FLETCHER — In offering “something for nothing, President Barack Obama is “a card-carrying member of the ‘People of the Lie’ Society,” Dr. Carl Mumpower charged during an Asheville Tea Party rally and cookout May 16 at Fletcher Community Park.

Mumpower, who was the keynote speaker, gave a talk titled “Three Great and Not-So-Great Role Models for Patriotic Americans.” The fundraiser drew about 40 people on an unseasonably cool, blustery afternoon.

The other featured speaker was George Humphries, an adjunct history professor at Mars Hill University, who addressed “North Carolina’s Heritage of History.”

Besides the 15-minute-plus speeches of Mumpower and Humphries, a few 2014 iCaucus-endorsed candidates spoke more briefly.

Mumpower, a conservative activist, former member of Asheville City Council and congressional candidate, began with the aforementioned reference to “our current president,” noting that the “‘People of the Lie’ Society” reference was coined — in a different context — by the late psychiatrist and bestselling author Scott Peck.

Mumpower charged that Obama has “practiced ends-justifies-the-means thinking so long, he has come to believe dishonesty is okay — worse, he no longer even realizes he is doing it.”

He also contended that the president “remains indifferent to the rule of law — practices rule by law — if we run things by our own whim, we are betraying our oath of office and blueprinting a darker American future.”

Obama “pulls just enough truth out to manipulate people,” Mumpower asserted. “He’s also the great seducer... His greatest sin is he secures his future with the hollow promise of something for nothing for our future.

“He turns so many people” in the direction of dependency on the government.

However, Mumpower said Obama “cannot deliver on the promise, but blames others for repeated failures at all levels....

“Folks, I’m a Republican — I’m still a Republican. But job one” for those elected from either major party “too often becomes personal vanities, recognition or re-election— that’s opportunism, not leadership or principle-based service... I’ve seen that theme .... too often.”

Regarding “principles,” Mumpower said it means that which guides “the words before the election.” Conversely, after the election, the principles are dropped, as the official tends to refocus on “power, popularity, party, personality and practicalities....”

Mumpower added, “Unfortunately, these thus-corrupted men and women are simply a reflection of what we are earning — nothing more, nothing less. Most Americans are devoted to their own needs first and foremost. We have become the land of special interests. Special interests always evolve into selfish concerns.”

The conservative activist then ripped what he termed “most media outlets,” asserting that “they’re dedicated to fulfilling our desire to be entertained, comforted, or validated versus informed. That’s our priority list and thus, theirs.”

Mumpower said that “truth” is “more precious and harder to find than gold,” but ranks as “a secondary priority” to most media outlets.

“It’s getting harder to find, not easier.... The media is decidedly biased to the left for one simple reason — that promise of something for nothing is very seductive... Over time and in an immature culture, (it) will defeat the more demanding tenets of conservatism — reality, reason, responsiblity and right. It is easier to follow the herd walking down hill than the one climbing up.”

At that point, Mumpower highlighted three of his inspirtaions, including Solomon, Ben Franklin and Alice in Wonderland.

“Solomon was one of my favorite people in history,” Mumpower noted, but things “didn’t end well” for him. His life ended “in sorrow,” he said. (Solomon, traditionally regarded as the greatest king of Israel and the son of David, reigned circa 970 to 931 B.C.)

Toward the end of Solomon’s life, he was considered “the smartest man on earth” and, based on his failures, shared what Solomon termed “the four important things in life” — to work, to love, to learn and to celebrate the gift of life.” Mumpower said the aforementioned constitute the “four legs, in turn, resting on a relationship with God.

Solomon declared that “all the rest is vanity — the disease of our day — and the foundation for four forces that are busily undermining our culture — irresponsibility, entitlement, fear and worry — the last two being the Bible’s most-referenced sins... But I’m afraid that word ‘vanity’ is guiding us today.”

In contrast, Mumpower said, “Loving, valuing, apreciating and learning from God — that’s our foundation... We’re shifting away from that foundation... We’re shifting toward irresponsibility...”

