patrick.net

... plenty of good election news continued trickling in yesterday, especially from local races. Since as you know, my ‘anti-Superman’ electoral philosophy is “local, local, local,” I was heartened and gratified to see many local races flipping conservative. For one encouraging example, the plucky group Moms for Liberty (a collection of domestic terrorists if ever I saw any) reported winning no fewer than +50 school board seats yesterday, and +90 more before that just in 2023:




https://twitter.com/Moms4Liberty/status/1722390500714455441

If you want to know what is really in Republicans’ way it is ‘superman’ worship. I’m begging folks. I don’t know how better I can explain it. Trump, DeSantis, RFK, I don’t care. The over-focus on presidential politics is distracting people from actually fixing the nation’s problems.

Don’t believe me? Do you remember who it was that declared you, your church, and your small businesses were “non-essential?” Hmm?

It wasn’t President Trump. It wasn’t even Fauci. It was your local county commissioner, that’s who! Wake up! The feds only published guidelines. In most states, local politicians used their broad emergency powers to pull the country’s economic plug, and now look where we are.

Think! It’s not the clueless, shambolic idiot infesting the White House who is loading bookshelves with revolting gay porn and promoting aging, unattractive cross-dressers in the kids’ sections of your local libraries. It’s the local library board. It’s not Governor Beshear or Replacement Governor Hochul or even Oleaginous Governor Newsom instructing teachers to lie to parents about their kids experiencing dysphoric mental illness.

It’s the local school board.

When folks become completely fascinated by one person as their political ‘savior’ — whether it’s Trump, Beshear, DeSantis, whoever — they cheapen politics, turning civic participation into a rah-rah sporting event. They forget all about the fundamentals. Folks say they hate the uni-party, but that’s a lazy excuse for inaction. There’s no uni-party in local politics.

The national uni-party convinces folks to root for a single person, turning presidential politics into the Super Bowl, so folks will get so distracted they won’t do the work to take and keep control of their own home towns.

Before he retired, antihuman billionaire Scrooge McSoros dumped more of his money into local races than on national races. Why do you suppose he did that? Why do you think the big blue cities are now all experiencing controlled demolition? You don’t think it was a coincidence, do you? You don’t think that nincompoop Biden did it?

Sure, Governors and Presidents have roles to play. Having a good one is especially helpful in the short run, like in emergencies, like how Governor DeSantis did in Florida during the pandemic.

But local is where everything important starts. Local citizens first cut their teeth on politics as city commissioners, mayors, tax collectors, and supervisors of elections. It’s a meritocracy. As they gain political experience, the best local ones run for state offices. As they prove themselves at the state level, the best state-level ones percolate up and run for national office or high state office, like for governor. National-level politicians who last get appointed into federal agencies, or to run universities, or into other top federal offices. It’s simple:

Local —> State —> National —> President, Agency, University, etc.

(Sure, there are exceptions, but that’s the core political formula, and always has been.)

This simple formula has somehow become a secret that the uni-party conceals from everybody while we’re all distracted by the latest, greatest Superman. But if everyone could just focus on the quality of the beginning of the pipeline, at the local level, everything else would follow along naturally. Want secure elections? Then first, secure the supervisor of elections positions and the district attorney jobs.

That’s what that awful George Soros did. You can see the result.

Think about politics as if it were an investment strategy. In investment circles, they talk about default portfolio ratios. The basic idea is, to maximize return on investment, investors should keep a certain proportion of assets in cash, a certain percentage in real estate, a percentage in stocks, and a small part, say 10%, in high-risk, long-shot opportunities.

You could think about politics the same way. To get the best return on a political investment, folks should allocate seventy percent of their time and money to local races. Twenty percent should go to state-level races. And a little bit, ten percent, into national races, including for president. I made those numbers up, but you get the idea.

To be clear, I’m not saying the next presidential race is unimportant. The issue is a matter of proportion, of how we invest our limited time and treasure.

So, pretty please with organic whipped cream on top, could we try investing more time securing local offices, like helping sane moms get elected to school boards, and spend less time arguing with each other over which Superman should be the next Republican presidential candidate?

