Rescue of Major Israel Putnam in 1756 near Glen Falls, NY - painting by Jean L G Ferris

Putnam’s Patriots is a growing group of patriotic Americans committed to returning our country to her Constitutional moorings with limited government, fiscal accountability, and personal responsibility starting at the precinct level of county government. We also want to restore the Founder’s “Success Formula” to America with less regulation, debt, and taxes and greater self-sufficiency in our lives. We believe that understanding the “Laws of Nature” and the “Founder’s Success Formula” are essential to our success. As our Founders taught us, we are bold to say:


  • With Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free… it expects what never was and never will be. We must educate and inform the whole mass of the people; they are our only sure reliance for the preservation of liberty.”


  • With Washington: “Our primary object…should be the education of our youth in the SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT. In a Republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important?”


  • With Abraham Lincoln: “Let it (the Constitution) be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, in spelling books and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. In short, let it become the POLITICAL RELIGION of the nation.”


As conservatives, we have a deep concern for the legitimately poor and needy, but with the greatest efficiency possible. In that regard, the federal government has proved incapable of doing so without becoming a MAGNET to the indolent. It fails because, it ignores the “Law of Nature” that charity must be LOCAL and VOLUNTARY to be effective and only people can hug people, money alone cannot.


  • Benjamin Franklin said: “I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”


  • And, Franklin also wrote: “To relieve the misfortunes of our fellow creatures is concurring with the Deity; it is godlike; but, if we provide encouragement for laziness, and supports for folly, may we not be found fighting against the order of God and Nature, which perhaps has appointed want and misery as the proper punishments for, and cautions against, as well as necessary consequences of, idleness and extravagance? When ever we attempt to amend the scheme of Providence, and to interfere with the government of the world, we had need be very circumspect, lest we do more harm than good.”


Therefore, the best solution for poverty is an economy so great that one parent can, if they desire, support the family working and the other can nurture and train the children while in the home.


We believe it is immoral to practice charity with another person’s property. The Founders referred to the redistribution of property as “legal plunder” and said that theft by majority rule is no different than “a gang mugging a victim in a back alley.”

Samuel Adams: “The utopian schemes of leveling (redistribution of wealth), and a community of goods (central ownership of the means of production and distribution), are… arbitrary, despotic, and in our government, unconstitutional!”


The best vehicle for helping the needy is the local church which can best determine who has legitimate needs, administer relief most efficiently, and rehabilitate those who need it. 


This is NOT a battle with BULLETS, but with

 BOOKS and BALLOTS


We need YOU in this fight!

Our founder, John Putnam is a 10th generation American and the great, great… nephew of Major General Israel Putnam (www.israelputnam.com) who was the commanding officer at the battle of Bunker Hill (War for Independence) who said, “Ye know how to aim boys, aim low, but don’t shoot ‘til you see the whites of their eyes.”  In 1964, John graduated from Mercersburg Academy and was named to the National Prep School All-America Swimming Team.  He is a 1969 graduate of the University of Missouri with a BS in Business administration and holds a Masters in Theological Studies from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. In 2013, he was inducted into the University of Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame.


John began working in politics in 1964 as a teenage member of Young Americans for Freedom supporting Barry Goldwater. John has served as a Precinct Committeeman (PC) on the Jasper County Missouri Republican Central Committee since 1985 and in leadership on multiple occasions as Jasper County Chair, Legislative District Chair, Senatorial District Chair, Missouri Republican State Committeeman, and Delegate to various RNC  National Conventions. In addition to Putnam’s Patriots, John is the Founder of the Southwest Missouri Conservative Network and Citizens for a Decent Environment. Also, past Missouri State Director for Tea Party Patriots.org, the Fair Tax.org, and assistant to the MO State Director of Convention of States. He currently spends most of his time coaching others how to get started in grassroots politics at the PC level and move into leadership positions within the Party.  He also teaches classes to area homeschoolers on the US Constitution and the Jobs For Life curriculum at The Forge in Joplin, MO - a project of Watered Gardens Rescue Mission to homeless men to help advance their working careers. To schedule a speech (in costume if appropriate) or to consult about becoming a Precinct Patriot in YOUR district, contact John at comsense@jscomm.net, or use our contact form. In his spare time, he manages Ozark Highlands Farm, a 220 acre farm in Southwest Missouri where his wife operates four AirBnB cottages providing rural serenity for family gatherings.

 See Putnam speaking on the Principles of Freedom: Part 1 & Part 2

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