After the Tea Parties.... Now What? Here's my Take

Many of you ask me the question about what's next? Yep, we meet weekly to share what's going on and to build a sense of community. Yep, we are now conducting our own training on the Constitution and Internet Activisim. Yep, we are networking with groups all over the state to support and share our time and talent with them.

That's quite a handful. But what it's really about is learning, training, and gaining experience for what faces us in the Fall of 2010.

I've run across quite a bit of buzz about the special Congressional election being held in New York's 23rd district in less than two weeks. It's a three way race between a Dem, a GOP, and an Independent. Because the GOP candidate is a flaming liberal, the Independent, Doug Hoffman, has a great chance to win this election.

Just a bit later in this posting, I will link you to an article on Politico.com that shows what tea party volunteers are doing in this special election. After reading the article, I would like you to do three things.

First, think about what skills you now have and what skills you will need to do exactly what the tea party people are doing in New York.

Second, and just as important, think about the current office holders whom you feel need to get the boot. Don't confine your thinking to Congressional, but also State reps and senators, County commissioners, City councils and mayors, and so forth. After you have picked out one or two, study their records,search for news stories. Learn everything you can about them so you can find the strategy that fits your style that will make the biggest dent to throw them out of office.

Lastly, watch for other potential candidates to run against them. Contact them if you can, and ask about their positions on the issues with the promise that if you really can connect with their platform, you will work FOR them and AGAINST their oppostion, since you have researched the opponent and have ideas how to beat them.

Just remember this. We can rally, petition, call, and write all we want. Those are good efforts now, but they are only a holding tactic. Ultimately, the most effective way to make a real change is at the polls in Novermber 2010 and you MUST be ready to fight that fight.

Now, go read on, link to the complete article and start thinking about the three steps covered above.

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From the Politico.com website:

Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement’s political muscle.

Organizers up and down the East Coast report that activists are making their way into the campaign offices of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, with the volunteers focusing their efforts in Oswego, Madison and Jefferson counties. While tea party organizers say the election is a unique opportunity to hold the Democratic and Republican parties to account, much of their energy is being directed against Dede Scozzafava, the GOP establishment-backed nominee whom they view as a squishy moderate who represents all that is wrong with the Republican Party.

“I went here from Washington, D.C., saying, ‘Now what?’” said Jennifer Bernstone, an organizer for Central New York 912, a Syracuse-based tea party group that so far has about 300 members getting out the vote for Hoffman. “Well, here’s the ‘Now what.’”

Read the complete article here

Are you a Survivor?

Right now I'm reading The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood. The book has instructions on how to go to The Survivors Club website to take a very well put-together test to determine your survivor profile.

I found my style to be that of a "Thinker" (imagine that) with my top three survivor tools being "ingenuity, intelligence, and adaptability." More on this later.

While reading further in the book today, I came across the story of a survivor, Brian Udell, who asa jet pilot was forced to eject from his F-15, travelling over 800 miles per hour, less than 1000 feet over the sea. To summarize his ordeal, he was severly injured, breaking both legs and one arm along with multiple other internal injuries.

Dr. Ken Kamler, who is vice president for education and scientific research for The Explorers Club of New York, and who studies such survivals, was asked about the factors that lead to Brian Udell's survival.

When asked about Udell's ordeal, Dr. Kamler's explained:

"...five out of six people on earth depend on civilization to stay alive. Without eye doctors and corrective lenses, many of us wouldn’t be able to see, let alone earn a living. Without supermarkets, we wouldn’t be able to feed ourselves. Without sewage systems and water treatment facilities, many of us would succumb to cholera and other diseases. “All of us are descendants of survivors,” he says. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.” But with modern society protecting and sustaining most of us, he continues, “we don’t really know if we have that instinct for survival anymore.” Kamler believes in an interesting duality. On the one hand, we’re “far more fragile than we’d like to admit. If our protection breaks down, we die easily.” On the other hand, he says, he’s witnessed the “the body’s enormous capacity for survival.”

