Many of you no doubt are wondering about this blog; in fact, I've heard from more than one of you that as I am not 'real' then I have nothing worth saying and therefore nothing worth contributing to the discussion about how large groups, with many personalities, can ultimately unite.
Others have written me that they are afraid that I may be a spy, subverting and distracting the 912ers and the tea partyers that what I talk about may be disrupt to the unificaton process.
I can say assurdly, that the goal of the founding fathers is pure; we have no desire to assume leadership roles in the united group-we are long dead and gone, our bodies have been returned to mother earth that gave us life, so that life can be renewed in other ways.
No, our aim is to to help you think about the process by which you will ultimately unite, and not to compel you by requirement, any agenda for a particular process. It will be your own to decide. But I have some experience in this matter of unifying under stressful conditions. I do not need to tell you how pressing and how urgent the current state of our country is in; you know it, and this is what has lit the match and now whose flame is growing stronger.
But how do groups from all over this country actually come together? And how do groups, who are organized by one or two people (who basically control thousands of 'followers' behind their keyboards), unite? There are more than a few sites we have discovered:
http://weare912ers.ning.com/
http://wesurroundthem.ning.com/
http://www.the912project.us/
http://site.the912coalition.org/
...
And the list goes on. If I did not list your site, please email them to me, and I will happily post them. Added to that is the fact that there are regional groups, state groups, and individual meetup local sites, with their own domain names and websites. It is a very confusing business. It may seem like this is a situation only reserved for today's internet age, I can assure you that this is not that special. For in our days, we founders found there to be as many individual interests as there were people. So history can indeed repeat. So how did we handle all of these competing interests?
When we founders were working to unite the 13 states, what we agreed was to convene a series of meetings, which we called the Continental Congress. A very good summary I was able to find here. But there are many books that have been written which describe what went on in much greater detail for those that wish a more scholarly path.
The First Continental Congress showed us, after much debate and discussion, how to assemble a coalition ready to act.
It was not enough to simply assemble, for our mission was not much different than yours is today.
We worked first to organize our states, and then came together in a shared pupose: to assemble an army to repel the tyrannical British empire with their Redcoats and hired mercenaries, and later, to draft, and then ratify, the Constitution of the United States.
We founders believe that convening such a meeting, a Third Continental Congress, should be held when the elected representatives, those that are duly elected by the membership, of all 50 states, are chosen.
We are, of course, particular to Philadelphia, but you have access to electronic meetings that we did not. It would be, we believe, an excellent symbolic message however, if the elected representatives did in fact, meet in front of the very steps we walked those many years ago.
This Third Continental Congress can be used as a forum to discuss how you will establish and govern your national group. It is important to note that we strongly suggest that the word 'elected' is well-defined here. Appointed by a lead organizer of a group does not constitute elected, because an appointment comes from an authority which has been granted by the people. I would submit to you that the organizers now helping to spread the word about the 912 Project, are simply that.
Many of these organizers are working both locally and nationally. But none of them are actually elected by the people. They were simply early in the process, recognizing that they could help assemble people to the cause. And their service to this cause and the tireless hours are very much appreciated by the people. But what we founders suggest is that each state should be represented at the Third Continental Congress, by vote of its state members. In some cases, this could of course mean that the organizers may also be the elected representatives, and this makes perfect sense, because they have been duly elected by the people of the state they reside in.
There will likely be resistance to this by some, and you know from reading our own experience so many years ago in early America, that resistence by the 'leaders' to yield to an approach that is anything but their way should be a strong indication that their motives may perhaps not in line with the motives of the people. So we shall see how those organizers react to this suggested pathway to unity, which again, we share with the people for their due consideration. I again bring back to view the experience we founders had-there is no difference today. Each state had its own organizers, who were resistant to change, and we do not believe it to be any different today.
I look forward to hearing from you about whether you feel this idea makes sense. And when I hear that feedback, I will know whether you, the people, agree with the founders suggestion, or if you reject it in favor of an alternative. We are agreeable either way, so long as the people are deciding, and not one person sitting behind a keyboard. We trust in the citizens of the United States to be able to decide.
If you would like to learn more about how we see this pathway forward, please tell us.
Respectfully, and on behalf of the Founding Fathers,
John Adams
Citizen servant of the People
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