THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 168, August 5, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
MOLDING A MILLION FREEDOM FIGHTERS
INTO A MIGHTY FIST
By Tom DeWeese
DEFENDING AMERICAN RIGHTS & LIBERTIES: THE NEED FOR A CENTRAL PLACE WHERE THE DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM CAN
GATHER TO SHARE INFORMATION, DEVELOP & IMPLEMENT POLITICAL & LEGAL ACTION PLANS ON A MASSIVE SCALE &
EFFECTIVELY CARRY THE MESSAGE OF FREEDOM, BRINGING TOGETHER THE DIVERSE PRO-FREEDOM GROUPS & THEIR RESPECTIVE
ISSUE CONCERNS &, MOST IMPORTANTLY, RAISING LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY FOR THE CAUSE -- HOW FREEDOM21 IS
MEETING THIS NEED
FULL STORY:
A question many of us should be asking by now is this: Why do we put up with the idiocy of policies that are clearly threatening
our liberties?
A huge majority of Americans have expressed their opposition to illegal immigration, yet support is growing in Congress for
President Bush’s “guest workers” charade.
Americans have begun to speak out against the massive land grabs perpetrated by such outrageous laws as the Endangered Species
Act. Yet, a congressman we have always considered a friend, is proposing a new ESA law that is worse than the one we have.
Forces are gathering to take away our rights to choose health remedies and natural supplements, even though, just a few years ago,
Americans rose up in huge numbers to stop similar efforts.
Why do our voices of opposition remain unheard? Why are the forces of control and oppression so powerful? They produce nothing.
Their ideas are bankrupt. And they aren’t even very nice people.
So why? Because the enemies of liberty have money. They have massive foundations, like Ford, Rockefeller and Pew -- foundations
which have literally millions of dollars to pour into the fight. And they have rich organizations, like the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra
Club and Planned Parenthood Federation of America -- organizations which can pay for expensive lobbying efforts on every front.
Meanwhile we are a rag tag band of mom and pop groups who cash our paychecks on Friday night and go to Kinko’s to make copies
of materials to hand out at a meeting on Saturday.
We try to balance the news media’s bias with letters to the editor, and we hope our foot work and sweat in campaigns will counter the
millions of dollars dumped into elected officials’ pockets by the other side.
Do you know what I would do if I had the money?
I would create a rapid response legal defense team that would rush to the side of property owners in the first hours after the
government started a takings action. They would file injunctions and lawsuits to slow the process until the rest of us get there to
the rescue.
I would organize campaign training schools to teach our people, not only to run for public office, but also how to organize on the
local level to turn back Sustainable Development policies in their home towns. And I would organize a team of field coordinators to
assist them.
I would organize a research team, not to dig into policy issues, but to “follow the money,” whenever a politician suddenly turns his
or her back on the principles of freedom. When that happens, you can bet that someone has handed out some cash under the table,
or made some other lucrative promise. I want to find out who, how much, for what reasons, so I can tell the whole nation and help
the politician understand that actions have consequences.
These are just some of the things I would do to strengthen the fight for freedom, if I had the money. It would only take a few weeks
to organize any one or all of these projects. But none of it is possible today. I can’t do any of it, because there are no funds available
to pay for it.
Other groups have similar ideas, but face the same obstacle. Instead of operating with ample funds, we have to hang on and hold
the line as best we can. Like George Washington’s soldiers at Valley Forge, we are barefoot, poorly armed, and freezing in the cold,
facing certain extinction. Clearly, such a situation will never lead to a victory for freedom, unless, like Washington, we find a new
way to fight.
It doesn’t have to be that way. You see, our movement is actually a vast outreach of dedicated, smart, hardworking activists. We
are property rights activists, Second Amendment defenders, parentally-controlled education proponents, free enterprise advocates,
high-tax opponents, family autonomy champions, defenders of personal privacy protections, and guardians of American national
sovereignty and independence.
But we are scattered to the four winds. We need a central place to gather where we can share information in order to develop and
issue action plans on a massive scale to carry the freedom message, to bring all of these diverse groups and their respective issues
together, and above all, to raise money for the cause. It should be obvious by now that no rich foundations or big money men are
coming to help us. So we have to do it ourselves.
That’s why I have created Freedom21.com. It’s completely unique, differing from anything ever before created for our cause.
Freedom21.com is an Internet news site, but so much more than that. First, you can go here for your news. This news doesn’t
come from CBS or CNN. It comes from two places. First from CNS news.com -- the Cybercast News Service created by the media
watch dog group, the Media Research Center. We also have breaking news supplied by news releases from our own network of
sources. We even have sports and weather.
Freedom21.com presents daily commentaries from noted writers in our own movement. There are Action Alerts that supply you
with background information and recommended action to take on vital issues in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals around
the nation.
In addition, there is a message board where you can post messages, interact, debate, vent, and discuss issues and pass along
vital information to other activists. There is also a bulletin board where all members can list upcoming meetings, conferences,
and rallies taking place in your area. Here, you can send out a call to arms to bring in activists from across the nation, when you
need to take a stand. Imagine how such a bulletin board would have helped raise our numbers at rallies in Jarbridge and
Klamouth Falls. The bulletin board is the key ingredient for why we call Freedom21.com “Freedom’s gathering place on the Net".
The most important feature of Freedom21.com, however, is the fact that your monthly subscription fee to Freedom21.com will
help fund the freedom movement. Every month, Freedom21.com will give two dollars of your subscription fee directly to the
freedom organization of your choice!
Now, let me explain how this can work for you. The monthly membership fee is $6.99. As I said, two dollars of your money goes
to the organization of your choice. Currently, I have listed in the signup area of the site about 100 participating organizations.
And the list is growing rapidly. When you sign up as a member, you choose one of those groups to receive your two dollars
But the true power of Freedom21.com is not just having you sign up as individual members. The true power is to put money into
the pockets of your organizations. Let me ask those of you who have your own organizations, be it national, state or local in
scope, would an extra $200 per month -- every month -- make a difference in your efforts?
That’s money you can count on month after month, perhaps, to put out a newsletter or buy ads in the newspaper or use in
political campaigns. All you have to do to receive that check- every month is sign up 100 people. Would it change your life?
What if we have hundreds of such groups receiving checks every month for a few hundred dollars each? Would it keep your
radio show on the air? Could it print up campaign literature? Would it help you bring more people to important conferences?
If you will embrace this concept and start getting your members to join Freedom21.com, I’ll write you a check. That’s all you
have to do. And best yet, you can begin to make it your gathering place on the net.
My goal is to bring 1 million freedom fighters together, one million freedom fighters taking action when the alerts are issued.--
one million freedom fighters sharing information and coming together into one mighty fist. Above all, one million members will
put twenty-four million dollars into the freedom movement every year. That’s the concept of Freedom21.com There are no
hidden costs. There are no gimmicks, no sharing of personal information. Check out the site
www.freedom21.com and join the renewed fight for liberty today.
I want to win the battle for liberty. To do it, I want to start putting money in the pockets of freedom fighters like you.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Conservative Political & Cultural Organizations
Tom DeWeese is Founder of Freedom21.com, Publisher and Editor of The DeWeese Report, and President of the
American Policy Center, a grassroots activist think tank which is headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia, and which maintains
an Internet website at www.americanpolicy.org.
The foregoing statement by Tom DeWeese was presented, on July 16, 2005, as an address delivered at the Sixth Annual
Freedom21 Conference, Reno, Nevada.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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