| This
page elaborates on the concept of a neighborhood "block party" structure
as the model for further evolution beyond the political protest nature
of the "Tea Party" movement. The challenge is to demonstrate how
conservative principles of Constitutional, limited government can be
applied in practice, from the grassroots level up, as a very successful
pro-growth alternative to the failed "top-down" progressive statist
model of governance as in centrally planned economies.
This outline summary presentation of the suggested local strategy is divided into several
elements:
|
|
Background:
Analysis of the evolution of the Tea Party beyond a protest movement |
| In
2009 - 2010, the "Tea Party" movement rallied hundreds of thousands of
Americans together across the country, and influenced millions of voters
in the 2010 election by exposing the agenda and abuses of power by
political leaders, primarily at the state and federal levels.
This resonated with many Americans because, in our system
of government, "We the People" have delegated specific powers to our
elected officials to perform limited governance tasks on our behalf.
We have not simply given them a blank check to rule over us as they
please, and leave us the bill. |
| That
emerged as a protest movement prompted by a rapid series of legislative
atrocities in Congress during a severe economic recession with high
unemployment, massive federal and state budget deficits and debt
obligations, and concern about excessive government spending and taxes. |
| To
restore growth to the US economy, however, the solutions will not be
found or imposed from the top down in Washington DC or state capitols.
Throughout our history, growth has been driven by private sector
initiatives and entrepreneurial ventures rather than statist central
economic planning. |
| In
that context, the "Tea Party" movement needs to evolve beyond a
political protest movement at the national level, and become a unifying
force for economic development through social networking and pro-growth,
entrepreneurial activities at the local level according to a more
conservative model. We have to replace the
progressive top-down government control model of market intervention
through endless regulations and the creeping growth of programs to
impose a "social justice" agenda to favor specific politically
influential groups. As proven worldwide, that model fails
miserably and breeds political corruption through coercive
redistribution of wealth rather than the creation of it. |
| This
certainly doesn't mean that the task of stopping legislative atrocities
and ensuring greater political accountability to voters in Washington DC
or state capitals is over. There will still be a need for national
political activism to counter the influence of special interest groups,
but the point is that we are shaping the battlefield n our favor.
We may still have limited power and influence at the national level, but
we can achieve far more at the state and local level to protect our
interests. If we become well-organized locally, the power and
resources of state and federal politicians as well as regulatory
officials can be constrained to limit their damage and better support
local leadership. |
|
Counterinsurgency strategy - peacefully defending liberty in American communities |
|
Suggested reading: Army field manual -
Counterinsurgency - December 2006 (public release - 282 pages) -
Despite the military focus on defeating insurgents engaged in asymmetric
warfare, such as terrorism activities, the basic logic applies.
Victory is achieved through local unity of purpose, security,
confidence-building, and team-building activities which build trust
through a series of joint accomplishments which develop and reinforce
local leadership and public support. |
|
Instead of a distant and abstract political or
ideological struggle, the focus is on independent local action to
achieve tangible results on issues which are local priorities within the
context of the larger strategy, but with considerable local tactical
autonomy. The local teams earn trust as their performance improves
and expands. Instead of a top-down structure to impose change
across diverse areas by a single, centralized master plan (as in
progressive statist economic planning), the local teams take the lead
role with support or resources as necessary from the "higher" levels.