As for “entitlement,” he said it results in an attitude of “you owe me... What’s in this for me?

Regarding Ben Franklin, Mumpower said, “I love that guy... He began life as an angry young man vulnerable to excess. He later figured it out and became a wonderful model of Solomon’s earlier advice.

“He had a perfected ability to treat life responsibly and productively and yet not treat life’s nonsense too seriously.” Franklin “famously” just “winked at the absurdities” around him. “He refused to be depressed and pulled down” by the insanity he saw. 

Mumpower said a third inspiration was the fictional character Alice in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 fantasy work “Alice in Wonderland.”

As several in the gathering smiled at the speaker’s fantasy-world reference, Mumpower asserted that “she was a really nifty young lady.... and Alice was surrounded by crazy people who thought she was crazy — sound familiar?”

(In brief, “Alice in Wonderland,” which plays with logic and has been highly influential, tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar creatures with human characteristics.)

Mumpower said that “this book was written to illustrate our insane world.”

Regarding Alice, “the more she focused on their (others’) actions, the more distraught she became — when she focused on what she could control — herself — she recaptured her joy, hope and purpose... We live in Wonderland,” Mumpower contended.

Mumpower, who also is a clinical and family psychologist, concluded by noting there “are some lessons for tea party patriots” to learn from his talk. (See story below for a detailed list of those lessons.)

In general, he said, “Don’t worry when crazy people tell you you’re crazy. You can slow down society... Most of the nonsense of life comes from vanity.”

Mumpower added that “a relationship with God as your guiding voice” is vital. “We live in a self-correcting world and nature is on our side. And we will win. But the correction will not be painless. That’s the thing I find so troubling....”

He said it pains him to say that, as a society, “our priority is securirty, safety and comfort — and if that becomes job one, then you will lose your liberty and freedom.”

Who do you think has a clear sense of the realities of our world? The ‘greatest generation’ or today’s ‘me generation?’ I think you know the answer.”

Returning to how to deal with critics, Mumpower said, “Anytime anyone from the left brings up the tea party to me, they say, ‘Oh, they’re a bunch of crazy extremists....’” Mumpower added that the truth, instead, is that “you’re dedicated to good values.”

He recommended that the tea party members “link to the same wagon... Liberty, opportunity, responsibility — it takes all three together. America has been able to link to that more than any culture in the world’s history.

“The left’s eventual failure will be the result of one truism — the left is doomed to fail” because it is “promising people something for nothing... increasing dependency and reliance on something... Their people will turn on them” eventually, Mumpower predicted.

“We’re blessed to live in a country where the pluses continue to outweight the minuses. The door remains open if we have the character and courage to make the right choices,” Mumpower concluded.

Speaking later at the rally, Humphries began by noting, “It’s a dangerous thing to give an old history teacher an audience, but I’ll try to finish in 13 minutes.”

He then provided a relatively short U.S. and North Carolina history lesson, beginning with the beheading of Charles 1 of England in 1649 for treason — for dissolving Parliament. Following the rule by Cromwell through the 1660s, the throne was returned and eight men were rewarded for their efforts through the granting of a tract of America, from the southern border of Virginia, southward.

Humphries then provided a highly detailed account of the historical happenings that shaped where North Carolina is today.

Among the highlights were:

• The establishment of the Carolina Charter in 1663, encouraging settlement in the area that includes what is now North Carolina. He said the act “demonstrated the new idea that citizens might be protected in their rights by a formal document.”

• The separation of North and South Carolina in 1712. 

• In 1729, North Carolina became a royal colony, which meant its citizens had the same rights as Englishmen. However, various issues arose involving liberty, prompting pushbacks, including the Regulator movement, in which “the people in the western part of North Carolina stood up against the crown when they felt their rights were infringed upon.” He added that “the last (N.C.) royal governor — fearing for his life — fled.”

• The colony of North Carolina made America’s first official call for freedom from the British on April 12, 1776. To that end, the colony was a leader in saying that the Stamp Act “will be opposed to the death.” Without a dissenting voice, the North Carolina House supported a non-importation duty. This was the first such legislative body held in any of the colonies,” the professor said.

