"Ich bin ein Bostonian!"

I am proud to come to Boston and to confront Mayor Thomas Menino, who has come to symbolize throughout the world what is wrong with Progressives. And I am proud to visit the Chick-fil-A with its distinguished President Dan Cathy who has become the victim of the progressives’ war on freedom. And to come here in the company of my fellow Americans, members of the Tea Party Movement who have been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will return again whenever needed.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum". Fifty years ago in the face of Communist brutality and oppression it was "Ich bin ein Berliner". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Bostonian".

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the Tea Party Movement and the progressives.
Let them come to Boston.
There are some who say that progressive-ism is the wave of the future.
Let them come to Boston.
And there are some who say we can work with the progressives.
Let them come to Boston.
And there are even a few who say that it is true that progressive-ism is a corrupt system, but it permits us to make social progress.
Let them come to Boston.


Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, it can be hard to live up to the standard set by those that struggled for freedom from our past.  I want to say, on behalf of the men and women of the Tea Party Movement, for those who live many miles away on the other side of the route 128, we are not so distant from Boston, by our shared history we are connected, and we take no pride seeing what has been done to Boston, even from a distance, the shameful story of the last 19 years.

In 1993 when running for Mayor, Menino pledged to serve "only two terms, and that's it for me." In 2001, when Mayor Thomas Menino ran for a third term, he clarified "I promised I'd serve two terms - in every century." Back then, as even now, Mayor Thomas Menino is supported by a corrupt cadre of city workers who make his political cause their sole focus. During business hours, they perform the activities of their office. By night, they serve Mayor Thomas Menino by attending community gathering reminding all to stay in line; Mayor Thomas Menino is watching you.

In 2001, Mayor Thomas Menino admitted to urging his inspectional services commissioner, to ''take a very serious look'' at zoning issues affecting the planned Brooks Pharmacy store opening a few blocks from Sullivan’s Pharmacy which was owned by a close friend who donated thousands of dollars to the mayor’s reelection campaigns.

Read this article here

Even Boston Globe/Democrat has witnessed the thuggish tactics of Mayor Thomas Menino's reelection campaigns. In a September 13, 2009 article they reported several instances of questionable behavior, including cases of Mayor Thomas Menino‘s associates monitoring Michael F. Flaherty's Facebook friends. According to the article, Mayor Thomas Menino’s campaign sent out a campaign memo containing the name of at least one small business owner who supported Flaherty. Michael F. Flaherty, claimed that his running mate Sam Yoon had to leave Boston because Mayor Thomas Menino’s allies made it difficult for Yoon to find work locally.

Read this article here

Now Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said it would be "very difficult" for Chick-fil-A to get needed licenses in Boston and sent a letter telling Dan Cathy that there was "no place" for Chick-fil-A in the city, just because President Dan Cathy spoke about his faith in public. Even though he has “walked back” his statements, that is unlikely to restrain the kinds of influence that Mayor Thomas Menino wields. The fact is that Mayor Thomas Menino has done it before and this is a very real threat.

I know of no town, no city, that has been held hostage for 19 years in the way that the city of Boston has. Out of 352123 registered voters only 63,123 gave in to Mayor Thomas Menino so he would continue to inflict himself on their city. But still you bear that burden; still you suffer under those that demand loyalty through threat and coercion. Mayor Thomas Menino and his enforcers have not sapped the vitality, and the hope, and the freedom, and the unique history of the city of Boston.

While the city of Boston has the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the progressive-ism, for all the world to see, we of the Tea Party Movement take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as the Mayor of West Berlin once said of his city, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity. What was true of that city is true of Boston - real, lasting freedom in does not come from iron fisted dictators. No petty official can deny the elementary rights of free men, and demand that they remain silent. No bureaucrat can trump the First Amendment of our constitution.

19 years of corruption and bad faith is enough, this generation of Bostonians have earned the right to be free, including the right to the free exercise religion; and the right to the freedom of speech, and the right to a free and honest press; and the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. And all the other rights that the Tea Party Movement stands for!

You live in a cloistered island of tyranny, but your life is part of the main. Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

So let me ask you, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Boston, or our Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to the advance of freedom everywhere, to the day of freedom and liberty, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind. All free men, wherever they may live, are the descendants of Sons of Liberty, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words

"Ich bin ein Bostonian!"