Plan 2012
Executive Summery
The Goal
To exert the maximum amount of influence on Congressional, State, and local elections to effect the election of Constitutionalist into office in order to retake or strengthen our control of the major political bodies from the House of Representatives down to the City/Town Counsel and School Committee level over the next two election cycles. The end state we seek being either, a reborn Conservative Republican Party or a Constitutionally focused third Party.
The Concept
As a movement identify and then support Conservative/Constitutionalist elected officials and candidates with our combined political influence in the 2010 election. Or when no candidate or incumbent exists engineer the defeat of an incumbent in the 2012 election in order to facilitate the election of a Constitutionalist/Conservative in the 2012 election.
Opening Statement
We are divided: Divided by names, Divided by beliefs, and Divided by distance. We do not have a national leadership. We do not have a plan to influence the political process at any level. What good does all the work, all the organizing, and all the protests do if in four years the same politicians are in office destroying our economy and our constitution.
This is the result of three discussions and blog posts I placed on numerous Group Sites. It is based on feed back from individuals on groups like this. This is not a finished document so please read and comment as often and with as much detail as you can. Each one of the Post and discussions are still open for your review and comment.
Analysis of the Situation
The primary non political factor that was considered when developing Plan 2012 was time. Many of us believe we are already out of time. Others of us say that time is on our side. While still other believe we are not out of time but still only have a short period of time.
For those of you who feel we are out of time:
Our founding fathers believed we should exhaust every political option before resorting to other options. The other options are why we have the Second Amendment. The problem lies with the people of this country for as Jefferson said “all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed”. This Country has become numb to the inheritance our founders provided for us. It is easy to steal away something your victim never new they had. While I sympathies with you our nation is not yet ready, any action you take now will be seen as no different then those taken on September 11. We have not reached the point were the people of the nation are ready for your proposals. It even took a year and three months after Lexington and Concord before we declared our intemperance. So I don’t know why you believe you would have the support of the people of this county if you were to take action your self. If you act now you will not be around to tell the rest of us how rite you were. I would ask that you stay involved in the discussion for we may all need you in the years to come. I have begun making my plans if our Lexington and Concord come. I ask you do the same for we may all need you one day. I just pray we never do.
For those who feel time is on our side:
We have seen the speed that the current administration has moved in the last four and a half months to usurp our Constitution. The brazen manner in witch this President says our Constitution is an “essential constraint” on actions he believes need to be taken. I would ask what actions does this man won’t to take that the Constitution restrains him from taking. All of this while they must still plan for re-election in 2012. What actions will he take once he is no longer restrained by the one thing that all politicians are afraid of; the peoples vote. After the Second World War England embarked on a project to fully socialize their county. The Conservative Party lead by Winston Churchill opposed this plan in the election of 1945 and was soundly defeated. The Labor party ruled Brittan for six years. These six years were followed by thirteen years of Conservative Party rule. Over these thirteen years of rule they were never able to turn back the process of socialization. If the man who is credited it with saving Brittan during World War II couldn’t first stop the onset of Socialism and then turn it back, what amount of time do you think it will take one of us. Franklin said “When the people find that they can vote themselves money; that will herald the end of the republic”. We are on that precipice that Franklin wormed us of. We only have a short period of time to stem and turn the march to Socialism.
It is for preceding reasons it is felt we have until the 2012 election. This plan is designed to retake the House of Representative and as many State Legislatures and Town Councils as possible prior to and during the 2012 elections.
The Rational
Why just the House of Representatives and State level elections and not the Senate or Presidency?
More and smaller elections. Every member of the House of Representatives is coming up for reelection in both 2010 and 2012. The more numerous and closer to the people the election the easier it is to influence. With a two year cycle if a mistake is made or if we wish to remove a Moderate or Liberal candidate in a contestable race we can do so and run or back, our own candidate in two years.
Within the Senate only 1/3 of its member comes up for reelection each cycle. If we were to attempt to influence these races the likelihood of making a difference in the balance of power in small. Why waste our time and energy in areas that won’t make a difference.
Every spending bill originates in the House. Control it and control the money.
Why State legislatures?
All of the points made concerning the size and scale of the House of Representatives races hold true to the State elections. In addition if we fail to stop the Progressives on the Federal level we will need the State Governments as a backstop to the unconstitutional power of the Federal Government.
