For an activist like me yesterday was like the Super Bowl. Led mostly by four guys the national debate just shifted to an incredibly important issue. They put on a show. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio took control of the Senate and demanded that Americans immediately get an answer to a simple question. Can the government kill Americans, on American soil, without due process? It was inspiring to watch as guys the Tea Party movement simultaneously exposed many of the lies on the left and take the fight directly to Obama on serious constitutional issues.

It was amazing to me that Senator Wyden was the only to Democrat who joined in the festivities in a meaningful way. Harry Reid made a pitiful plea to close the filibuster so that our poor overworked Senators could go home that was met with an incredulous rebuke from Senator Paul.

Here is what the American people saw when they tuned in yesterday. They saw four smart, well spoken, and even pop-culture fluent leaders explain how ridiculous something in government was in an entertaining and yet serious way. They saw what the Republican Party could be if the Tea Party had won more elections and the establishment had won less. Someone who should probably should have been there but wasn’t was Joe Miller. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the idea that after losing the primary and failing to get her name on the ballot, Lisa Murkowski was able to win the general election as a write-in candidate. I’ve gotten to know Joe Miller over the years and the guy I know would have made an impressive addition to yesterday’s dream team. I don’t know whether or not he is planning on running, I assume he is considering it because it’s awfully tough to get elected as a Democrat in Alaska.

The Alaskan people are certainly fired up about the 2nd Amendment infringements. This is a race I believe that Joe is prepared to win and so I look forward to supporting his efforts and you should too. For now I suggest signing up for his newsletters, they are excellent. In his newsletter I learned the real Benghazi story long before the national media and administration were forced to amend their stories. Joe is a real patriot and a really impressive dude, I know he would have been there from the beginning yesterday and he would have been on point.

If we’re going to move past the establishment and reassert our natural rights we need some Democrats to reinforce us on efforts like this. I’ve been doing something I don’t recommend which is reading comment sections on lefty sites. I’m seeing a lot of frustrated people who are quickly growing disenchanted with the schemes that the government is selling. The deeper I’ve infiltrated politics the more distance I’ve seen from what both parties tell people and what they actually do and the more similarities I see in regular people of all political self-identifications.

A whole lot was missing yesterday and I hope the American people will continue to join Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio and the rest of the voices of sanity and force the administration to state unequivocally that the government does not have the right to kill American citizens on American soil without either due process or them posing an imminent threat.

I know what’s coming. Their next move is to marginalize us. They will call us racists, sexists, killers, murderers, and even terrorists. Despite the fact that when we met for our Day of Resistance not one person was hurt or one citation issued they will treat us far worse they than treated Occupy with it’s many violent problems. We aren’t the violent ones but we will not tolerate violations of our natural rights.

They will drag anyone who poses a threat to them through the mud. They will defame our leaders and poison our debate with nasty rumors and wild accusations. They will engage in law-fare where they try to keep you so busy fighting the courts that you have no time to fight them. Their focus is always division and the way to fight that is to make sure that our focus is on UNITY.

It’s a whole new political world, let’s go win.

Yesterday Rand Paul took unilateral control of the Senate and you know what he spent his time talking about? Drones and due process. Did you know that Obama and Holder think they have the right to kill Americans, on American soil, without consulting anyone? Yesterday the anti-establishment coalition in the Senate exposed that.

Now there are a lot of bitter voices out there. For the next few days they are going to be saying things like

“Where were all these guys defending our rights when Bush started the drone program” and “this is just people being paranoid.”

Ask yourself this question. Are you more interested in participating in this kind of petty bickering and tireless cat calling or would you rather participate in making our country a place where the government can’t arbitrarily change the definition of what our natural rights are?

A lot of people have been trying to warn you that something stinks with the government.

Think about the trillions we spent to “improve our infrastructure”, where is that money?

Think of the all the money we spent to “fix” the housing market, how is your neighborhood doing after the trillions spent?

Think of your privacy and ask whether you want the government building databases with all your medical and personal data?

Think of what you can be arrested for and then consider that the government now openly admits that they don’t arrest bankers.

