Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch
This is the special and important message I “warned” you about yesterday. This is the message I said would unveil something that could be 1,000 times more effective than anything we’ve done before.
To explain this plan I’m going to do something a little different. Below you will find the text of a letter we currently have in the mail. It explains the plan better than anything else I could write, and since I want to make sure everyone sees it I am distributing it through every channel available.
There’s some progress report stuff at the start of the letter, and then comes the big plan. I hope it excites you as much as it excites me.
“The No Legislation Without Representation Conference,”
1,000+ DC Downsizers invade Congress to promote
the “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA)
Dear DC Downsizer,
We ended 2005 with
:
This companion bill to RTBA requires Congress to either write every regulation itself, or to at least read the text of each regulation, and vote it up or down. This would mean . . .
No more creation of de facto laws by unelected bureaucrats. No more delegation of legislative authority to the Executive Branch bureaucracy. No more violation of the separation of powers between Congress and the President.
It would be another step toward slowing government growth by forcing Congress to do it’s job! But this is only the beginning. We aim to create an entire agenda of legislation to restore small, limited, constitutional government.
And we will enact this legislation by recruiting an army of citizen lobbyists to exert inescapable, overwhelming, mind-numbing pressure on Congress. We don’t need to elect new politicians to cause change. We only need to use our constitutional right to petition our government for a redress of grievances. But . . .
We must do so in a forceful way. That’s why, as soon as humanly possible, we’re going to . . .
Invade Congress!
We want to do something that will . . .
- Spread the word about RTBA everywhere
- Place RTBA on C-SPAN, and attract national media coverage
- Join blogs and radio talk show hosts into a mighty coalition to pass RTBA
- Target select members of Congress for special attention – attention that will make them squirm if they don’t sponsor and pass RTBA
- Flood Congress with emails, phone calls, faxes, and . . .
- Bring more than 1,000 DC Downsizers to Washington, DC to meet with their Representatives and Senators to urge the passage of RTBA!
Imagine the Impact!
Imagine the impact of more than 1,000 DC Downsizers roaming the halls of Congress with RTBA buttons, asking their representatives to do their jobs!
Imagine the impact of politically interested Americans watching Downsize DC’s “No Legislation Without Representation Conference” on C-SPAN.
Imagine the impact of me making the rounds of the “talking-head shows” to explain the meaning of this citizen’s revolt against an irresponsible Congress.
Imagine the impact of TV camera’s recording the image of 1,000 DC Downsizers on the steps of Congress.
Imagine the impact on Congressional nerves to have DC Downsizers doing interviews with the local media in their homes towns about RTBA and their trip to Washington.
Imagine the impact of the blog coverage the “No Legislation Without Representation Conference” would generate.
Imagine the impact of so many DC Downsizers sitting in Congressional offices at the same time, politely demanding, on behalf of their constituents back home, that Congress not be ignorant of the contents of the laws it passes!
An exciting but achievable goal!
Can we find ONE PERSON in every Congressional District to attend the “No Legislation Without Representation Conference,” and meet with their Representatives and Senators? That’s 435 people. Can we find two people from each district? That’s 870 people to go to Congress.
- Three people per district would be 1,305
- Four people per district would be 1,704
- Five people per district would be 2,175
There are about 600,000 people in each Congressional district. Can we find one, two, three, four, or five people out of 600,000, who are willing to go meet with each other and Congress?
Can we find a lot of people to attend in many districts, none in others, and still send more than 1,000 people to meet with Congress? What’s possible? It’s up to us to find out.
And the “us” I’m talking about is the Downsize DC staff and all the other DC Downsizers across America. Here’s what we have in mind . . .
Keep It Simple
The Internet provides us with powerful tools to accomplish our goal.
- In 2000 the Dean for President campaign used a website called MeetUp.com to assemble a mighty force of grassroots volunteers to propel Howard Dean into the national spotlight.
- Now we intend to use the same tool to organize our “No Legislation Without Representation Conference,” and our invasion of Capitol Hill.
Here’s how it will work . . .
- Interested DC Downsizers will form MeetUp groups in their Congressional Districts. These MeetUp groups will be registered at MeetUp.com.
- We’ll use our website, blog, and email list to tell people about these MeetUp groups. People will visit MeetUp.com to find out when and where the RTBA MeetUp group for their district meets.
- At these meetings newcomers will learn about RTBA and the “No Legislation Without Representation Conference.” Attendees will volunteer for one or more of the following . . .
1.Attend the “No Legislation Without Representation Conference” at their own expense.
2.Attend if others can help pay the cost.
3.Pay for those who have the time but not the money to go to Washington.
4.Ask friends, family, and workmates to attend the next meeting of the RTBA MeetUp group.
When more than 1,000 commit to go to Washington we’ll set a date and time for the “No Legislation Without Representation Conference.”
But that will be only the beginning. Recruitment will continue right-up to the date of the conference. And MeetUp groups that have recruited at least 5 attendees will move on to execute other projects to promote RTBA in their districts.
We hope you like this plan. Because we need your help to make it happen.
- We need $2,000 and $1,000 contributions to saturate blogs and websites with ads, to generate blog coverage and recruit bloggers to our “Pass RTBA” coalition. Contribute here.
- We need $500 and $250 contributions to book me on scores, if not hundreds of radio talk shows in the coming year, so I can pitch RTBA, promote the conference, and recruit talk show hosts to our RTBA coalition. Contribute here.
- We need $100 and $76 contributions to organize RTBA MeetUp groups and send them the new supporters who come in through our Internet advertising and talk-show appearances. Contribute here.
- We need all the contributions we can get between $25 and $10,000 to start radio advertising in targeted Congressional districts, to demonstrate that we can overwhelm Congress, one member at a time, until we have enough support to force passage of RTBA. Contribute here.
- We need monthly pledgers of $25, $35, $50, $75, $100, and higher to provide secure funding so we can plan ahead and do more things faster. Right now, if you pledged $250 per month, you’d be our largest monthly pledger! Contribute here.
Because once we have the size to force passage of RTBA, we’ll also have the strength to force passage of the other measures we’ll create, like the “No REGULATION Without Representation Act.” Do you want this to happen? Please help us.
Your contribution is our budget. The more you give the more we do. The faster you give, the faster we start, and the faster we invade Congress.
Please contribute today. Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
PS: If you want to see the “No Legislation Without Representation Conference” on C-SPAN this year, then we need your financial support at the start of the year, meaning now. There’s a lot of work to do.
PPS: The best way to get blogs and radio talk show hosts to join our RTBA coalition is to advertise on their shows and blogs. That takes money. Please contribute.