Other than going to rallies, what else can I do?
Fight Fiercely!
Tea Party Warrior’s
Field Manual
Without a new era of conservative activism, the
American free enterprise system will be brought to its knees.
NOTE: All underlined words or phrases are hyperlinks
1. Spread the Tea Party message to everyone you know Even after hundreds of protest rallies, many conservative people still have never heard of the Tea Party Movement, or have only a vague idea what it’s about. Who are these political couch potatoes? They are among your friends, neighbors, relatives and co-workers. Some attend your church. Others coach your daughter’s soccer team, cut your hair, fill your prescriptions, repair your car, or service your furnace. Most live nearby, but some reside in other cities or states. Make a list of everyone you know, excluding only those you're sure are committed Democrats. Then, make it your goal to contact at lease two of them each week until you've gone through the entire list. (If you don't work from a list, the odds are high that you'll never get around to calling them all.) Plan in advance what you're going to say. Tell them about the Tea Party Movement, and remind them that bad things can happen when good people sit idly by. Don't be discouraged if some don't jump on board with your first contact. As long as you’re talking to open-minded people, your goal is to gauge whether it's worth calling them with more information at a late time.
2. Grow your list of e-mail contacts
Tea Party preaching must spread beyond the choir, so be vigilant for opportunities to add more names to your Tea Party e-mail group. For example, if you now have five people to whom you send Tea Party e-mails, set a goal to add two new people to your list each week until you’ve reached a total of ten. Once that goal is met, raise the bar. Don't limit your prospect list to just friends and family. Contact every person you can think of to see if they are receptive to receiving Tea Party e-mails. When you find someone who agrees, it's important to be selective about the content and frequency of the e-mails you send. You may be inclined to forward everything you receive, but getting too many e-mails from you can cause your recipients to simply click the delete button whenever they see your name in their Inbox. When deciding which messages to forward, remember that political jokes and unflattering pictures of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi may be funny to some, but will do nothing to gain converts to the Tea Party Movement. Conservative arguments against the Democrat's socialist agenda can be won on their merit, so never forward anything that is sarcastic or disrespectful. Finally, remember one of the cardinal rules of effective e-mails: less is more. The odds that an e-mail will actually be read diminish with every additional sentence it contains, and can disappear entirely as sentences pile into paragraphs. Taking time to make sure that the e-mails you send are as concise and uncluttered as possible will pay big dividends on the receiving end.
3. Help older Tea Party Patriots boost their e-skills
The Tea Party Movement must make maximum use of electronic communications. One thing inhibiting that effort is that many older people don' know much more about e-mails than how to read the ones they receive. If you know such people, help them learn how to enter new names in their address book and set up their own Tea Party e-mail group. Show them how to use Bcc:, and how to remove the “header trash” that automatically appears above the intended message when an e-mail is forwarded. (The most common type of header trash is the “Original Message” information that shows who originally sent the e-mail. Deleting such visual clutter is an important part of e-mail etiquette that takes only a few seconds to perform.) Teach them how to do Google searches and how to bookmark the websites of conservative media outlets, and explain how things like Podcasting, Face Book and Twittering are an increasingly important part of political communications.
4. Form a Tea Party political discussion group
In-home political discussion groups are composed of Tea Party supporters who invite open-minded friends and neighbors to informal meetings about the unsettling changes that are occurring in Washington. The purpose of in-home tea parties is to identify conservatives, independents and buyers-remorse Obama voters who live in your neighborhood, and encourage them to join the Tea Party Movement. Agendas for discussion group meetings are set by the members, with each agenda supported by relevant source materials, such as newspapers & magazine articles and audio & video clips. Members can set their group's monthly agendas from scratch, or can use agenda ideas available elsewhere on this website. After each meeting, guests should be contacted to determine their interest in being invited to future meetings and/or becoming active in the Tea Party Movement. For more information about forming an in-home political discussion group, click the 'In-home Tea Parties' tab at the top of this page.
