The speech that wowed the crowd in San Francisco

In just a few short months, Sally Selikovsky has traveled a long road, from stay-at-home Mom, to Marin County’s major conservative networker, to citizen journalist (at American Thinker), ending as the organizer of the first conservative protest in San Francisco in my lifetime.  She is not funded by or connected with any major (or even minor) conservative organization.  Instead, she is the perfect example of pure, inspired grassroots action.  She is, of course, a threat to the liberal hegemony (and both Lorie Byrd and Melissa Clouthier have good posts about that threat, and the intense liberal response).

Given that this is a true grass roots movement (although one fortunately cheered on by conservatives with loud voices, such as Rush, Sean, Michelle, etc.), I thought you’d find interesting and enjoyable the speech Sally gave to an excited, motivated, but always polite, crowd in San Francisco:

The San Francisco Tea Party is pivotal to the Tea Party movement and its place in history. To understand why, let’s step back in time for a moment. It’s 1967. You’re in the Haight. And it’s the Summer of Love. We all know that San Francisco was the flashpoint for the liberalism of the 60s and the drive towards socialism that threatens us today.

Now here it is 2009. It’s a time for “there’s only HOPE if you give the government all of your CHANGE.” BUT here, in the most liberal city in the country, fiscal conservatives are taking to the streets. And in a twist of historic fate, San Francisco finds itself at the forefront of history once again, only this time it is the flash point for destroying the socialist policies that were born here and restoring the limited government entrusted to us by the Constitution.

This, my fellow patriots, is not to be missed by the history books. Why? Because this is THE political power play of the century and we are a part of it!

Now, I know you all remember the “Yes We Can” chants of the glossy-eyed during the campaign.

Well, the tide has turned and for those of us who see clearly, we are telling Washington: “No You Can’t!”

Let me hear you say it, 3 times: NO YOU CAN’T!! No You Can’t! No You Can’t!

I’ve got a dozen items listed–we’ll call them the Dirty Dozen.

President Obama, Madame Pelosi, Senator Reid and the entire Congress: the people of this nation are telling you:

No you Can’t:
• Bail out failed enterprises in the private sector;
No you can’t:
• Amass power by commandeering private industry;
No you can’t:
• Impose onerous taxes that stifle business;
No you can’t:
• Continue irresponsible spending that will burden our children and grandchildren w/ a lifetime of debt;
No you can’t:
• Propose spending plans but disguise them as Stimulus packages ;
No you can’t:
• Take these so-called stimulus packages and claim they are investments in our economy when they have nothing to do with the problems plaguing our economy;
No you can’t:
• Create massive govt programs like health care that can only bankrupt our country and run our medical care into the ground.
No you can’t:
• Put lipstick on all of this pork and call it a plan when it’s just pork!
No you can’t:
• Jack up the budget with earmarks;
No you can’t:
• Spend your way out of recession;
No you can’t:
• Borrow your way out of debt;
No you can’t:
• Tax us into poverty;

Right now, Washington is riddled with all of these little Rumpelstiltskins dancing around the gold that they’ve co-opted from us.

This isn’t the limited government left to us by our Founding Fathers. This government is LIMITING! It limits free enterprise; It limits individual liberty; and it limits the future we can envision not only for ourselves, but for our children.

This government has captured the American Dream of economic prosperity and turned it into a Socialist Nightmare of economic stagnation.

This is not your grandfather’s America of freedom, opportunity and prosperity.

No, this is a new kind of America. An America that increases our taxes, takes more and more of our hard-earned money and distributes it as the politicians in Washington see fit; an America that insinuates itself into the private sphere; an irresponsible America; an America that stifles free enterprise and strangles our liberties.

Well, we’re snuffing the life out of the summer of love euphoria that blinded this city, this country and generations of Americans; we’re doing it here and we’re doing it now. San Francisco is no longer Ground Zero for progressivism; it’s Ground Zero for the Restoration of Our Republic.

We have a legacy of freedom, prosperity and opportunity to leave tomorrow’s Americans. That legacy is not found in Washington DC. It is found in Nacogdoches, Texas; Canajoharie, NY; Walla Walla, WA; Knockemstiff, OH; Menominee, MI; Madison, WI; Boulder, CO and right here in San Francisco!

“We The People” will restore the economic freedoms, the limited government, the lower taxes and the controlled spending that Washington is taking away.

“We The People” –in all of the great cities and small towns–we will ensure that the lights of the Potomac shine eternally.

And, “We the People” will lovingly pass on to future generations, that shining city on the hill, for it is not in Washington, D. C., it is all over this great land.

Mr. Obama, keep the gates to economic prosperity open;

Mr. Obama, tear down the walls you have erected by having your way with our money.

Years ago, similar words were spoken before the gates to the Iron Curtain. Ingo, from Berlin, he knows that story firsthand. First, they take away your money. Then, they label you as a pitchfork wielding angry mob of extremists. And then, they take away your right to peaceably assemble and dissent.

I know that you know whose words I am using here so let’s end this with the words of Ronald Reagan that are in so many ways even more fitting today than when he said them:

“If we believe in principles of free enterprise that made our country great, we must stand up for them again today. We must draw anew on the individual strength, ingenuity, and vision that built America. But our gaze is not set on the past; it’s firmly fixed on tomorrow. We must not mortgage our children’s future to pay for the mistakes of today. The choice before our generation is grave, but clear: We must either face and solve our problems now or surrender to them forever.”

God Bless this great country and let’s party like its 1773!