Execution
The Goal
Our goal should be to exert the maximum amount of influence on Congressional, State, and local elections to effect the election of Constitutionalist into office in order to retake or strengthen our control of the major political bodies from the House of Representatives down to the City/Town Counsel and School Committee level over the next two election cycles. . The end state we seek being either, a reborn Conservative Republican Party or a Constitutionally focused third Party.
The Concept
As a movement identify and then support Conservative/Constitutionalist elected officials and candidates with our combined political influence in the 2010 election. Or when no candidate or incumbent exists engineer the defeat of an incumbent in the 2012 election in order to facilitate the election of a Constitutionalist/Conservative in the 2012 election.
Premise
There are four tools we have available to influence elections; our money, our voices, our time and our votes. By combing these four tools as a movement we can affect the balance of power over the whole of the nation. We could never compete in every individual race so for the sake of simplicity there are only two types of races contestable and uncontestable. We simply leverage all our tools in uncontestable races and focus them into the contestable.
How?
Step one: Organize
The following are the levels of organization that have historically been the foundation for any political movement or party in this country: Precinct, Ward, Town, County/Parish, State Representative District and State Senate District witch often overlap, U.S. House Representative District a State and then National level organizations. For the purpose of this plan the U.S. House District is the highest level of organization needed.
The semblance of National and State Organizations are present within the Groups we are already members of. The problem is we are all on different groups. I know of seven state groups in Rhodes Island alone. This is the first aspect that should be addressed. The National Leaders of each Group would need to work together through their state coordinators and e-mail directories to establish unified state comities. The most obvious initial members of these comities would be the existing state coordinators.
The first actions these committees would need to take would be to organize committees at the town level. Since the state and town/zip code are the most readily available contact information this makes the most logical sense. At this time this is most likely the lowest level the existing online Groups could establish further organization would need to take place by the individuals in each town by ward and precinct. Then up from town, too county/parish, too the State levels addressed earlier.
The first step once all the towns’ members meet would be to elect a leadership committee. Depending on the size of the town group this committee could comprise the entire group. Once town committees are organized these bodies would elect representatives to the state committees to assist the existing leadership. It would be the responsibility of the state and town committees to develop and implement the most efficient leadership structure to affect the political process. The use of “Roberts Rules Of Order” will provide a guide to managing and organizing each committee meeting. Specific techniques and procedures can be developed and distributed as time goes on.
Step Two: Select our Fight
Vet and Categorize and Select Candidates/Incumbents
The ultimate goal of this plan is to elect Constitutionalist to office. So all candidates in a particular election should be vetted to establish their Constitutional knowledge and the level of influence that document will have on the manner in witch they approach an issue or decision making possess. Vetting of Candidates will take place as local as possible. The standards used to do so will be the “Platform” we develop. The localness of the selection is based on the idea that someone has spoken with a candidate prior to their declaring their run for office. This way the person is well know and we are not blinded by the politician. If dealing with an incumbent their voting record and not their words should guide the vetting posses. A politician should never be trusted even if they are a personal friend or family. We must never forget how often a candidate has changed once they are elected. If the current candidate or incumbent do not meet the vetting criteria then the first priority should be to select one of us to eventually run for the office. There are five types of candidates; Constitutionalist/Conservative, Republican Constitutionalist/Conservative, Moderate/Liberal Republicans (RINO), Conservative Democrats (Blue Dog) who generally only run as Democrats in heavily blue collar union districts, and Liberal/Progressive Democrat.
Categorize the Election
There are generally eight types, of what will be called, Elections Contingencies that could dictate our actions. Contingency one: A Conservative/Constitutionalist is the Incumbent in a strongly Republican district. Contingency two: The incumbent is a Conservative/Constitutionalist in a contested district. Contingency Three: The Incumbent is a Moderate or Progressive Republican (RINO) in a strongly Republican District. Contingency Four: Incumbent is a RINO in a contested district. Contingency Five: The incumbent is a Conservative Democrat (Blue Dog) in a contested district. Contingency Six: The incumbent is a Blue Dog Democrat in a strong Democrat district. Contingency Seven: The incumbent is a Moderate to Progressive Democrat (Democrat) in a contested district. Contingency eight: the incumbent is a Democrat in a strongly democratic district.