The media will never disclose the full extent of the far-left initiatives being implemented by the Obama administration and Congress. If that information is ever to be widely known, it will happen only as the result of neighbors talking to neighbors. Going to protest rallies is important, but unless conservative activism also is brought into the heart of our local neighborhoods, those who claim that the Tea Party Movement is a a flash in the pan will be proven right. Much work remains to be done between now and the mid-term elections. You've helped build a rapidly growing momentum for Tea Party public protests. Now, you can take your conservative activism a giant stop forward by bringing the Tea Party Movement into your home.
5. Arm yourself with information
Because of a heavily biased media and widespread apathy among the American electorate, many conservatives are unaware of the full extent of the radical changes occurring in Washington. To be effective at selling the Tea Party Movement to others, make sure you’re armed with information that can help close the sale. If you don't already do so, watch Fox News Channel and listen to conservative talk radio, two sources that regularly expose what far-left ideology is doing to America. Acquaint yourself with other sources of factual reporting and conservative political analysis, such as The Heritage Foundation, The Heartland Institute, American Enterprise Institute, The Cato Institute, Citizens Against Government Waste and The Manhattan Institute, to name a few, and consider supporting these organizations as a member. Sign up for Heritage’s (free) Morning Bell e-mail summaries of current political news. Read editorials in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal, and consider supporting that honest journalistic enterprise with a subscription. Visit sites such as The Hope for America to see videos that expose the damage that unrestrained liberalism is doing to the country. Read conservative publications, such as Townhall Magazine, The Weekly Standard and The American Spectator, and respected conservative blogs, such as American Thinker and Michelle Malkin. Visit the Drudge Report for links to news articles from a variety of columnists and media outlets, and sign up for free e-mails from Dick Morris, one of the most savvy political analysts on the conservative side.
6. Learn the differences between the “isms”
Much of what President Obama and Congress are doing is in extreme variance with the principles of free-market capitalism that made America the most prosperous country the world has ever known. When engaging in discussions about the “isms”, it's useful to be aware of their differences. Briefly:
For most of America's history, the Fourth Estate was an honorable part of the political landscape. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Overwhelmingly dominated by committed leftists who harbor a visceral contempt for conservatives, the mainstream media inflicts incalculable damage to the conservative cause. Modern “journalists” don't give fair coverage to conservative ideas because they view conservatives as morally-defective people whose ideas don't even merit consideration. Rather than reporting the Tax Day Tea Party event for what it was — a peaceful grassroots protest by ordinary citizens exercising their constitutionally-protected right to express their grievances against government — the mainstream media aired numerous reports that characterized “tea baggers” (look that one up on UrbanDictionary.com) as a fringe group of mostly old white people (read: racists) who are bitter that a black man is president, an obscenely false characterization. Journalism used to be a trusted profession, but in recent decades has allowed itself to become a shameless propaganda tool of the Democratic Party. Most major newspapers, including The New York Times and USA Today, and national news magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, have lost large numbers of subscribers, in part because millions of Americans have given up on them for objective reporting. If you’re a customer of a dishonest journalistic enterprise, help speed its demise by canceling your subscription. Similarly, help drive down the already plunging ratings of CNN, MSNBC and the three networks, all of which are heavily biased against conservatives. And, if you are a financial contributor to PBS or NPR, let them continue their own slanted brand of “journalism” without the voluntary contribution of your hard-earned dollars.
8. Support groups that support the Tea Party Movement
Because the Tea Party Movement is quintessentially grassroots, many of the ordinary people who have taken the lead in organizing protest rallies have had to dig deep into their own pockets to pay for things ranging from government permits to portable toilets. Staging public Tea Party events is not a cost-free endeavor, so consider contributing money (and time) to your local Tea Party organization, and to organizations that are involved in the nationwide Tea Party Movement.
