The Real Debt Crisis

It doesn’t look like we’re underwater yet. But in fact we are.  Big time. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Dear Friend, At American Majority, we believe that being an actively engaged citizen is a lifestyle.  It’s not just something you do around election time, but it’s a part of every day of your life.  That’s why we’re sending you these Majority Points updates – to arm you with information that you can spread to friends, colleagues and family.  Our first job as pro-freedom activists is to spread the word about American values and the threats our great nation faces at the hands of pro-government progressives, and then give you meaningful ways to combat those threats. In this edition of Majority Points, we are breaking down the REAL debt crisis in America.  When you hear about the so-called National Debt, commentators, candidates and pundits are often referring to the Federal Debt which today stands at more than $15 trillion or about on par with our GDP (and headed to $16 trillion at an alarming rate).  When we look at our debt ratio as a nation (which is the level of debt as compared to how much we generate as a country) it doesn’t look like we’re underwater yet.  But in fact we are.  Big time. Government at the federal, state and local level has gotten so big that we as Americans can no longer afford to think that what’s happening in Europe in countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and others, cannot happen here.  It can, and thanks to the crisis of government spending, we are well on our way. In fact, if we’re not careful, the “unseen” debt and obligations at the state and local level, with states like California and Illinois could ultimately undercut the foundations of our entire economy. Now our aggregate national debt includes all the debt and unfunded liabilities of state and local governments as well.  Progressives love to omit those numbers from the picture to drive the ridiculous idea that we don’t have a debt crisis and the government should be allowed to grow unchecked. So what is the REAL National Debt??  It’s so big and complex an issue that it’s hard to really know.  But here are the facts as best we can tell: The Federal Government employs roughly 2 million civilians, with 85% of them living and working outside the Washington DC area.  The cost of those employees, government programs, infrastructure and personnel benefits help produce a Federal Debt of more than $15.5 trillion. Now approximately 19 million (yes, 19 million) Americans work for state, county, school district and municipal governments across the country. These governments owe all these employees a total of more than $4.4 trillion in local pension and health care benefits that are PRESENTLY NOT FUNDED.   Those numbers may not include other bonds and borrowing at the state and local level. So the grand total, being conservative, is approximately $20 trillion in government debt. Our GDP in 2011 was about $14.5 trillion, so purely on government spending alone we’re massively overspending. And keep in mind that President Obama has projected another $1 trillion or more short fall for 2012 on the federal side.  This kind of reckless spending, bloated government and massive debt leads to higher taxation for EVERYONE.  Yes, despite what the progressives would like you to believe – EVERYONE will pay for this bill – not just the so-called wealthy. We have 180 days to go until we can make some real change happen and do a 180 degree turn off the path of statism back towards one of freedom and prosperity.  Spread the word about these figures and the danger they pose to the future of American freedom.  Remember – 70% of the officials we send to Washington started out at the local and state level, and here they are, helping to create the vast majority of the government bureaucracy we cannot afford, but are forced to pay for everyday.  Many of them have been part of the problem for too long.  That’s why American Majority is encouraging conservative, liberty-minded people everywhere to engage in local elections this year. Your communities are the real battleground against our national debt crisis.   To learn more about how you can engage visit www.AmericanMajority.org. For Liberty, Ned Ryun Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Forward to a Friend Read our blog AM Training Alumni Testimonials Donate to AM Resource Spotlight Why America is Great: Volume 7: The great challenge to the members of the Constitutional Convention was to design a national government both strong and ordered enough to maintain the welfare of a large continent, but also gentle enough that it would never encroach upon the liberties of the people. AM Alumni Spotlight American Majority continues on its mission to identify and train conservatives across the country to run for office and to win.  Jim Moldenhauer took the practical knowledge he gained from American Majority training in November 2011, and applied it in his run for Alderman in District 1 of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Like what you see? Please help fund our work today with a donation. For state-specific charitable donation disclosures, please click here. Copyright © 2012 American Majority, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because signed up for updates from American Majority. Our mailing address is: American Majority P.O. Box 87 Purcellville, VA 20134 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

It's tied at halftime. Support us to finish it.

