Citizens for Liberty, the group that brought you the Rapid City Tax Day Tea Party, now has their website up and running.

Citizens for Liberty is a group of about 40-50 concerned citizens from Rapid City and other areas in West River South Dakota who recognize the need for our country, state and community to return to the values of limited government and personal responsibility that made us the greatest nation on earth.

While there have been a few steps back in the direction of our foundation in the last 30 years, most of that time has been spent moving farther and farther away from the time-honored and proven values that created a healthy, successful civilization.  We have crept incrementally away from our founding values and toward the values that, ironically, we have seen fail over and over and over again around the world.

The folly of these un-American values began to make itself evident last year as our economy sputtered and major businesses and industries came to a crashing halt.

Unfortunately, rather than follow the free-market model upon which our country was founded, our elected representatives rushed headlong into more of what created the problem in the first place: government meddling in the private sector and irresponsible fiscal policy.

But millions of patriotic citizens across the country have had enough, and on April 15 (Tax Day), hundreds of thousands of them in about 2,000 cities across the country rallied in support of Constitutionally-limited government.

That event sent a loud message to the meddlers and spenders in Washington, but we know the work isn't done and the pressure will have to be sustained if we are to return our beloved country to greatness.

Because we understand this is a long-term effort, the group that organized the Rapid City Tax Day Tea Party have officially adopted the name "Citizens for Liberty," have set up a website to foster communication and education, are moving to incorporate, are preparing to recruit and equip limited-government candidates, and are organizing the next Rapid City Tea Party rally.

The next event will be at Memorial Park (again) on July 4 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am.  Expect a similar format to the last time, but with different speakers.  Don't forget to bring your signs to wave along Omaha Street and 5th Street!

Rapid City will be joining more than 900 other cities with this Independence Day Tea Party, and that number is sure to grow in the month remaining before the rally.

What better day to celebrate and call for a return to the founding values of our nation than on our nation's 233rd birthday!  We're gearing the event so that, despite the day being a "family" holiday, you can take some time to do something truly and profoundly patriotic and still have plenty of time for recreation, cookouts, etc. with your family.

The Black Hills Heritage Festival will also be taking place later that day in Memorial Park, so you might want to just stick around and attend the fantastic annual festival.  My family goes every year to enjoy the musicians, rock climbing, canoeing, information booths and hot dog stands.  Why not make a day of it with the Tea Party, the BH Heritage Festival and then the Rapid City fireworks later that night (I'm assuming they'll be that night)?

For more information, and to keep updated on any new information about the Independence Day Tea Party, check www.sdcitizens.com.  Sign up for newsletters (coming soon) and RSS feeds while you're there and we'll send the new information to you.

Come to the next meeting of Citizens for Liberty in Rapid City and find out how you can join our efforts to strengthen our country and renew respect for the Constitution.  Our next meeting is today, Friday June 5 at 11:45 at Godfather's Pizza on Campbell Street in Rapid City. Grab some pizza and join us in the back room!