Let’s reverse the ‘Soros scheme.’

https://twitter.com/toobaffled/status/1724694566589313133

I’ve applied Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle to litigation. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I refer to a peculiar feature of human psychology as the “Heisenberg Effect.” Put simply: people act differently when they know they are being watched. And usually, they act nicer, more moral, more fair, and more lawful.

It is often significant in litigation, like when I review evidence. For instance, I always look for a demarcation point in emails, between a time when the participants were chatting freely and then the point where they realized that eventually someone else would probably be reading their correspondence. (Usually at that point they start talking a lot less).

In addition to helping figure out why people did certain things in the past, the Heisenberg Effect can also be used as a tool. You can make people act differently, better, by deliberately increasing their consciousness that someone else is paying close attention to what they are doing in a certain area.

In that way, the Heisenberg Effect can be wielded politically. When government officials know we are watching them about a specific topic, their behavior in that area improves. For example, the DOJ might hire more staff to handle CICP cases when it knows that a judge will soon be considering how well-staffed the program is. Or, legislators who just voted to table an impeachment vote can learn that they need to be more careful about border issues because irritable voters care. Some of them might even vote differently — better — next time.

So, it’s not always about the short-term, like winning a particular lawsuit or convincing an official to change their current position with a phone call. Often the Heisenberg Effect delivers results in the long-term, as the cumulative benefit from slightly more careful, slightly-better conduct adds up over time.

Never underestimate the value of just paying obvious attention to what government actors are doing. And, although it works just as well on spouses, coworkers, neighbors, and kids, be sure to apply the Heisenberg Effect to your home town officials as part of our “local, local, local” strategy.

Patrick says

https://twitter.com/toobaffled/status/1724694566589313133

Brave act, considering what Trudeau did to truckers previously.

The pharmaceutical industry knew that they were losing in court in the 1970s and early 1980s when it came to lawsuits over harms from vaccines.

In 1986, they got Congress to pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, and that gave them liability protection. You cannot take the pharmaceutical industry to court if your child is harmed by a vaccine because of the 1986 Act. There is a separate court system which doesn't work very well. The government stands in on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry, rather than the pharmaceutical industry representing itself.

The way to solve the problem of toxic vaccines being forced upon the population is to remove liability protection for the pharmaceutical industry. Put it back into the courts. Let's fight it out in the courts. Let's have a conversation about the data in the courts in an adversarial system, not with the CDC and the FDA that are captured. But you would have to repeal the 1986 Act. You would also have to repeal the PREP Act that happened in the early 2000s after the events of 9/11.

If we do that, the pharmaceutical industry would have an incentive to create safer vaccines. Right now the only incentive is to add as many vaccines as possible to the schedule because it's all profit. There's no risk because they can't be taken to court right now. That's how we should deal with the pharmaceutical industry.

A 26-year-old taxi driver of Middle Eastern origin who had been charged with raping a 14-year-old Swedish girl was found hanged in a nature reserve. The girl, her boyfriend and three brothers are now suspected of the murder, which the prosecutor said “took on the character of an execution,” according to the Swedish newspaper Fria Tider.

Events began in February this year, when the then 14-year-old girl reported that she had been raped by a taxi driver.

On March 26, the man’s taxi was found abandoned with the meter running in a car park in the Hjälstaviken nature reserve in Enköping, north of Stockholm.

On April 1, the taxi driver was found hanging 500 meters from the car. Police quickly turned their attention to the newly accused group of teens. The youths all deny the crime, except the girl, who admitted that she had lured the man to the secluded location.

According to the indictment, the girl lured the taxi driver to the scene of the murder on March 24 and kept him there until the four boys arrived. The boys had previously purchased ropes, masks and clothes, which they used as aids in the murder.

According to the prosecution, the procedure was a “torture death” for the taxi driver, and the prosecutor said the murder had the “character of an execution.”

Police found plans for revenge on the taxi driver the day before the murder on the raped girl’s phone, where she mentioned that her boyfriend’s brothers were meeting the rapist.