Halftime has just ended, and our country’s future is on the line. Now it’s time to finish the game and bring home a win. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Dear Patriot, Imagine yourself at a championship game for your favorite sport. Your favorite team is fighting for the title, the season is on the line, and the game is tied. Halftime is ending, and your team is coming back out of the locker room to finish the job and bring home the win. Have you ever heard such a roar as the one that comes up from a crowd when their team is coming back out for the second half, ready to take care of business? That’s exactly where we are right now, my friend – halftime has just ended, and our country’s future is on the line. Now it’s time to finish the game and bring home a win. Click here to fund American Majority’s valuable work in the second half of 2012! We got off to a great start in the first half of this championship game. As I told you last week, Chris Koerber, an American Majority trainee in the summer of 2010, was recently sworn in as a city councilman in Sierra Madre, California after winning an election for a vacated seat. Chris’s victory comes on the heels of a landmark day in Wisconsin in early April, when 32 American Majority-identified and trained conservative candidates were elected to local office all across the state, out of 59 on the ballot. Now these dedicated conservatives can begin undoing the corrupting influence of Leftist policies in their states and communities. You see, true change begins with the right people, and the right people will run victorious campaigns when they receive the training that only American Majority provides. Over 20,000 individuals have passed through our trainings, and they have all gone on to make a difference in their communities for the cause of liberty, either as activists or as candidates for office. Will you renew your commitment to the training of these conservatives today by making a contribution to American Majority’s work? There is no time to lose. The statists are bound and determined to mortgage our children’s futures for the sake of political gain, and if left unchecked, they will get away with it. We cannot let them take home a win at the end of this hard-fought season. So now, as our team emerges from the locker room to begin the second half, I ask you to renew your commitment with a gift of $10, $20, $50, or more, and show the statists that you will see this fight through to the end! All the best, American Majority P.S.: The Left has shown us that they will play hard all the way to the end of this crucial game. The time has come for us to rally behind our team, fight tooth and nail to preserve our nation’s founding principles, and show the statists that we will not yield our country to the forces of tyranny! Please click here right now to support American Majority’s training of tomorrow’s conservative leaders. For state-specific charitable donation disclosures, please click here. Copyright © 2012 American Majority, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for American Majority updates. Our mailing address is: American Majority PO Box 87 Purcellville, VA 20134 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

GBTV.com: Video: Glenn Beck Program : Learning from special children - Video

On Friday's show Glenn had a studio filled with Super Heroes put on this planet to help rid the world of the humanity-challenged and compassion handicapped among us.  If you have trouble recognizing the incredible value these heroes are to society, you too are handicapped. Fear not, these heroes and others like them have a unique super ability to restore your humanity if you give them a chance.
GBTV.com: Video: Glenn Beck Program : Learning from special children - Video:

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It's Six Months Until Election Day...

