by Michael Boldin
NOTE: Please read our call for help below and click here to help the Tenth Amendment Center today!
David vs Goliath. You vs Fedzilla. Tenth Amendment Center vs the establishment. The odds always seem pretty much stacked against the good guys. But, no matter how difficult things may seem, no matter how helpless it may feel, it’s always essential for us to do what’s right. And, for the TAC, doing what’s right is pretty straightforward…
The Constitution. Every issue, every time. No exceptions, no excuses.
Standing on principle has become easy for us since the organization was founded in 2006. In the past five years we’ve been regularly called communists by neo-cons and racists by neo-libs. Both sides agree that strict adherence to the Constitution – as we relentlessly demand – is dangerous to their mission of centralized power.
In just a short time, we’ve grown to be a force on the political scene. Five years ago, the word “nullification” was only something for history buffs. Today, it’s becoming part of the national discussion. So much, in fact, that both Heritage Foundation on the right and the Southern Poverty Law Center on the left have both attacked our work.
If you’re not catching any flak, you’re not over the target. And little TAC, with a few dozen dedicated volunteers and just two barely-paid staffers, Bryce Shonka and myself, is definitely catching flak.
The nullification efforts we’ve spearheaded to reject unconstitutional acts (unconstitutional “laws” are no laws at all…) on every issue from health care mandates, to the TSA, constitutional tender, marijuana, gun laws and everything in between have been referred to by Heritage as “nonsense,” while the SPLC issued a “warning” on their “hatewatch” blog about our Nullify Now! tour – it may be coming your way…beware!
And this isn’t even tracking the countless attacks on TAC and we modern nullifiers from the likes of MSNBC and Rachel Maddow, Think Progress, and others. Why, I think to myself, would these multi-million dollar organizations be so frightened of a micro think-tank whose yearly operating budget barely broke $30,000 last year? Heritage and SPLC combined rake in over $80 MILLION a year, and TAC pulls in just over $30 THOUSAND. What have we done that makes these giants of the establishment feel the need to attack?
Ideas move mountains.
They don’t want us doing this. But we’re doing it anyway. In just five years, we’ve pushed ideas to the mainstream. And, more and more people are recognizing that going to the federal government to fix all our problems – created by the federal government – isn’t just an absurd idea…it’s a complete and utter failure.
This, more than one candidate or another, is what shakes the establishment to their very core. It’s about you deciding your own fate in your community and in your state. It’s about we the people learning how to exercise our rights – whether they the government wants us to or not.
The 10th Amendment – which says that “we the people” of the several states created the federal government, and not the other way around – is something they want us to forget. And nullification, which TAC has been pushing and promoting through model legislation and our national Nullify Now tour since September 2010 – is something they know will eventually bring them to their knees.
While we’re proud of this movement and the work we’ve done, we’re dangerously close to running out of steam. Fact of the matter is, $32,000 is our yearly revenue. This is what pays the salaries of two people, covers our base operating costs, allows us to produce tons of great commentaries and news reports on our website, videos, model legislation, and more. It’s not much. And, in many ways, we’ve created more waves for liberty than organizations who have $40 million in yearly revenue.
Think about that, and do the math. When Heritage takes in $40 million, they’re receiving over $4500 PER HOUR. That means they cover our entire yearly budget every 7 hours. SPLC covers our budget every 8 hours. And yet, our movement is so dangerous to their centralized power, that they feel the need to attack.
If we can do so much with so little, imagine what we could do with $40 million? While I know such goals are foolish, it doesn’t hurt to dream a little. But, in reality, just a small increase in our budget can work wonders.
That’s why our bi-annual fundraiser throughout this and next month is so important. Our five year anniversary is June 25th, and we desperately need your HELP to continue our work and make sure we’re on the road to another five years – and more effective activism. We’ve got a lot of projects in the works for the next 6 months, but we need your help to make them real. And we need your help starting today.
With just $15,000 more, we’ll have costs covered to keep our soon-to-launch weekly radio show on the air for 6 months! We’ll have the manpower to produce 1-2 new books that are in the pipeline, we’ll expand our legislative tracking and more. If you can help us get to $25,000, we’ll also be able to add a part time legislative liaison to prepare state legislators around the country with the talking points and backbone needed to push through bills like the TSA bill Texas backed down from. We’ll be able to produce more brochures and flyers for you to use, have a weekly video update, do more news reporting, and the like. And, if you help us reach higher goals, we have plans for more media outreach, revamping our website with tons of new features, more events, more educational tools, and more effective grassroots activism.
We have a road map for expansion and success, but we need your help. We don’t need millions to push back. Just these small amounts will allow us to have more victories, because it’s the ideas which will win in the long run. But, we need help now. And if you believe in us like we believe in the message, won’t you please help us out today?
The Southern Poverty Law Center attacks us, and they match our YEARLY funding every 8 hours. Won’t you help us by doing the opposite – and give 8 hours of your salary to help the cause of liberty? Less or more or whatever you can do – $8 or $8000 is what we need – please help us now.
CLICK HERE to help the Tenth Amendment Center today.
Concordia res parvae crescunt,
(small things grow great by concord)
Michael Boldin
Founder, Tenth Amendment Center
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PS – as our 5-year anniversary fundraiser progresses, we’ll send out regular updates of where we are, where we need to go, projects that are forthcoming and the like. If you’re not already subscribed to our newsletter, please do so at this link.
[...] Thank you for getting us to our first five years. We’re looking forward to many more with you in the future! [...]