Tea Partiers Come to the Aid of California Farmers

On November 8, three groups of tea party organizers began a cross-country tour to raise awareness of the California farmers’ water crisis, which is a classic case of big government disrupting the lives of its citizens. But rather than merely protest proposed legislation, these tea partiers intend to raise money for the victims suffering from overbearing regulation.

The Tea Party Express is a cross-country fundraising exercise for a Republican-aligned PAC. But this effort? It hopes to send aid to California farmers who need help heading into the winter and holiday season. It also aims to bring hope to farmers whose livelihoods have been destroyed and who live in an area with one of the highest suicide rates in the country.

The Farmer Relief and Freedom Relay will take two weeks to reach Fresno for a large rally, stopping along the way in places like Sioux Falls and Lexington, Kentucky. Though winter is fast approaching — or has already made an appearance — in these areas, these brave and kind souls are determined to aid the farmers.

Each tour group will have a California farmer with them to speak of the current situation. Each group will also include a featured speaker who will be along for the entire ride. Groups will travel in SUVs to handle any road conditions. One route — which I am taking — will travel roughly 4,000 miles across the top of the country and down the West Coast.

Tour plans have been greeted enthusiastically by activists across the country, especially in remote places that generally do not receive much attention. If citizens want the tour to show up in their town, the organizers make as much effort as possible to add the tour stop.

Tea Party Patriots and Saving the Valley That Hope Forgot are behind this “call to action.” The basic idea:

In actions that can only be described as lacking the most basic humanity, the U.S. Congress has turned off the water to Central Valley farmers, leaving their land dry, their fields fallow, and their dreams and ambitions scattered in the dust. Tens of thousands are unemployed and waiting in food lines. The federal government is proving once again that the government is the problem, not the solution.

The rally will use the Twitter hashtag “#FRFR.” It also has a Twitter account for tweeting, blogging, and filming the tour’s progress across the country.

Vehicles are being rented in order to save costs. The round-trip for the northern route will cover approximately 8,000 miles.

Statements like these will inspire the long journey:

Thanks to the government’s misuse of the Federal Endangered Species Act and two subsequent biological opinions, the vast majority of water that normally flows to California’s West-Side Central Valley farmers has been shut off DURING THE GROWING SEASON in order to protect a 2” baitfish called the Delta Smelt and a handful of other marine species.

Starting in 2009 and continuing on thereafter — through the enactment of the San Joaquin River Settlement — water for struggling farms on the East-Side of the Valley will be diverted to restore a long lost salmon run (one that experts say will not reestablish).

THE RESULT is a growing Government created Dust Bowl, 40+% unemployment for surrounding communities, bankruptcy for countless farmers and their families, higher food prices nationally, a greater dependence on foreign produce, and a dangerous precedent for land owners NATIONWIDE.

I have volunteered to both drive and speak on the tour and will be traveling from Maine to Fresno and back. I will be blogging as I go along. Ultimately, the aim is to make fellow Americans aware of the tremendous suffering in their own nation due to the efforts of extremist environmentalists and an uncaring bureaucracy — the same government that now wants to run your health care and tell you how you must live your life to “save the planet.”

Now, it’s the Central Valley of California. Who will suffer next?