I will be attending the local TEA Party rally on Wednesday. You may ask why I would do this. That is a fair question. My concern for this country centers on the United States Constitution and our federal government governing according to that document. There was a time in the past when we were required to take a social studies course that included the study of our constitution and how it worked. That study seems to have disappeared from our schools and has been gone for a very long time. The result is that the general public does not know what is in that important document. I would quote one of the Founding Fathers . . . "Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom." (John Adams) It’s the responsibility of each of us, to insure that our children and grandchildren know about that document, its contents and the importance to our way of life and our freedoms. We should not concede that responsibility to the school system or anyone else. My focus these days is on the 1st amendment (freedom of speech), the 2nd (right to keep and bear arms) here again a Founding Father quote . . . "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government" (Thomas Jefferson), and the 10th . . . powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states by the constitution of the United States are reserved to the states or the people . . . "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”(Lord Acton British Historian). Those three amendments are being ignored or worse - run over by those in Washington. This country has a long and rich history of open, free and at times raucous debate to resolve our political differences and challenges. We also have a history of addressing our political differences at the polls by voting. These tea party groups are a prime example of a non violent gathering of every day citizens, speaking their minds and making their voices heard by our elected officials at all levels from local city government, to the house and senate in Washington, D.C. Your call to action is please join me, bring a neighbor and see how representative government works in a free and independent republic. Your obedient servant, Richard G. Freeman - Patriot