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NAGR Strategy
A message from our Founder, Mike Rothfeld

Fellow Patriot,

Few of the lectures I give on political technology and campaigning make people as agitated as this one.

None is more important.

Simply put, politics is not about the common good, appealing to men’s better angels, nor serving our Lord.

These may be your motivations. I pray they are mine. Occasionally, they will be a politician’s motivation.

Politics is the adjudication of power.

It is the process by which people everywhere determine who rules whom.

In America, through a brilliant system of rewards and punishments, checks and balances, and diffusion of authority, we have acquired a habit and history of politics mostly without violence and excessive corruption.

The good news for you and me is that the system works.

The bad news is it is hard, and sometimes unpleasant work, for us to succeed in enacting policy.

There is absolutely no reason for you to spend your time, talent, and money in politics except for this: if you do not, laws will be written and regulations enforced by folks with little or no interest in your well-being.

The following pages may challenge everything you thought you knew about politics, and everything you have been told about politics from your high school civics teacher to the lead editorial writer in your local paper to the politics “expert” at a respected organization.

But if you read carefully and understand, you will become capable of leading a successful fight for your values. ...

Politicians - Not Education and Not Public Opinion - Make Policy
THE FIRST MISTAKE
Misunderstanding the target
The first mistake most folks make when they set out on a good-faith crusade is to completely misunderstand their targets.

Sometimes, activists make the local newspaper or media the target. The thinking goes, "If we can just get them to understand the problem, things will change." It is fortunate that this is not correct, because the media in the U.S. is overwhelmingly committed to big government, gun control, and the supremacy of state-controlled education over parent controlled education.

The fact is newspapers cast no votes.

The national evening news controls no elections. If this were not true, Ronald Reagan would never have been President.

THE SECOND MISTAKE
Knowledge will make things right
An even more common mistake is to believe that the key to victory is education.
The "education is the key to political victory" theory claims that if we educate people as to the problem and the solution, then the elected officials will fall in line.

Wrong.
Polls show huge majorities of Americans are in favor of Parental Notification before a minor has an abortion. Yet the mere mention of the issue drives most politicians into fits of terror.

Similarly, 75% of Americans oppose forced-unionism and favor Right-to-Work, yet only 27 states have laws in support of this public opinion.

It is important to understand the two reasons why the education theory of politics is a mistake.

First, the theory assumes no opposing "education" effort. This is rarely the case.

Polls showed a majority in California favored education choice, yet the 1992 School Voucher Referendum lost 2-1 on election day. Why? Because the NEA-teachers' union bosses and pro-government-school-monopoly forces out-organized school choice forces, had a more focused message, and spent a lot more money.

The second, and more important, reason the "education is the key" theory fails lies in the nature of politics and politicians.

Policy in the Margins: Why Grassroots Politics Works
It is proven that grassroots politics works.
In any given election, politicians live and die by the efforts of the activists.

Here is why:



In some local and state elections, where turnout may only be 20% of registered voters, the margin is far less than three percent plus one.

The average politician lives in constant fear of alienating any substantial portion of this key group, particularly in a hotly-contested race for re-election or to gain a higher office.

What is the best way not to alienate these voters?
Do nothing to make them mad, which almost always means - DO NOTHING.

This is why even when new politicians are elected, little seems to change. Inertia - or the status quo - is the most potent force in politics.

However, by mobilizing and directing voters rallying around a specific issue, you can change the political environment for a politician or even a group of politicians. One relatively small group can make it more costly for the politician not to act than it is for him or her to act as you want him to.

This is precisely what I mean when I say policy is made at the margins. Political success, or failure, is determined over time by the number and effectiveness of the activists.

This is also why the homosexual lobby, labor unions, and organized groups so often get legislation they want. They have groups of voters who can, and will, vote on their issue alone.

And they often have workers and sometimes money to use against any politician who crosses them.

By becoming a grassroots leader you can too.
That's where the fun, and the danger, begin.

How Politicians React to Pressure
In a better world, you would mobilize, the politicians would immediately agree to do everything you want, the policy would be changed, and we would all live happily ever after.

Of course, it rarely happens that way.

