Our Time Has Come:
Network With the Newly Awakened!

by Larry Greenley, Director of Marketing

For many, many years those of us who’ve been in this freedom fight for a long time have consoled ourselves by saying something like, “Maybe it’s difficult to get people to pay attention to the issues we’re raising today, but someday things will get so bad that they will finally wake up.”

At long last, “Our time has come.” Due to the squandering by the Republicans of their abundant opportunities to improve things since 1994, and thanks to the spectacular inflationary deficit spending and brutal socialization of our economy since the elections last fall, people are waking up all over the nation. The Tax Day Tea Parties were held in over 850 cities on April 15 and drew over a million participants. Glenn Beck’s 9-12 Project has already registered over 641,000 members online. And, one of the most exciting things about these new movements is just how much they are nonpartisan and oriented toward the Constitution.

Yes, there are numerous dangerous pieces of legislation and treaties to oppose; however, what’s most needed now is a rapid build-up of constitution-based, grassroots organizations that would provide the necessary pressure to stop, or at least slow down, Congress and the Obama administration this year. This degree of grassroots pressure would help create a changed political atmosphere within which more constitutionalist candidates could be elected to both state and national offices next year.

Your role is to join these new large-scale, grassroots movements. Get to know the organizers. Attend the planning meetings. Network with your fellow participants.

Your participation is crucial because these groups need what you have. They need members who know the pitfalls to avoid, such as certain establishment organizations, players, and movements.

For example, I’ve just recently posted an article on JBS.org, “Constitutional Convention Backers Want to Hijack the Tea Party Movement.” In this article I point out how one of the early leaders of the Tea Party Movement, Michael Patrick Leahy, and a late-comer to the movement, Professor Randy Barnett, have combined forces to try to influence the entire Tea Party Movement to embrace their project of putting pressure on state legislators to apply to Congress to call a constitutional convention (con-con). They talk of how Tea Party gatherings could be held at all 50 state capitols while most of their legislatures are in session, and insist that they issue calls for a con-con. If Leahy and Barnett are successful in harnessing the Tea Party Movement for their con-con project, it would be one of the greatest threats to the Constitution ever.

This is why your participation in these new grassroots organizations is so essential. These new grassroots movements could provide the pressure to finally make Congress adhere to the Constitution, or they could be used to destroy the Constitution.

I’ve been participating in our local Tea Party group. I participated in the first rally on April 15 which drew about 2000 here in Appleton, Wisconsin. Last night I attended the first planning meeting for another rally in July. We had about 25 in attendance. Our Organizer asked for each of us to introduce ourselves and tell why we were involved. It was so striking how nearly everyone in attendance had the same story. They were of all ages and occupations, but they said that they were very concerned about our nation’s future and what it will mean for their children and grandchildren, they favored limited government under the Constitution (I’m simplifying and generalizing here), they didn’t trust either party, this was the very first time they had ever gotten involved in politics, and they wanted to help keep this movement growing.

Over a meal after the planning meeting, my wife and I discussed how, after so many painstaking decades of Birching, we were finally seeing a mass awakening of Americans to the problems that we had seen so many years earlier.

Our time has come!

Action Summary:

• Join your local Tea Party and Glenn Beck 9-12 Project groups and network with the organizers and members.
• When appropriate, educate these new grassroots organizers and members about the dangers of a constitutional convention (con-con) using our “Beware of Article V” video (view for free on the BirchTube section of JBS.org and on YouTube; buy DVDs at ShopJBS.org).
• Go to the “Legislative Action” section at http://www.JBS.org/freedom and concentrate on stopping ratification of the LOST Treaty, supporting passage of H.R. 1207 to audit the Fed, supporting passage of Tenth Amendment Movement resolutions in your state legislature, and opposing any “cap-and-trade” global warming bills in Congress.