Sneaky politicians victimize you constantly. Here’s an example from August . . .
The Senate combined a gun control measure with an internet regulation bill and rushed it to a vote.
We had no warning. No time for action. But was your action really needed?
NO!
Oops. Should an activist organization really admit that?
Yes, because our strategy must account for the truth, which is . . .
You’re just one person.
If Senators are determined to do bad things, you alone can’t stop them.
But that doesn’t mean YOU are powerless . . .
All government rests on the consent of the governed. When you’re passive your consent is assumed.
You should actively withdraw your consent.
Ill-behaved incumbents should not be permitted comfort. They need to experience stigma and scorn. The fun should be taken from their job. Whatever remaining conscience they have should be tweaked.
DENY CONSENT! Tell them how they are WRONG, even if you’re all alone and even if you’ll lose the vote, because…
By acting, you set an example.
Besides, while our numbers may be modest, you won’t be alone. But…
To bring about change, you and I need a force large enough to defeat statist criminality.
How do you get there?
Taking action gives you moral influence. You are a person who practices what you preach. And that means…
You can ask others to join you.
The only way we can build the force necessary to cause change is by RECRUITING OTHERS. That means we…
- Take action
- Showing others our stand
- Ask them to join us.
Taking action gains you offensive power — the ability, for once, to set the agenda. But without this…
You will ALWAYS be on the defensive, fighting a losing battle, on the statist's turf, under their rules.
Is that really where you want to be?
Would you like to know how you and I ended up in such a negative, defensive posture?
It's simple. We focused on the wrong target (the politicians) and chose to play defense!
Bluntly: I've led you there. I was wrong.
Now, I want to do something better. I want to focus on a realistic target: The People, instead of the incumbent politicians or electoral politics.
Let's review. The ONLY reasons you send a letter or make a phone call to an incumbent politician are…
- You want to clearly Deny Consent, making the politician uncomfortable with their behavior, even if only a bit.
- You're setting an example that allows you to invite others to make the politician even more uncomfortable.
When enough others join you…
- The moral climate changes.
- The tone of the debate shifts in your direction.
- Political opportunists, who sound like you, will emerge!
- And those opportunists start winning elections!
To make all that happen (AND until our opportunists win), our outreach, our persuasion, and our educational efforts should be focused first and primarily on The People. Your neighbors and friends are…
The key to the change.
To be successful in this mission, you need methods and tools.
Our job is to make your education, outreach, and organizational efforts far easier and more fruitful. We need to build tools for all those you wish to reach. We want to facilitate your grassroots organization.
Our plan is revolutionary.
Downsize DC has existed through two full Presidential terms. We are determined that this next term will be very different. By the end of the “Obamney” term, YOU will have:
- More family and friends joining you
- Many people around you questioning the morality of State-action
- A bigger army of people helping you DENY CONSENT
To achieve the intended effect, my team is creating new websites.
- The Zero Aggression Project will be an educational venture, making a moral case against statism. Our standard will be the Zero Aggression Principle (ZAP)…
No one should initiate harm against another, or delegate doing so to others.
- Deny Consent will provide a platform where, one policy area at a time, you can express your moral outrage at violations of the ZAP.
- DownsizeDC.org will provide populist levers, like the One Subject at a Time Act, which delegitimize the notion that some class of human beings is morally or intellectually capable of telling the rest of us how to live our lives. We'll start by exposing Congress' lack of credibility.
This is a foundational moment, requiring capital. That’s why we are creating a long-term, public acknowledgement of donors who help us, right now.
- It only takes a dollar to get on the list.
- We are listing everyone who gives by the size of their gift (unless they check the box saying they don't want to be on public lists).
- Current pledgers have already made the list, but are welcome to increase their pledges.
Please…
OR
NOTE: We are doing a lot of fundraising right now because there's EXTRA work to do and we NEED your support to build these NEW tools. But we strive to make each of these messages strategically valuable to you, rather than just the typical and hysterical, fear-mongering, partisan appeal you get from most groups.
If you've given recently, then thank you. We hope you enjoy these sagacious Dispatches.
Jim Babka
President
Downsize DC Foundation
& DownsizeDC.org, Inc.