For example, when a provision harmful to home schooling parents was located in the 1994 Education Bill (HR 6), home schooling organizations directed more than a million calls and letters to Congress in just three weeks.

The amendment to strip out the offending language passed the U.S. House of Representatives 434-1.

Another amendment by Representative Dick Armey (R-TX) to positively protect home schoolers passed 374-53.

It was a rout.
The rout occurred not just because the home schooling community was so mobilized (though they were) but because they were mobilized for a very specific purpose, to which there was virtually no organized opposition.

It was an easy decision for members of the House of Representatives.

This is not the case for most controversial issues.
It's certainly not true for any legislation relating to the right to keep and bear arms, abortion, or right to work.

So how will a politician react to your organized pressure when he knows there is, or is certain to be, organized pressure against your position?

The first thing the politician will do is try to make you go away without giving you anything of substance. If he gives you anything of substance, then those organized on the other side will be mad.

Most politicians will attempt to make you quit by intimidation, explanation, or buying you off.

Many politicians - especially those used to being treated like royalty rather than public servants - may try to threaten and intimidate.

Statements such as, "If you ever try something like this again, I'll vote against you for sure," or "I'll tell the newspaper you're a troublemaker," are not uncommon. A rudely spoken, "I don't know who you think you are, but that's not how we do things here, and no one will work with you again," followed by a slammed-down phone receiver is another favorite.

Remember, you are not running for office. The politician is.
And, remembering the three percent plus one voter margin:
double your efforts to mobilize.

Most likely, a politician (whether or not intimidation is attempted) will seek to placate you by "explaining" what he or she calls "the political reality." Sometimes the explanation may be made by a surrogate for the politician: a member of his staff, a lobbyist or even, in many cases, a well-known advocate for your issue.

The message usually takes the basic form of, "I've been doing this for a long time and believe me, I share your concerns but we just can't pass that bill right now," or "even if we could pass what your people want, the Governor (or President or Judge) will kill it," or "It's the best we could do," or simply "We'll lose."

First of all, so what?
Rome was not built in a day, nor is major policy passed overnight.

Sometimes it may take years. But policy will never change if politicians never vote on it.

Policy is changed one vote - one politician - at a time.
Second of all, the reason this is often true is that politicians succeed in ducking difficult votes, thus preventing voters from ever knowing exactly where they stand.

Your job as a grassroots leader is to convey to the politician your supporters' insistence on his or her personal, public and on-the-record support for your position.

Of course, you do want to pass your legislation (or defeat your opponent's legislation), but first and foremost, you want the politician's complete public support. As an aside, a commitment in writing is better than a verbal commitment, and a vote on the most controversial piece of the bill (not necessarily final passage) is better than a written commitment.

Private promises are worthless.

When you have insisted on the politician's support for your position, they will then try to buy you off. Here is where the best grassroots leaders fail.

Power, Access and Selling Out
Politics can be seductive.
The chance to rub elbows with elected officials, being looked up to by people in your community as someone in the know, invitations to and recognition at special events, being quoted in the media, helping to write "acceptable" compromise language, an appointment to some committee or task force, or even a paid job in the politician's office or campaign - all this could be yours if you become a grassroots leader.

These are the trinkets for which leaders sell out their political agenda.

Of course, most everyone thinks themselves strong enough, smart enough, and committed enough not to sell out. Few people are.

Before long, instead of delivering to the politician the grassroots' message to pass or defeat specific legislation, you become the politician's representative, telling grassroots activists what they must settle for.

Right now, today, decide whether you want access or power.
Access is calling a politician and having him take your call. He listens to what you want, and may or may not do it. It is what most grassroots leaders end up settling for. This is the way most non-controversial (e.g. business accounting before Enron) and high-interest versus low-opposition (e.g. farm subsidies) political business is done.

Power is the ability to tell a politician what you want, and either get it or deliver substantial pain (maybe even get a new politician) at the next election. This is the ONLY way ideological, controversial legislation can be passed or defeated (e.g. abortion, guns or homosexual special rights).

Again, I urge you to remember the three percent plus one voter.

You and your grassroots group may be able to single-handedly bring the politician down. Or perhaps you will be one of a handful of groups organizing at the next election.