If you’re more than just a hack you might want to pay attention to what people like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee are trying to tell you.

I wanted to take a break after Saturday but I haven’t yet. The people around me are going to force me to but I want to make sure everything is moving in the right direction before I take a hard earned break. So here is what I’m trying to do (prioritized)

1. Get the Day of Resistance rallies the attention they deserve by getting the biggest names in the friendly media to talk about what an awesome job we did.

2. Secure some big dollar funding for the projects I’m launching. I’m proud to have raised so much money from the grassroots but I need to do a better job of getting larger donor support. There has to be some rich guys who are sick of watching Karl Rove lose with their money who are looking for a fresh project that could actually win. Give us the resources we need to compete at the biggest levels and we will reignite the patriot movement in this nation. I’m personally available to give private presentations on the detailed plan if you’re serious about winning and can write a check in the 6-7 figure range. If you’ve got 5 figures I’ve got people for you too.

3. Get the plan and information together so that you can immediately get involved in your local government. Eventually I want to send you out to your city councils with all the training and tools you’ll need to pass an actual resolution fighting the big government agenda.

Your task for the next few days is this: Research your city council. Find out who is on it, when they take public comments, what party they represent, and whether they received Tea Party support in their last election.

My team will work up some material with detailed instructions on what we need to say to them in order to get these resolutions passed.

We are also planning round 2. Rallies all over the country again with a coinciding mega-rally in Washington DC! I can do it but I need to get 1 and 2 accomplished before we take it to the next level!

If you can help me spread this around it will be a big help. We are doing our best to respond to everyone but people are slipping through the cracks. If you see it happen please share this update with them with my apologies!

If you want to help me fund my next personal adventure and get something I worked really hard on in return, you can buy my book HERE: Community Organizer: A Tea Party Story

Keep it rocking,

-Dustin

As I leave TheTeaParty.net I want to shower them with all the praise that I can. This is a good organization and our record of accomplishment is second to none. Our grassroots fundraising is based on a simple idea, we tell people we are going to do things and then we set ourselves to doing them. You look at the infrastructure and how much money we’ve spent compared to other organizations and I CHALLENGE you to show me a political organization with the kind of infrastructure we have put together.

The petition system is amazing. Together we wrote the Republican talking points during the debt ceiling debate and got a number of very interesting budgets written including the Mack, Ryan, Paul, and Lee budgets. This is critical work. When we went after the Post Office no one else was talking about it. After the Unions responded to the 250,000 messages we sent to Congress we advanced it along to where now we got one of our principle demands which was ending Saturday delivery.

We targeted the House Oversight Committee to keep the Fast and Furious investigation moving and then sent hundreds of thousands of letters that led to him being held in contempt of Congress.

Our social media is dominate. At one point during the election we made up 45% of the political digital activity outside of the Presidential Campaigns.

We’ve done it all from rallies, townhalls, presidential debates, radio shows, and candidate forums. Every time we’ve seen an obstacle standing between the Grassroots and the Political elite we’ve done whatever it takes to give our fighters the upper hand.

Our staff is incredible, dedicated, and hard working.

In just a few years and for 10% of the budget of comparable organizations, it’s pretty hard to argue, we rock! That attitude is going to continue because it doesn’t come from me, it comes from Todd Cefaratti their founder. He has a vision and it’s a good one. I plan to actively support and supplement their efforts because i believe in their cause and I know that they can do it!

It was a difficult and painful to leave all that behind. I have wonderful friendships and immense respect for the people who work there but I’m on to build another piece of the puzzle. If we’re going to defeat these SOB’s we’re going to need good people everywhere to do the best they can. I’ll be watching and if I ever see a moment where something I could do to help you out, I’ll do it without you even having to ask.

Keep driving forward, we’ve come a long way.

I want to personally apologize to all of you who ended up without a rally close to you. Frankly I wish that it was possible to ensure that everyone had a big rally to attend. You can still participate. Turn off the TV, chat up someone about politics in person. Exchange ideas with people around you, that’s really the whole point of getting together in a group. Take a moment to listen to someone you would usually ignore.

