Best Practices, The Politics of Experience

  " Conservatism is betrayed when it becomes the private property of a narrow economic or social minority... True Conservatism... was shouldered out of the way by moneyed groups that draped narrow interests in the finery of enduring principles... showing little understanding of its stewardship or preserving function.... only a grab bag of fetishes and stereotypes... the 'right' had muffed its big chance..."  James MacGregor Burns. Author, " Roosevelt, The Lion and The Fox."

    I was part of an interesting conversation the other day while attending the Columbus Day parade in Southborough Mass. I had been invited by a good friend who is working on the Question 1 Ballot Initiative,  Vote Yes on 1, Stop the Automatic Gasoline Tax. The President of The Worcester Tea Party, Matt O'Brien was there and we engaged in a conversation which I thought I would share.
    As another election season winds down and the political casualties are counted on the field many Conservatives are beginning to wonder about the ability to take back our country through the election process. We are getting tired of losing. There seems to be insurmountable obstacles placed in our way by both Republicans and Democrats. This season more than the last three reveals a concerted effort from both parties and government itself to unravel the Liberty Movement. No longer is it a case of battling Liberalism but rather the entire apparatus of the political system and process itself; Well oiled campaigns and candidates hell bent on preserving the status quo and maligning any attempts (by the citizens) to return the reigns of power back to the citizens themselves.
    In one part of the conversation Matt mentioned that many of us are caught up in fighting for (or against) causes and edicts handed down from on high, candidates and /or incumbents (for or against). While this is a good thing on the whole the Liberty Movement suffers from fatigue due to the scope and magnitude of the issues and officials. It seems almost every week some new front is opened up somewhere and what ends up happening is we scramble to meet that threat. As Matt said, ".. The scope becomes broad but not deep."
    I couldn't agree more. In fact, I had suggested that perhaps this is intentional. After all we are living under the Alinsky/ Cloward-Piven model to 'overwhelm the system.'

    Matt tabled the idea that we adopt a policy of 'best practices' and begin to focus on the larger picture and better organize the various Tea Parties. Combine our forces, combine the various causes under some sort of cohesion. This has proven difficult from our experience in past conference style meetings. I had attended one such meeting last year where we worked to develop what I called 'A Blueprint For Engagement'. The link to that blog posting is here:
http://thelexingtongreen.blogspot.com/2012/12/blueprint-for-engagement.html

    It was a great idea! It was a perfect plan! Unfortunately very little ever came of it. Matt described to me one time where he sat for twelve hours at one 'conference' style meeting and he suggested they all meet again in 100 days to lay out a platform of some sort to be debated and adopted. No one showed up after the 100 days.
    As JM Burns said, ".. the right had muffed its big chance."

    While we can look at the 25% of votes gained by Mark Fisher as a 'win' in so far as nobody expected THAT big a turn out. I, for one, am not satisfied with nothing less than total victory. It is the same for the Tea Party in my book.
    It is vitally important that we band the TP groups together. The opposition has us running around putting out brush fires while the forest burns down around us. The 'loose affiliation' that defined us at our birth must now be outgrown at some point. The opposition is betting on that not happening. They are betting on us remaining loosely affiliated for it will allow them to continue to fracture the organization and pit one area TP against another. While TP 'A' in one town supports a particular candidate or cause, TP 'B' the next town over supports some one else or something else. We already see this in how politicians and PAC's are forming Tea Party caucuses and special interest groups that operate above and beyond the interests of the local chapters.
    Enter Reed Chambers Jr. from Nebraska;

    Reed is a future guest on the M&P2012 Show and he has developed and implemented a successful way to organize TP groups across his state. The neighboring state of Oklahoma is working to do the same thing under his model. He is also beginning to coordinate on a national level. What Reed calls for is that we organize as a political movement and develop platforms that are to be adopted on a County level first, State level second and then a national level. Mr. Chambers has a long history of working in political groups. He was a Selectman for his town and has been in the tax business since he was a teenager. His family started their business over 75 years ago. Mr. Chambers has seen time and time again the one fly in the ointment of TP's when it comes to filing their tax exempt status.

