Two years ago, politics was just a thought to me.
I was volunteering. I was getting involved in my community. I was paying more attention.
And eventually I thought, Maybe I should get involved in politics.
So I did.
And once I got close enough to actually see how the system works, I came away believing something was fundamentally wrong.
Too much money.
Too much influence.
Too much bullshit.
And not nearly enough accountability to the people this whole system is supposed to represent.
So about three months ago, I did something that probably sounds a little crazy.
I started the Truth Party.
I didn’t have some giant political organization behind me.
I didn’t have consultants.
I didn’t have millions of dollars.
I had an idea.
So I built a website.
I started making videos.
I started talking to people.
And then I did something even more radical:
I got off the internet.
I started going out into the community.
I’ve walked into fire stations.
I’ve walked into coffee shops.
Today alone, I visited twenty coffee shops.
And everywhere I go, I talk to people.
Not Republicans.
Not Democrats.
People.
And I’ve discovered something.
We don’t agree on everything—and thank God for that.
But there’s a tremendous number of people who believe this country can do better.
And here’s the part that keeps me going:
Most of us have far more power than we realize.
We’ve been trained to think politics belongs to politicians.
It doesn’t.
It belongs to citizens.
We’ve become spectators in our own democracy.
We sit on the couch.
We watch the news.
We complain.
We yell at the television.
And every few years somebody asks us to vote.
That’s not citizenship.
That’s spectatorship.
And that’s what the Truth Party is trying to change.
Not Republican versus Democrat.
Citizen versus spectator.
And one week from today, we’re going to find out what happens when we put that idea into the real world.
Sunday, August 23, we’re holding the first Truth Party rally.
Our first one.
Three months ago, this didn’t exist.
It was an idea in my head.
Today there’s a website.
There are videos.
There are signs around town.
There are conversations happening all over Greensboro.
And next Sunday, there will be people standing together in the same room.
I don’t know exactly how many people are going to show up.
And I’ve realized something:
That’s not the important number.
If twenty people show up and twenty people leave believing they can make a difference, we’ve started something.
If a hundred show up, fantastic.
If more come, even better.
Because every movement that ever changed anything started the same way.
Somebody had an idea.
Somebody told somebody else.
And then people showed up.
That’s where we are.
One week.
The first Truth Party rally.
And after spending the last three months talking about citizen participation, now comes the fun part:
Let’s see what happens when the citizens actually walk through the door.
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