About the Author

Welcome to my Tea Party blog.  My name is Diane Rufino and  I am a leader of the Eastern North Carolina Tea Party.  I’ve run the group since 2009.  I volunteer with various organizations that promote the honest education and awareness of our country’s history, the meaning, intent, and scope of the US Constitution, legal issues, court decisions, and current topics.

I got involved with the Tea Party movement because I believe all our country’s problems stem from the fact that we’ve allowed the Constitution to become putty in the hands of an ambitious federal government.  A return to the Constitutional principles upon which our nation was founded is the only way to restore the nation to its intended glory.

With this goal, I am proud to stand up for the values and principles that our Founders established in our founding documents.  A subset of individuals will always stand up for Liberty, just as they did during the grand progression of human rights starting with the Magna Carta and ending with the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773.   That simple and peaceful act of civil disobedience by the Sons of Liberty ultimately led to the American Revolution and the creation of an independent and free United States.  The Sons of Liberty, our original ”radicals,” give us inspiration that the quest for maximum human rights and proper constraints on a government that is already showing signs of tyranny are noble causes worth giving up some time and energy to promote.

I am a scientist, teacher, writer, and an attorney.  Having learned Constitutional Law in law school, I decided to go back and learn what the Constitution really means and what it really stands for.  It has been a supremely enlightening experience.  Every day I learn something new.  And it’s not because I listen to the news or read the papers.  It’s because I read books and letters and essays written by our Founding Fathers.  I don’t pretend to know the subjects I write about as well as other experts, but I do try to use logic and rational analysis.  I also take very seriously the simple rule of contract construction when analyzing the Constitution and other founding documents, which is best summed up by something that Thomas Jefferson wrote: “On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning can be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one which was passed.”

My goal in writing the articles I do is to re-acquaint people with the original meaning and intent of our Constitution and to push back against the “living document” approach that progressives have been promoting.  As you can imagine, a legal document that has no fixed meaning cannot effectively put the affected parties on notice (which are the people and the States).  The boundaries of power between the government and the States and We the People become blurred and are subject to the whims of the one who holds the power. Essentially, the Constitution means nothing under a “living document” approach.  Or rather, it means whatever the government wants it to me.  I find this particularly troubling since the government is NOT a party to the Constitution but rather its creature. It has no say in what its powers are.  It can only reconcile situations with the express language and intent of the document that defines its existence and powers – the Constitution.

I apologize that most of the articles I write are long and sometimes detailed, but I like to explain my positions and provide the background for them.  I like to connect dots.

I can be reached by email at:  crazy_for_the_80s@Reagan.com