I began to wonder. If modern society has become the major mechanism that contributes to our ability to survive physically, does the evolution of a paternalistic government become our crutch to survive our loss of rights and freedom as well?

In other words, I hypothesize that the creeping growth of big national government, progressivism, political correctnes and a movement toward socialism, weakens us mentally and emotionally in our ability to survive on our own without big government.

Some of my friends and neighbors who are alarmed by this trend also seem to be frustrated by not knowing what to do. I don't know if this is just a coincidence or does it tend to support my hypothesis. This hypothesis, if true, scares me.

I thought back to the test. I'm a "Thinker". I have the tools to figure this out. This blog, the people I read and follow on Twitter and books and blogs that I read are providing me with a lot of new information. I think I've figured out that to reverse the movement toward socialism, the two key activities one can engage in are 1) learning and 2) sharing that learning with others.

Learn what you can about history. Learn what the politicians are doing. Listen to and learn from those you respect when they give you analysis and synthesis of current events. Then act.

Find others with whom you share the same alarm. Band together in informal neighborhood and local groups. Discuss and debate. These efforts will provide you a with a better understanding of what's happening. They will give you "talking points" to share with others and with your elected officials.

If you are good at explaining things in a logical way, become a speaker to groups of people who are in the early stages of this new awareness. Don't merely speak, but provide them at places they can go for self-education.

We cannot with this struggle with ignorant voters. Educate yourself, then share yourself with others.

Thoughts on Citizenship Duties

Today, in a spare moment, I thought I would see how high this blog rates on Google. So I checked "Born Again Citizen" and found I came up number 10! Not bad I guess.

But while scanning down the list, I found the number three entry was titled "Confessions of a Born-Again Citizen" and came from the March 29, 1998 issue of the Los Angeles Times. The title piqued my curiousity, so I opened it to read. The article was written by a man, Jario Marin, who had just finished the naturalization process and was waiting anxiously for a notice of when his swearing-in ceremony was to be.

In Jario's case, "born again citizen" meant becoming a citizen of a new land. Through the naturalization process he became more aware of his lack of participation in his former country, and the possibilities of participation here in the United States.

"I used to take my citizenship for granted. Now I take it very seriously. I wonder why I did not vote in my country of birth or why I was not more involved in the political process."

As he progressed thru the classes Jario became aware that,

"The naturalization process makes us born-again citizens; we look around and see that we can be a mentor or a volunteer in a community organization or be involved in a neighborhood watch program. That is what makes an American a good citizen and it is curious to see myself this patriotic."

He continued,

"The greatest of the privileges we earn as new citizens is the right to vote and the confidence that our opinions can make a difference."

It then occurred to me that many natural-born Americans either never have had, or have forgotten the dutes that their citizenship conveys upon them. Just look at the area of voting. Statistics show that usually less than half of our citizens who are eligible to vote, actually vote. According to the United States Elections Project, since 1972 we have never had a Presidential election where more than 60% of those eligible to vote actually voted.

What causes that? Is it a lack of, in Jario's words, "....the confidence that our opinions can make a difference"?

I could go on with the similar questions concerning volunteerism, political activism, charity, and so forth, but I think you get the point.

I would like to suggest a national day be designated, maybe every two years just before Congressional elections, where American citizens can have their own re-affirmation ceremony. The day might be called "National Citizenship Day".

The ceremony should be community-based and have a speaker or two from the community speak briefly about or duties as citizens. Then, as a community, we would all recite aloud a pledge to affirm our duties and recommit ourselves, as American citizens, to our community, state, and nation. To make the gathering even more meaningful, tables could be set up for all sorts of community organizations. At the tables they would showcase their missions and allow people to learn about opportunities to be better citizens and to "sign up" for participation if they chose to do so.

What do you think? Do you have an idea for a better name for the day? Who can write a good pledge?

Just one last thought. Have you ever read the pledge that new citizens take at their swearing-in ceremony? It might surprise you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_citizenship_(United_States).