    Essentially, they are all filing under the wrong code.

    TP's should not be filing under their current 501 status. 501's are specifically designed for 'educational' or 'social awareness' causes. This is possibly why the IRS was so hot on our trail after the 2010 elections. In 2010 TP's scored major wins from local town committees to Congressional seats. Doesn't sound like an 'educational' or 'social awareness' group to me does it? 501's also limit the ability of a TP group to lobby, raise funds, officially back candidates, or front one themselves. It limits our ability to openly advertise as a political group and to directly engage a candidate in order to defeat them. This is what the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were able to do in helping to derail the Kerry campaign in 2004 because they filed, under what Reed called a 527 political organization. They were ABLE to do everything I just listed above. This will empower the TP to work off a central platform and directly engage in the election process.
    Now, this might not sit well with some TP groups who wish to not back a candidate. I understand. What if the TP backs a candidate and that (then elected) candidate persues their own political agenda? Reed has an answer for that.
    We put up our OWN candidate.

    One of the lynch pins of putting together the conferences is that platforms are adopted. We then send those platforms to seated Legislators and candidate hopefuls and (quite simply) ask them if they will adopt these platforms as part of their agenda. If they do not then the TP Conference puts up their own candidate who WILL run on those platforms. Since all the TP's are now 527's they can raise money, file papers for the campaign, run advertisements, get their candidate on the ballot and directly affect the outcome in November. It makes the TP a power player without compromising the founding principles that define the organization: Limited Government, Unapologetic American Soveriegnty and Constitutional Originalism. Considering that virtually every city and town in America has some sort of TP group the possiblities are unimaginable.
    Interestingly enough this might explain the constant media/ governmental drumbeat to denounce the TP. They know that if this were to happen then it would signal the end of Liberalism and Big Government in America.  They have to continue to fracture the organization. For imagine the impact of the 200+ TP groups in Massachusetts alone all filed as 527's and financing their own candidate for Governor.

    It is important to stand up for something and if you do not then sit down. It is important that we begin the process of turning the TP into a mass movement that is well funded, sustainable and carries clout. I wrote in another past blog about NOI The New Organizing Institute. These are some scary characters who are organized, filed as a 527 and actively backing Democratic, Socialist, Progressive causes and candidates. They are actively recruiting people. I signed up under a dummy account while researching for the blog post. I get e-mails and web alerts every week from them. Here is the link to that posting:
http://neworganizing.com/

http://thelexingtongreen.blogspot.com/2014/01/in-world-of-idiots-intelligence-is.html

    In 2009 the Tea Party was born and by the following year elections were being decided as a result of the awakening in America. I remember the rallies in 09 and 10, even Glenn Beck with his 9/12 project, the mall in DC was packed with hundreds of thousands of people each and every rally. By 2012 that pendulum had swung back as the movement floundered. This was also the time when the IRS began its targeting of TP groups. In 2013 when I attended the Defund Obamacare rally in October we were lucky to fill the Capitol Hill lawn with a few thousand people. The co-opting of the movment by PAC's and the stack of election losses in 2012 began to affect the movement. The members responded by pulling out.

    Noted British Psychiatrist RD Laing wrote in his 1967 book, "The Politics of Experience";

    " No group can be expected to be held together for long on the pure flame of such unified experience... Groups are liable to disapear through attacks from other groups... But, the simplest and perrenial threat to all groups comes from the simple defection of its members... the danger of evaporation.."

    The press is watching us and so is the opposition. They see the dwindling numbers and know their tactic is working. They see their policy of divide and conquer creating results. The 'loose affiliation' that was once our strength is now our Achilles heel. Before we could not be pigeonholed on a particular issue or candidate. Now, people are asking. " Well then, what DO you stand for? Who DO you support?" Because our committment is very broad but not very deep we are being ".. shouldered out of the way.." as author JM Burns wrote. We cannot sustain on the "pure flame"  of our cause or we will face the danger of complete evaporation.

....And That Is The Diatribe....

