[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17750-17751]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ORLANDO TEA PARTY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN L. MICA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 14, 2009

  Mr. MICA. Madam Speaker, on March 21, 2009, hundreds of Central 
Floridians gathered in Orlando to express their grievances regarding 
the recent actions of their federal officials in dramatically expanding 
our federal spending, federal deficit, and federal programs. As a 
Representative for Florida's 7th Congressional District it is my honor 
to present their grievances and declaration.


              ORLANDO TEA PARTY DECLARATION MARCH 21, 2009

  ``When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for like 
minded patriotic Americans to rally as one against the powers that 
threaten to alter, diminish and destroy this country we love, proper 
respect for the opinions of our fellow citizens requires that we should 
clearly state the grievances that impel us to gather at this great 
Orlando Tea Party to protest peacefully, but passionately in the 
tradition of our forefathers whose Boston Tea Party resonated around 
the world.
  The history of the present government of these United States is a 
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having the effect of 
establishing an unacceptable tyranny over the citizens of these states. 
Let the facts be selfevident and speak for themselves, and let these 
grievances be heard in the halls of power in 2009, just as they were 
heard in the palace of King George III when they thundered forth from 
the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
  BE it resolved on this 21st day of March in the year 2009 at the 
great Orlando Tea Party on the shore of Lake Eola in Orlando, FL, that 
just as our forefathers at the Boston Tea Party protested tyranny at 
the hands of the British Crown, and taxation without representation, we 
hereby raise our voices against the arrogance and the ruinous policies 
of our own government . . . a government that ignores the will of ``We 
the People'' . . . a government that drowns us in debt . . . a 
government that forsakes the free enterprise system that had driven the 
engine of the greatest economy on earth, in favor of a relentless march 
toward socialism designed to subvert the work of the individual and 
encourage intrusion of government into all aspects of our lives.
  And so, let the word go forth from this time and place that we are 
proud, freedom loving Americans who cherish individual liberty, our 
Constitution, and all this Nation has stood for over 233 years. We love 
our country and we are here to take it back!

[[Page 17751]]

  Let us hereby resolve that we have had enough of massive government 
driven bailouts using our money! To our elected leaders we say, stop 
spending money we do not have! This is not your money! This is our 
money, and we demand you stop this madness! We have had enough of so-
called economic stimulus plans that falsely promise we can spend 
ourselves back to prosperity.
  We have had enough of trillion dollar spending schemes being passed 
without Congress or ``WE The People'' Knowing what's in them. This is 
taxation without deliberation and we will not tolerate it! We have bad 
enough of the out of control government spending that is mortgaging our 
future and threatening our very way of life!
  We have had enough of both major parties being arrogant and 
unresponsive to the people they were elected to serve. We have had 
enough of seeing money taken unfairly from honest, hardworking 
Americans through excessive taxation and redistributed to people who 
have not earned the money. We have had enough of capitalism being 
targeted as the problem instead of the solution.
  And, we have had enough of government being called the solution, when 
government is the problem! In every stage of these oppressions, we have 
petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions 
to our elected officials have been answered only by repeated injury, if 
in fact they have been answered at all. A government so arrogant and 
unresponsive to its people is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 
We therefore, the people of the United States of America, in general 
congress assembled here, on the shore of Lake Eola in Orlando, Florida, 
on this 2lst day of March, in the year 2009, do, in the name, and by 
the authority of the good people of this city and this Nation, solemnly 
publish and declare that we are a free people, in this free and 
independent state, and we have the power and the right to demand that 
our government cease serving its own interest, and whatever destructive 
political and ideological agendas it is pursuing, and become the 
government of the people, by the people, and for the people, to which 
we are entitled as Americans. And this for the support of this 
declaration, what a firm reliance on divine providence, we mutually 
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.''
  Madam Speaker: Today, July 14th, I presented this declaration on the 
steps of the U.S. House and unfurled a scroll containing thousands of 
citizens' signatures in support of this declaration.

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