Work with Gary for More Community, Less Olympia

Notes on Nov. 16th Meeting of the Captains of the Fighting 32nd The meeting started with a quick analysis of the election results by Gary and others:

• We did even worse in the general than the primary which means that unlike most of the US our independents did not vote anti-incumbent in large numbers because of the climate.
• Looking at area races generally, quality of candidate versus opponent, types of campaigning, amount of money spent, etc. did not affect election except in minor ways.
• Philosophically, voters chose not to raise taxes (except for prop 1 in Shoreline), which means that at least to some degree they share a fiscal conservative philosophy.
• This means that only one factor, the party brand loyalty of the voters, even those who consider themselves independent, determined the election. This loyalty is to party labels rather than individuals.

There are three ways in which brand loyalty is gradually overturned, but all of them require TIME. This explains why insurgent candidates who campaigned for a long time (for example, Elizabeth Scott for 17 months) did better than others, though not well enough to win.  The three methods used to change the political ground are:

1. Divide party brand loyalty with local issues. Ginny brought up the success of Prop One in Lake Forest Park in bringing together Republicans and Democrats. This same technique, using very local issues to create small, local successes.

a.    To Do: Identify local non-partisan races and candidates for them in next year’s elections and start campaigning in these races the beginning of next year. b.    To Do: Use these local races as a method of creating small successes to bind together the Fighting 32nd. These races will capitalize on the organization and methods developed in this year’s race.

2.    Erode party brand loyalty with fear.  People were loyal to their cigarette brands until it was clear that those brands were killing them. This takes a constant stream of information. Voters are not stupid but poorly informed. Voters specially  do not know what is happening in local government. Their concern about taxes makes it clear that they are not indifferent to government spending. We must use the constant drip-drip-drip of bad economic news and government decisions to erode voter confidence in Democrat values and goals, but we can only do that if we have channels to inform them about what is happening.

a.    To Do: Gary is creating a new form of local media, NorthendTV.com, that will allow our local communities to share videos of community events on-line. If we can get people using and watching, this becomes a new media channel for getting voters informed about what is happening., b.    To Do: Jeff sees the need for us to set up an organization, starting with current tea parties group, where local people involved can invite their neighbors in to discuss local issues, giving us a neighbor-to-neighbor connection.  Such a group would have to be non-partisan to contact the independents and democrats we wish to reach. Ray suggested that Emergency Preparedness would be a good issue on which to at least begin such groups.  

3.    Use the Anti-Establishments viewpoint of youth to grow the voter base away from parties. The biggest single problem with the insurgent movement away from more government is that we are not winning the new generation. Young people naturally rebel against authority, parents, and the establishment, which makes them ripe for a philosophy that espouses individual liberty over state control. Yes, teachers are trying to brainwashing them into the government mindset, but their natural reaction is to push back. We need to give them an organized way to do this, to become rebels in the cause of Liberty:

a.    To Do: Reach out to the high-schools and community colleges, developing “individual liberty” insurgent groups against statist control.  The label “conservative” does not play within this environment, but the concepts of personal freedom, responsibility, and opportunity do. We need to rekindle the fight for the American dream, the American adventure of each person making their own way in the frontier of tomorrow rather than following the herd. b.    To Do: In this regard, Gary plans to look for reporters for his NorthendTV.com project primarily among the young, to get them attending and taking an interest in community events.

At this point, Art Coday raised three other systemic issues that he felt also determined the outcome of the elections.

3.    The voting and counting system is flawed.  The use of mail in ballots and centralized counting, invites abuse and fraud. There are many problems with people not getting ballots and invalid ballots being mailed out. One serious flaw is the lack of time allowed for military ballots to get back to affect elections.   Simple systems, such as video surveillance of the counting room are not being undertaken.

a.    To Do: James Watkins in working on an initiative to change the system. Specific are unknown.