Step Three: Select our Tactics
Both Parties are focused on one thing. Winning Elections to gain power and doing what is necessary to remain in or return to power. Because of this they will do and spend what ever it takes to accomplish this. What this means for the Democrats is excepting and financing Blue Dogs who run in Moderate to Conservative Districts with the confidence they will fall in line with the Party Leadership. The Republicans are so desperate to regain power and do every thing that is needed to seem politically correct they accept and finance anyone who will claim to be a Republican or Moderate Conservative (RINO) in the hopes they too will control them. We must play these tendencies against each party. In general the Democratic Party could prove more of a finical ally then the Republican.
Each party has its hard corps of philosophical zealots. Those in the Republican Party are for the most part our allies. In the Democratic Party those zealots are the Socialist who threaten our Constitution the most. Our goal should be to assist our allies and defeat the enemies of our Constitution. Our allies should be defined as the Conservative/Constitutionalist Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats so long as certain criteria are met that will be discus later. This should not be an endorsement of the National Party’s but of those in each party that do share our belief in the freedoms the Constitution provide us. Any support we give a member of a political party should be at the local level and should be done so without endorsing or providing support for the National Party Organizations to include providing donations to any national organized campaign or campaign comities to include the Republican and Democratic National Committees, The National Democratic or Republican Congressional Committees, the National Republican or Democratic Senatorial Committee or any other Political Action Comities organized by members of either parties leadership committees.
Our Tools
Disclaimer: Our tactics will revolve around the use of our four tools. The following descriptions are examples of how to use our tools if the candidate running is not a Constitutionalist we have placed in the race from amongst our ranks or a candidate that we would not won’t in place following the 2012 campaign. If the candidate is one of us then we would openly support the campaign in the same manner with out the bundling.
Money: Campaigns are reliant on campaign contribution. The more money a contributor provides the more influence they have. With the exception of a few of us, we don’t have the amount of money to contribute that would permit the contributor access to the Candidate and the actions they take on our behalf. If we pool or bundle our contributions we can increase the influence we can exercise over an election cycle. Because House and local campaigns are conducted on a smaller scale, these types of bundled contributions can have a greater impact on a races compared to Senatorial or Presidential campaigns. Our leadership committees select a representative to represent and offer the bundled contribution to the campaign that has been designated to receive our support. So long as the designated representative does not handle the actual checks there is no requirement to disclose the names of the individual contributors. If done properly the campaign may never know who was involved in the bundle (the checks come in along with normal contributions), with the exception of the representative.
Money talks and politicians listen.
Our Voices: The use of our voices come in the form of three categories; written word in the form of opinion pieces in local news papers, online and letters to the candidates, our literal voices use by verbally endorsing candidates to every one we can (media outlets, call in radio, friends, family and anyone who will listen), direct contact with the candidates and their campaigns articulating what we expect from our elected representative. The more constituents provide input into some aspect of a campaign the more likely a politician will take this input into account when deciding on what issues and policies to support or not support. We must speak with one voice to be heard.
Our Time: Working for campaigns either by volunteering or as a paid staffer provides enormous influence into the operation and direction a campaigns takes. Once again our volunteers could be offered as a bundled package similar to the cash contributions. This way the campaigns never full know which workers are with them or with us. These volunteers would be part of the heart of a campaign, assisting a candidate get their message out along with supporting the implementation of the “get out the vote” strategies. Paid staffers could influence the decision making process a campaign uses and the decisions they arrive at by being our inside voice within the campaign itself. If we run the campaign we run the candidate.
Our Votes: This is the most obvious tool we have to influence elections and campaigns. Deliver the candidate a victory through our vote. It would be more advantages for our members to generally register as independence in states that have open primaries. In party specific primaries the election contingency will dictate witch party our member will join for the primary. We will make every vote count.
Contingency Focused Tactics:
Every aspect of this plan relies on our members being in direct contact with each Candidate we support and hold them accountable; weather it be a Conservative, RINO or Blue Dog. Each time our representative is in contact with the candidate it should be reinforced that our support is conditional and if they stray from our platform during the term we will do all we can to unseat them in two years and regardless of the circumstances we will not stop until they are unseated. Never give a candidate second chance to take us for granted.