9. Make your voice known to your elected representatives
Writing letters and making phone calls to elected officials takes time, so most conservatives never bother to do it. That needs to change, because politicians will take notice if enough voters speak out (In 2007, the Bush-Kennedy amnesty immigration bill went down in flames when a tsunami of phone calls, letters and e-mails forced a reluctant Congress to kill the legislation.) With the large number of radical changes being implemented by the Obama administration and Congress, there are plenty of issues about which you can write or call your elected representatives in Washington:
* Attempts to silence conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel
* The unprecedented assault on the American free enterprise system
* Government-run banks and auto companies
* Attempts to implement cradle-to-grave socialism
* Unsustainable spending on programs that have nothing to do with stimulating the economy
* The unconscionable debt being passed on to future generations
* The push to turn our health care system upside-down with socialized medicine
* Energy "cap-and-trade" proposals that will burden the economy with massive energy taxes
Contact your elected representatives at least twice a month, remembering to make your comments concise, and to always maintain a respectful tone. Keep a log of your letters and phone calls so you can look back to see how many (or few) you've done. Memorize the switchboard numbers of the House (202-225-3121), the Senate (202-224-3121), and the White House (202-456-1414).
It's no disgrace if you're don't know the names of all three people who represent you in Congress, but it will be if you allow that situation to continue. Finding their names and contact information is easy -- just click on Contacting the Congress.
When making your voice known, don't forget to stay in touch with state and local officials. If you're not sure of the names of your governor, mayor, city council representative, and county commissioner, take the time to find that information. Among other issues, state and local governments are increasingly being forced by public sector labor unions to cave in to excessive wage, benefit and work rule demands that make it virtually impossible to slow the expansive growth of government. The severity of this problem is highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article Unions vs. Taxpayers. You also need to know who your school board member is so you can express strong opposition to schoolchildren being indoctrinated with left-wing propaganda, something that has become a malignant epidemic in the nation's public schools. Most recently, thousands of public schools are subjecting students to political brainwashing by showing "The Story of Stuff", a 20-minute Greenpeace video that presents the effects of human consumption from an extreme far-left viewpoint.
The first real chance to derail President Obama’s socialist agenda will be the mid-term elections. Make sure that your conservative friends and family know the names of their elected representatives in Washington, and that they are registered to vote. For the ones who aren't registered, be persistent in politely staying on them until they have. Voter fraud is rampant in heavily Democratic precincts. ACORN, the race-baiting "community organizing" group that received $800,000 in get-out-the-vote funding from the Obama campaign, has been accused of voter fraud in multiple states, the most recent of which are Nevada and Pennsylvania. That's why registering large numbers of new conservative voters will likely be a major determining factor in 2010.
12. Finally, if you’re going to fight, Fight Fiercely!
Most conservatives support the Tea Party Movement, but not all are conservative activists. The outcome of the unprecedented political battle now being waged will determine whether the greatest free enterprise system the world has ever known will be brought to its knees from within by the false promises of socialism. The economic freedom and personal liberties of future generations ride on how intensely each of us is willing to fight for the time-honored conservative principles that are the very foundation of America’s unparalleled prosperity. So, if you’re going to fight to preserve the great country you've known, Fight Fiercely!
Don’t leave the important job of bringing new people into the Tea Party Movement to someone else. Be part of a new era of conservative activism by spreading the word to every person you know.
2. Grow your list of e-mail contacts
Tea Party preaching must spread beyond the choir, so be vigilant for opportunities to add more names to your Tea Party e-mail group. For example, if you now have five people to whom you send Tea Party e-mails, set a goal to add two new people to your list each week until you’ve reached a total of ten. Once that goal is met, raise the bar. Don't limit your prospect list to just friends and family. Contact every person you can think of to see if they are receptive to receiving Tea Party e-mails. When you find someone who agrees, it's important to be selective about the content and frequency of the e-mails you send. You may be inclined to forward everything you receive, but getting too many e-mails from you can cause your recipients to simply click the delete button whenever they see your name in their Inbox. When deciding which messages to forward, remember that political jokes and unflattering pictures of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi may be funny to some, but will do nothing to gain converts to the Tea Party Movement. Conservative arguments against the Democrat's socialist agenda can be won on their merit, so never forward anything that is sarcastic or disrespectful. Finally, remember one of the cardinal rules of effective e-mails: less is more. The odds that an e-mail will actually be read diminish with every additional sentence it contains, and can disappear entirely as sentences pile into paragraphs. Taking time to make sure that the e-mails you send are as concise and uncluttered as possible will pay big dividends on the receiving end.