The action amounted to treason — and the penalty for treason “was to be hanged by the neck, but not before death,” Humpries stressed.

When the colony was warned not to print the North Carolina Gazette on unstamped paper, the British Ship Diligence was never allowed to unload its stamped paper in North Carolina. It was held at the Wilmington port. Its sailors were detained when they came to shore, Humphries recounted. Moreover, the Gazette published the resolutions — on unstamped paper — in New Bern on June 16, 1775.

Soon other colonies also called for freedom, Humphries noted. Within three months, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. North Carolina’s official state flag features the date April 12, 1776 to remind people of the state’s commitment to liberty.

“North Carolina deserves the slogan ‘First in freedom, First in liberty,’” he asserted.

He told of the Battle of King’s Mountain, in which the colonists defeated the British, and to which Thomas Jefferson famously called it “The turn of the tide of success.”

With a hint of pride, Humphries said, “Having been born in and lived in North Carolina most of my life, I must say that when it came to defending liberty,” his study of history shows “the people of North Carolina “never waivered in defending their freedom.”

However, after independence from the British, Humphries noted a drift away from the values of the Founding Fathers.

For instance, he said that in 1937, N.C. Sen. Joseph Bailey, “frustrated with corruption at the highest levels” of government, wrote, “We do not have a government  in Washington. It is a gift enterprise and the gifts are at the expense of those who earn and save... In God’s name, do not do nothing while America drifts down the inevitable gulf of collectivism... Give free enterprise a chance, and I will give you the guarantees of a happy and prosperous America.”

Lastly, he noted that Richard M. Weaver, born in Asheville and later the owner of a house in Weaverville (“although he didn’t get there much”), is widely “considered the founder of post-World War II conservatism.”

For much of his life, Weaver was a scholar in Chicago, Humphries said.

The professor added that, at a Young Americans for Freedom banquet in 1972, Weaver said, “It is our traditional belief that man was given liberty to ennoble him ... We may infer that those who would take his liberty away have the opposite purpose of  degrading him... There can be no worth of a man unless there is an inviolable area of freedom in which he can assume the stature of man and exercise choice in regard to his work, his associates, his use of his earnings, his way of life.”

Weaver characterized the “vast expansion of federal power as alarming,” Humphries said in reference to a trend that, he noted, is continuing today.

Mumpower’s lessons for tea party patriots?

From Staff Reports

FLETCHER — Following is Dr. Carl Mumpower’s summary of “some lessons for tea party patriots” that he shared during his May 16 keynote address during a rally of the Asheville Tea Party at Fletcher Park:

• “Like ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ you are surrounded by immature and irrational thinkers — don’t treat them too seriously and don’t worry when the crazy people tell you that you are crazy.

• “You can slow down our society’s downward slide to the left — you cannot stop it” — because it is “too easy to run down hill.

• “Most of the nonsense of life comes from the pursuit of vanity — use work, love, learning and celebration as your antidote — a relationship with God as your wind and guiding voice.

• “We live in a self-correcting world — nature, like conservative-minded people, is devoted to reality, reason, responsibility and right — nature is thus on our side, but the correction will not be painless.

• “If you wonder why we see to be willing to give up our freedoms, it’s because most people are afraid of freedom — they prefer security.

• “Conservatism represented the values of most members of the ‘greatest generation’ — who do you trust more, them or the current ‘me generation?’

• “Look at the ‘extremism’ of your mission — liberty, care with other people’s money and upholding the Constitution — you should be ashamed.

• “The American success equation — liberty, opportunity and responsibility in unified action — it is a formula for achievement unique among all models in history.”

• “The left’s eventual failure is assured by one psychological truism — dependent people always become angry at those upon whom they depend — this hostile-dependency relationship is the Achilles heel of the left and the Democratic Party.

• “We are blessed to live in a country where the pluses dramatically outweigh the minuses and the doors remain open to crafting our individual lives. Press on, you shameless patriots....”