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To Return To a Constitutional Society: The Five Vital Elements
By J. Zane Walley, Executive Director Eco-logic 5/27/03
The fickle pendulum of national will has reached the furthest apex to the left. It is returning to the right and gathering enormous momentum as it swings. Nationally-known conservative leaders and scholars who spoke at the 6th Annual “Sovereignty and Your Rights” seminar in Alamogordo, New Mexico, were unanimous in their opinions, that this is the time, the opportunity, and the break-in-the-ceiling of public opinion, to begin restoring America to the flawless and timeless vision our Founding Fathers held. They are convinced that it is totally feasible to reverse the self-destructive course that America has been traveling.
The information in this small article is reduced to functional essentials. It is not intended to be entertaining, but rather a skeleton “how-to” article. Countless successful political movements, large and small, were researched to provide this blueprint for winning. On the surface, it is a simple plan. In reality, it would require freedom-loving Americans from all walks of life to put aside their differences, egos, territorialism, and sacrifice their leisure time to work hard – and now – to seize this moment.
By understanding the five vital elements that are essential to restoring and maintaining our freedoms, we glimpse “How” it is achievable to take America back from the brink of global socialist government, and return it to a sovereign, vital, and free nation. However, it all depends on one word: “Work.” Words on paper, well-intended plans, and erudite thoughts are as worthless as whining and complaining – unless they are put on the ground and actualized.
The Five Vital Factions
To produce social change in the direction of a more Constitutional society, the major power-holders that constitute advantage points for achieving institutional change must be identified and addressed.
The first element consists of city, county and state politicians and business leaders. Their power consists of the ability to pass official resolutions and laws that mirror the Constitution and Bill of Rights to protect and empower the citizens within their political subdivisions. State government politicians are able to pass legislation, which can deeply shape the regulations governing the conduct of society’s affairs. The courts are also a powerful arena whereby the first faction can effect change.
The strategy most appropriate for influencing local politicians and businesspeople, is that of electoral pressure and lobbying. In a municipal/ county context, one might try to get new, more understanding leaders elected. Holding candidate debates, or publicizing candidates’ positions on key policy issues, so that members of the electorate might vote more knowledgeably, is inexpensive and effective.
Between elections - on specific policy issues - one can “get out the troops” for major local Government decisions. The power of simply “showing-up” for regional government meetings was driven home to me during a flight to Washington. I was seated beside a young Minister from Tucson, Arizona who had, much to the chagrin of the county, established a Christian School at his church. “I show up at all county commission meetings,” he said. Then he grinned and added, “Along with my congregation of over 400 members. Our problems with the county have ceased.”
During a New Mexico Legislative session, I saw the same “showing-up” dynamics in action. A bill favorable to resource providers was debated on the House and Senate floor. For days, grassroots supporters packed the galley overlooking the floor. The legislators could not ignore the considerable crowd. The bill, although “politically-incorrect” to the wealthy environmentalist lobby, easily passed.
The second element, the national bureaucracy, in both the public and private sectors, is in a position to influence public and private decision-makers by conducting research and formulating draft policies and regulations. They create the envelope in which the Constitutional rights are returned to the citizens.
A tried and true strategy for influencing bureaucrats at all levels of government is to do policy work. This involves analyzing the comparative cost and benefits of existing and proposed policies, and demonstrating instances and producing evidence where the advocated Constitutional policies have been implemented with positive results.
Professional lobbyists have the inside tract to the politicos on Capitol Hill, but their impact is minor, compared to a committee of citizens showing up at the office of their elected representatives. Likewise, floods and waves of telephone calls, letters and faxes (with copies to local newspapers and calls to local talk shows) from a representative’s district, tend to sway the official’s votes. Generally, politicians live to be re-elected and are very aware that a public outcry from a body of voters diminishes the odds. Most politicians feel that they cannot act without a strong public mandate.
The third element consists of support from the general public and various social movements and organizations. This support is best buoyed by victories, a phenomenon commonly known as the “bandwagon effect. When concessions and Constitutional initiatives are squeezed from the powers, it creates a standard for even more victories because other citizens begin to realize that they are empowered to create change.
The main strategy for influencing the public is direct action, both political and lifestyle. Political action involves dramatizing key public policy issues such as families and communities destroyed by the Endangered Species Act, or the millions of children that are not allowed to pray in school, or residents not allowed to fly the American Flag, or to use their own private property, or forced to surrender their guns to the state.
Lifestyle action involves one’s daily life. A U.S. Marine Corps standard is “The highest form of leadership is example.” That certainly applies to this endeavor. Joining with, or founding organizations of like-minded Americans in a critical part of the effort.
Joining existing civic groups and working toward a leadership role provides voice and credibility. Small actions like working on local volunteer panels and showing up at important meetings, set the example to encourage involvement and citizenship for others. As people participate in the public process, the experience matures their ideas and values and often quells the utopian idealism spoon-fed to them by the media and the educational system. As the average citizens’ grasp of reality grows, so does his views. The more that people learn, the more they begin to demand that government at all levels support their indivisible Rights as vested in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The Fourth element consists of various “opinion-makers” - those who shape the views of society. The mass, and local, media are pre-eminent among these, though religious and cultural leaders and educators also play an important role. Each of these is essential and enlisting the support of the “opinion-makers” is a major key to societal change.
Influencing the opinion-makers is accomplished by engaging in research and communication. By gathering and authenticating information and evidence on the system’s faults and on promising Constitutional options, and publishing it through suitable outlets, the impact spreads well beyond one’s own collective network.
Local Media is far more approachable than the national media. Most small newspapers are hungry for “Letters to the editor.” Talk shows abound in almost every city and small community.
The fastest growing and most approachable media in America is the Internet. A winter 2002 survey by media research giant, Arbitron, indicated that 32% of Americans depend on television as their major news source. A surprising 30% responded that the Internet was their primary news source. Radio placed third with print publications a distant fourth. Worldnetdaily.com is an example of the growing internet media. Their readership is now larger of that Time and Newsweek combined.
The fifth element is a powerful tool that cannot be overlooked, or indiscriminately used – the massive power of the boycott. In mid-2001, it became public knowledge throughout resource providers, that Ford Motor Company was giving millions in grants to environmental activists who were destroying the livelihoods of countless rural Americans. Grumbles grew to roars, and soon farmers, ranchers, loggers, miners, and indeed, entire communities, refused to purchase Ford products. In 2002, Ford Motor Company suffered a 5.5 billion dollar loss.
The power of the pocketbook is generally underestimated, but the history of creating social change by boycott is well documented. Perhaps the most successful boycott was launched in India when in 1930 Mahatma Gandhi launched a campaign to boycott the British textile industry by making khadi or homespun cloth. The boycott was extended to workers in government offices, British law-courts, colleges and schools. English rule eroded and in 1942, India was granted its sovereignty.
Are you one person willing to stand up for America? Will you task yourself to work hard and long without the expectation or recognition or reward? Will you “vote with your wallet” and not support those who would destroy our rights? Is it worth your time to ensure that your children, grandchildren and all those generations that follow will not be left with merely an empty shell of freedom?
Coach Vince Lombardi stated it simply. “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
In large part, this piece was prompted by the ongoing successes of “Take Back Kentucky.” That organization is the model for fighting back and winning. |