In effect, if they need help with something beyond their local
capabilities, they call it in. Otherwise they deal with the
situation swiftly and directly. The "leadership" supports the
front-line engagements with the training and resources necessary for the
local operations to accomplish the mission objectives. |
|
That's obviously a gross simplification of a complex
process, but the point is that the same basic principles apply to the
defeat of radical progressives who dream of consolidating their power to
rule over us in Washington DC and state capitals. Instead, we can
develop local teams to restore liberty to responsible individuals at the
local level to pursue their own dreams. There may be situations in
which local leadership needs to seek support, but the objective is for
such dependency to be a temporary situation rather than a permanent
condition. There needs to be an "exit strategy" or "sunset"
provision so that local authority is not usurped by the concentration of
resources or unsustainable support commitments. Local success is
the "exit strategy". It is a strategy for victory and liberty,
rather than retreat into failure or endless political dependency or
servitude. |
|
Community
organizing: Rules for anti-radicals, or local counterinsurgency tactics |
| For
simplicity, think of a "precinct" as a local political area which
consists of perhaps 1000 eligible voters (whether registered or actively
voting in most elections or not). The actual political "precinct"
boundaries and populations may vary significantly between states, as may
the composition and political preferences or many other attributes of
their residents (ethnicity, education, prosperity, etc.). Some may
be large areas with widely scattered residents, or small densely
populated areas. For the purpose of this discussion, think of a
"precinct" simply as a unit of roughly 1000 adults. |
|
Similarly, think of a "block" not as a physical unit as in a city, but
rather as a smaller concentration of adults within a precinct,
regardless of whether it is an urban, suburban, or rural area.
Whether they live on the same street or not, they would generally regard
each other as neighbors, and probably have many attributes and interests
in common. |
| These
neighborhood "blocks" combine to form the "precincts", which are in turn
part of a larger "community" of many precincts. Regardless of
political boundaries such as township, village, or county lines which
may combine precincts in different ways for municipal, state, or federal
election and governance purposes, the point is that the residents of
nearby precincts will typically have much in common, and thus form a
community which may share many mutual interests among the residents
despite their diversity and individual differences. In simple
terms, they're all in it together. |
| Many
such precincts and communities combine to form Congressional districts
or state legislative districts. The gerrymandering process of
establishing political boundaries for election purposes may enable
politicians to choose their voters to some degree, rather than vice
versa, but voters also have the freedom to organize in faster and more
flexible ways than such redistricting can anticipate.
In other words, voters are under no obligation to be as
predictable as politicians may have anticipated, and they can mobilize
opposition to politicians who try to manipulate or disrespect local
voters. No matter how cleverly the politicians may try to redraw
the maps in their own favor, the voters can still organize to defeat
them. They can only predict voting patterns, not control them.
They may assume that various groups of voters can be expected or
influenced to act a certain way, but the voters remain free to choose a
different outcome than the politicians anticipated. |
| Given
2010 Census figures of roughly 3.1 million Americans - only some of whom
are of voting age and registered or active voters - let's assume that a
typical Congressional district will have between 400,000 and 500,000
registered voters. Turnout in a presidential election year such as
2012 is likely to be high, such as perhaps 75% - 80% of registered
voters. That means one can expect roughly 300,000 - 400,000 votes
to be cast, and thus 150 - 200,000+ votes to win in a two-way election.
Senate races are significantly different since state
populations vary widely, but ultimately the elections are won block by
block, precinct by precinct, in many communities.
Some of the densely populated urban areas may be very
organized by progressives because of their focus on consolidating power
through government to impose their social agenda. There is no
reason, however, why more independent and conservative voters can't
organize locally to defend respect for individual responsibility and a
more entrepreneurial, pro-growth rather than big government agenda. |
|
Restoring
America to Prosperity: one block, precinct, community, and district at a
time |
| One
of the positive development during the "Tea Party" movement was the
parallel development of the "9/12 project" as an initiative to bring
people together locally around shared traditional American principles
and values, regardless of political preference. It started with
the simple idea of getting a handful of neighbors together, such as for
a house party (or a Glenn Beck "listening party"). Over time, the
focus of such groups varied widely according to local interests.
