Posted on 05/06/2009 7:36:00 AM PDT by SalAOR
Since the Tax Day Tea Parties on April 15, there has been much discussion on what to do with the Tea Party movement after the big protest. Jim Geraghty of National Review’s Campaign Spot suggested that Conservatives get involved and organized at the local level, starting at local city councils and school boards. Getting 1,000 people to show up at a town council meeting would have real impact, and would begin to push a Conservatism from the bottom up, rather from the top down. It may be a longer-term strategy, but possibly a more effective one over time.
(Excerpt) Read more at axisofright.com ...
Couple of good sites for making local contacts are:
www.the912project.us
www.resistnet.com
They both have ‘State Chapters’ you can sign up in.
I like it. My last effort within the Republican Party was disgusting. This is We the People at its best.
O U T S T A N D I N G!!!!
This is how it is SUPPOSED to be done!!!!
Illigitimus non carborundum!
This is where teh movement will be rebuilt.
We start from the bottom up. Get local conservatives on city councils, school boards, county commissions etc...
Then we run for state houses and assemblies. We support with our pocketbooks, labor and volunteerism, all real Conservatives—regardless of Party! We take over the Republican party one parish at a time. It is that or form a new Conservative 3rd Party and support them.
1) We need the Million man March on Washington!
2) We need the Tea Parties to continue at least five times a year!
3) We need creative ways to bring the Anti-Tax message to the people. Suggestions:
a) Someone make up some Future Obama Money with his face
and in denominations of one to 100 million dollars.
That’s what his inflation will create for real.
b) How about an Obama/Bush Joke Book To poke fun at the
people who got us to this place with a whole chapter
on Barney Franks.
c) Bumper Stickers that say: “The Tea was just the beginng
or: Toss the Bums out!
d) Everyone who took part in the Tea Parties should write
three letters! One to Obama, One to the Newspapers and
one to your Congressman. Tell what you feel!
e) Find local Conservatives in your district—real ones,
and support them even if it means sending them a buck.
f) Consider running yourself (Sarah Palin did this).
AGREE WITH ALL YOU SAY — EXCEPT THE MILLION MAN THING TO D.C.
For GOD’S sake — and your grandkids’ — FORGET THE IDIOTIC MARCHES ON WASHINGTON. The political hacks ignore them and the only folks who profit are the airlines, restaurants and motel owners.
“ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL” (Tip O’Neill!)
LET’S KEEP IT THAT WAY!!
Years ago, Georgia Congressman Larry McDonald (YES, a Democrat only because that was the label he had to wear to get elected at the time and when he started voting the Constitution up there, the Dems moved his desk into the cloakroom)!)was working late in his Capitol Hill office when an old college friend knocked on his door. Larry rose and greeted his guest and, after exchanging the usual pleasantries, looking weary and a bit dejected, his friend slumped into a chair.
Larry asked him what was wrong.
With a little sigh, his friend said “Every few years, a group of us have to take time away from our jobs and come all the way up here to meet with our representatives and senators to try to head off some new effort to trash the Constitution. And I often get the feeling that these guys up here just aren’t listening.”
Laughing, Larry offered, “Most of them don’t listen” then added, “You do know, don’t you, that there’s a better way?”
“What’s that, Larry?”
“You and your friends ought to get together at home and find a House candidates who shares your values and get behind him with support and resources and REPLACE those guys who aren’t listening. And if there is no candidate with those qualifications, go out and CREATE one – maybe even run yourself! And if, down the road, the new guy stops listening to you, work to replace HIM. The beauty of the House of Representatives is that the Founding Fathers designed it so that these folks have to come home every 24 months to get their tickets punched by the voters. And as we both know, the taxing and spending occur in the House. If the lower house refused to fund some liberty destroying or unconstitutional agency or program, it just won’t happen
“And voter opinions in those district elections are pretty much NOT controlled by the New York Time, Time, ABC, CBS, NBC and the rest of the leftist so-called main stream media. And THAT’S a real advantage if you’re trying to get a REAL conservative elected to this place.” (And 218 honest, decent America-loving representatives could – on Day 1 – pull all that power previous congresses have shipped down to 1600 back up Capitol Hill where the Founders intended it to repose.)
“But, Larry, how do we convince the rest of the voters that the incumbent needs to be replaced?”
“That used to be a real challenge since poll after poll asking folks what they thought of congress usually got very negative answers. But when asked how they thought THEIR guys were doing up here got responses indicating that THEIR guys were doing a good job. (NOTE: Check at http://www.gradegov.com/ to see how YOUR GUY is REALLY DOING!)
