Shawn Nelson on Tea Parties and the Paycheck Protection Initiative
Shawn, please explain to our readers how you got involved in the Tea Party movement?
Shawn: To begin with, there was no Tea Party movement that I was aware of at this time last year. Last March people across the country and certainly in Southern California were reeling from the constant beat down of small business people and this unending talk of raising taxes, bailouts, and the government taking over everything from the auto industry to banking.
As a small business man myself I began to sense there were a number of my peers that had not been typically politically active but had suffered through all they were going to take. KFI’s John & Ken were focused on the same issues that were troubling me and so many others and the talk began to be that they should have some kind of rally to protest. I thought this was the perfect time to do exactly that and that people that had never participated in such things might be ready to scream they wanted the nonsense to end.
I got together with a fellow business owner in Fullerton and we sent an e-mail with photos of other events that had been held in the Fullerton transit center to the producer for John & Ken. It took a few days but they finally responded and were psyched up about the idea and the location. 12,000 people later on a beautiful Saturday in Fullerton I realized we were on to something. The people that attended last spring’s Tax Revolt 2009 in Fullerton were folks that in most cases had never protested anything before. They were people that run businesses and raise families and are usually willing to leave the protest stuff to the activists. They were ready to engage and I was thrilled to see them in action. These were my kind of people.
It wasn’t until last summer that I remember folks beginning to use the word Tea Party to describe the anger of the people and the new activism but I was thrilled to see the movement was not just a one day thing.
Prior to last springs’ Tax Revolt, I hit the radar screen of the Tea Party folks because I stood up against and stopped an attempted retroactive pension spike in the city of Fullerton 18 months ago. Since then I have been seen as one of the few people that will actually take political risk when it comes to all things union run.
What are thoughts about the paycheck protection initiative?
Shawn Nelson: I believe unions have a right to participate and should. My family’s business, Daily Saw Service (yes I am a Daily) has been union since just after World War II. Paycheck protection will end the strong arm tactics of the union presidents who can at a moments notice raise millions of dollars whether their members are in favor of an issue or not. Right now, unions can literally control the election process in many cities. counties and state wide by their sheer ability to take their members money and throw their weight around. If members had to actually cut an after tax check before a union boss could use their money, I for one do not believe the faucet would be stuck in the “on” position like it is now.
Are you going to the rally this weekend?
Nelson:I will be at the event on Saturday, 10:00 a.m. in the Fullerton Transportation Center. Please say hello to me if you stop by.
What are people looking for in a candidate?
Nelson: Fullerton is the same as the nation. Folks are tired of people who make their living in politics. A career spent in government affairs is exactly the type of background that has Tea Party types furious with their election choices.
I think people are looking for someone straight forward and honest. Some one who as actually run a business and who is about results not measuring intentions and effort. I think people are tired of voting for a person just because he/she is moving to another office in politics. They want to vote for someone that will get things done, not accommodate those that make their living in the system.
It is too much to ask a guy that has spent his career stroking his political friends to break ranks and disappoint by cutting programs that are not needed, reducing staff when it is feasible etc? This is the reason I am willing to give up my law practice and run and the reason I think I will win. I will say no to the cronies at the county and particularly any union boss who places protecting salaries and benefits above the taxpayers need for service.
There are a lot of candidates moving or claiming to move their residence to run for office lately. Would you be willing to move to run for office?
Nelson: No.
Why not?
Nelson: I live right near where I grew up in a home one of my best friends was raised in. I chose where I wanted to live based on the community, my children’s well being, proximity to friends and family trails, parks etc. Where I chose to live had nothing to do with politics or running for office. I cant imagine being so self absorbed as to move my family specifically to run for an office in a district outside of where my home is. Maybe worse than that would be to pretend I moved but not actually do so. Anyway, gimmicks are not what I am about.
Why do you think you will win?
Nelson: It really is time for some bold changes in who runs, who we elect and what the people we elect have the guts to do. For too long we have elected supposedly conservative people and what we get is constant cow-towing to unions and interest groups that are close to bankrupting government at every level. We need people who are giving up more than they get from public service, not folks that win elections and get a raise.
