The Lay of the Land

A debate within the leadership circle of NoVA912 consumed half of May and a good part of June. We struggled to figure out just who we are, what we stand for, and what we feel compelled to do. We discussed the merits of political action at this late stage in the game and whether or not we even have a chance of influencing those in power. We mulled over the pros and cons of a third party. And one of our members even suggested that he is considering a run for Congress.

Those most actively engaged in this debate (though not all) took the long view. In other words, they felt that ours was a long term struggle and that our focus should be on two fundamental things:

1. seek to reawaken our friends and neighbors through education about the history of our great nation and the principles that form the foundation for our blessed culture and our unique form of government.
2. work with others across the nation to strengthen leadership within the various states with the end in mind of calling a Constitutional Convention to repeal several amendments that have brought undue power to the federal level and weakened the states, and to possibly pass one or two new ones (term limits comes to mind).

We designed a questionnaire and posted it on our forum to get a sense of what our members (then at about 150) actually wanted to do and be. During that same period, I re-watched Bob Basso's Thomas Paine youtube post titled We The People Stimulus Package. He spoke about the general apathy of the American people, and questioned why we were not doing more.

The leadership's dilemma centered around the fact that although many in our group were calling for action, we had no one to actually step up and take a leadership role in that arena. Then, almost as if in answer to prayer, someone did just that at our June 19th meeting. And with that call answered, I came away that night, though exhausted, feeling much better about our group's overall direction.

It is quite clear to me that those of us in this movement are very frustrated with our unresponsive representatives. We grope for the best way to break through the tone deafness in Washington. As we are learning, big money has bought off our leaders, and they no longer truly represent we, the people. The Center for Responsible Politics reports that in 2008, 15,223 lobbyists spent $3,270,000,000.00 (that's $3.27 billion) to buy influence in Washington. Yes, Washington needs a complete overhaul, a total gutting of all legislators, powerful bureaucrats, and other Washington power brokers.

I subscribe to a newsletter called Downsizer Dispatch. It's published by Downsize DC. Their philosophy, which sounded good two years ago when I first began to track with them, is that it does not matter who's in office, what matters is that pressure is put upon whoever is there to vote the correct way. When I first read their philosophy, it seemed right. I became aware of their work around the time of the massive and successful movement to stop the illegal immigration amnesty bill in the spring/summer of 2007. However, after that one success, followed with two years of getting virtually nowhere with this approach, I have determined that their philosophy, though well intentioned, may not work all that well after all. I see this as even more true realizing just how much is spent every year to buy legislator's votes.

We in this movement are also frustrated with our countrymen who appear to be asleep while our incredible country is going down in flames. Drugged by the narcotics of prosperity and personal peace (ie: give me my stuff and leave me alone), millions of Americans seem completely oblivious to the travesty under way right before our eyes.

All of this serves as backdrop and brings me to the conclusion I had earlier come to, that our real battle is not ultimately political, but rather spiritual and cultural. I see this fight as three-tiered.

1. Awakening our countrymen to the crisis
2. Arming our countrymen with the needed weapons (ie: education)
3. Activating our countrymen to become engaged

1. Awakening. This is, I think, the toughest phase of the operation. As long as our countrymen remain in denial, loving their material wealth, their self-centered lifestyles, and their desire to remain undisturbed, little, it seems, can be done to break through. Even God, it would appear, resorts to allowing calamity to get our attention. I have no answer for this critical part of the equation. Prayer, I suppose, is our best weapon at this point (see Call2Fall).

2. Arming. The process of arming our countrymen with sound and fundamentally historic, American ideas will be much easier if their awakening has occurred. An awakening presumes a hunger for learning, for understanding. We are seeing the early stages of this phenomenon now, with record sales of The 5,000 Year Leap, Glenn Beck's Common Sense, and other related materials.

3. Action. If the American people can become awakened and intellectually armed, action will be an automatic response. But action will need to be guided by wise, clear-headed people who will know what, how and when to do what needs to be done.

This, as I see it, is the lay of the land.

JOIN NOVA 912.