No matter what, you will make it harder for the politician to win re-election, costing their campaign extra time and money.

If the politician loses, every other elected official will fear you and your group.
If the politician wins, he (and other politicians) will remember the extra pain you caused him. And he will know you may do it again or worse.

When you continue fighting for what you believe in, you will find him and his collegues more willing...and surprisingly, sometimes more gracious (though do not count on the latter, personal pleasantness is cheap coin).

As the late Everett Dirksen said, "When I feel the heat, I see the light."

Winning in the Long Run
There is a great deal more I could tell you.

Recruiting for your grassroots organization
Communicating with politicians
Differences between offensive and defensive legislative tactics
Choosing a leader who is an elected official (Hint: Be very careful)
When and how to use the media
Best practices to raise money for short-term and long-term goals
But what I would like to close with is the importance of taking a long-term approach to fighting for your values.

If you remember from the beginning of this article, I said the good news is the system works. I hope by now you see what I mean. Namely, the politicians are still subservient to the people who elected them... to you and me. However, most of the time, a fight to really make a difference may take years.

This is especially true the further from local politics you get.
It's true home schooling organizers won the battle for home schoolers in the U.S. Congress in just a few weeks as described above. But they had spent years building their organization of home schoolers. More importantly, as I noted, there was little or no opposition to the mobilized home schooling force.

Since then, in fights to pass any kind of school choice - much more, a full tax credit - the results have been very different. In fact, President George W. Bush easily abandoned the conservative opposition to federalized education and passed the No Child Left Behind Act with overwhelming Republican support. The size and effectiveness of the advocates of bigger government schools dwarfs those of us who are committed to school choice.

When you first start out, expect not to be taken seriously; especially if you insist upon principle and refuse to compromise or to be bought off.

The key will be for you and your grassroots activists to aggressively make politicians pay a price for their failure to pay attention to their constituents (you and your group).
Every year, every session of the legislature, you must return pushing for your principles. And every election, you must cause pain to as many politicians as possible; starting with those who claim to support your cause, but vote and act in opposition.

At the same time, you should be continually recruiting more members, raising more money, and expanding the areas in which you are active.

By doing this, you can win in the long run.

NAGR Strategy
A message from our Founder, Mike Rothfeld

Catholic All-Girls College Reverses Trans Policy After Backlash
Mary Margaret Olohan
December 21, 2023

... Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, is backtracking on its decision to allow men who identify as transgender women to enroll in the formerly all-female, Catholic institution.

The Daily Signal reported in November that Saint Mary’s College would allow men who identify as women to enroll at the college in the fall of 2024. ...

She wrote: “Some worried that this was much more than a policy decision: they felt it was a dilution of our mission or even a threat to our Catholic identity. Moreover, we clearly underestimated our community’s genuine desire to be engaged in the process of shaping a policy of such significance. As this last month unfolded, we lost people’s trust and unintentionally created division where we had hoped for unity. For this, we are deeply sorry.”

“Taking all these factors into consideration, the Board has decided that we will return to our previous admission policy,” she said. “Although this has been a challenging time for our community, we believe that the College should continually grapple with the complexity of living our Catholic values in a changing world.”

Members of the Saint Mary’s community rejoiced over the news to The Daily Signal, expressing strong excitement that the college had backed down.

“I’m so proud of the women at Saint Mary’s who were willing to stand up against this anti-women, anti-Catholic policy,” said Claire Bettag, a junior at Saint Mary’s. “God’s truth will always win.”

“When this admissions decision became public hundreds of alumni banded together to stand for the Church and her teachings,” said Clare Ath, who graduated from the college in 2018. “While I would hope the reversal is because administrators realized we must teach the truth with love, my guess is the reversal is because alumni banded together, pulled their donations, notified their diocese and media, and said we will not let Our Lady’s college be corrupted by secular gender ideology.”

Woot! I bet it was really the threat of losing donations that got the school to do the right thing and continue to bar mentally ill men from a woman's college.

The conservative town of Huntington Beach, California has decided to axe various month-long celebrations for different identity groups, including “Pride Month” and “Black History Month.”

In a recent vote, the town’s council decided to move towards celebrations that highlight the city’s history. This would include the discovery of oil in the area, as well as the town’s founding.

