| Roger Williams |
Roger Williams, formerly of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was persecuted for his divergent understanding of the Christian faith. Unlike the founding community of Puritans in the Massachusetts region, Williams did not believe that religion should be forced on people. Furthermore, he had a divine respect for the Native Americans, and he tolerated people who had differing religious views.
Because he was branded as a heretic by Puritan leaders, Roger Williams fled south and established Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Purchasing the land from the local tribes, Williams founded a colony based on religious toleration, in which men and women of all faiths would be welcome to live and practice their religion with a free conscience and free of sanction. One of the more celebrated and heretical refugees was Anne Hutchinson, a woman who believed that men and women of the Christian faith did not have to live out the Ten Commandments, but could appeal to God directly and live out their faith from within themselves. She fled from Massachusetts, where she would have been drowned in order to determine whether she was a witch or not; or she would have been hung or her head crunched in a vice. Williams took her in, and she lived.
Unfortunately, Roger Williams would not recognize his home colony today, now the most liberal and impoverished state in the union. Anne Hutchinson would certainly be out of place on account of all the rules, regulations, and taxes which are imposed on Rhode Islanders. Without a doubt, Williams would be appalled at the tyranny of one faith, or rather one political cult, which has edged out the views and respect of other points of view. The intolerant religion which has taken over Rhode Island: the Democratic Party Cult.
A bastion of political machinery, chicanery, and baseless power grabbing, the Democratic Party has driven the state of Rhode Island into fiscal crises. General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, a Democrat herself, has no choice but to tell everyone, retired employees as well as those still working, that Rhode Island can no longer afford the overly massive pension obligations of years past. When Republican Governor John Chafee reneged on his values and endorsed a state income tax and collective bargaining rights, he pushed his state on the steady road to ruin, or road to serfdom if Rhode Island leaders can do nothing beyond argue, bicker, raise taxes, and pursue inane and non-pressing matters like gay marriage.
The Democratic Party cult of greed, the cult of corruption has stifled the spirit of liberty, free markets, and constitutional, two-party rule. More people are leaving the state than entering. The power of dissent has been squashed, the culture of toleration has given away to fiscal incontinence and leadership incompetence. The Republican Party apparatus has the values, but now they need the votes.
With the worst business climate, with the highest taxes, and with more Democrats than every stepping up to do more of the same, no wonder the state of Rhode Island is not even a shell of its former, tolerant self. The Democratic Party cult has taken over the master levers of easy polling, collective bargaining, union dues, and immoderate stances on social issues has run the state into the Ocean. Instead of preaching witchcraft, the Democratic Party is inducing Rhode Islanders to be dependent on the state. Instead of casting hexes on the unsuspecting citizens, the Democratic Party cult has cursed the minds and the hearts of the Rhode Island citizenry, convincing them that Republicans have no power, no solutions, and no ideas beyond running against the Democratic machine.
The fact is that Rhode Island would not be cursed with poverty and emigration if the Democratic Party Cult had made the needs of the people more important than the greed of the politicians. Instead of an anchor of hope, the Democratic Party has tied a millstone of despair around the neck of the statehouse, the state, and the status of the people in Rhode Island. Rhode Island residents: rebuke the devourer of high taxes, regulations, and corruption. Do not leave your state, but tell your leaders to leave off their spending spree or leave their posts. Contact your local Republican leadership. Tell them your frustrations. Let them know what you are facing on a daily basis.
You do not have to suffer, but instead you can purge from your midst the intolerant cult of progressive-liberalism which has defined the Democratic Party and possessed Providence politics for generations. Now is the acceptable time. Do not despair, do not give in. Tell the GOP want you want to see in your state.
Here's the contact information for GOP organizations in Rhode Island:
http://oceanstaterepublican.org/
These are the Republican leaders in Providence:
http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Newberry/ — House Minority Leader
http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Algiere/ — Senate Minority Leader
Help them break the stronghold of the Democratic Party cult in Rhode Island and to support limited government, less spending, lower taxes, and local control for all Rhode Islanders. Stop the Democratic Party Cult, and proclaim fiscal, social, and religious liberty throughout Rhode Island once again.