Political Activism

As the government, through the inaction or ignorance of its citizenry, enslaves the people with ever mounting debt combined with the complete erosion of personal liberties, a metamorphosis is occurring on the way to the coliseum. For the few who take on the challenges of holding their elected officials accountable for their actions there are few practical application training programs to equip these modern day patriots with the tools to continue the fight. As always in the "darkest hour" of a nation's struggle emerges a system that empowers the people to successfully triumph over adversity. Such a system is coming together under the supervision of a small hard-core dedicated group from the State known for its volunteerism. These folks are spreading their method throughout the United States on a shoe-string budget but mostly by in-kind donations to the cause of freedom.



So, one has to ask, "Does it work?"



I will answer with an unambiguous, "HECK, YEAH!"



Prior to completing the first three levels of Tennessee Center for Self-governance's theoretical and practical personal political empowering training, I rarely went to any political sponsored events and if I did go I would sit in the audience waiting for my head to explode from the call to action but unable to articulate a stand in what I felt would be a clear manner. The training provides me with the tools to conquer the fear of speaking. It aids in presenting ideas in a clear concise manner at a public forum devoid of emotions but with great enthusiasm.



The most recent event took place on April 26th, 2013. The Missouri Department of Revenue is scanning and providing to third party privately owned data collections agencies personal information that includes Social Security Numbers, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, ad nauseam, in a back-door attempt to enforce the federal Real ID Act in violation of Missouri Revised Statues. The State Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee along with two Senators from the local area held a public hearing on this flagrant violation of state law. After short introductions from the three gentlemen, the Chairman stated the purpose of the meeting.



On May 2nd, bureaucrats from the Department of Educational Secondary Education will travel to Cape Girardeau in an attempt to sell an unwitting public on the "goodness" of Common Core State Standards, a privacy invading educational curriculum. As the Senate Appropriations Chairman was speaking, mainly to the invasion of privacy by way of scanning Concealed Carry Weapon information by the Department of Revenue, I was planning how to interject data collection requirements in Common Core State Standards. My tactic was to get it on the public record so perhaps folks in the area might take a second look and attend the meeting for CCSS on the second of May. When the Chairman completed speaking about the purpose of the meeting, he opened the floor to public comment. I leapt from my chair and charged towards the microphone to be the first commenter to speak about not only the infringements on Missourians' Second Amendments Rights but to bring out the eventuality of Fourth Amendment Rights infringement through the implementation of CCSS in the public schools.



The message, off the top of my head, went something like this:



Good afternoon Senators. My name is David Larson. I am a resident of Jackson. But more importantly, I am a concerned citizen. I applaud your efforts in the State Senate in preventing the infringement of our Second Amendment Rights at the State level. I fully support you in this fight. I would also ask the gentlemen to look into the data collection requirements of Common Core State Standards. The Standards have over four hundred data points to be collected and stored for future use. I am asking you to defund DESE until they stop forcing CCSS onto an unwilling public.



Thank you for traveling to Cape Girardeau, taking the time to hold this meeting and listening to our concerns.



A stunned silence fell across all corners of the assembled crowd as the Chairman shed more light on CCSS and the appropriations process. And he promised to look into the funding requests from DESE.



Overall, the mission was a success.



Would I have done this before the practical political confidence building training offered by TNCSG?



The answer is a resounding, "NO!"



Tennessee Center for Self-governance's training is helping me reshape the process I go through to research, plan and speak at public forums. It is a noteworthy program and needs to be fully funded to spread the "word."