Clusterfuck!!

   
    " ...But when once a standing army is established in any country, the people lose their liberty...Give me leave.... to warn you of your present danger...Recollect the history of most nations...  havoc, desolation and destruction.. by standing armies.." George Mason, the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

    ".... Where-ever standing armies are kept up.... liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction..." Jurist George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries


    In two weeks the Westford Massachusetts Police have stolen $480.00 from me for offences that were long since paid and adjudicated yet... Never entered into the system. Thanks Massachusetts' Court System Computers.. I, am now officially broke for the next week.
    I cannot get any of that money back until October 31'st when the case is finally dismissed. Even though it was dismissed years ago..
    Are you as ready as I am to kick something?

    Perhaps this should be another addition to a series I wrote here known as "Welcome To Bizarro-World"? Because, that is where I am once more. Hell, even Alice soon learned she was deep in the rabbit hole.. I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON!

    The cars are black, sleek, stealthy and souped up beyond what your dad could ever imagine while working on his 72 Nova. According to a recent John Birch Soc. Magazine article published in late September 2014 police cars are required to be DHS compliant in order to receive Federal grants. Chrysler (big recipient of bailout money) now builds a special police package Charger for cities and towns. All of them funded in 'Fusion Centers' under grants from DHS. In the next three years all of our plates will be scan-able from these new cars. All of your life's crap will pop up on the police computer screens in their cars. Not that anything from a terrorist will come up because that will be profiling but your failure to pay some fine or a lapse in insurance payment will warrant a pull over and an arrest of you.. The AMERICAN citizen.
    Oh, and yeah.. Your car gets towed at $200 and $100 a day storage fee.. How the fuck is a working man (or a poor, working, single mother) supposed to pay for this?.. I was under the impression that Liberals were all about the dis-enfranchised...
    Apparently I was mistaken.
    Case in point; My own Chief of Web Security for M&P2012 was arrested and jailed last year. His van was towed. After his release he found out his van was sold at auction because (duh) he was in jail and after 30 days they sell the vehicle because it is de-facto declared as 'abandoned'.  Do these people check records? No. He had personal property stolen by the police and the tow companies contracted by the police from his van. Actual property that was inside that vehicle! Never mind that my friend has (still) the title to his van.
    It was sold at auction. This man is on State Disability. He works on my show under a volunteer basis. I do not pay him.
    Case in point #2; Another good friend bought a used car. It was found to be defective. Under the Lemon Law she sought out to have it repaired (which it was-thank God). However, she was pulled over because her sticker was expired. Under new mandates a car with an expired or no inspection sticker is a tow-able offense.
    I think you all know what happened next.. Yup, it was towed..
    But here comes the rub..

    You cannot get back a vehicle until all claims from the police are met. Insurance, registration and.. A valid inspection sticker.. But, how does one get a valid inspection sticker if you do not have the vehicle that which needs said inspection? Don't you have to drive it INTO an inspection place to be thus inspected?
    Oh, do not be afraid, they have that covered..
    She had to have it fixed and repaired right there at an incredible cost before she could drive it away... All the while being charged each day for storage..
    Nice system we have don't we?  Single mother, low pay, on EBT.. Ya' know.. The whole demographic Liberals are betting the farm on?

    Getting back to my story.. The police in Westford told me point blank that if they see me here again they will tow my truck.
     I work there for a company I have been recently been hired by. I am trying to get back on track but I will not be able to thanks to these tools of the Federals. I explained this to them. Once, long ago, we could tell a police officer our story and he/she would grant us some slack. Sure, they would catch us and catch up on what our status was but we could always go home after we talked and explained.
     No longer.. You are arrested. Property stolen, fines paid out your ass and you still are no closer to SOLVING those problems for which you were stopped for in the first place.
    Clusterfuck!!


....And That Is The Diatribe....

Freedom's March

"This Town Needs an Enema!!" Jack Nicholson, from Batman.

    And a full flushing I would add! Good God in Heaven this state has gone "straight into the dumper", said Archie Bunker.
    Where in the world does a Republican dressed as a Democrat get all the press?