4.    The civil service union involvement in campaigns in inherently corrupt. Unions, unlike businesses, are not prevented from monopoly control. As long as civil service unions are allowed to affect elections, the system will be bias in favor of the growth of government spending since unions are the chief beneficiary of the spending. There is a world-wide revolt forming against government workers rewarding themselves to the detriment of tax payers. This is a cause that crosses party lines, though unions themselves always support the party most in favor of growing government spending.

a.    To Do: Start a nationwide or even worldwide organization focused on the problems on unions in government and the specific problems of government compensation far outpacing compensation in the private sector.

5.    The Republican Party must be fixed. At least part of the reason for the strength of the one-party brand is the weakness of the opposing party as a source of support for candidates.  Republicans seem more focused on internal issues of personal position within the party than on winning elections.  The party is divided internally in many different ways, with many different components competing for donations.  

a.    To Do: Top down, the party needs better leadership. Art suggests that we support Kirby Wilbur’s bid for heading the state party. b.    To Do: Bottom up, we need to find PCOs who can be active in their precincts and elect more effective middle management. c.    To Do: Explore the idea of running conservative candidates as Democrats, challenging incumbents with messages that challenge the status quo, but without fighting the battle to redefine the Republican brand (see 8 below).

Ray Coffey saw the organizational issues as more related to the conservative movement than the Republican Party. His interest was not as much on fixing the Republican Party as much as identifying and connecting other "less government" sympathizers in the area so that we can work together.

Jeff Patton said that from his experience in the Tea Party, "less government" types were not organizational people in the same way that Democrats or even party-oriented Republicans are. They were strong individuals who want to work with others, but who do not want to work within a set structure. He sees the movement as more self-organized and self-organizing than as a traditional party structure. The group discussed the Ray’s vision of the movement as a group of like the Minute Men, who worked at their own job but who could be called upon in a moment to join together when action was called for. Jeff suggested that to make this happen, we need three things:

7.    Better information and systems connecting people in the network.  We need to know who people with "less government" viewpoints are and how to contact them. This will require existing tea party people getting more involved contacting their neighbors, reaching out to the immediate community, bringing them together around the kind of local, non-partisan  issues described in item 1 above.  

a.    To Do: We need to give people ways to reach out and connect more people in their community, inviting them to meetings in their homes to discuss issues. Ray’s idea of inviting people in to discus Emergency Preparedness is an example of such a method. This cannot be the Republican Party because it will not attract the Dem and Independents we need to attract.   b.    To Do: We need to get people involved in existing local organizations such as the Neighborhood Associations, using them as a format to connect and get to know people. Where such Associations do not exist, our people would take an active roles in setting them up and getting them recognized.

8.    Better messaging systems to help people position "less government" ideas in our area. Much of the traditional conservative/Republican messaging doesn’t work. Just as the word “conservative” doesn’t sell among young people, many of the traditional talking points of Republicans do not work on those with strong brand party loyalty. We must develop message that put "less government" values in terms that can win others over. The job is winning hearts and minds, not preaching to the choir or fighting those who do not agree. One example is Gary’s message of  “More Community, Less Olympia.” The message of trusting the small, local, and individual over the big, distant, and group works, but not in it’s the traditional political party form.  People love individual freedom and need to trust less in political parties and power of all types. and we must emphasize the Tea Party message of getting government off of people’s backs.  Without a consistent messaging system, we are going to turn off the new people we contact instead of winning them over.

a.    To Do: Develop a set of consistent, local messages that can win people away from the Democratic brand and train people on using those messages in more effective ways.  

9.    Joining with other Tea Party groups for organization and ideas.  We must find out what others are doing successfully in terms of connecting people, drawing others in, and getting messages out. We need more local training in community organizing and more Tea Party groups are realizing this.

a. To-Do: Jeff is going to such a meeting of Tea Parties for Washington state in Ellensberg in January. Gary is going to explore how he might get involved in this.

Next Captains (PLUS ONE) Meeting: Sometime early in January, where we will bring in a larger group.