If a month goes by and you haven't added new names to your Tea Party e-mail group, you really should ask yourself how serious you are about being part of a new era of conservative activism.
3. Help older Tea Party Patriots boost their e-skills
The Tea Party Movement must make maximum use of electronic communications. One thing inhibiting that effort is that many older people don' know much more about e-mails than how to read the ones they receive. If you know such people, help them learn how to enter new names in their address book and set up their own Tea Party e-mail group. Show them how to use Bcc:, and how to remove the “header trash” that automatically appears above the intended message when an e-mail is forwarded. (The most common type of header trash is the “Original Message” information that shows who originally sent the e-mail. Deleting such visual clutter is an important part of e-mail etiquette that takes only a few seconds to perform.) Teach them how to do Google searches and how to bookmark the websites of conservative media outlets, and explain how things like Podcasting, Face Book and Twittering are an increasingly important part of political communications.
4. Form a Tea Party political discussion group
In-home political discussion groups are composed of Tea Party supporters who invite open-minded friends and neighbors to informal meetings about the unsettling changes that are occurring in Washington. The purpose of in-home tea parties is to identify conservatives, independents and buyers-remorse Obama voters who live in your neighborhood, and encourage them to join the Tea Party Movement. Agendas for discussion group meetings are set by the members, with each agenda supported by relevant source materials, such as newspapers & magazine articles and audio & video clips. Members can set their group's monthly agendas from scratch, or can use agenda ideas available elsewhere on this website. After each meeting, guests should be contacted to determine their interest in being invited to future meetings and/or becoming active in the Tea Party Movement. For more information about forming an in-home political discussion group, click the 'In-home Tea Parties' tab at the top of this page.
The media will never disclose the full extent of the far-left initiatives being implemented by the Obama administration and Congress. If that information is ever to be widely known, it will happen only as the result of neighbors talking to neighbors. Going to protest rallies is important, but unless conservative activism also is brought into the heart of our local neighborhoods, those who claim that the Tea Party Movement is a a flash in the pan will be proven right. Much work remains to be done between now and the mid-term elections. You've helped build a rapidly growing momentum for Tea Party public protests. Now, you can take your conservative activism a giant stop forward by bringing the Tea Party Movement into your home.
If the idea of forming an in-home political discussion group makes sense to you, there's no need to wait for someone else to do it. If the decision you make is to think about it, the odds are you'll never get around to it. By being the first to get one started in your neighborhood, you'll set an example for others to follow.
5. Arm yourself with information
Because of a heavily biased media and widespread apathy among the American electorate, many conservatives are unaware of the full extent of the radical changes occurring in Washington. To be effective at selling the Tea Party Movement to others, make sure you’re armed with information that can help close the sale. If you don't already do so, watch Fox News Channel and listen to conservative talk radio, two sources that regularly expose what far-left ideology is doing to America. Acquaint yourself with other sources of factual reporting and conservative political analysis, such as The Heritage Foundation, The Heartland Institute, American Enterprise Institute, The Cato Institute, Citizens Against Government Waste and The Manhattan Institute, to name a few, and consider supporting these organizations as a member. Sign up for Heritage’s (free) Morning Bell e-mail summaries of current political news. Read editorials in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal, and consider supporting that honest journalistic enterprise with a subscription. Visit sites such as The Hope for America to see videos that expose the damage that unrestrained liberalism is doing to the country. Read conservative publications, such as Townhall Magazine, The Weekly Standard and The American Spectator, and respected conservative blogs, such as American Thinker and Michelle Malkin. Visit the Drudge Report for links to news articles from a variety of columnists and media outlets, and sign up for free e-mails from Dick Morris, one of the most savvy political analysts on the conservative side.