The new program is set to take off in 2024, at which point the community history celebrations will replace months dedicated to specific identity groups. This includes Pride Month, Women’s History Month, Black History Month and numerous additional celebrations that focus on specific groups.

Very briefly, nullification is a method for the states to assert their sovereignty rights, as envisioned by the Constitution, and to automatically reject (nullify) unconstitutional federal laws. As an example, many states legalized marijuana while it remains criminalized at the federal level. They nullified those federal laws (see, they CAN do it).

Here is a message from Karen on what you can do to push your state legislators to act (and copy TN bill):

The first thing people need to do is organize if they are not already leading a group or belong to a group

They need to get a House and Senate sponsor for the legislation

Then they need to build their organization so when the bills start moving through the House and Senate sub-committees, committees and the full House and Senate they have enough people to put pressure on the legislators. We work the people on the sub-committees and committees first. No sense in blasting the entire House and Senate before we get the bill passed in the sub-committees and committees. But many of us do speak with our individual elected state leaders.

People need to understand how their legislature works and how bills pass through the system

They need to get educated on the Constitution (the TRUTH) and Nullification. Our website provides a ton of good resources that will help people get on board quickly. I would be glad to work with anyone from any state that needs help.

Write articles for the local newspaper and alternative media sites.

Get on local radio stations.

Organize block parties. Create a flyer (we have a flyer and pamphlet on our website they could use as a sample) and walk the block placing the flyer on the front door of their neighbors.

Make your car a rolling billboard

Yes, just like home printed money, one cannot but anything with home grown food.

I'm sure that for those interested it would be possible to sell produce grown in the garden.

Make your car a rolling billboard

yawaraf says

I'm sure that for those interested it would be possible to sell produce grown in the garden.

For more than it cost? Most home growers cannot even give away the excess cucumbers.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram ran an encouraging story yesterday with this headline:




The restaurant has planned a gala, premium-priced New Year’s Eve party including a fire thrower, a magician, a palm reader, dinner, music, a DJ, and several drag performers offering “comedy and cabaret.” But, according to the story, after an “onslaught of complaints,” the restaurant changed up its New Year’s Eve programming, deleting the drag performers:




To be clear: neither I nor most people who complained about the show hate transsexual people. I’m not advocating to make drag illegal or banning it. But if most customers feel adding drag to the pricey New Year’s experience is offensive, either because it is immoral, disrespectful to women, or for whatever reason, then restaurants are right to adjust to customer preferences.

This demonstrates a hidden benefit to the shrinking economy. Without all the free government covid money, businesses are being forced to pay more attention to their customers which means less wokeness.

Those northern areas were Celtic and Basque, people that are still rather hard to pacify.

Tennessee school district settles in court with young woman sent home for "Homosexuality is a Sin" shirt

Three years after being forced to return home for wearing a shirt professing part of her faith, a young Tennessee woman just won a nice little victory against school officials:

In a settlement agreement reached in November and shared with The Christian Post, the Overton County Board of Education in Tennessee agreed to pay $101 to Brielle Penkoski three years after she was sent home from the Livingston Academy public high school for wearing the shirt.

Okay, I just need to adjust my eyeglasses here a second and make sure I'm reading it right ...

Okay, so not exactly a bonanza. But it's a moral victory more than anything.
To be fair, the board is also shelling out for procedural fees:

The school board will also pay the plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs.

Penkoski, a minor when the lawsuit was first filed in 2020, "is the daughter of street preacher Rich Penkoski, who leads the online ministry Warriors for Christ."

Ask yourself if a shirt criticizing Christianity or promoting something directly opposed to its teachings would be allowed in schools. Of course it would. So if we truly live in a fair system, you'd also be allowed to wear shirts paraphrasing the Apostle Paul - you know, one of the bedrocks of Western civilization.

Here's First Corinthians 6:9-10:

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Rich Penkoski said the $100 payday was "way more than we thought she was going to get anyway out of this."

"The other part of this is all the teachers, at least from 2020, were told to start taking First Amendment courses," the preacher continued, adding that that requirement was "one of the things that I insisted on."

A good victory here, all told. Well done, everyone.