Can we consider you a friend?
Nelson: Sure, I am a Friend of Fullerton’s Future.
Very good. Shawn has my vote.
It’s about time we start hearing from Nelson. Many of us are interested in what we hear about him but have not had much contact with him. Call him back and ask some more questions. Maybe even let us ask some of the questions.
Tea Party Patriots Mission Statement and Core Values
Mission Statement
The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.
Core Values:
Fiscal Responsibility
Constitutionally Limited Government
Free Markets
Fiscal Responsibility: Fiscal Responsibility by government honors and respects the freedom of the individual to spend the money that is the fruit of their own labor. A constitutionally limited government, designed to protect the blessings of liberty, must be fiscally responsible or it must subject its citizenry to high levels of taxation that unjustly restrict the liberty our Constitution was designed to protect. Such runaway deficit spending as we now see in Washington D.C. compels us to take action as the increasing national debt is a grave threat to our national sovereignty and the personal and economic liberty of future generations.
Constitutionally Limited Government: We, the members of The Tea Party Patriots, are inspired by our founding documents and regard the Constitution of the United States to be the supreme law of the land. We believe that it is possible to know the original intent of the government our founders set forth, and stand in support of that intent. Like the founders, we support states’ rights for those powers not expressly stated in the Constitution. As the government is of the people, by the people and for the people, in all other matters we support the personal liberty of the individual, within the rule of law.
Free Markets: A free market is the economic consequence of personal liberty. The founders believed that personal and economic freedom were indivisible, as do we. Our current government’s interference distorts the free market and inhibits the pursuit of individual and economic liberty. Therefore, we support a return to the free market principles on which this nation was founded and oppose government intervention into the operations of private business.
Our Philosophy:
Tea Party Patriots, Inc. as an organization believes in the Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. is a non-partisan grassroots organization of individuals united by our core values derived from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill Of Rights as explained in the Federalist Papers. We recognize and support the strength of grassroots organization powered by activism and civic responsibility at a local level. We hold that the United States is a republic conceived by its architects as a nation whose people were granted “unalienable rights” by our Creator. Chiefly among these are the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The Tea Party Patriots stand with our founders, as heirs to the republic, to claim our rights and duties which preserve their legacy and our own. We hold, as did the founders, that there exists an inherent benefit to our country when private property and prosperity are secured by natural law and the rights of the individual.
Nelson has my vote, that makes 2
I keep up with announcements about all the local Tea Party type rallies from TeaPartyPatriots.org, TeaParty.org, American Liberty Alliance, and other places but did not see the one in Fullerton announced anywhere. I was going to go to the rally in Laguna Nigel but Fullerton is certainly a lot closer to me! If you go to http://www.teapartypatriots.org/search.aspx and search for any Tea Parties near 92832, nothing comes up for Fullerton despite their listing of hundreds of Tea Party groups in California. Seems this local group / event needs a bit more promotion.
what does that tell you?
how about a sidhu interview, you know, to be fair.
Well, that’s going to be a bit of a problem. You see Hide-and-seek has very wisely decided to present a moving target. He’s real hard to locate.
We are going to be working on some youtube videos so that Fullertonians can get a sense of Sidhu’s communication skills.
The Tea Party folks are none to fond of Baugh, Schroeder and the other GOP establishment types. That’s why they started their own rally on the same day at a different location. Hanlon over at Meg County seems a little miffed. Not to mention Pedroza says GOP registation is down to 30% or dead last behind the independents and Dems but we knew that from the Fox polls.
Shawn Nelson, The Tea Party is the best of our American traditons because it is a political juggernaut that truly arises from “We the people. . . “. Yet, this movement’s leadership is a vacuum. Keeping with its grassroots history, the Tea Party’s leaders logically arise from the local level of government. Shawn, I hope you sincerely represent the values of the Tea Party, so we, the oppressed by the socialist nanny state, people may have our representative government returned to us. I will be attending the event at the fullerton transportation center, today. I hope to hear your Tea Party sentiments.