Ready to do my part & fight for liberty
I will not sit by and watch socialists attempt to dominate this country.
Keli Carender is a local math instructor and improvisational comedian. Her involvement in politics had ebbed in recent years, only to be reignited during the 2008 election season. She was quickly elected Political Director of the King County Young Republicans as well as Chairman of the Washington Young Republican Federation. Though a Republican in name, she is far more concerned with principles and ideals than maintaining a tie to any label or person. She is interested in economics, history, and education, and is particularly intrigued by the intersection of the three fields. She firmly believes in the absolute necessity of personal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic freedom for all.
Keli is the founder and co-chair of the Seattle-area activist coalition, The Seattle Sons & Daughters of Liberty, and is the author of the blog Redistributing Knowledge. She has lived and worked in Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, and received a graduate diploma in Education at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Keli is inspired by the ideas espoused by a variety of thinkers and philosophers including, but not limited to, Thomas Sowell, Thomas Jefferson, Ayn Rand, William F. Buckley, Milton Friedman, and David Horowitz.
Often considered the first Tea Partier, Keli Carender is known for her organization of Tea Party protests since February 2009, and for her speech at a Bremerton, WA Town Hall meeting in which she challenged the philosophical views behind the health care plan. Carender received the 2010 Town Hall Award at the third annual Sammies, and has been featured in the New York Times, and on NPR and CBS News.
Before the Tea Party movement began, Carender found herself frustrated with the health care plan and her Congressman’s full voicemail box that prevented her from making her voice heard. She began the blog “Redistributing Knowledge” and presented herself under the nickname “Liberty Belle,” promoting “individual rights and freedom.” Carender’s blog says “I will not sit idly by and watch as social democrats, socialists, or communists attempt to dominate this country. I am ready to do my part and fight for liberty.”
Carender still wanted to do more. In February 2009 Carender organized her first protest against the health care plan. Not many people participated, but as she planned more events and the media began covering her protests, the number of protesters grew. After six weeks, the number of protesters had grown to 1,200, and in January 2010, Carender was flown to Washington for an activism training program called Freedom Works.
At a Town Hall meeting in Bremerton, WA in August 2009, Carender spoke to Congressman Norm Dick about the philosophical problem of taking from some for the benefit of others. She concluded by pulling a twenty dollar bill from her pocket and challenging the Congressman to take the bill as a “down payment” on the health care plan. A YouTube video of Carender’s challenge titled “Come and Take It” has scored over 74,000 views and Carender was awarded the 2010 Sammies Town Hall Award.
Carender founded the group Seattle Sons and Daughters of Liberty, is the director of outreach and education for State Budget Solutions, and staff member for Tea Party Patriots. Carender was awarded the Defender of Freedom Award in December 2010.
