Quote: My involvement in the teaparty movement in Colorado has perhaps given me a more correct birds eye view of what has been happening than many who have jumped into the fray since it all began back in the winter of 09′.

I have just one message for those Colorado Pols who think they can steal the muster from our movement and attach their own campaigns to it.

In this political environment, “YOU ARE GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT!!!”.

What this means is that if you have been Rino (Republican in name only), have a voting record that puts you in the “Socialism Light” catagory of politicians, and if you think you can shove aside any previous speeches, votes, affiliations, and/or public behavior that would clearly identify you as a tax and spend nothing….

..WE WILL EXPOSE YOU TO THE LIGHT OF DAY!

Career politicians, you are ALL suspect.

We want those citizen activists/representatives who believe in Free Markets, The Rule of Law, Separation of Powers, and who will honor their Oaths of Office to Protect and Defend the Constitution from all enemies Foreign and Domestic to be our future politicians in this Glorious Representative Republic at both the state and national level.

So, if you believe you can just grab the teaparty movement and make it your own, you really don’t understand what it was all about.

Here is a quick overview of my year of activism working with the Denver Tea Party Crowd to stand up for Freedom at our state capitol.

Just a word to anyone reading this. I am just a stay at home Mom with five children. I have not had ANY training in grassroots activism. I have learned alot these past nine years since I organized my first street demonstration against Al Gore during the “Sore Loserman” street demos that were held after the 2000 presidential election. Most of what I have learned has been by making embarassing mistakes. I officially “retired” after the 9-12 Constitution Freedom Vigil, then decided to organize the “Don’t Inject Me” Protest when I learned the facts about the H1N1 Flu Frauds. Now, I am really finished with street activism, but I just want to tell anyone who is interested, YOU CAN DO THIS!!! If you feel called to get involved, make a difference, organize a protest and/or stand up for Freedom and the Truth, all it takes is the BELIEF that you are capable and can do it!

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, offend other activists, assume leadership roles, and make some NOISE! Americans are wired for activism.

It is our birthright!

Mike Hollar said to me the day before the 9-12 rally that my lack of funding for a sound system was PROOF that I was real grass roots activism. All the time I had been thinking I was just an incompetent fool, but his words of wisdom helped me stay focused and see the big picture rather than get lost in the details of organization. Believe that you too can make a difference in your community, and you will!

I\’ve voted Republican my whole voting life (30 years) until I finally had to admit to myself that the whole political party thing had shifted left: The Democrats are now the new Socialist Party ticket of old, the Republicans are what the Democrats used to be, and now we who are to the right of center are left without representation.

I attended our local Tea Parties in April & July. We had a Green Beret who spoke at the rallies who described how he had felt called to duty after 9/11. He served in the Special Forces in Afghanistan and, after returning home and seeing what the Obama Administration was trying to do to the country (with the help of our incumbant Senators, Lincoln & Pryor in Arkansas and the rest of Congress), he was fighting mad again about our Constitution being ripped to shreds while the Republic he had risked life and limb for was being flushed away.

To make a long story short, this selfless war vet was repeatedly asked by those who heard him speak to run for office. We took a vote as to which office we would like him to run for, and the largest response was the U.S. Senate. He has courageously taken the challenge.

Now THIS is a candidate who came right OUT of the Tea Party movement. He never had any plans to run for office. I know; I was there. His name is Trevor Drown and he has decided to run as an Independent and has gotten a lot of flak from people about \"splitting the vote\". What they don\’t understand is that 1) 95% of registered voters in our state are Independent; 2) We \"tea partiers\" are sick of BOTH parties and are especially gun-shy about RINOS and, 3) We don\’t want to elect another Senator who is going to be pulled in all directions their special interests, their party, and their constituents (the way Blanche Lincoln is). Trevor Drown refuses to take ANY money from corporate or special interest groups; he\’s refused money from unions; he will only take money from the individuals whom he would be representing. I have volunteered to help him get elected and I, like all the other volunteers, are strictly grassroots, the way the Tea Parties are.

