Monthly Archives: May 2009

Subject: You have the power to double the Downsize DC Army

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Have you ever sold Girl Scout cookies, or candy bars for your child’s school, or solicited pledges for a 10K walk to raise money to cure some disease? If so . . .

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You were not only tapping into your friend’s support for your cause, but also their support for you. This personal element can be crucial in overcoming the natural inertia that stops all of us from taking action on behalf of causes we support.

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Personalized invitations to join DownsizeDC.org can make the Downsize DC Army grow faster. Fowarding the Dispatch to friends is great, and it does grow the Army — that action has accounted for most of our growth thus far. But sending personalized invitations to join may be even more effective. It’s also easy . . .

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* Think of someone you know who favors smaller government, and who might like things like the “Read the Bills Act” — it can even be a person to whom you’ve been forwarding Dispatches — your personal invitation may be the only thing needed to get them to FINALLY join, so . . .
:::* Please send them a personalized email asking them to join Downsize DC
:::* We’ve provided sample text below that you can cut-and-paste and/or edit to fit your needs
:::* Try to make it personal. For instance, begin the message Dear Sally or Joe (or whatever the person’s name is)

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Here’s sample text you could use (or edit) . . .

DownsizeDC.org is proud to join 20 other organizations in signing the following letter to Congress urging diplomacy with Iran, not increased sanctions.

MEDIA NOTICE: Today (Friday), Jim Babka is scheduled to appear on “Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes,” starting at 3:05 PM Eastern. Details can be found on the DownsizeDC.org blog.

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Quote of the Day: “A socialist is somebody who doesn’t have anything, and is ready to divide it up equally among everybody.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish comic dramatist

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Subject: Progress Report, April 2009

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Our log-in problem is fixed and more improvements are on the way. Meanwhile, despite our recent technical difficulties, the Downsize DC Army has continued to grow. In this message I’ll tell you . . .

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* How much the Army grew in April
:::* How much pressure we put on Congress
:::* How long it took us to grow the Army by an increment of 1,000

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I’ll also share our thoughts about the growth-goals feedback DC Downsizers gave us, and tell you what marks we’d like to hit in May.

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* The Downsize DC Army now stands at 25,004 — that’s a new increment of 1,000
:::* We grew by a net of 302 new members during April
:::* 710 people registered to use the Educate the Powerful System, which beat April of 2008 by 233
:::* We pounded Congress with 31,730 messages, which was down from April of last year by 6,781 messages, probably because of our technical problems

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We’re constantly growing, despite our recent technical difficulties. But is it fast enough? Not yet. The feedback we got about growth goals seems to average out as follows . . .