Contingencies One: In the 2010 election a Constitutionalist/Conservative Incumbent is in a solidly Republican district. Contingency one is our ideal contest and does not require much work on our group’s part and so any one of our tools that members in one of these districts, with the exception of the vote, should be shifted to other districts that require a more aggressive approach. So members in this type of district could volunteer and contribute money, time and their voice to other more contested districts. A representative should be selected to keep the candidate on notice that our support is conditional.
Contingency Two: In the 2010 election a Constitutionalist/Conservative Incumbent is in a contested district. This contingency would require more attention and a moderated amount of direct support. If feasible we should support the weaker Democratic candidate (at the discretion of the leadership comities) with as many of our tools as possible in that party’s primary. This way we attempt to eliminate the stronger of the Democratic candidates and at worst allow them to “beat each other up” prior to the general election. A representative should be selected to keep the candidate on notice that our support is conditional.
Contingency Three: In the 2010 election the Incumbent is a Moderate or Progressive Republican (RINO) in a strongly Republican District. In this case the elimination of the RINO would be the goal of our members in this district. Two phases would be used. First select a Conservative to challenge the incumbent in the primary and through all our support behind our challenger. If we loose the primary challenge we support the strongest challenger in the general election. If we can dislodge a RINO in the general and replace with what would be most likely a Blue Dog it would not make a difference which is in the House as they most likely would vote the same way. Then our focus would be to find a Conservative challenger to the Blue Dog to retake the seat in the 2012 election and fully support that candidate. If no Democratic challenger exist mount a third-party challenge to put the RINO on notice and continue to use all our tools until the RINO is unseated.
Contingency Four: In the 2010 election the incumbent is a RINO in a contested district. Follow the same steps as contingency three. If the RINO remains in office continue to use all our tools to influence that candidate’s votes while in office and make them aware that our support can be earned so long as they vote in line with our platform. It is of no concern weather a RION follows our platform because of conviction or just out of fear of loosing reelection. Regardless if any RINO tendency persist the candidate must be unseated.
Contingency Five: In the 2010 election the incumbent is a Conservative Democrat (Blue Dog) in a contested district. Follow the same procedures as a RINO. Only support a Conservative candidate in the Republican primary. If a RINO runs against the Blue Dog then do all we can to prevent a RINO from wining the seat. Like the RINOs, place the Blue Dogs on notice that our support is winnable so long as our platform is followed. Like the RINO it is of no concern weather they follow our platform on the basis of conviction or fear of loosing reelection.
Contingency Six: The incumbent is a Blue Dog Democrat in a strong Democrat district. If the Blue dog is challenged in a primary provide the campaign with all our tools. Ensure the Blue Dog knows our support is contingent on their support of our platform. If they refuse or stray once in office do all we can to unseat them if it even means supporting a Democrat. Regardless of the outcome of the primary if our support is rejected by the Blue Dog or the Democrat wins continue to do all we can to unseat them by running a third party candidate or running our own Blue Dog in the Democratic Primary in the 2012 election. All parties affiliation is for us is a tool to influence the balance of power. Parties mean nothing, how the candidate votes and our influence over that vote does.
Contingency Seven: The incumbent is a Moderate to Progressive Democrat (Democrat) in a contested district. A two pronged approach should be use dependent on the size and strength of our organization. If possible support the most conservative opposition first in the primary then in the general elections. The ability to properly influence both the Democratic and the Republican primaries should be at the leadership’s discretion as to where to attempt to exert our influence will have the greatest impact.
Contingency eight: the incumbent is a Democrat in a strongly democratic district. Do all we can to support a Red Dog in the Democratic Primary. Either stand up our own Blue Dog or run a third party campaign.
Conclusion
Concerning any candidate we support; all efforts should be made to ensure their Constitutional credentials and their willingness leave their current party and assist in the standing up of a third party.
It is my opinion that we would need to begin organizing as soon a possible with a goal of having fully done so by October of this year, with all other aspects commencing as soon as possible.
This is again is the culmination of the thoughts of a great many of us. Please read and evaluate each aspect of this document. All that is left is to answer the question what is our platform and to revise this document based on your thoughts. I await your thoughts, detailed and constructive.
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