismal "recovery" as Obama moves us "forward." The economy added just 115,000 jobs, once again shy of "expectations," and the headline unemployment rate ticked down to 8.1 percent. The media are working hard on behalf of Obama's re-election campaign by conveying that things are getting better. The truth is, however, the reason the rate is going down is because people are simply leaving the workforce. Some 522,000 people gave up, and labor participation is now at its lowest since 1981. Forward!

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