“They will meet my rapist. HAHAHAHA,” the girl wrote.

The night before the murder, the girl sent a message to the taxi driver, asking him to bring vodka and meet her in the deserted place. According to the indictment, the rapist was hung the same day.

After the murder, the girl took a picture of her boyfriend and later sent a message to an acquaintance that her rapist had died.

Vigilant News (cited because corporate media dutifully ignored the story) ran an article yesterday headlined, “Slovakia Shocks the World: New Prime Minister Rejects Signing the WHO Pandemic Treaty.” Ha! Another one.

That’s not all. On Monday, rising, newly-elected Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico — another conservative upset — publicly described the mRNA jabs as “untested experimental vaccines,” while informing his party that, like fiesty little Estonia, Slovakia will refuse to sign on to the WHO’s heinous, dictatorial Pandemic Treaty.

Here’s Fico’s statement (subtitled): CLIP: Slovakia Shocks the World: New Prime Minister Rejects Signing the WHO Pandemic Treaty (2:52).

https://rumble.com/v3zmh8a-slovakia-shocks-the-world-new-prime-minister-rejects-signing-the-who-pandem.html

Who knew the Eastern Europeans had all this great stuff in them? I guess they got enough communism during all those Stalin years.

Uncensored USA
( at ) CarlosSimancas
October 19, 2023
https://twitter.com/CarlosSimancas/status/1714789257011707908
TEXT OF TWEET: Best video today. This is exactly what you need to do in a situation like this. DO NOT COMPLY & STAND YOUR GROUND.

TRANSCRIPT OF ATTACHED VIDEO

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: This was filmed by a customer inside a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Tennessee. The customer is a woman, as is the police officer and, except where noted, all bank employees. The customer's voice is remarkably sweet and calm. Source:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/outrage-at-bank-refusing-womans-money-over-masks-has-one-problem/ar-AA1iwM3H

MASKED TELLER: [inaudible]

CUSTOMER: No. Here's the options. You— I'm not putting cash through the drive-through. I'm not doing it. I put checks—

MASKED TELLER: [inaudible] person [inaudible]

CUSTOMER: No.

MASKED TELLER: [inaudible] the drive-through.

CUSTOMER: No. I'm not putting cash through the drive-through. Here's our choices. You let me deposit my money, you guys shield, you can wear your own mask, you can do what you want, it's a non, it's not a mask mandate state. So go get my money. Go get my money. Just start cashing it out, start counting. That's our choices. I'll go to another bank.

MASKED TELLER: [speaking on telephone, inaudible]

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): Ma'am we can help you with the drive-through.

CUSTOMER: No, I'm not going through the drive-through. You can take my cash. You're standing right there. Deposit my cash—

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): We can help you with the drive-through.

CUSTOMER: — or go get my money out. Right now. Go get my money out of the safe, go look at my accounts.

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): We can help you, all you [inaudible]

CUSTOMER: Cash out my money. Right now.

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): Go to the drive-through unless you want to wear a mask. [points to sign] We have masks right here.

CUSTOMER: No. Go cash out my money. There's a safe. Go start counting.

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): [points again to sign] We're providing you options, ma'am, so you can wear a mask—

CUSTOMER: Your option is to deposit my cash, or go get my money out of the safe, and I'll take it someplace else, cause this is over. And I'm done. And I did everything everybody wanted me to do for a year. We're done. Tennessee is not requiring mandate, a mask— You are practicing business in the state—

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): [inaudible]

CUSTOMER: Well, you know what, you're in the state of Tennessee. OK? Respectfully, you're in Tennessee—

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE: The CDC—

CUSTOMER: —You are working—

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): — requires us to wear a mask.

CUSTOMER: CDC does not require it. It does not require it.

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): Wells Fargo is requiring it as well.

CUSTOMER: OK. Then go get my money. OK?

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): We can't do that ma'am, do the drive-through.

CUSTOMER: You're not going to put 200,000 dollars through the drive-through.