Some concentrated on educational challenges, such as respect for
American history and values, while others shifted focus to a more
religious "awakening" or activism related to specific issues
(healthcare, etc.). Despite the political
independence of such groups in most cases, the conservative nature of
them and the highly polarized political environment of an election cycle
in which progressives were rapidly pushing radical changes to America
blurred the distinction between "Tea Party" protests and "9/12" or other
conservative groups. As they worked with single issue lobbying
groups (anti-tax, pro-life, 2nd Amendment, etc.), it became hard to
discern the differences as the groups or many individual members chose
to work closely together on shared interests, including voluntary
support of relevant political candidates. Different groups were
united in common cause by political opposition in 2010. |
| The
challenge for 2011-2012 promises to be different. The restoration
of "gridlock" in Washington should minimize the flow of legislative
atrocities which would inspire unified opposition. President
Obama, Congress, and state legislatures can probably be relied upon to
provoke conservative voters with more progressive agenda priorities as
well as excessive spending, regulatory actions, and rising debt and
taxes, but they are likely to try to avoid a repeat of the backlash they
prompted in 2010 through their arrogant disrespect for voters. The
rhetoric may change, and many progressive initiatives in the executive
branch bureaucracy won't attract as much attention in the news. We
can probably expect a slower and much quieter flow of atrocities, rather
than a daily barrage of attacks. Like the struggle against
terrorists, we may be shifting into a new phase with less "shock and
awe" confrontation and more of a daily struggle in the shadows outside
of sustained public attention. |
| That
may fit the strategy of the progressive statists as they try to
consolidate the power which they have seized in recent years, but we
don't have to play this game by their rules. Instead, we can focus
on our own path to victory in 2012 and many subsequent elections so that
we drive them out of power by completely undermining public support for
their agenda at the local level. We still may not have the direct
power to stop them in Washington DC, just as we had no such power in
2009-2010, but we can quickly organize through local initiatives by
autonomous action teams in many places. |
| For
example, in most "precincts" of roughly 1000 eligible voters, there are
probably at least 400 who are fairly conservative politically, whether
they identify themselves as Republicans, independents, or even
Democrats. Perhaps more importantly, they are probably already
actively engaged in local activities of some sort according to shared
interests with other residents. Those interests may involve clubs,
associations, sports, churches, charities, business, or many other
things which are not necessarily political or divisive in nature.
They already have reasons to come together socially with
other people in that precinct, community, or district because of shared
interests. Many of these residents already know each other because
of one or more shared interests. They have chosen to voluntarily
meet and collaborate locally in pursuit of those self-interests and
mutual interests. Most of those activities are probably driven by
local leadership and volunteer efforts, rather than directed by a
distant organizational leadership structure. |
| Think
of those as local "social networks" which intersect in many complex and
distinctive ways to shape the nature of a neighborhood, precinct,
community, and district. Every neighborhood in a district may be
very different. When you drill down to the local neighborhood
level, however, you probably discover that they have a lot more in
common, and many mutual interests and friendships. |
|
Intuitive
American values: Defeating the progressive model at the conservative local level |
| It is
at that local level that we can defeat the "divide and conquer" agenda
of the radical progressives who seek to consolidate power at the top by
organizing people to support their own political power ambitions and
social agenda. These "leaders" think they have better ideas about
how to rule over everyone else and achieve progress with somebody else's
money. They want votes at election time and
promise to use their power for vaguely defined causes such as "social
justice" which may sound tempting at first, but what progress have they
actually achieved? Have they just organized others to expand
their own political power and control over the spending or
redistribution of somebody else's money as they please? Have they
really been local leaders at accomplishing real "progress" in their own
community despite limited resources or other challenges, or have they
