About This Site

At end of June, 2009, a group of business owners got together in Meridian, MS and decided that something had to be done. Combining their collective talents with a second group of business leaders who were planning a July 4th, 2009 rally in Downtown Meridian, they formed MeridianTeaParty.com. Their goal was to provide credible and documented information electronically via email alerts and their website to local conservatives who want to participate in the effort to remind Washington that “We The People” are paying attention and that we are still the source from which our elected officials’ power came.

In just a few short months, we had conducted two major rallies, supported those from our area that went to Washington on 9-12-2009, learned how to hold interesting and informative regular meetings, developed good relationships with our local media outlets and grew our email subscriber list to around 500. We sent CallToAction emails asking our membership to call their Senators & Representatives. We notified them of good candidates that they might want to check out and possibly support. And, we researched and debunked a lot of bad emails being sent around.

Somehow, we did it. Sometimes our efforts paid big dividends and sometimes not so much. But either way we learned alot in the process. But we began to find that we were spending more and more time trying to research answers to questions we knew nothing about. 

What kind of organizational structure should we have? Can we be a 501(c)3 or should be be a 501(c)4? Do we need Bylaws or should we operate as an unincorporated association? Can we get a bank account? What about limited liability for our board members? What kind of insurance should we buy to cover any injuries that might occur at one of our public events? Can we endorse candidates? As a group, do we really have free speech or do we have to comply with Federal Electioneering Rules?

These were big questions and honestly, I can say we still don’t have all the answers.

There were smaller questions too, but no less important. Such as, how do we motivate our email subscribers to come to meetings? What kinds of speakers are people interested in hearing? What are other Tea Party groups across the country doing? Can we use any of their ideas? How do we contact leaders of the other groups? How do we make them believe that we are just another group trying to achieve the same goals and not some one trying to spy on them? Since the representatives in our region are generally pretty conservative, how do we reach out and identify candidates in other parts of the country who could use our help either financially or otherwise? How can we quickly tell the good candidates from the not so good?

As the webmaster of MeridianTeaParty.com and being actively involved in our board, I realized that I probably wasn’t the only one asking these kinds of questions. I suspect that there are hundreds of Tea Party Leaders meeting on a regular basis all trying to find the answers that work for them, protect them and maximize their freedom to do as they feel necessary to achieve their goals.

It dawned on me one day that I could use the same skills I had used to create MeridianTeaParty.com to create TeaPartyConnect.com and hopefully provide a virtual meeting hall where leaders of other Tea Parties could come and network with each other. A place to share their success stories and yes, their failures too, all in an effort to help other Tea Parties be more effective and avoid some of the bigger failures. 

Eleanor Roosevelt said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” She may have been married to a liberal progressive, but she got that comment right!

The November, 2010 elections are just a few short months away and all Tea Party Groups will need to work efficiently, expertly and in concert to motivate, mobilize and energize conservatives to make a difference at the ballot box. None of us have the money or time to waste on non-productive efforts. We also need to get others involved in the process. Perhaps there is someone out there who is thinking about starting a Tea Party in their City, Town or Neighborhood and if we can gather our stories, offer our support and guide them through the process, maybe they will get off the fence and get to work.

The end game is to return our Govenment to Constitutional Principles and Fiscal Responsibility and then motivate people to assume the Personal Responsibilities that come with being good Citizens. How those goals are accomplished may vary, but perhaps TeaPartyConnect.com can help us all identify strategies that work and avoid the ones that don’t.

This website was created by one person for the use of many. The information compiled and presented here comes from other Tea Party Leaders. It is not funded by any national political organization and any donations from any political organization will be promptly returned. There will be a minimum of advertisements shown to help pay some of bandwidth and server costs. Additionally, we will have a donate button available in case anyone who benefits from this services wishes to also help with those expenses.

This site will be a collaborative effort and I hope Tea Party Leaders all over the country will come and participate. This website should in no way be considered an effort to govern, centralize or otherwise dictate the actions of any Tea Party anywhere.

Rather, it is simply a way to help us all help each other achieve common goals.