June 23rd - Meeting - Gary Lester
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Dr. Gary Lester is Vice President of The Villages for Community Relations and President of The Villages Charter Schools.
Active in conservative politics since 1978, Dr. Lester has worked on national, state and local campaigns. He has also served on numerous boards and advisory groups including the United States Military Academy Nominations Board and the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.
An ordained Presbyterian Minister, Dr. Lester pastored congregations in Texas, Arkansas and Ohio before coming to Florida in 1991 to lead the North Lake Presbyterian Church, one of the fastest growing Presbyterian Churches in the United States.
Dr. Lester is a popular public speaker often called upon to speak on subjects related to the Constitution, American Exceptionalism and the modern conservative movement.
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Active in conservative politics since 1978, Dr. Lester has worked on national, state and local campaigns. He has also served on numerous boards and advisory groups including the United States Military Academy Nominations Board and the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.
An ordained Presbyterian Minister, Dr. Lester pastored congregations in Texas, Arkansas and Ohio before coming to Florida in 1991 to lead the North Lake Presbyterian Church, one of the fastest growing Presbyterian Churches in the United States.
Dr. Lester is a popular public speaker often called upon to speak on subjects related to the Constitution, American Exceptionalism and the modern conservative movement.
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Villages’ Gary Lester takes to Tea Party podium at Savannah Center
June 23, 2014 By Staff Report
Gary Lester speaks to the Villages Tea Party.
The style of Gary Lester ‘s inspirational talk Monday evening at Savannah Center in front of a large Villages Tea Party crowd, entitled “Freedom — it’s time to Engage,” was predictably part preacher, part political pundit and part campaign manager — much to the delight of the audience.
“Hillary has referred to people like us as a vast right-wing conspiracy,” Lester began his talk with a smile, “but we are here because we think our freedom is precious and we want to preserve it!”
“Why is it precious?” Lester asked. “Because it is rare and hard to come by. If we think back over the long history of humankind, we realize most people have not lived free. The history of the world is not a history of freedom and democracy – it is a world of kings and, queens, czars, dictators and tyrants, where the people were subjects — subjected to the will of the ruler.”
All of those were top-down governments,” Lester continued. “Our Founding Fathers had a different kind of vision… that the people would live free and tell heir government what they wanted it to do — a kind of ‘world turned upside down.’ But our current government is moving backwards, toward a time when the people had no voice.
“Americans have enjoyed a level of freedom no one has ever seen before — and it worked. America was an incredible experiment that worked. Amazing things happen when people are free! There has never been a nation that has done more for its people — to raise the standard of living, to alleviate poverty, to advance medicine, promote science and preservation of the environment. We are all here,” Dr. Lester said in his resounding voice, “because we want to promote freedom and defeat tyranny! We need to share our principles with our children and grandchildren, and we need to teach these principles in our schools. We need new generations who truly KNOW America — we need new generations who genuinely LOVE America and what it stands for.”
Being a Calvinist, Lester believes that nothing is perfect, but he defines America as exceptional. “When you think about what the U.S. military has done for the world — during wartime and the Cold War — the American military are the greatest peacemakers,” he asserted. “Socialism has a dismal record of failure. Read Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington,” he suggested. “The natural order of things is for government to grow and liberty to recede. When government spending is down, our liberties grow.Today more than half of our economy consists of government spending.”
“We have let the liberals create a system of dependency and entitlement ,” Lester said. ” When anyone says he got something from the government, he really means he got it from you — the taxpayer. When a government gives something for free, it has to take it away from someone else. That’s what big governments do — they forcibly take tax money from us and decide how they should spend it. In so doing, they take away our freedoms.”
During a question-and-answer period, Lester replied to a query about the role of the Environmental Protection Agency: “Capitalism has done more to clean up the environment than any government agency, like the EPA. If we look at Communist countries — they do not have clean air or clean water. They have pollution.”
Q. We know that government control and socialism don’t work, so why does socialism keep rearing its ugly head?
A. The answer is because people in power always want to accrue even more power. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Lester reminded the audience: “Our Founding Fathers believed in the fallibility of man, so they dispersed the power — instead of concentrating power in the hands of a few, they created a system of checks and balances. That is what has made our government work so well — but now, that is being destroyed.”
Lester slammed the IRS: “The IRS is a governmental agency that can bring terror to the lives of honest working people just because they can’t find a receipt from six months or a year ago. We need a flat tax or a fair tax. We need to disband the IRS.” Lester also strongly disagrees with the concept of Common Core, and doesn’t believe big government should have its hands in education.
In order to win the 2014 legislative election and the 2016 presidential race, Lester urges everyone who believes in conservative values — whether they are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians or independents, to put aside our differences and unite as a great Conservative Coalition against tyranny. ” We need to bring back Constitutional government and American exceptionalism ,” Dr. Lester said with passion .