“Does it work, Larry?”
“One of my favorite stories about that is the 16 year-old paperboy out in the Midwest who every quarter paid to print up 10,000 flyers listing how HIS representative was voting and threw them on his route and in another 9,500 lawns in his district – FROM HIS BIKE! After 3 quarters of that, the incumbent was ousted for someone who more closely represented the views of the voters. On election night, the red-faced loser was interviewed on TV and, waving one of the flyers, sputtered that it was a right-wing plot to “get him.” It was GREAT TV.”
“A ‘plot’ by a 16 year-old paperboy.” Larry and his guest laughed.
“And it’s happening all over the country – even in my state, Georgia. My supporters down there are keeping the voters in the 7th informed about my votes up here. Since my only standard is the Constitution, they keep sending me back. So it works both ways: The good guys get reelected and the bad guys get sent home – or hang around as lobbyists.” Another chuckle.
“But what about the presidential election?”
“While important, if we had 300 or so decent representatives up here on the Hill, they’d take back much of the power they’ve shipped down to 1600 over the past years and the 4 year beauty contest would become far less important than it now is. A metaphor for these elections for president, representatives and senate is a 3 card Monte game: While everyone is focused on the card marked with the “P,” the “R” and “S” cards are largely ignored.”
Larry’s friend returned home, got his friends and neighbors working to educate those around them – and within a year, had a new and improved representative.
****************
Around 6 am on a dark morning in the early 80s, 4 of us piled into a car in Atlanta with a few hundred flyers detailing how then Georgia Representative Ed Jenkins and Senator Sam Nunn were voting on issues important to all citizens. Our destination was Hartwell, Georgia and an “Eggs and Issues Breakfast” hosted by a large Hartwell church.
We arrived at the church about an hour early and deployed. As folks arrived for the buffet line, each was handed some of this highly informative literature. As they waited in line, they read and chatted as new information came to their attention. Just before the invited dignitaries were to make their 20 minute speeches (aka, pitches for re-election), we made certain a supply of these flyers made it to the head table. Ed and Sam ate precious little of the fine southern breakfast cuisine before them as they periodically glanced menacingly at the table we occupied. In unison, the 4 of us smiled sweetly and waved.
When Ed and Sam each rose to speak, each devoted 16 or 17 minutes of the allotted 20 minutes TRYING TO DEFEND their DOCUMENTED VOTING RECORDS to an increasingly hostile gathering as we returned Ed and Sam’s constant withering glares with more sweet smiles and waves. It was truly one of the highlights of my early years as a political bomb-thrower. YOU should try it!
After a bit more bomb-throwing in other parts of his district, Ed Jenkins was defeated in the next election. Because he ran state-wide and we lacked the resources and manpower to cover the entire state (and he did begin to clean up his act) Sam hung on for another term or two. (And those 2 year House terms — where the power to tax and spend repose — is where the effort must be concentrated.
Friends, THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES: DOGGED PERSISTENT EFFORT OVER TIME. It’s the only acceptable, non-violent way a system such as ours can be made to operate in any meaningful way.
Recon Dad
That’s a great idea! I love it.
“...Friends, THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES: DOGGED PERSISTENT EFFORT OVER TIME. It’s the only acceptable, non-violent way a system such as ours can be made to operate in any meaningful way.”
Thank you. Great post.
There are already hundreds of Tea Parties planned for July 4th. These are great ways to get more involved at the state and local levels. I’d also recommend promoting Conservatives in these local and state areas - where ever you find them - inside and outside the Republican party:
http://teapartypatriots.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=eventlist&Itemid=2
http://www.teapartyday.com/Locations.aspx - 609 cities with July 4th Tea Parties
http://www.teapartyrevolution.com/#schedule - another list of Tea Parties
http://www.reteaparty.com/teaparties/ - another list of tea parties
Okay, but what do you or we expect to change - exactly and in detail? What do you want? How are you going to get what you want? Here is an idea: http://pushbackuntil.com. But this only deals with the national level. Similar ideas and concepts need to happen at the State and County levels, especially the limit on the amount of money we allow government to spend.
To do this, Push Back Until (PBU) events have to be held not only in D.C. several times a year for 5-10 years if need be, but in State capitols and in major cities. That is the only way we will get our message across. And once we codify the limits to government, we will not have to worry every two or four years which party will be in control: because they will have to follow the limits set by we the people.
Push Back Until!
"Socialism works until Capitalism runs out of money'
“There ought to be a sign you can put in your yard declaring you a member of the Tea Party.”
Cafe Press has some great Tea Party yard signs.
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