just been leading people to demand more from others, rather than
themselves? Do they promote the idea of entitlements as rights
which one group of people can vote to themselves through political power
at somebody else's expense, or do they promote individual responsibility
and charity toward others? |
| The
point is that the progressive model intuitively breaks down at the local
neighborhood level. Would you rob a neighbor to help a friend in
your group, or would you work with your friends to help a friend in
need? Would you vote to let your neighbor rule over any aspect of
your personal life or business, or to take away your money for whatever
cause he deems to be worthy at the time? If something needs to be
done in your community, do you wait like a helpless victim until
somebody else decides to solve the problem, or do you choose to work
together with others to solve it even though you are under no obligation
to accept responsibility for making your own community better? |
|
Do-it-yourself
Action Plan - organize your own neighborhood, precinct, and community |
|
Phase I: Initial volunteer team identification and social networking
potential This may be accomplished in one or
just a few days through informal discussions. In short, a few
people who already probably know each other and their own social
networks and the community pretty well just need to decide to work
together on this as a team effort. |
 | Identify a team of 3 - 5 individuals who are
willing to work together as an active volunteer team to organize a
local social network in your "precinct" (not necessarily the same as a
political precinct boundary - and the focus of the initial team
leaders is not necessarily political). |
| Identify the intersecting local activities and
interests of these initial team members, such as local organizations
in which they are actively involved (business, social, charitable,
school, political, recreational, etc.). How many local residents
do they already know pretty well? How many people can they
easily reach through their existing community activities? |
| Identify other local organizations which have
strong networks of participants, whether as active volunteers,
members, or supporters / sponsors. How can the initial volunteer
team leaders become more actively engaged in these existing community
organizations? |
| Identify how a stronger local social network can
support the growth, effectiveness, and collaboration among local
voluntary organizations to help improve the community. For
example, how can local volunteer outreach work help to grow their
local impact? |
| Define the preliminary objectives and priorities
for the group in terms of the potential impact in the community (not
just in terms of election results). This should evolve as more
volunteers join and share further ideas, but there needs to be an
initial reason for others to join up. |
|
|
Phase II: Initial network outreach efforts by the team leaders
The first 3 - 5 volunteer team leaders try to each
identify and talk to a further 3 - 5 friends or neighbors about the
initiative, with the goal of soon finding about 15 - 20 fairly active
potential volunteers who have their own local interests and social
networks. A priority should be outreach to individuals who are
already known to be actively involved in other local organizations.
This can probably be accomplished within a few days, or a week or two. |
| Reassess the Phase I points with the first 15 - 20
potential new supporters / volunteers. Do they have additional
suggestions? Relevant contacts to introduce to this initial
team? |
| Identify a short-term goal which the initial group
can confidently achieve together soon, such as within a few weeks (or
less) so that some initial momentum and potential is established. |
| Encourage each participant (such as 15 - 20) to
reach out to a further 5 - 10 people they know to raise awareness and
invite participation in the network. This should bring the group
up fairly quickly to an initial scale of perhaps 50 - 100+ potential
supporters. |
| Do something positive in the community together
which has the potential to attract the interest and support of other
people in the area, and reinforce the potential impact. |
| Follow that as soon as possible with a more
ambitious but still attainable action goal so that the initial
momentum is reinforced. |
|
|
Phase III: Targeted network expansion by the initial leaders and
supporters The initial group of perhaps 50 -
100+ people (of which only 3 - 5 may be active team leaders, and 15 - 20
active volunteers) decides who else to try to attract into the group to
grow it to a larger scale in the community. That may involve more
focus on specific blocks or neighborhoods within a precinct, or other
groups across precincts within a community, such as members of existing
organizations..
