Founded by Christie Carden, the Huntsville Tea Party Movement in Madison County, Alabama began as part of the nationwide protests on April 15th, 2009 against runaway government spending and excessive taxes. Those protests occurred in over 900 cities, throughout all 50 states, and included more than 1 million people. Today, the Huntsville Tea Party is a vibrant collection of patriotic citizens who work together to better our community, its government, and the leaders who represent us. While there are many good causes and important social issues, the Huntsville Tea Party keeps as its focus those that fall under four foundational principles:
- Fiscal Responsibility
- Limited Constitutional Government
- Individual Rights
- The Free Market
Under these principles, our core mission is to influence local, state, and national politics, government, and elections to guide our community back to limited government that respects individual rights, practices common sense fiscal responsibility, and allows the free market to flourish. Government works best when its control and influence is kept as close and local to the people as possible. We believe that governments have their proper role in society and they should be funded to fulfill this role, but we believe that our current government has exceeded its proper role, causing much of the irresponsible behavior and taxation that we see today.
The Huntsville Tea Party is a non-partisan group. We do not provide financial support to any party, candidate, or politician. However, we do endorse and praise candidates and politicians that best exemplify our foundational principles. Likewise, we criticize and oppose candidates and politicians whose behavior, bills, or platforms do not align well with our four principles.
Even though the Huntsville Tea Party does not assist directly in any political campaign, we strongly encourage all people to get personally involved with candidates, campaigns, and issues that support our four foundation principles. Citizens have a duty to actively participate in selecting their leaders and then holding them accountable for their actions once they are in office. Leaders have a duty to keep their constituents informed regarding their actions in office and the underlying reasons and personal principles that guide each decision and vote that they make.
We believe that a crucial way we can influence politics and government is by providing education regarding good government and the constitution, and by helping people be aware of current issues and bills and their possible ramifications. To this end, we provide a regular email newsletter, seminars, podcasts, and fliers to handout. We also provide copies of the US Constitution to the public.
The Huntsville Tea Party is composed of a core leadership group that is strongly supported by a variety of volunteers. None of our leaders or volunteers is paid in any way for their service. We welcome all who wish to help in whatever capacity they are able. The money that we raise through donations and fundraisers is carefully used in direct support of events, education, outreach, and informational materials.