Now I come to the part about the Arkansas State GOP trying to hijack the Tea Parties: We have about 6 or 7 (I\’ve lost count) GOP candidates vying for Lincoln\’s seat in 2010, and I\’ve heard one of them already say in reference to the Tea Parties, \"This whole movement should be in the Republican Party\". This particular candidate says he was a Tea Party organizer, but his statement contradicts what the movement is all about. The GOP spent the summer on national television trying to verify to doubters that the Tea Parties were grassroots and made of Democrats, Republicans, etc., and not organized by any one party. I have my suspicions that this particular candidate had planned to run for the Senate all along. Time will probably tell.

Another of the GOP candidates continually brags about how many millions he\’s been able to raise which immediately makes me think \"special interest groups.\"

While Trevor Drown, the Independent, has been invited to speak at a hugh Tea Party event being held in Little Rock this weekend (with Michelle Malkin as keynote speaker, I might add), five of the GOP candidates will be speaking as well.

My point is this: As a Tea Party protestor, I resent being seen as a Republican! I may have considered myself GOP in the past but now think, as you do, that if a Republican wants the endorsement of the Tea Parties or the 9/12 project, they need to EARN it. NOW is the time for people to put their votes where their mouths have been since the Tea parties began and vote their consciences. I will NOT be bullied by the GOP into being afraid to vote Independent; it\’s time to be an Independent thinker and vote the person\’s character.

Please visit: http://blogs.myspace.com/operationpitchfork
for full details. Unity is absolutely essential if we want to save our Republic,secure our freedoms and shore up our constitution for good…and for once, as advertised. I know I am a little rough around the edges, but I am a patriot same as you and respect you as a fellow countrymen, patriot and neighbor. I refuse to allow this Republic to continue down the same path it has been on for years any longer.
~Pilgrim

McInnis has been on several talk shows and has proven that he believes he deserves the governorship (in not the exact same words, when referring to Penry in the race a few months back) because he has been in the state legislature for years. The LAST thing we need is another lifetime politician who is so far removed from the reality of our state. Our founding fathers created our government so that those who represent us must go back to their communities and answer for and live with the decisions made. I heard rumor about McInnis proposing ways around the TABOR after it was passed, but I haven’t substantiated it.

As you read Penry’s statement, you can’t deny that there is a hint of a more national republican influence in the actions. Our groups are not for party politics; we are for real change. We have no affiliation in mind, we want the best candidate.

Just because a person calls themselves a republican means nothing, just as the democratic party has become more of the same mirage. We can settle for McInnis, sure, but then we would be just as ignorant as those who voted for Obama for change. You can’t change things by doing more of the same:

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The new activist groups in colorado are, fortunately, sane. And fabulous.

That McInnis is arguably the establishment choice doesn\’t necessarily put him at odds with the Tea Partiers. Indeed, I venture the RINO label is being used a little too liberally these days.

As an active Republican for the last few years I have spent that time working within the party to move it back to the right. I have caucused for years and am currently on the state central committee. I DO like Maes a lot by the way and told him at the Republican Party retreat in Keystone that I would support him. Those that bash party members that have worked within the Republican party for year for stepping up and selecting candidates are a bit late to the party. They have earned the right for years of work to do just that.

Where were you in 2008? Did you walk door to door for a candidate for state house? or state Senate? I did. Did you host parties for your neighbors to get to know candidates? Have you been a precinct committeeman or attend ANY district or county meetings the last 18 months? Have YOU done anything to register conservatives? The Director of the US Dem party has said Tea Parties and 9.12 ers are the best thing going for the Dems in 2010. The Republican Party is infighting according to him. I applaud anyone who gets into the caucus system as that is the one we use in Colorado. Know you must register for one of the two major parties. If you are a delegate to an assembly you vote 4-7 times. If you are unaffiliated you sit out until the general election and will have a choice of one Dem and one Repub. We ARE a 2 party system and do not have time between now and the 2010 elections to develop a 3rd party. To NOT get involved and make your voice heard within the Republican party will guarantee a Ritter, Bennet, Markey win in 2010 which would be a disaster. My 2¢