Each such group can probably ramp up to pretty close
to the eventual scale of participation within the first few months |
| Within a "precinct" of 1000 or so adults, break it
down into groups of perhaps 20 or more people, whether by neighborhood
blocks or shared interests. Try to expand the social network to
reach at least 400 residents (such as 20 groups of 20). Those 20
groups can be united by one or more lead volunteers in each, and
perhaps 3-5 team leaders per precinct. |
| There will probably be some overlap in the social
networks of members in one precinct and neighboring ones in a
community, such as existing organizations in which people from various
neighborhoods are active. Try to identify these connections and
then organize another small team of 3 - 5 leaders within those
precincts to repeat the organizing process. |
| Keep the initial team of volunteers and supporters
challenged and motivated through a steady flow of attainable
objectives and visible accomplishments. People will be more
motivated to invest their own time and active support as volunteers if
they are seeing tangible results and appreciation of their efforts. |
|
|
Phase IV - Viral expansion of activities throughout the surrounding area
Think of the initial group (Phase I) as a "forward
operating base" in new territory with only a handful of trusted local
relationships at first. As that operation grows to scale and
matures, with a pretty steady flow of local accomplishments to establish
a good reputation in the community, start to follow the linkages of
supporters into surrounding areas and set up similar groups there. |
| For example, a community of 15,000 residents may be
regarded as 15 precincts (no matter how the political boundaries may
be drawn). As one precinct is organized, other teams of
volunteers can repeat the process in one or more of the other
precincts, and these groups can collaborate informally according to
their shared interests. In this manner, perhaps 10 ore more such
groups can be organized in the first year, and the remaining precincts
in a second year as the number of volunteers and their local
reputation and capabilities expand. |
| Meanwhile, local leaders in other nearby
communities can follow the same process in parallel to organize
volunteers into stronger local social networks in their areas. |
| Within a Congressional district of 400,000 -
500,000 registered voters, there may be 400 - 500 precincts to
organize in this manner. That would be a daunting proposition
from a top-down perspective, but it only takes perhaps 3 - 5 motivated
volunteers (out of 1000 or so residents) in each precinct to make it
happen. |
| A key to success is the non-political focus of the
volunteer organizing and social network development effort. The
individuals in each precinct remain responsible for whatever they
decide to do together. Whether they choose to work together on
charitable events, school activities, recreational programs, local
economic development, religious interests, or anything else is
entirely up to the people in those local networks. Indeed, there
can obviously be multiple social networks within a community with
diverse interests, as is already the case through many existing
organizations in most communities. |
| The point here is to find new ways to tie the local
social networks together for even greater civic engagement, personal
responsibility, and achievements for the success of a community
through local volunteer efforts rather than reliance on government
programs. |
| That is a fundamentally conservative approach to
community organizing and development by empowering "We the People" at
the local level to address our own interests together voluntarily,
rather than mobilizing voters to seek political power and the transfer
of resources from other Americans to ourselves as a group. |
|
|
Phase V - Restoring political accountability and respect for voters at
the local level We may not be able to
organize 400 - 500 local precinct groups of around 400 voters each in
every Congressional district in the country by November 2012, but even
the emergence of a few thousand very active local groups on a smaller
scale could have a decisive impact. In particular, it may be
easiest to organize local groups in places where residents are the most
frustrated with their own elected officials.
Thus, we don't need to drive this from the top-down as
a national strategy to target specific members of Congress or state
legislatures. If local groups organize, they are perfectly capable
of figuring out among themselves whether they need to elect better
officials in 2012 or at any other time. That also means that these
local networks can "melt the phones" as appropriate whenever their own
elected officials don't live up to their expectations. They don't
need to be told from the top-down. They can restore political
accountability from the bottom up.
|
|
The purpose of organizing these local
social networks is not primarily political. It isn't a channel to push a
specific national or state agenda across communities, districts, and states.
That is the progressive model of community organizing for support of
more centralized
power and a grand master plan which is imposed equally on everyone as a
matter of "social justice", like it or not.. By contrast, this
decentralized model of local autonomy embraces the diversity of every
neighborhood, and challenges the residents of each community to accept
responsibility for their own success. The purpose of this model is to organize for greater local
autonomy and control over the success of their own communities.