If you don't take the time to stay well informed about what's happening on the political scene, you won't have the information you'll need to convince others that they should join the Tea Party Movement.
6. Learn the differences between the “isms”
Much of what President Obama and Congress are doing is in extreme variance with the principles of free-market capitalism that made America the most prosperous country the world has ever known. When engaging in discussions about the “isms”, it's useful to be aware of their differences. Briefly:
Marxism - a form of socialism that foments class envy for the purpose of forcing the creation of a classless society.7. Recognize the mainstream media for what it is: the enemy
Socialism - a stage of society in Marxist theory that is transitional between capitalism and communism; under socialism, private property rights are forbidden, so the means of production are owned collectively, or by the state.
Communism - the final stage of Marxist theory under which a single authoritarian party controls the ownership of all production; under communism, the state decides to whom goods and services are allocated.
Fascism - a political philosophy that places the state above the individual; characteristics of fascism include a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader who imposes severe economic and social regimentation.
Capitalism - an economic system under which private or corporate ownership oversees the production and distribution of goods in accordance with the principles of free-market competition; in all of human history, the only “ism” that has ever produced sustained prosperity is capitalism.
For most of America's history, the Fourth Estate was an honorable part of the political landscape. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Overwhelmingly dominated by committed leftists who harbor a visceral contempt for conservatives, the mainstream media inflicts incalculable damage to the conservative cause. Modern “journalists” don't give fair coverage to conservative ideas because they view conservatives as morally-defective people whose ideas don't even merit consideration. Rather than reporting the Tax Day Tea Party event for what it was — a peaceful grassroots protest by ordinary citizens exercising their constitutionally-protected right to express their grievances against government — the mainstream media aired numerous reports that characterized “tea baggers” (look that one up on UrbanDictionary.com) as a fringe group of mostly old white people (read: racists) who are bitter that a black man is president, an obscenely false characterization. Journalism used to be a trusted profession, but in recent decades has allowed itself to become a shameless propaganda tool of the Democratic Party. Most major newspapers, including The New York Times and USA Today, and national news magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, have lost large numbers of subscribers, in part because millions of Americans have given up on them for objective reporting. If you’re a customer of a dishonest journalistic enterprise, help speed its demise by canceling your subscription. Similarly, help drive down the already plunging ratings of CNN, MSNBC and the three networks, all of which are heavily biased against conservatives. And, if you are a financial contributor to PBS or NPR, let them continue their own slanted brand of “journalism” without the voluntary contribution of your hard-earned dollars.
8. Support groups that support the Tea Party Movement
Because the Tea Party Movement is quintessentially grassroots, many of the ordinary people who have taken the lead in organizing protest rallies have had to dig deep into their own pockets to pay for things ranging from government permits to portable toilets. Staging public Tea Party events is not a cost-free endeavor, so consider contributing money (and time) to your local Tea Party organization, and to organizations that are involved in the nationwide Tea Party Movement.
9. Make your voice known to your elected representatives
Writing letters and making phone calls to elected officials takes time, so most conservatives never bother to do it. That needs to change, because politicians will take notice if enough voters speak out (In 2007, the Bush-Kennedy amnesty immigration bill went down in flames when a tsunami of phone calls, letters and e-mails forced a reluctant Congress to kill the legislation.) With the large number of radical changes being implemented by the Obama administration and Congress, there are plenty of issues about which you can write or call your elected representatives in Washington:
* Attempts to silence conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel
* The unprecedented assault on the American free enterprise system
* Government-run banks and auto companies
* Attempts to implement cradle-to-grave socialism
* Unsustainable spending on programs that have nothing to do with stimulating the economy
* The unconscionable debt being passed on to future generations
* The push to turn our health care system upside-down with socialized medicine
* Energy "cap-and-trade" proposals that will burden the economy with massive energy taxes
Contact your elected representatives at least twice a month, remembering to make your comments concise, and to always maintain a respectful tone. Keep a log of your letters and phone calls so you can look back to see how many (or few) you've done. Memorize the switchboard numbers of the House (202-225-3121), the Senate (202-224-3121), and the White House (202-456-1414).