“We need to talk with our young people . I worry about the last generation or two who have been imbued with the concept of dependency. We need to preach beyond the choir, and reach out to others and help them to understand the true issues and true conservative values.”
Lester, who pastored congregations in Texas, Arkansas and Ohio before coming to Florida in 1991, is a ordained Presbyterian minister. He was a driving force in the growth of North Lake Presbyterian Church, one of the fastest growing Presbyterian congregations in America. He is vice president of public relations for The Villages and president of The Villages charter schools.
He has been active in conservative politics since the late 1970s, and has worked on local, state and national campaigns. He has also worked on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the United States Military Academy Nominations Board and the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.
________________________________________________________________________________________
June 23, 2014 By Staff Report
Gary Lester speaks to the Villages Tea Party.
The style of Gary Lester ‘s inspirational talk Monday evening at Savannah Center in front of a large Villages Tea Party crowd, entitled “Freedom — it’s time to Engage,” was predictably part preacher, part political pundit and part campaign manager — much to the delight of the audience.
“Hillary has referred to people like us as a vast right-wing conspiracy,” Lester began his talk with a smile, “but we are here because we think our freedom is precious and we want to preserve it!”
“Why is it precious?” Lester asked. “Because it is rare and hard to come by. If we think back over the long history of humankind, we realize most people have not lived free. The history of the world is not a history of freedom and democracy – it is a world of kings and, queens, czars, dictators and tyrants, where the people were subjects — subjected to the will of the ruler.”
All of those were top-down governments,” Lester continued. “Our Founding Fathers had a different kind of vision… that the people would live free and tell heir government what they wanted it to do — a kind of ‘world turned upside down.’ But our current government is moving backwards, toward a time when the people had no voice.
“Americans have enjoyed a level of freedom no one has ever seen before — and it worked. America was an incredible experiment that worked. Amazing things happen when people are free! There has never been a nation that has done more for its people — to raise the standard of living, to alleviate poverty, to advance medicine, promote science and preservation of the environment. We are all here,” Dr. Lester said in his resounding voice, “because we want to promote freedom and defeat tyranny! We need to share our principles with our children and grandchildren, and we need to teach these principles in our schools. We need new generations who truly KNOW America — we need new generations who genuinely LOVE America and what it stands for.”
Being a Calvinist, Lester believes that nothing is perfect, but he defines America as exceptional. “When you think about what the U.S. military has done for the world — during wartime and the Cold War — the American military are the greatest peacemakers,” he asserted. “Socialism has a dismal record of failure. Read Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington,” he suggested. “The natural order of things is for government to grow and liberty to recede. When government spending is down, our liberties grow.Today more than half of our economy consists of government spending.”
“We have let the liberals create a system of dependency and entitlement ,” Lester said. ” When anyone says he got something from the government, he really means he got it from you — the taxpayer. When a government gives something for free, it has to take it away from someone else. That’s what big governments do — they forcibly take tax money from us and decide how they should spend it. In so doing, they take away our freedoms.”
During a question-and-answer period, Lester replied to a query about the role of the Environmental Protection Agency: “Capitalism has done more to clean up the environment than any government agency, like the EPA. If we look at Communist countries — they do not have clean air or clean water. They have pollution.”
Q. We know that government control and socialism don’t work, so why does socialism keep rearing its ugly head?
A. The answer is because people in power always want to accrue even more power. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Lester reminded the audience: “Our Founding Fathers believed in the fallibility of man, so they dispersed the power — instead of concentrating power in the hands of a few, they created a system of checks and balances. That is what has made our government work so well — but now, that is being destroyed.”
Lester slammed the IRS: “The IRS is a governmental agency that can bring terror to the lives of honest working people just because they can’t find a receipt from six months or a year ago. We need a flat tax or a fair tax. We need to disband the IRS.” Lester also strongly disagrees with the concept of Common Core, and doesn’t believe big government should have its hands in education.
In order to win the 2014 legislative election and the 2016 presidential race, Lester urges everyone who believes in conservative values — whether they are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians or independents, to put aside our differences and unite as a great Conservative Coalition against tyranny. ” We need to bring back Constitutional government and American exceptionalism ,” Dr. Lester said with passion .
“We need to talk with our young people . I worry about the last generation or two who have been imbued with the concept of dependency. We need to preach beyond the choir, and reach out to others and help them to understand the true issues and true conservative values.”
Lester, who pastored congregations in Texas, Arkansas and Ohio before coming to Florida in 1991, is a ordained Presbyterian minister. He was a driving force in the growth of North Lake Presbyterian Church, one of the fastest growing Presbyterian congregations in America. He is vice president of public relations for The Villages and president of The Villages charter schools.
He has been active in conservative politics since the late 1970s, and has worked on local, state and national campaigns. He has also worked on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the United States Military Academy Nominations Board and the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.
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