It’s May of 2012 and we have six months to take a message of reform to the people of this country. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. In 1980, Ronald Reagan asked a simple question to the American people – “Are you better off today than four years ago?”  America at that time was buckling under high unemployment and suffering because of the policies of a president that was in over his head.   Sound familiar?  It’s May of 2012 and we have six months to take a message of reform to the people of this country and all of us need to do our part. Now is the time to get organized on the home front.  All too often we think about a Presidential election year solely in terms of the race for the White House.   When we do that we miss the big picture.   Sure, making certain that we have leadership in Washington that’s going to Keep America Free through a renewed focus on the Constitution, less spending, smaller government and individual freedom is critically important.  But just as this country was founded on the principles of an individual’s power to achieve, so too our ability to save America from statism rests on our individual efforts.  In fact, we could solve many of our problems in Washington and still face fiscal crisis due to government gluttony and overreach.  Local and state-level spending, taxation and debt are in fact one of the largest portion of our problem nationwide.  We need to start cultivating new conservative leaders, supporting conservative campaigns and organizing for victory today in primary contests from school board to state senate in order to ensure real change that works bubbles up from our neighborhoods to impact the nation. And let’s be honest: national, generational change does not begin at the top. It begins at the local level. Last year American Majority launched the New Leaders Project to encourage local activists to look at the big picture – not just one level of government or one election for that matter but developing a new generation of American leadership.  We challenged conservative grassroots groups across America to take the New Leaders Pledge to identify 10 people in their local community who can be groomed for leadership of some kind.   To date, more than 500 groups have committed to recruiting more than 5000 new, conservative leaders to help drive forward the kind of reform you and I know is needed in America.  For our part, American Majority committed to training all these folks and providing the latest campaign management technology platform called Gravity, to their local grassroots groups to help make them more effective at winning the battle of ideas in our communities.  Sign the pledge today and be a part of a new wave of principled, liberty-minded leadership for America. We have six months to fight this fight and win for our future.  Our mission is the preservation of freedom and the restoration of American values.  Right now, it’s incumbent upon all our grassroots groups across America to being identifying campaigns and districts where outreach can be done directly to voters who will respond to our message that places people – not government – first.   We strongly encourage you to have a leadership meeting this spring to plot a strategy for identifying those audiences who need to know about how debt and taxes are crippling our nation.  Start a volunteer drive for those willing to pass out literature and canvass neighborhoods.  Then use technology like Gravity or updated voter data to start mapping out where you can hit most effectively. We are six months out from the election of our lifetime.  We’ve seen the damage done in just a few short years, now we have just a few short months to prepare.  For more information about having an American Majority training in your area visit us at AmericanMajority.org.  For Liberty, Ned Ryun Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Forward to a friend Read our blog AM Training Alumni Testimonials Donate to AM Resource Spotlight Beyond finding candidates, another task as the 2012 elections approach is to find new voters to help Keep America Free.  That's where the new Map Widget at Pledge to Vote comes in.  All the prospective voter has to do is choose the right state, and voter registration information pops right up. AM Alumni Spotlight "Chris Koerber and his wife, Halcyon, attended an American Majority candidate training during the Summer of 2010.... Yesterday, Chris was sworn in as the most recent Sierra Madre City Councilman. He is now one of 5 city council members governing a budget of over $20 Million and 67 City employees." Like what you see? Please help fund our work today with a donation. Copyright © 2012 American Majority, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for American Majority updates. Our mailing address is: American Majority PO Box 87 Purcellville, VA 20134 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

The Story the Virginian Pilot Won't tell: 2 of its Reporters Attacked by a Racist Mob

Between 30 and 100 Black Youths Attack Reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami With No Police or Press Response | Video | TheBlaze.com:  "from Norfolk, Virginia, where a white couple were beaten savagely by a group of (according to reports) between 30 and 100 black youths. Apparently, the beating was so brutal that the couple could only manage to scream out the intersection at which they were located – “Church and Brambleton” – as the blows rained down:"

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Building the Farm Team for 2012

