I had a need over lunch to go to a local big box electronics store, and imagine my surprise when on the way, I saw an ad stating that "Your country's being hijacked!"
Really? And we're posting this on a billboard in the northern suburbs of Dallas?
Naturally, besides the scare quote and red, white, and blue lettering was a website: The Allen Area Patriots. So, naturally, I went to the web site because you have to be a good field researcher to know when to spot the crazy.
Apparently, the folks believe that this election is The Most Important Ever. The front page has language that says: "Work or donate to a candidate that will make a difference. We may not have another chance to save this great country!"
You read further on and it becomes apparent that this is essentially a quasi-libertarian group of people who drink the tea by the bucket. There's interesting .pdf files of how they should devote their time and energy.
What seemed most interesting to me was the Meetings and Events page. Looks like they're holding a meeting... after the election? In a church?
What are the odds that if I called the church today (which from their website looks like they're having a bit of trouble securing a location) and asked if I could use their facility for a Democratic political gathering that they'd let me?
And by allowing this group to meet and refusing me would be an endorsement of a political party and thus breach their 501(c)(3) non-profit status?
John Adams, back when he signed the Treaty of Tripoli that was accepted unanimously by the House and Senate wrote this:
Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,--as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,--and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
The Senate's ratification of this specific text was only the third recorded unanimous vote of 339 votes taken. It was presented to, read aloud in, and ratified unanimously by the U.S. Senate. The treaty was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and two New York papers, with no evidence of any public dissent. At all.
This basically is proof that constitutionally, the United States is not and cannot be a "Christian" nation, and claims likewise show a willful ignorance of history.
So, do I call the church? Do I call the IRS? Is this a fight that's worth fighting, especially when there's so many other places to devote time and effort?