That reflects how the local residents define success for themselves, rather than according to
ideas which progressives elsewhere think should be imposed upon
everybody through the power of government. This empowers local
networks of voters to push back against such concentration and abuses of
political power. Instead, it shift the focus back to a more
conservative approach involving individual responsibility for their own
success. It embraces the liberty to pursue happiness in life,
rather than compliance with the will of elitists who want to rule over
us. |
|
Example: support for local charitable organizations
and their activities Local charities
typically have a limited base of volunteers and limited resources, and
may not be able to quickly and easily reach large numbers of people in
the community who might potentially choose to get involved or support
their activities. A well-established local social network which
cuts across specific organizations or interest groups can more easily
and efficiently reach a larger audience of potential supporters.
That can help reduce the overheads associated with fundraising
activities and improve the effectiveness and scope of work of charitable
organizations in a community. Instead of each organization
building up their own membership networks as though they were exclusive
or competing with each other, this can also expand productive
collaboration between local groups on shared interests. |
|
Example: support for community events
Communities may have many types of local events which
bring people together. Aside from parades or veterans events, such
as Memorial Day observances, these may include a wide variety of things
such as social programs, picnics, neighborhood block parties, farmers
markets, concerts, cultural events, historical programs, local school
programs, or anything else of interest to many residents.
An efficient social network can more easily spread the
word and encourage greater participation in such activities as a way to
bring people of the community together around shared interests or fun
opportunities for people of all ages. This involves more than
simply publishing an events calendar online or in a local paper.
Instead, the social network can actively encourage participation. |
|
Example: support for local religious organizations
An efficient social network can help to promote the
activities of all religious organizations within the area, including not
only church services but also related youth ministries and social or
charitable programs and services. This can also expand local
support for private faith-based schools beyond the base of parents whose
children may attend them as an alternative to public schools. |
|
Example: support for the elderly in a community
The elderly in a community may need many services which
rely heavily on volunteers, especially when family members are incapable
of providing adequately for their care. The development of a
strong local social network of volunteers and charitable residents can
help to provide such things as local transportation, shopping, basic
home care, companionship, meals, or support for medical services, long
term care, or hospice care. Volunteers can do many things for the
elderly - and indeed, many of the more active senior members of a
community often volunteer to help others. |
|
Example: support for education in the community
It can be difficult to engage the interest of members of
a community in their local schools until there is an obvious problem,
crisis, or confrontation over some issue. That can create a
needlessly adversarial atmosphere between school boards, administrators,
teachers, students, parents and other voters. By contrast, strong
and well-organized community support can reinforce the ability of a
school board and administration to improve schools, which may include
the need to deal with county or state elected officials. A local
network can maintain a more balanced perspective over time about the
performance of local schools, rather than lurching from one isolated
confrontation to another. If schools are failing, this can also
organize pressure and local initiatives to help fix the problems.
Instead of treating schools as somebody else's problem, people can get
together to fix them. |
|
Example: support for new residents of the community
Who welcomes new residents to a community, and helps them
to integrate into the network of social activities in which they may
choose to participate according to their interests? A
well-organized local network can make the area more attractive to
potential residents |
|
Example: "Neighborhood watch" and security in the
community A well-organized local social
network can collaborate with local public safety specialists to enhance
the safety of a community for all residents and visitors. Instead
of treating such issues as somebody else's problem, residents can take
responsibility for helping to improve public safety. |
|
Example: Public spaces - maintenance, beautification,
and respect Volunteers can help to enhance
the cleanliness, appearance, and natural or built environment of a
community. Instead of accepting unsightly public spaces or
derelict buildings, residents can work together to clean up such areas,
improve the landscaping and maintenance of public areas, etc. |
|
Example: Emergency response, such as post-emergency
assistance Aside from the work of public
safety officials on such things as accidents, fires, crimes, or natural
disasters in a community, there may be other needs which go beyond the
scope of their services or business responses (insurance, damage
clean-up and remediation, etc.) and the usual work of organized
charities in the community. There may be a need for rapid and
flexible response to the unexpected and unpredictable personal needs
which arise in emergency situations. The ability of a strong local
social network to quickly respond to unforeseen needs can have a very
positive impact. Rather than feel like helpless victims who must
fear what would happen to themselves in a similar situation, residents
can become confident that neighbors in the community look out for each
other. |
|
Example: Bridging "us versus them" social divisions -
breaking down local barriers Communities are
not necessarily harmonious or homogenous. There can be many
reasons why one group of residents feels very alienated from another.
