By: Summer Kelley, Staff Reporter

The Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party Patriots held their second meeting last Thursday night at the Dade County Administration building and the meeting began with an information session on whether the United States is a Democracy or Republic.

The room was fairly full with only a few empty seats –mainly those in the front row – available. The meeting held a little bit of everything including a history lesson, statistics, political speeches and a question-and-answer session, with a recurring “constitution” theme.

Ben Brandon, cofounder of the Dade TEA Party Patriots, began the meeting by stating the Dade County TEA Party Patriots’ purposes: “To move the United States government back to its Constitutionally authorized size and function and insist that those representing us abide by the Constitution” and “at the state and local level to hold our officials accountable to providing only those essential functions required to maintain order in a society of free citizens.” 

Brandon then explained to those assembled that the United States is not a democracy and that the word “democracy”, in fact, does not appear in the U.S. Constitution or in any of the 50 state constitutions. To further explain the type of government the United States was meant to have according to the founding fathers Brandon showed a short video. The video was compliments of the John Birch Society, a society that like the TEA Party seeks to restore the constitutional form of government – a Republic, as in “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands…”

After the video, the meeting was given over to candidates Jeremy Jones and Steve Tarvin who are running for the Congressional seat to be vacated by Nathan Deal. Jones is a business owner from Ringgold who is married with one child. Jones said he decided to run for Congress even before Deal vacated the seat.  Tarvin is from Chickamauga and is President and CEO of Crystal Springs Print Works.  He has served his community as president of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, president of his local high school booster club, a past member of the Board of Directors for Shorter College, a past board member of the American Gelbvieh Association, a former Chickamauga City School Board member and a current Chickamauga City Councilman. Both candidates got 15 to 20 minutes each to speak to those assembled and then the floor was opened to questions for both candidates. 

Brandon resumed presiding over the meeting and covered information and statistics on the state of the union under President Obama and on freedom updates for the TEA Party. Brandon also gave a listing of websites where some of the information given at the two Dade County TEA Party meetings could be found.

Future meetings are scheduled for Feb. 11, Feb. 25, March 11 and March 25 at the Dade County commission meeting room at 6:30 p.m. The Feb. 11 meeting will feature candidates for Congress Tom Dooley and Bobby Reese and candidate for Attorney General Max Wood. There will also be a presentation, if time permits, on Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution – the enumerated powers.