    We have watched this time and time again. We see the one hopeful up on the stage under the lights, in front of cameras, captured on Youtube. A guy from Worcester Mass with a shoe string budget gets candidates to show up for a forum just by posting a Facebook page (me). Yet the massive party money and massive press jilts the grassroots candidates to a 'spoiler level'.. Who decides this crap?
    I have to take off my hat to all of those candidates who stick out their necks, take out loans and put up their house as collateral. Why? Because they believe in this notion of Constitution, of Republic, of service over self to run for office.. I know. I interviewed many of them from across this nation since 2010. It is almost bitter sweet.
    Bitter sweet in that so many step up over and over and over again yet get shafted by the process each and every time. We talk about an election process being the secure foundation of our continued freedoms yet we are all well aware that process is rigged and flawed. We hear about the ocassional 'upset' and we have that collective moment of hope. But, for every 'upset' there are countless losses. Countless losses from candidates who reflect, and carry on, what our Founders envisioned what public service should and must be.

    Public service is NOT a career. It is a calling, much like what a person would do for the church or a missionary. As we get molded deeper and deeper into Socialism that calling becomes clouded amidst the lights, camera and pay scale of such a position. A newly elected official soon learns the money must be mined and generated for the next election. It jades and impedes upon an idealistic candidate who wishes to fix what is wrong. I covered this with my good friend and former candidate for Congress Pat Barron in 2011. I also spoke to Geoff Deihl after my Symposium privately and he admitted that it is all well and good to have these moral compasses.. Then you get elected.. And, you end up in a world of shit creeks and (quite literally) without a paddle. You are left with dealing with what is on the docket and your specific idea gets shifted down the pile somewhere. You are busy raising funds and have little time (nor clout) to put forth your ideas. Vote 'no' on everything and you are seen as an 'outsider'. No one will work with you.  Vote 'yes' and try to compromise on some bills and the constituency that got you elected views you as a turncoat.
   Either way you are screwed as a Legislator. Look at Scott Brown..
   I view Scott Brown as a man of integrity trying to navigate rough waters. He soon learned in his short stint as Senator that this process is a friggen nightmare! To make matters worse? When you wake up from that nightmare you discover that your constituents are sending you e-mails telling you that you betrayed them.
    Either way, you are screwed!

    So, what is the  incentive for a local man/woman to run for this higher calling? In short, there is none save the moral compass of the individual who decides to get hung out to dry in the process.
    Case in point, my good friend and 2014 candidate for State Rep. for the 13th District Worcester, Jackie Kostas. This woman had nothing to gain from tossing her hat into the ring. She could walk away from this tomorrow and no one who would blame her. But she could not stand by one more day and watch her adopted nation slide into the very same nation she escaped from. I covered her campaign earlier this year and here is the link below. I also had the honor of her coming onto my show for an interview and that link is below as well.

http://worcesterherald.com/2014/08/the-campaign-of-jackie-kostas/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DonYphn_iqs&index=72&list=PLU_Z4p-v1UQZSKw62f2lfyrEoRg1xxWNb


    Has she been written up in the local Liberal dominated press? One would think they would, right? She has all the right credentials; Latino immigrant, escaped Communism, took the oath of citizenship. A typical American/immigrant success story. Sounds good, except for one slight problem. She is running as a Republican. More to the point, she is affiliated with a local Tea Party organization. Well, we can't have that now, can we?
    Interestingly, the seated Democratic Rep. Mahoney didn't think he would have to face a challenger (par for the course here in ole' Taxachusetts). Once he got wind of Jackie knocking on doors though he opened up his DNC war chest. But, don't expect Mahoney to be knocking on your door any time soon folks. He'll send some one to do it for him. Jackie, on the other hand, will be glad to meet with you personally.
    These are the people I am talking about. The ones who beat the bricks. They meet so many people they go home exhausted and then: Get up to go to their jobs all day and go back to hit the bricks again.. And Again... And Again..

... And That Is The Diatribe....