Although there may be irreconcilable differences in some situations, the
more common situation is that the relative isolation of groups from each
other causes misunderstandings and suspicions as well as the lack of
recognition of many common interests. A strong, independent social
network which cuts across a wide range of social groups in a community
with disparate interests can help to bring people together as more of a
community, and minimize the "us versus them" divisions into isolated or
antagonistic social groups. The mistrust or misunderstandings can
be overcome by discovering common interests. That can also
minimize the political isolation and exploitation of such groups by
listening, respecting, and empowering them as individuals rather than as
a monolithic interest group to pit against others. |
|
Example: Local business development
A strong local social network can obviously help existing
businesses in a community to become more widely known and utilized by
members of the community. That can include the discovery of local
synergies such as potential supply chain or service provider
relationships. As companies grow, the local network can also help
to put the word out about new job opportunities or local product and
service needs related to such expansion plans. This can speed up
the pace of profitable growth.
The social network can also be a valuable channel for
the recruitment of key local talent through personal referrals. |
|
Example: Economic development and new business
attraction Potential new investors in a
community can be attracted by the existence of a strong local social
network and demonstrable pro-growth attitudes among residents and
community leaders. When planning a major investment project, it
can be far easier to establish operations quickly and successfully in a
very supportive environment. That involves consideration of far
more than just local tax or regulatory burdens and the attitudes of
government officials who want to attract the company. |
|
Example: Political accountability between elections
Most residents don't want to invest much of their time or
attention on political issues or the details of government services.
Like customers of a business, they just want government to perform the
expected tasks efficiently and effectively while they focus on their own
lives and interests. They don't necessarily want to know how every
product they use is designed and produced. They want to know that
it reliably does what they expect at a viable cost. More
government does not equate to more progress, just as more business
overheads or useless or poor quality products don't win loyal customers.
What makes their life better in a significant way? Fleecing other
groups of taxpayers for personal advantage as a favored individual or
group through political influence is not sustainable, and Americans
intuitively recognize that you don't get something of value for nothing.
In that context, a strong local social network can
enhance political accountability between elections by making it easier
for voters to keep track of what their elected officials are doing, and
whether they are doing what they promised at election time or not.
It can become much easier to organize local meetings with elected
officials, and to organize volunteers to support the work of good
officials. That creates the opportunity to develop trusted
relationships and a useful dialogue about issues, rather than a sense of
isolation, irrelevance, apathy, or the expectation of disputes and
confrontation. The social network can build consensus about what
people want, rather than rely on superficial or potentially biased
polls. |
|
Example: Rapid political organization at election time
Most of the time, voters in the local social network
won't be involved in political campaign activities. The elections
are infrequent events. As they approach, however, the social
network can easily introduce candidates to voters, and introduce
volunteers and potential supporters to candidates. That can create
a much more efficient process for campaign organizations to ramp up
rapidly and reach many voters in a more personal and economical way than
mass media advertising. That can reduce reliance on campaign money
and media endorsements, as well as party "insider" support.
The members of the social network need not endorse or
work for any one candidate as a group. That is up to each
individual voter in the network, and the volunteers and leaders of each
group. The network empowers individual voters to become
better-informed and more involved in campaigns, but they remain free to
choose the network activities in which they engage. If they just
want to stick to non-political activities during an entire election
cycle, that is their prerogative as free individuals.
The local social networks therefore remain independent
of any political party or campaign. The members may choose to
favor one party or candidate, but that is not the purpose of the
network. It does not exist to serve as a political power base.
It exists to create a stronger community. |
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