It's time to get serious about toppling the Ruling Class. Will you spread the word? Will you join us? Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. At American Majority, we talk a lot about “The Ruling Class”. And there’s a reason why we use this pejorative term for the bipartisan establishment that waltzes right back into office every two years without so much as a sweat. Our president, Ned Ryun, wrote an entire column in The American Spectator magazine on this trend.   Click to take our survey   These people aren’t public servants. They don’t face any real scrutiny, resistance or competition from the folks they’re supposed to work for. Each election cycle, these people--from both parties--simply show up and get sworn in. They then resume the tedious task of governing us, of regulating us, of taxing us--and just generally telling us what’s good for us.   About 99% of all U.S. Congressmen are re-elected biennially. Even in 2010, an unprecedented conservative wave election barely lowered that percentage to 80. And let’s not even get started on the numbers for down-ballot races, which almost no American voters pay attention to. Which brings us to the opportunities for new leaders now and for building the conservative farm team for tomorrow. In 2012, there are 7,384 state legislative seats across America. Out of these, 5,979 of them (or 81%) are up for re-election right now. That means four out of five office-holders at the state legislative level could be challenged and fought, most effectively in an earlier primary election. This doesn’t include the number of term-limited, retiring or even deceased officials. Or special elections. Yet the window of opportunity for changing this more localized ruling class is closing rapidly. Eighty-six (86!) of the nation’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold state legislative elections on November 6. Just two years ago, in that wave election of 2010, only 1,133 state legislative incumbents even faced a primary challenger. That was only 22% of those who could have drawn a fight.  Of the 6,125 state legislative districts in 2010 with elections, 4,125 (or 67.3%) of those districts only had one major party candidate on the November ballot.  We're analyzing the competitiveness of the 2012 state legislative elections as well, and so far, based on official candidate lists in the states where the deadline to file has passed, the competitiveness of the elections is even lower than it was in 2010. That said, there are a number of states where the signature-filing deadline is still in the future. I encourage you to look up and investigate when the deadlines for filing for office are in your state. And to consider seriously who best from your ranks should run against the entrenched power structure in your legislature.   Are we going to let the Ruling Class get a free pass? Again??? We don't want you to. We want you to consider being part of the solution this time. Please take a few short seconds to fill out this fast, easy, online survey so that together we can build a farm team of new leaders, shatter the Ruling Class, and get us back to voting in friends of freedom in our states.  Then think about 5 people you know who would make fine community leaders, and ask them to take the survey:   Click to take our survey   Will you, your conservative friends, or your group decide to put some skin in the game this year? Or are you content to allow a comfortable Ruling Class to continue to govern? The only way to effectively change our country is the reclaim it from the ground up, and now is the time to get started. American Majority's New Leaders Project has an ongoing goal of helping thousands of grassroots conservatives identify and train the right people to take the Ruling Class on directly. With support, resources and training materials from American Majority, we can help you make it a real race for many of these tired, ineffective office-holders' seats.  Together we can actually break the cycle of incumbent control. Inject new blood into the system. Cast away the usual ways of doing business in our capitals. And begin building a farm team of vital, competent and credible people who will take on the day-to-day business of returning more liberty to us. It's time to get serious about toppling the Ruling Class. Will you spread the word? Will you join us?  Will you forward this to your friends, to ask them to join us? Sincerely, American Majority P.S. Based on previous elections, we expect that less than two-thirds of state legislative elections will have more than one candidate on the ballot this year. To bring real change to our communities and our country, we must challenge the Ruling Class, and we must do it now. Will you commit to run for a seat in your state legislature, or help a conservative who will? P.P.S. I understand that not everyone is cut out to run for office. If you would like to support the training of conservative candidates for state legislatures nationwide, please click here to give $20, $50, $100, or more to fund American Majority’s candidate training. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Forward to a friend Read our blog About American Majority American Majority is the leading developer of the nation’s new 21st century grassroots political infrastructure. The organization uses its cutting edge training curriculum to empower individuals and organizations with the most effective tools to promote liberty through limited government. American Majority trains thousands of activists and candidates each year in communities across the country to be catalysts for authentic change in government. Ned Ryun A rising star in the conservative and Tea Party movements, Ned Ryun is the founder and President of American Majority, identifying and molding the next wave of liberty-minded candidates, grassroots activists and community leaders. About American Majority Training At the core of American Majority's services are its Political Training Programs, bringing the expertise and knowledge-base of national politicos, campaign strategists, communication consultants, and seasoned organizers directly into your community.  See All Training Testimonials "I learned so much, and now have a clear picture of how to accomplish our goals as a group. I believe the members in attendance, as well as myself were inspired and reinvigorated to take on the challenges set before us in the upcoming election season." - Brad W., Winnetka, IL See all Testimonials  Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Forward to a friend  Copyright © 2012 American Majority, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for American Majority updates. Our mailing address is: American Majority PO Box 87 Purcellville, VA 20134 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences