By request (thanks Lucy!), here's my address to the Tea Party in Rome. I was pretty nervous and I'm glad I printed it out on index cards so I wouldn't leave anything out.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s exciting to be here with you on the lawn of the fort that never surrendered!
I am here with you today to address three points: I’d like to identify what I see as the problem, identify the cause of that problem, and to suggest two possible solutions to that problem.
First, I want to say that I do not hold any public office, nor am I a candidate for any office. I am a little-L libertarian who loves this country and our constitution
I am here today as a student of history.
In 1896 a fire broke out in the cellar of the Olbiston Apartment building on Genesse Street in Utica. A story in the Sunday Utica Observer of March 8 of that year tells of the experience of Mr. and Mrs. Cummings and their 4 year old daughter as they climbed down seven flights of a smoke-filled stairway. And when they reached the ground floor and were about to exit the building, they were told to go back inside by the elevator man. He told them to remain calm; there was no fire! Moments later, said Mrs. Cummings, the entire building when up in sheets of flame.
On September 11, office workers in the World Trade center were alarmed when they felt the building shake from what felt like an explosion. The public address system told them to remain calm and return to their offices. Some people did and they died when the building collapsed.
And what are we being told today by our government? Remain calm. Spend your money Buy a home. Refinance your mortgage. Oh, and turn over unprecedented powers to the federal government; powers that have no basis in the constitution. Trust us. Everything is going to be okay. Stay calm. (I remember having to keep waiting for applause, boos and jeers to subside as I spoke this paragraph)
So what’s the problem? What was NY’s response to the worst economic crisis in history? They increased spending by more than 9%! Do you think that’s a good idea? (audience response – NO!)
What was our federal government’s response to the worst economic crisis in history? In less than a year, they have made decisions that will increase our total national debt from 11 trillion dollars to somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 trillion dollars. Do you think that’s a good idea? NO! 16 trillion dollars works out to about $130,000 for every family in America. Do you think that’s a good idea?
What do you do when your family is faced with revenue reductions? You prioritize. We can pay for heating the house, but maybe the cable TV has to go. We can buy groceries, but that second car may have to go. That’s the problem. Our government is incapable of prioritizing. Incapable of doing what you do in your every day lives.
When you’re faced with difficult economic issues, you prioritize. What does government do? They increase spending and seize more power. That’s the problem. Instead of looking out for your best interests, they entrench their power and secure their re-elections. Thus, the problem is a government that is not responsive to your best interests. A government that is not responsive to your needs. Do you think that’s a good idea?
So what is the cause of the problem? I won’t spend a lot of time on this – it’s simple. Our government that is not responsive to our best interest was elected by us. WE are the cause of the problem. We keep electing the same people over and over again. We are the cause of the problem.
During Ronald Reagan’s time in office, we cut taxes and increased spending. It buried us in debt. Under both Bushes, we cut taxes and increased spending. It buried us in debt.
Today at noon, President Obama (in a preemptive strike against the tea parties) spoke about cutting taxes while we increase spending. He will bury us in debt!
We need to stop sending career politicians to represent us and start sending regular citizens. But the Democrat and Republican parties (really 2 wings of the Progressive Big Government party) control the system and refuse to give us regular citizens to vote for.
I know you may say “Frank, if we vote all the incumbents out, won’t that just give all the power to the career bureaucrats instead?” I say we have to trust the people. Trust ordinary citizens to go down to Albany, and go to Washington and do what’s right. Because what we’re doing just isn’t working. We only let our President serve two terms. Why not do the same for our legislators?
So I offer two suggestions that might help break the stranglehold the career politicians and their parties have on our government.
First, does anybody here think it’s a coincidence that Tax Day, April 15, and election day are almost exactly 6 months apart from one another? We have the cause – Election Day – over here, and the effect – Taxes – over here. We have separated the cause from the effect in an effort to disguise the relationship. Do you think that’s a good idea?
My idea for a solution is to move Election Day and Tax Day to coincide on the same day. I think people might vote a little differently if that were the case.
My second idea is closely related to the first and actually reinforces the first, although I know it will be less popular than the first – eliminate withholding for income taxes.
That’s right – on election day, you should have to walk into the polling place, write out a check for the full amount of your annual income tax bill and then go into the voting booth to make your choices. I know you’ll say “Frank, you can’t trust people to budget responsibly and to put away some money every paycheck to pay their taxes?” Listen to yourself if you’re asking that. You sound just like they do in Albany and in Washington. “We can’t trust the people to do what’s right! We need to take all the power and make decisions for them!” And that just hasn’t worked out for us. We need to stop doing the same things over and over again.
So those are my suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to them and I hope that you give them some consideration. They might help us take back our government.
I’ll close by reminding you what Ben Franklyn said when asked by a woman at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia “Sir, what have you given us?” He answered “A republic, if you can keep it.”
I ask you, please keep it. Thank you and God bless America.
WELL, THEY FREAKIN ACCOMPLISHED IT! 