MASKED BANK EMPLOYEE (BLACK HAIR, GLASSES): Just one moment. We are bringing security over here.

CUSTOMER: OK. Sure.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER [entering through front door into lobby]: Good morning, ma'am.

CUSTOMER: Good morning, how are you.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: I'm doing well. Um. So my understanding is, is that, ah, the bank has a policy for masks. Um, are you, are you just trying to attend to one of your accounts here?

CUSTOMER: Yes.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK. Um, they are willing to help you through the drive-through if you don't want to wear mask in the business.

CUSTOMER: OK. Hold on. Hold on. Why are you here? What's, is there a law that's been broken?

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: Well, it's their policy here is that you have to wear a mask.

CUSTOMER: Is there a law that's being broken?

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: Well, if they're asking you to leave, then, because you're not adhering to their—

CUSTOMER: It's open to the public and I have over 200,000 dollars in the bank here for over 25 years. So I gave them an option. I said, I'll be happy to leave, if they'll walk over there to the safe, pull all my money out, and give it to me. I'll go. There are banks who want my business. So—

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK.

CUSTOMER: — if they'll just pull it all out, I'll happily leave. But if I'm not breaking the law, I don't really need you here.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: Why don't you come step outside with me, we'll, we'll talk about it, but it's not, this is not a public property. This is a business.

CUSTOMER: It's open to the public.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: If they ask you to wear a mask inside, you have to adhere to those guidelines, and if they ask you to leave because you're not adhering to those guidelines that they've set, um, then, then you have to leave.

CUSTOMER: OK. Tell me what that law is. I'm a lawyer. So tell me what that law is.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK. Would you like me to call a supervisor here?

CUSTOMER: Yeah, sure.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK. Do you want to step outside with me and then I— ?

CUSTOMER: No, go ahead and call them, because I want to know what the law is. Because Tennessee does not have a mask mandate. Listen to me. This is a business—

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: I'm listening, ma'am, and I understand, I understand what you're saying but—

CUSTOMER: Listen. Listen.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: This business can set their own guidelines as well.

CUSTOMER: But they are operating, they have, are registered with the Secretary of State to operate a business in the state of Tennessee, and they are open to the public of the state of Tennessee, that does not have a mask mandate.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK.

CUSTOMER: So if they don't want, it's fine, if they don't want me as a customer, there's nobody else in here, we can stay 6 feet apart, they can go get my money.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: Ma'am, I understand what you're saying as well, um, I—

CUSTOMER: Go get my money and I'll leave. Just tell this young man right here, to step out, go, with, take, get my money out.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: Like I said, I'm not, I'm not going to—

CUSTOMER: Well, they're holding my money.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK.

CUSTOMER: They're holding my money. They're refusing to give me my money, I've asked for it for four different people, I've asked her, I've asked the blonde lady, I'm now asking this gentleman over here. Could you just get my money out of the bank, please? Just cash? Right there, you've got a safe.

MASKED MALE EMPLOYEE: I'll have to talk to the manager on that. [inaudible] Just a moment.

CUSTOMER: OK, well, get your manager. We'll just start counting it.

[sound of footsteps]

CUSTOMER [to manager]: Can you just take my money out? I'll be happy to leave.

MASKED MALE MANAGER: No, ma'am, unfortunately we don't carry that type of cash in the branch. So with that large of an amount we would have to actually order that specifically for you. Now if you want, I'll be more than happy to process your transaction. I was with another customer, I apologize. But we'll take care of you.

CUSTOMER: Thank you, sir.

MASKED MALE MANAGER: I'll be right back.

[cut]

CUSTOMER: Thank you, sir. You have a good day now. Thank you.

MASKED MALE MANAGER: Thank you.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: So could you just hang tight with me outside? I just want to clarify with them. To make sure.

CUSTOMER: Why? Why am I hanging tight? Huh. Am I under arrest?

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: No, absolutely not.

CUSTOMER: OK I'm leaving. I've got work to do. Thank you.

MASKED POLICE OFFICER: OK.

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.