Sam meets success at NTU conference

Hundreds of taxpayer advocates converged on Washington, D.C. last week for the National Taxpayers Union's biannual National Taxpayers Conference, and the Sam Adams Alliance was there in full-force.

The Sam Adams Alliance co-sponsored this year's three-day event at the Renaissance Hotel, where representatives of citizen-led efforts throughout the country came to learn about where the pro-taxpayer movement is going, and how they can play a part in getting it there. Groups like Americans for Fair Taxation, the State Policy Network, and Americans for Prosperity manned booths and paneled speakers for discussions on networking, fundraising and political action.

For those who had yet to get a Sam Adams bobblehead, Sam Adams Alliance interns were happy to oblige, and were integral to Sam's success at the NTU conference.

Senior Advisor Paul Jacob--the host of the Common Sense radio program--spoke at and moderated a panel on citizens' right to present initiatives and referenda to voters, and Political Director John Tsarpalas participated in a discussion about building political alliances and coalitions at the local level.

SAA chairman and CEO Eric O'Keefe delivered a featured speech at the conference's closing dinner, where he spoke about the current state of the American republic, and how events of recent decades have diluted the citizens' right to a representative government.

"We have the right and we have the obligation to straighten out our government when it goes awry; but there's nothing wrong with our form of government," O'Keefe said. "The problem is what has happened in practice."

O'Keefe commented on how the two major party institutions have become removed from the citizens, and now exist mainly to ensure incumbency of officeholders.

"We need permanent, systematic and private recruitment, training and holding accountable of candidates. It needs to happen in every state, all the time. Sam Adams said something encouraging when he was writing about the Revolution to a friend. He wrote, 'It does not take a majority to prevail, just an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men.' This is an epic conflict, and it's a battle worth living for."

Video clips of these events will be appearing on our website in the coming days, so stay tuned...