We are simply not capable of organizing every rally and it would be counter-productive to our goal if there is too much outside control. This has to be a local thing and if someone doesn’t step up and lead the organizing effort mostly on their own there is nothing we can do. We are struggling to keep so much information organized on the national level and provide as much support as we can to as many people as we can.

For those of you without a rally we will do our best to compile the best videos and pictures from around the country and share it with you as soon as we can.

Please don’t feel discouraged or feel like you can’t participate because you aren’t able to attend a rally. Our goal is to give everyone the opportunity to participate in these important acts of patriotic civil duty, but that goal is just not attainable. Don’t worry though because the rallies are only the beginning of something much bigger and attendance in the rallies is not mandatory to participate in the broader movement.

What are Day of Resistance rallies on 2/23

If you’ve never rallied before you may not know what to expect. I can’t tell you what every rally/meeting/flash mob/ or parade is going to look like. I’ve been to a lot of events like this and this is what I expect.

The kind of people who have the temerity to pull off these rallies deserve to decide for themselves who they want to highlight. No one at the national level has vetted every speaker and organizer. If people turn out they will have the freedom to accept or reject what they hear but they are expected to keep it civil and keep their conversations focused on solutions.

You should do more than just listen to the speakers. If the crowd is large take the time to introduce yourself to the people around you and ask them their opinions. Listen respectfully and instead of criticizing something they say, use your opportunity to explain the idea you believe the most firmly or choose to keep it to yourself. Start with the 2nd Amendment and you’ll find yourself on common ground.

So one of the coolest parts of this whole process is getting to meet people, in person, and when they are on their best behavior. Something about a large gathering has a way of keeping people in line and these are not the Occupy Protests so the less savory elements of our society tend to avoid them. Everyone is welcome and everyone is expected to behave themselves and you want to know what the best part is?

I’ve been to a lot of these kinds of rallies and the people who will show up are INCREDIBLE. Veterans, parents, politicians, and even some folks with unbelievable stories and attitudes that will just make you shake your head.

Here is the key. Enjoy yourself.

My attitude has always been to find do something positive with every person I encounter.

If someone says something I don’t like, I stop listening to them, whether they are standing next to me or speaking to you from the stage. Go in with the goal that you are going to be alerted to something that you will research further.

When people get together and focus on something with a truce on negativity amazing things happen.

Don’t over think it, remember school? Most people aren’t like the idiots who too often fill comment sections on the internet with vile things. You are the majority, awesome, hardworking, patriotic, and my experience has been nearly 100% polite.

If you aren’t polite, you aren’t welcome.

Polite does not mean politically correct, say what you feel and be prepared to deal with people who don’t feel the exact same way you do. Defend your ideas but be willing to look for ways to improve them or communicate them.

Good luck, I have the incredible blessing of having a job that pays me to find what I believe are the best answers and share them with people. I’m looking forward to learning a lot from you!

The Day of Resistance has become something so much bigger than I had ever dreamed. People took this idea and ran with it, and I’m extremely excited to watch the videos and see the pictures from around the country.

I’m exhausted and after Saturday I’m going to make a couple of big announcements and then take some time for myself.

Those announcements signal my desire to change course, to reinvent many of the things I do, and are what I personally feel I need to do in order to best serve the ideas I’m dedicated too.

I have just lived the most incredible journey of my life, but my mission is unsatisfied, and I am blessed that I have barely scratched the surface of my imagination.

Today is the four year anniversary of Rick Santelli’s famous rant that sparked the Tea Party movement. I had already begun forming the Western Representation PAC naively believing that simply exposing the blatant corruption between K-Street and Wall Street would be enough to ensure that the kind of craven manipulation that crashed the housing market wouldn’t happen to my children.

So today when I saw many of my friends posting the Santelli rant I reflected on how that original mission is fairing four years later. The answer is not encouraging.

Despite raising millions of dollars and recruiting millions of people the only person actively attacking the Wall Street/K-Street Cartel inside the government is bleeding heart liberal Elizabeth Warren.