It's no disgrace if you're don't know the names of all three people who represent you in Congress, but it will be if you allow that situation to continue. Finding their names and contact information is easy -- just click on Contacting the Congress.
The America you've known will become unrecognizable unless the extreme changes being made by the far-left Democrats who now run Washington are strongly opposed. Conservatives who have never contacted those who represent them in Washington must begin to do so. If it's just too much trouble to spend a few minutes a couple of times a month making your voice known, what you're really doing is sitting idly by as the American free enterprise system is being systematically dismantled. If you haven't been in the habit of regularly contacting your representatives in Washington, now is the time to start.10. Know who represents you on the state and local level, too.
When making your voice known, don't forget to stay in touch with state and local officials. If you're not sure of the names of your governor, mayor, city council representative, and county commissioner, take the time to find that information. Among other issues, state and local governments are increasingly being forced by public sector labor unions to cave in to excessive wage, benefit and work rule demands that make it virtually impossible to slow the expansive growth of government. The severity of this problem is highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article Unions vs. Taxpayers. You also need to know who your school board member is so you can express strong opposition to schoolchildren being indoctrinated with left-wing propaganda, something that has become a malignant epidemic in the nation's public schools. Most recently, thousands of public schools are subjecting students to political brainwashing by showing "The Story of Stuff", a 20-minute Greenpeace video that presents the effects of human consumption from an extreme far-left viewpoint.
Don't underestimate the importance of staying in touch with your state and local elected officials, as well as your elected representatives in Washington. Unless you're doing both, you're missing a big chance to help stem government waste and abuse wherever it occurs.11. Help lay groundwork for the 2010 Congressional elections
The first real chance to derail President Obama’s socialist agenda will be the mid-term elections. Make sure that your conservative friends and family know the names of their elected representatives in Washington, and that they are registered to vote. For the ones who aren't registered, be persistent in politely staying on them until they have. Voter fraud is rampant in heavily Democratic precincts. ACORN, the race-baiting "community organizing" group that received $800,000 in get-out-the-vote funding from the Obama campaign, has been accused of voter fraud in multiple states, the most recent of which are Nevada and Pennsylvania. That's why registering large numbers of new conservative voters will likely be a major determining factor in 2010.
12. Finally, if you’re going to fight, Fight Fiercely!
Most conservatives support the Tea Party Movement, but not all are conservative activists. The outcome of the unprecedented political battle now being waged will determine whether the greatest free enterprise system the world has ever known will be brought to its knees from within by the false promises of socialism. The economic freedom and personal liberties of future generations ride on how intensely each of us is willing to fight for the time-honored conservative principles that are the very foundation of America’s unparalleled prosperity. So, if you’re going to fight to preserve the great country you've known, Fight Fiercely!
Fight Fiercely! is the closing line used on all of his correspondence by one of America’s most legendary warriors, BG John C. “Doc” Bahnsen, Jr., (Ret.). A 1956 graduate of West Point, Doc Bahnsen was one of the enemy’s worst nightmares during two tours in Vietnam. His fearless exploits are described in American Warrior: A Combat Memoir of Vietnam, written by best-selling author Wess Roberts, and available on Amazon.com.
The written content of this website may be freely reproduced with or without attribution.
Links
Newest Members
Recent Photos
Recent Videos
0 views - 1 comments
11 views - 2 comments
42 views - 0 comments
22 views - 1 comments
