It’s hard to imagine conservatives being more successful in politics without being joined by even MORE conservatives at the ballot box.
That means that in order to win we have to do more to identify, educate and mobilize others who think like we do. The question is what’s the most effective way to go about finding them?
One of the answers to that question is to look in the churches.
Focusing on organizing in churches offers a great way for conservatives to leverage their time and existing relationships to have a great impact on the things they care about.
Churches are where the conservatives are
If you want to hunt ducks, you go where the ducks are. It’s the same principle with politics and organization.
The statistics don’t lie. Conservatives are more likely to attend church than liberals. Very conservative individuals attend more frequently. If you want to look at it from a partisan standpoint, all you need to know is that Romney beat Obama by 20 points among those who attend church at least once a week.
Again, it’s a matter of hunting where the ducks are. There are hundreds of thousands of churches all across the country that bring their members together every Sunday, and they can have a tremendous impact when they are informed and motivated.
Sadly, people in most churches are little better than others when it comes to the basics of citizenship, such as registering and actually voting on Election Day. On average, only about half are actually registered to vote, and about half of those will cast a ballot on Election Day, much less in primaries.
That is not a recipe for conservative political success.
Tremendous latent potential
Given that the average race is usually won or lost by about five percent, the possibilities are obvious. Just imagine the impact if every church in your community had a contact person who worked to register and inform their fellow members and get them involved in the local political system. What kind of difference do you think that would make?
Simply put, more organization in churches means more victories for the conservative movement.
The goal is not to make churches into an annex of a political party, but rather to educate and encourage conservatives in those churches who share your values to become better citizens and advocates for their values in the public arena.
Remember, politics is all about math, and our job is to focus on addition and multiplication. That means getting more conservatives involved.
Churches are full of them – so get busy!
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(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series)
Social tagging: Church Organization > Grassroots