What Are Your Plans For April 16th – And Beyond
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
The anti-tax “tea-party” rallies scheduled for Carson City, Washington, D.C. and across the country are intended to send a message to our elected leaders that “We’re mad as heck and we’re not going to take it anymore!” Getting the desired attention will matter more through the activities which are carried out between April 16th and the first Tuesday of November 2010.
Those activities need to go beyond being MAD and becoming organized to the point where grassroots based citizens are activated to get behind candidates which are supported and then elected to represent the principles of government that we believe in.
This is not and should not be construed to be partisan election appeal. Neither party has necessarily demonstrated an overwhelming case for recognizing the appropriate role for government (nationally, statewide or locally). It also is more than just promoting conservative values as an end all and be all to make things right. (From a personal perspective, it seems to be more important to practice what you believe and have that be a higher priority than worrying about how your actions are labeled.)
While I am a strong believer in the importance of un-electing our U.S. Senator Harry Reid and bringing an end to his continuing efforts to destroy Nevada’s agriculture (as most recently demonstrated through the use of the federal treasury and his henchmen at the University of Nevada to buy up enough water to undermine the ability of the Walker River irrigation system to survive) – I fully believe the key in accomplishing this result will be more about electing his replacement than un-electing the Senator.
The same principle will translate to the campaigns for Nevada Assembly or Senate members and taking retaliatory actions against those who raise taxes in order to fund increases in Nevada government spending. Staying mad long enough to have the desired effect of bringing about accountability isn’t possible. Instead, using the energy to build needed networks is a far more productive way to spend our time.
From information we’ve been gathering about the lessons learned from President Obama’s success in getting elected, we know that making better use of social networking and communications technology is critical. We need to expand our abilities and learn the skills of how to be effective in the process of getting those we support into office, building proactively as opposed to simply stewing about how bad things have gotten.
Those who believe that expanding the reach of government are currently in control because those who are empowered to have this approach to government got their people elected to make the decisions. You can’t expect to obtain “limited” government through passive hoping…you’ve got to actively do the work of getting champions for limited government into office, with a majority status, to carry out this agenda.
We can take encouragement from the success of rallying the troops to participate in the symbolism of April 15th tea-parties, but in the final analysis the best message to send will be a new majority of legislators in Carson City and Washington, D.C. who are committed to keeping government within the limits that it belongs.
The anti-tax “tea-party” rallies scheduled for Carson City, Washington, D.C. and across the country are intended to send a message to our elected leaders that “We’re mad as heck and we’re not going to take it anymore!” Getting the desired attention will matter more through the activities which are carried out between April 16th and the first Tuesday of November 2010.
Those activities need to go beyond being MAD and becoming organized to the point where grassroots based citizens are activated to get behind candidates which are supported and then elected to represent the principles of government that we believe in.
This is not and should not be construed to be partisan election appeal. Neither party has necessarily demonstrated an overwhelming case for recognizing the appropriate role for government (nationally, statewide or locally). It also is more than just promoting conservative values as an end all and be all to make things right. (From a personal perspective, it seems to be more important to practice what you believe and have that be a higher priority than worrying about how your actions are labeled.)
While I am a strong believer in the importance of un-electing our U.S. Senator Harry Reid and bringing an end to his continuing efforts to destroy Nevada’s agriculture (as most recently demonstrated through the use of the federal treasury and his henchmen at the University of Nevada to buy up enough water to undermine the ability of the Walker River irrigation system to survive) – I fully believe the key in accomplishing this result will be more about electing his replacement than un-electing the Senator.
The same principle will translate to the campaigns for Nevada Assembly or Senate members and taking retaliatory actions against those who raise taxes in order to fund increases in Nevada government spending. Staying mad long enough to have the desired effect of bringing about accountability isn’t possible. Instead, using the energy to build needed networks is a far more productive way to spend our time.
From information we’ve been gathering about the lessons learned from President Obama’s success in getting elected, we know that making better use of social networking and communications technology is critical. We need to expand our abilities and learn the skills of how to be effective in the process of getting those we support into office, building proactively as opposed to simply stewing about how bad things have gotten.
Those who believe that expanding the reach of government are currently in control because those who are empowered to have this approach to government got their people elected to make the decisions. You can’t expect to obtain “limited” government through passive hoping…you’ve got to actively do the work of getting champions for limited government into office, with a majority status, to carry out this agenda.
We can take encouragement from the success of rallying the troops to participate in the symbolism of April 15th tea-parties, but in the final analysis the best message to send will be a new majority of legislators in Carson City and Washington, D.C. who are committed to keeping government within the limits that it belongs.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 4/15/2009 8:04 AM 
Categories: Citizen Involvement
Tags: Tea Parties Citizen Involvement Rallies Elections
Categories: Citizen Involvement
Tags: Tea Parties Citizen Involvement Rallies Elections
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