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Contact: Lee Fessler
570-971-4326
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WILLIAMSPORT TEA PARTY EMBRACES DIVERSITY

July 22, 2010 – The Williamsport Tea Party is dismayed at the current state of public discourse about the movement to which it belongs. Our stated mission from day one has embraced diversity in order to restore ethical and fiscal integrity to our government. In light of the accusations and implications flying around regarding the Tea Party movement, the Williamsport Tea Party reaffirms our commitment to nondiscrimination. We do not promote, condone, or tolerate racism in our membership or at our events, and we try to prevent displays of the same to the extent possible without infringing on individuals’ freedom of speech while on public property. We believe strongly in the equal protection of the law for every individual. We hold in the highest regard the natural human rights outlined in our nation's Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, which rightly apply to every individual no matter their race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnic background, age, mental or physical disability, occupation, affiliation, socioeconomic status, or any other distinction.

Our government was instituted in order to protect and defend these natural rights. Our founding fathers envisioned a government which would impartially ensure the freedom of every individual to exercise his or her rights within the bounds drawn around them by the equal rights of others. "What is true of every member of the society, individually, is true of them all collectively,” wrote Thomas Jefferson, “since the rights of the whole can be no more than the sum of the rights of the individuals.” The founders understood that social justice is maximized through the steadfast impartial protection of individual rights.

However, our government has since become bogged down in unconstitutional endeavors which have violated our natural rights as often as it has defended them. In the name of equality, it has embarked on a mission of taking from some and giving to others through discrimination. The recent 2010 census specifically demands that you (and/or authorizes a paid census taker to) identify your personal distinctions – including race, gender, ethnicity, home ownership, and age – in order to facilitate this discrimination. These questions serve no other purpose and the census.gov website even boasts about this purpose. The central planners in Washington perceive that social justice is achieved through homogenization rather than embracing diversity. But through social and economic engineering, our government has become one of the foremost threats to individual natural rights and has served to harm social justice through the unintended consequences of its policies. Social justice cannot be achieved through discrimination.

It is the purpose of the Williamsport Tea Party to protest and try to reverse the self-defeating policies our government has foolishly adopted in contravention to its charter, the Constitution, which infringe on our inherent and inalienable natural rights. We invite all members of the community to join us in this endeavor even if – nay, especially if – you will add to our diversity. Civil rights and minority rights groups are welcome to collaborate with us in our efforts to protect liberty and justice for all. The smallest minority is the individual. None of us will have justice while even one of us is systematically oppressed. Please join us at our next public meeting on Thursday, August 5^th, 7:00 pm, at 3570 W. 4^th St., Williamsport. And visit us on the web at WilliamsportTeaParty.com.