Building a Coalition: From the Bottom Up, or the Top Down?

My fellow Americans,

I'll tell you today, on behalf of the founding fathers, what we see today happening in this movement.

There are many local groups that have emerged as part of the 912 Project, the Tea Party Groups, and other grass roots efforts that continue to meet, and discuss, what is happening in this country.

All of this is good. A similar effort occurred when my cousin, Samuel Adams, started to gather friends and family and other like-minded people, when he formed the 'Sons of Liberty'. While I did not agree with all his 'Sons of Liberty' methods, the more respectful 'Committee of Correspondence' he also helped established enabled us to become more organized, and allowed us to document the liberties which were being systematically taken from us, almost daily. This Committee of Correspondence spread from town to town, and it was effective in helping to educate all who would hear, what was happening throughout the colonies. It was that sense of shared purpose that helped establish our state as a leader in the long fight to have our liberties returned to us, to 'we the people'

There are also many nationally established groups that have been in existence for many years. Groups such as The Heritage Foundation, The Alliance Defense Fund, Resistnet, Club for Growth, and many others, and my apologies if I have neglected to mention your personal favorite. But it will not, I hope, spoil your read, because there is a lesson in this for us all.

In the years that the above mentioned groups have been in existence, one must ask the question: why have not these groups combined, merged their capabilities, and worked together to achieve the common goals and aims that each of them work so hard at individually? We ourselves, in our struggle, learned very early on that one voice who is complaining about some policy by a tyrannical government is no match for the will of the people, who have combined their power into one strong machine that demands a change in the status quo. And so it would be the same situation here, that if this vast collection of capabilities would combine in some way, would not their message become even stronger as 'one voice'?

And at the national level, these groups which I mention above, all are working to gain members, get donations, they sell books, they sell 'speakers' who will come and speak to a gathering about the liberties which are being taken from us...some of these groups have large, well paid working staff members as well. One has to also ask the question, do these groups really want change, for would it not endanger their very existence and power if change actually occurred? Would not many of these 'companies' be out of business? They do not want to combine because they would lose their power.

For the 912 movement groups, and the tea party groups, one of two types of organizations are emerging. The first, where it all started, was at the meetup level. Concerned citizens gathering in their homes, in small meeting rooms, churches, schools, literally anywhere they could find to simply begin to learn what is happening, where are things heading if nothing is done, and try to find out ways to fight and rally against it. Using the internet, you are exchanging information with each other much in the same way the Committee of Correspondence did in helping to spread the word of injustice your tyrannical government is taking away, in a systematic way, all of your liberties.

The other type of organization that is emerging is that of the large national machine, in which they deploy social networks on the ning system, they use technology such as skype, and ventrillo in order to help bridge the communication gap between large states that are great distances away. They have organization charts that you see, like this one:

http://thenational912project.com/organizationalstructure.html

This site, was started by Patrick Jenkins. Here, there is no hiding behind the keyboard, for as we look at his organizational chart, we see that Patrick is firmly at the top, not necessarily because he was elected to that position, but he sits on the top because he was the person who established the site. Is it a surprise that the top person running the organization is the very person who started the website? I would say no. But at least he appears to be more accessible to the masses, he actually gives out his phone number, but we really do not know his background.

And here's another national website: http://the912project.us/. This site was started by Jared Law. They boast that they have over 15,000 members now. A question that a number of 912ers who belong to his site have said is why have there been no real movement to get more people involved in the administration of the site, get people even more motivated to succeed for the cause. At one point early in the forming of the site, Jared called for nominations of two representatives from each state that would form the 'interim leadership' positions to help guide the next phase of development for the organization. To my knowledge, such an initiative never went farther than his lips, and no action has been taken. And here again, we know nothing about Mr. Law.

And then you have another national group: http://www.thenational912coalition.net/, started by someone named KC Freeman. I don't know if anyone has actually spoken to this person, and I've never seen any resume or qualifications-not even a phone number is anywhere to be found that I've been able to find on the website. And although this site is named with the '912' posting, upon careful inspection, the 9 principles and 12 values are no where to be found. Instead, they have been modified into a different set of precepts, which by the way are quite good and well considered, but I doubt most people on KC's site know this, and I would say is borderline deceptive.

And when it comes to resumes or qualifications, and this is true for all of these groups, it should be remembered that at the first Continental Congress, the minutes will show that when we assembled, one of the first tasks we took was that each delegate presented his qualifications for the congress so that we could know who they were, what their background was, and what made them who they are and why they were here. I have not seen any such disclosure, in fact, I don't know if KC is a man or a woman. I think that when 'leaders' ask others to follow, most followers want to know who they are being led by. It is a perfectly logical question to ask.

So we now come to the point of circling back to the initial premise, as to why some of these national groups, and some of the 912 national groups, do not combine their forces in order to bring all the 912ers under one umbrella. Have any of these national leaders ever talked with each other about combining the groups for the good of the movement? I do not know the answer to this. When I have asked some of the 912 leaders of these national sites about this, the common answer is this: "the other groups are more than welcome to come to my site, we will gladly take the other members into our group". So it seems they are more interested in building their member numbers than advancing the cause. And it is clear that without any discussion like this, there is very little discussion about how to unite the groups, truly unite the groups, under a cause and a set of action that will be coordinated by the 'one voice' that can put the power back into the hands of the people. Could it be that they too do not want to lose their power, in this case, over you?

My fellow citizens, what you are experiencing is power of the many, in the hands of a few. And I believe this is one of the things we are all fighting against in Washington DC, and in our home states and towns. Any organization, large or small, can find the lure of power a very compelling thing, and it can lead to tyranny at every level.

Think about what I have written, and decide for yourself. Who do you wish to follow? Do you wish to follow someone far away that you really may not know at all, or do you put your trust in yourself, and your neighbors? It is clear to me that the way the 912 movement will succeed is through the people, not a few sitting at the top of the throne making gestures about unity without really working toward it. The secret is that the we do not need leaders, we simply need each other. So my advice is to keep working and solidifying your local meetup groups. Organize regionally, get to know neighboring groups from towns nearby. Build a sense of fellowship and common purpose. Educate, and organize in your states, so that you can become first, one voice in your state. Each of the states, , can come together to form a national agenda, much in the same way we did this when we sent representatives to the first Continental Congress. It will likely not happen if you subjugate your rights to a few leaders whose agenda we are not quite sure of.

Respectfully,

John Adams

Citizen Servant of the People

and on behalf of the founding fathers