Background:
U.S. Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) is travelling across his home state this holiday weekend on a tour bus promoting his new book, Saving Freedom, and visiting Tea Party rallies. He stopped in our Barnes & Noble here in Myrtle Beach for a scheduled book signing Friday night.
Our rally here is on July 11th and his schedule will have him elsewhere. While in town though, our own GeekGirl2u arranged with his folks for him to speak with our Tea Party organizers after the event (she’s spoken with them a few times in the past two weeks).
Our group consists of over two dozen active volunteers, but only a handful of us made it this July 3rd for the book signing. (BTW, we formed a non-profit corporation a few weeks ago so that we can accept donations to fund our activities.) Frankly, we are quite grateful that he took 30 minutes from his very busy schedule to chat with us privately. Before this session, we were impressed with his voting record and his solutions to stop the slide into socialism. Afterward … and we talked about it for nearly two hours … we are convinced that this down-to-earth U.S. Senator is a national leader in the fight to take back our country.
There were a couple of moments when his sense of humor had us laughing. Irv, a 78-year-old Navy veteran, said, “Sir, I have a confession.” The Senator quipped, “Haven’t we had enough of those lately?” Irv then explained that he was a war veteran and has now been called a “right-wing extremist” by the current administration. Mr. Demint shook his hand and thanked him for his service to our country.
Tea Time:
Here’s the questions we asked. We didn’t record any of this, so his answers as stated are accurate, but not verbatim.
Demint: Well … I did get to sleep at home on Wednesday.
Demint: It’s about who we are, where we came from, and where we’re headed. It’s about saying ‘no’ to big government and ‘yes’ to downsizing government. It’s about saying ‘yes’ to limited government and limited government responsibility … saying ‘yes’ to more individual responsibility. Bigger government in Washington means less freedom across America. “Saving Freedom” is about how precious freedom is.
Demint: It will be close. We need to get folks to convince their Senators, who are up for re-election, to vote ‘no’.
Demint: I hope that with support from outside the Senate we can keep it at bay until September. During the August recess, we need to go home and garner support and we really need to educate the public about the affects this tax will have on our economy. Look for some TV commercials during this time. Hopefully, in September we’ll be able to defeat it. Also, during September many legislators focus on earmarks rather than bills; this may give us a little more time.
Demint: I’m not sure which one they’ll come back with in September. But, we need to educate people about the costs of each one to the American economy. And, people need to convince their Senators to vote appropriately.
Demint: In the Senate several legislators cross party lines for the benefit of their constituents. But, a ‘Gang of 12′ type bipartisan group could influence votes in either direction … and stall the legislative process.
Demint: We’re attempting to set up a meeting with an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to address this issue.
Demint: It is not on the scene right now. When it does come back up, we need to raise the issue of “Internet Independence” to the national scene.
Demint: Don’t talk about political parties. Big government growth and the enormous costs of ‘Cap & Trade’ and government funded health care affect all Americans as they impact our economy. Concern about the slide into socialism should be important to every American. The bigger government becomes, the less freedoms we have. Talk issues. Educate people. Set brief time limits on speakers. And, most importantly, stress what makes America great … our freedoms, our people, and so on. Talk about how very special our freedom is.
Our Photos:
Gerri
Irv
Jean
Johnnie
Lynda
Sara
Sheree & Dennis
Front Center: Senator Jim Demint
from left to right: Luke, Stephen, Johnnie, Irv, Gerri, Sara, Lynda
“Saving Freedom” Tour Bus
Video on Breitbart.TV:
On Independence Day, Jim Demint mentions “Saving Freedom” and the Tea Parties in South Carolina in an interview on Breitbart.TV with Scott Baker and Liz Stephans.
My Dream:
The night before the book signing, I went to bed anticipating the next day’s event. Soon thereafter, I awoke from a brief dream. I had relived, as an observer, the childhood bible story of David and Goliath. The giant seemed invincible and many feared him. When he threatened the people, many ran away and hid. But, David, instead, ran toward him to do battle. Instantly, in my dream this story seemed to parallel Jim Demint’s fight against our country’s slide into socialism.
Certainly this is my dream and it should not reflect on Mr. Demint’s perspective regarding his political battles, but immediately upon awakening I envisioned a business card. I jumped up, dashed to the computer, and designed it. This dream, revealing it publicly, and taking action on a dream is very much out of character for me.
At the book signing, I handed the card to a member of his team who promptly passed it on to the Senator. He looked up at me, smiled, and said “Now, there’s my first campaign slogan … but, we need to focus on my Senate re-election in 2010.”
Campaign Card?
Downloadable Tea Party Songs: (from his book site)
A New Declaration (right-click; save as)
Saving Freedom (right-click; save as)
Related References:
AuthorsOnTourLive.com - audio interview about “Saving Freedom” (great discussion)
HumanEvents.com - interview about “Saving Freedom”
MSNBC Video - interview about “Saving Freedom”
Senate.gov - Jim Demint
Twitter - Jim Demint
JimDemint.com - his “Club 2010″
American Conservative Union - voted Demint as the only 100% conservative Senator
Senate Conservatives Fund - Jim Demint is the Chairman
Senate Conservatives - YouTube Channel
LukeAmerica2020's: Other Published Posts Member Profile Page
This entry was posted by LukeAmerica2020 on Sunday; July 5th, 2009 at 4:00 am and is filed under 2012 Presidential Campaign, Big Government Growth, Big Government Spending, Freedom, Health Care, Interviews, Myrtle Beach, Socialism, South Carolina, Taxes, Tea Parties, Videos.
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Word count: 1316.
Tags: Jim Demint, Saving Freedom.
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Greatings, Everything dynamic and very positive!
Nadine