The problem is that the establishment continues to launch daily assaults against our most basic rights, forcing us to defend on long settled issues and keeping us distracted from the vastly more complicated webs of corruption they’ve successfully weaved for generations. Our LAW says that the ‘right to bear arms shall not be infringed’ and we shouldn’t have to spend one ounce of energy defending that natural right, but they attack and we must defend. While we are busy defending our basic natural rights the corruption continues mostly unchecked.

They also use a variety of other things to generally make anyone speaking out lives more difficult. They report our sites as SPAM, they hack our sites, in an effort to keep people from reading the things we are saying. I’ve had to fight to keep up on Facebook and nearly all our websites get “questionable” ratings at best from anti-spam/virus software despite being completely above board.

The ‘too big to fail’ bailouts continue at an unprecedented pace. We are now propping up the banking and bond markets to the tune of 85 billion dollars a month just through FED policy. Our tax code punishes the unconnected at the benefit of the well connected. Facebook doesn’t have to pay taxes because they can afford legions of tax attorneys and high priced lobbyists. Wall Street and the political elite are feasting on the American taxpayer and it doesn’t seem like anything can be done when nearly everyone just chalks trillions in theft up to a natural state of life. It should be obvious but the fact is that the corruption is hidden in a complex foreign language, legaleze.

Most people crave simple fictional narratives over complicated truths. The Day of Resistance rallies across the country will undoubtedly be awesome and will be a powerful step towards protecting our already settled rights against growing government oppression. It’s a worthy cause and I’m proud that I led the effort to get it going but I’m tired of defending long-settled issues.

I’m trapped. I have an obligation to keep fighting on behalf of the hundreds of thousands who have contributed to the cause I help champion but the deeper I get into politics, the more I hate it…..

There are two tactics that the left loves to use for events like these. Either they will send a bus full of counter protestors (usually union thugs who get a paid day off to come harass us), or they plant liberals in the crowd to pose as one of us and make us look like crazies (usually they are holding offensive/racist signs or shouting offensive things from the crowd). We’ve prepared a few helpful pointers for how to prepare for these situations.

1. Be prepared to shout down protestors with a chant

If the rally is interrupted by protestors, you should be prepared to drown them out with a chant. A popular chant for these events is “U-S-A!” The entire crowd will join you in expressing patriotism long enough for the offenders to lose interest. It also helps if you designate someone to start the chant if necessary. This is something you can handle yourself, the emcee can handle, and so can any other volunteers. But know in advance whose responsibility it is to get the chant started.

2. Acknowledge protestors

If the protestors are peaceful and do not interrupt the rally, then it’s helpful to acknowledge their presence and thank them for exercising their first amendment rights. You can also ask the crowd to give them a round of applause. This is great because it shows that we’re peacefully gathering to express our beliefs and values – which completely undermines one of the mainstream media’s favorite narratives about us! Again, know in advance who will do this – either the emcee or one of the speakers.

3. Have signs and flags ready

You may also encounter protestors that don’t necessarily disagree with us, but want to piggy-back off your rally in order to have their conspiracy theories heard. For example, we had a group of “truthers” crash a rally at a state capitol. They held a large sign declaring the government was behind 9/11, and the police refused to escort them off of OUR STAGE! Instead of causing a scene, we recruited 10-15 people with signs and flags to stand in front of their sign. There’s no need to escalate a confrontation, but having a group of people prepared to stand in front of unwelcome protestors is a good idea.

4. Call out the spies and plants if they make themselves known

If you see a racist sign or hear offensive speech, do not hesitate to shame that individual into leaving. Point them out from the stage and tell them that those statements do not reflect our beliefs or what we’re trying to accomplish. Ask the crowd to boo them if you have to! There’s no room at Day of Resistance for hateful or offensive people – and those who attend the rally will certainly be on your side if you need to shame a liberal plant into leaving!

The vast majority of these rallies will not have to worry about any of these problems, but we need to be prepared to handle any situation that might arise.