Grassroots Tips

You Can’t Beat Somebody With Nobody

It’s one thing to get engaged in public policy and shed light on what liberals are up to, but it’s another thing to beat them at the ballot box and take away their power to do what they do.

Elections have consequences. And if nobody runs against them, the consequences are more years of them doing the things that make conservatives complain in the first place.

As the saying goes, you can’t be somebody with nobody. You have to have a candidate. Someone – preferably a good, well qualified and equipped someone – has to be willing to put themselves out there and run.

Someone who has a “fire in the belly”, the talent and the potential resources to do what’s necessary to run a good campaign, not to mention do the job if they get elected. Someone with the ability to unite everyone in the Party to work in the same direction and to turn out the votes necessary to WIN.

Preferably NOT the perennial candidate who wants to run for anything and everything, but demonstrates none of those necessary qualities.

The fact that so few (good) people are willing to run is a big part of the reason why our government is in the shape that it’s in today on so many levels. But, we have to remember that politics hates a vacuum, and it will continue whether you (or someone else) steps up to run or not.

What are you doing to help recruit someone? Are you letting them know that you’re willing to help if they’re willing to run? Or, are YOU the “somebody” who needs to run?

Talk to like-minded people at work or in your church. Who do they think would make a great candidate? Someone in the business community? Someone who has already been elected to a lower level office?

Good campaigns – and good elected officials – start with good candidate recruiting.

So recruit good candidates!

Identifying Conservatives for Action

identifying conservativesWhether we like it or not, few things matter in politics quite as much as numbers. Fortunately for all of us non-math majors out there, it doesn’t involve higher order calculus, but rather the most basic varieties of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

When it comes to organizing and being politically effective, the most important elements are addition and multiplication. Addition in the sense of growing your ranks, and multiplication in terms of leveraging your collective impact through organized, coordinated activity.

Of the three essential elements of grassroots politics, (identifying, educating and mobilizing), identifying others comes first for a reason.

1) Find People Who Think Like You Do

You can’t really “organize”, if you’re the only person in the room, which means you have to reach out. If you’re concerned about something, odds are that a lot of other people feel that way too. You’re first job is to find them.

You’ve probably already got a short list in mind of people that you’re around on a regular basis who share the same concerns as you do. Talk to them about “doing something”. Make a list. Send them an email and ask them to reach out to others as well. Go through your church directory or other memberships lists of groups you’re involved with. Ask your friends to do the same.

2) Form a Core Group

Every successful political effort, no matter how large or small, has a “core” group of people driving the train. These are the people who were motivated enough to get the effort started to begin with and have the concern and energy to keep it moving and make sure that it’s more than just a semi-organized gripe session.

From your initial list you should be able to identify a small core group of people to get together with and make some plans. Talk about your common concerns and identify some clear, achievable goals. Then determine who’s willing to do what. Ten people is a great target.

3) Cast a Wider Net

After you’ve got your core group together, your first major project should be (surprise) to identify MORE people.

Start a petition and place it in stores and churches in your area. Start a free online petition and send an email describing the issue and a link to the petition to everyone you know (asking them to forward it on to others too). Let them know that you’re trying to identify people who care about the issue in order to take action. You can also post similar information in online political forums and groups (such as on Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, or sites like Free Republic , etc.).

Remember, it’s all about the numbers. Whether it’s grassroots lobbying or pushing a referendum or a candidate’s campaign, numbers matter.  That means that identifying conservatives matters.

The people are out there. You just need to get started with an organized, intelligent effort to find them.

Tips for Running Meetings

You can’t really have much of a political organization without meetings, which means that you need to make sure that the kind of meetings that you have serve the needs and purposes of your group or campaign.

But when it comes to typical “meetings”, (whether official group meetings, or project meetings), take time to do the things to make them more useful, (and not boring or a waste of time).

Here are some good tips for running meetings:

Have the Right Leader

Without having the right person to “run” a meeting, things can get off the rails pretty quickly and stay there. You need someone who can politely (but firmly) facilitate discussion to make things productive, and yet still keep it moving along. It’s not a job for just anybody who wants to “run” things.

Start on Time

Starting on time sets a professional tone and it’s respectful of those who show up on time. Meetings that are always starting late (because you’re late, or others are late), just encourages bad habits, and everyone will get used to never starting on time. And starting late usually means “finishing late”.

Have an Agenda

An agenda is the “plan” for the meeting, and you gotta’ have a plan. Make sure that there is an agenda, and that everyone has a copy – and that you follow it! Otherwise things will probably get off track, or you’ll spend too much time on one thing and not get everything done. Know what action items need to be resolved, (who, what, when, where). Repeat them to the group for clarification. Otherwise, you’re just meeting to meet, and what’s the point of that?

Don’t Over-stuff it

Don’t be so ambitious with how much goes into an agenda that it never gets done, or the meetings always run long and frustrate people. Remember, people like to talk, and most items usually take longer to cover than you may think. Make sure that you have enough time to do the things that need to get done.

Have Ground Rules

The most useful meetings are those where everyone participates but things stay focused, which is rare. Having some general ground rules that everyone agrees on can make things more productive. Things like: how much time you’ll spend talking about any issue; what subjects should comments be limited to; what’s off limits; and is what’s said supposed to be confidential? Try to get everyone to agree to whatever ground rules work for your group. You could even print them on the top of the agenda to keep them fresh in everyone’s mind.

Facilitate, Don’t Dictate

Part of the job of running a meeting is making sure that you involve and get good feedback from the people that are there. Otherwise you’re wasting an opportunity to get everyone’s collective minds focused on the job at hand. And how else can you know if people are getting what they want from the meetings or the group? Nobody has the market cornered on good ideas. Take advantage of the chance to do some brainstorming – just don’t let it drag on too long.

Review Action-items

It’s not very productive to meet and then have the people who are there not really know what was decided or what’s expected of them after the fact. Summarize and review what was decided and note any action items, (who, what, when, where).

End on Time

Ending on time goes hand in hand with starting on time. People have other things to do and plan their lives around, so respect their plans. If you think that a meeting will need to go long, let people know ahead of time. Just remember, “long” usually means “boring”. And boring kills!

Follow Up

Be sure to follow-up with people who need to be followed up on. Don’t let things go undone between meetings, or you miss one of the main points of having a meeting to begin with.

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Remember, volunteers are at a premium.  If you’re going to take the time to meet, then you should take the time to get the most out of it.  Keep these tips in mind and meetings will be more productive – and the group will appreciate it.