10/22/09 Meeting

We had another great meeting on Thursday (yesterday) with good attendance, and a lot of "audience" participation. Mobsters are such an unruly crowd.

Special thanks to Priscilla, Leonard and George, Committee Commissars, and Terry and Pete for their informative presentations, and to Jack, who I never called on....sorry Jack...blame all those rowdy conservatives!

And thanks for all the other participants who had so much to offer, and such interesting comments and questions.

In the final analysis, we came to an important conclusion:  We have been so bombarded with outrages from the current administration (and their collaborators in Congress) that sometimes it's hard to keep up. It seems that every day there is a new emergency we have to address.  We have so much to do to stop them from destroying out country, that we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and sometimes, scattered.
And it's no damned wonder!

But as a very productive, if animated, exchange at the meeting demonstrated, there is a way to do it all:

We have to prioritize our list...recognizing what is immediately life-or-death critical and pour our efforts into that, while at the same time, not losing sight of the long term strategic planning that will take our movement into the future.

To both ends...our immediate critical battle is over health care. As George pointed out....if we lose this one, we lose our country. We have decided to focus energy in accordance with Michelle Bachmann's advice: Get in touch with our three representatives EVERY DAY...and tell them that we oppose the Democrats' and Obama's "Health Care Reform".

Terry helped us understand that the most effective way to communicate was to FAX their LOCAL offices. They are smaller, use actual FAX machines with actual paper...are more intimate and actually SEE the faxes...whereas D.C. offices are entirely digital, and even faxes are merely listed on a long computer compilation, and reported in batches of for/against. Letters take weeks to be received because of security concerns...they are re-routed to be searched and tested. While they USED to be the most effective, they are not in today's climate.

The order of effectiveness is: FAX, Phone, email....letters (because of the delay) So if you don't have a FAX....call, call, call!

However, in addition to that, George made the point that we should also focus on Democrats who are on the fence about this reform, and tell them that though we are not in their districts or states, we encourage them to do what's best for the whole country, and remind them that while we can't vote against them...we can contribute to their opponents if they vote in favor of this Bill. They will be getting intense pressure from the White House to fall in line, and hearing from a lot of us may help them stand up to the intimidation.

The leading argument today is COST. It is what is causing concern for everyone...even Democrats. I suggest we focus on that. They may not necessarily be amenable to our "Free Market" arguments...but they seem to getting a clue that bankrupting the nation, and their own grandchildren, might not be a good idea!

George has promised to compile a list of those Democrats we should contact...and as soon as he gets it to me, I'll post it, and email to all. Meanwhile...start calling your representatives TODAY...and continue all through the month of November.  Let them know that we Tea Partiers haven't gone ANYWHERE!

As to the longer-term strategy, the fact is that even if we beat this attempt to take over health care, the totalitarians are not going away. They've been trying to do this for decades. And coming as close as they are this time will only motivate them to keep trying. So we have to not only organize OUR community to resist, we need to EDUCATE the rest to do so.

Priscilla reported that the young, who knee-jerkily support the idea of "Universal Health Care" as long as they just hear the title, and believe the sound-bites put out by Øbama, et al. However, once they hear the facts, the cost and the impact on their lives, they change their minds rather dramatically.

Therefore, it was suggested that we reach out to the local youth, and try to educate them about "government health care" so that when it comes up again, as it invariably will...we will have innoculated them against "falling for" the lies. And we will have helped make better, more informed citizens.

To that end, Dwight has volunteered  (or was he drafted?) to reach out to the various local college Republican/conservative groups to start that process. We'll be talking more about how that campaign should work as we go along.

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Another  exciting  development for P912P: To foster and assist continuing communication among all of us, Terry has volunteered to set up a Forum for Peninsula 9.12 Project discussions. You will be getting an invitation to join as soon as it's up and running.

Finally, next meeting, Thursday November 5, we'll be screening "Not Evil, Just Wrong"

"Commencing a full blown attack on the hypocrisy and ill-conceived policies of the modern environmental movement, Not Evil Just Wrong is a feature length documentary that shows how extreme environmentalism is damaging the lives of the most vulnerable populations in the developed and developing world. With examples from Indiana to Uganda the film shows how Global Warming "solutions" will destroy jobs and livelihoods in America during one of the biggest recessions in living memory."

Don't miss it!  See Calendar of Events for details.

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who attended Thursday...and all of you who have and who will. We're building the Liberty Community in San Mateo County. Don't be left out! If you believe in freedom, you can't afford to sit on the sidelines in these perilous time.

But, while they are dangerous...they are also admittedly "exciting" times. Be part of history, and part of the solution. Join the Peninsula 9.12 Project if you haven't already...and come meet us at the next meeting—we're looking forward to meeting YOU!

wtp