Declaration Revives 'Righteous Cause'

The Georgia Tea Party launched the next phase in a national movement for limited government Saturday afternoon by unveiling the Marietta Declaration.

About 100 people attended the presentation of the declaration at a former Chevrolet dealership in Marietta. The ceremony moved indoors from Marietta Square because of the threat of rain.

“We are equal to the task, and we will do it together,” declaration author Jim Jess said about restoring the United States to its full glory.

The declaration aims to reset the relationship between the president and Congress and between the federal government and the states based on the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Released 17 days before the Georgia presidential primary, the declaration calls for elected officials, candidates and other citizens to commit to six goals:

• To try to abolish federal departments and programs that fall outside the powers the Constitution expressly grants to the federal government.
• To rescind executive orders that exceed the president’s authority or that counter the wishes of Congress.
• To eliminate the use of “czars” the president appoints without Senate confirmation.
• To force federal agencies to get congressional consent for the rules and regulations they create.
• To fix “the broken system” of independent agencies operating outside the constitutional separation of powers.
• To get congressional consent for all military actions.

Jess, a board member of the Marietta-based Georgia Tea Party, called on all candidates for president, including President Barack Obama, to sign the declaration.

The declaration’s website will keep track of officials who have signed on.

Those who have signed already include Rep. Phil Gingrey, state Sens. Chip Rogers and Judson Hill, state Rep. Judy Manning, and Cobb County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim Lee.

Two challengers to Lee, Larry Savage and Mike Boyce, attended Saturday’s ceremony.

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