Political action

[Neon John <johngd@bellsouth.net>]

Vincent King wrote:
> 
>      John,
> 
>      100% on target on all counts.
> 
>      But like Ruth says, its kind of hard to get going on anything when
>      we've got day jobs.
> 
>      And of course, don't forget, the main tactic of the anti's
>      (anti-guns, anti-nuclear, anti-anything), is not to fight the
>      battle on its merits or deal with the message, but to ridicule and
>      discredit the messenger.  

True, but two can play that game.  Imagine what some skilled and
motivated producer could do with some creative camerawork and a few
hours in the editing suite considering what some of those people
look like and say.  

In terms of having a day job, what I had in mind was to motivate one
or more of our professional societies to set up a political arm like
NRA's Institute for Legislative Action complete with paid
professionals and let THEM do it.  All we have to do is shovel them
money.  Back before I joined the ranks of the gainfully unemployed,
I routinely shoveled $1000 or more a year to ILA.  I think that
their statistics show that the average donation is somewhere around
$250.

Just suppose that a significant portion of us were willing to pony
up $250 or $500 or whatever each year for a few years to make a
political action arm a reality?  Couldn't we all do that?  Heck,
that's less than a couple of society dues for the year.

Further, suppose we copied NRA's call-down tree.  Each state NRA
affiliate maintains a call-down tree.  Whenever something adverse to
our interests is about to happen, the tree is activated.  ILA
headquarters calls a few dozen members.  Each member has a list of 3
or 4 other members to call and relay the message.  The efficiencies
of geometric expansion takes place rapidly.  Sometimes the message
is to write or call a legislator.  Other times it is to call out
members for a peaceful demonstration of some sort.  As important as
the tree was the message.  Rather than have members go off in a
thousand directions, "the message" was given to them either to copy
or to put in their own words.  Staying on message is the key!  Even
though a politician may believe that he's under assault by just such
a list, when he gets hundreds of similar messages, he can't take the
chance that it is not representative of what the people in his
district are thinking.

Suppose >WE< had one of these trees and could turn out a couple
hundred members, complete with placards, to write letters or picket
"THEM", particularly the stars who attract the cameras.  I can think
of a bunch of pro-nuke sound bite slogans.  How  about "No Nukey, No
warmth"?  Roll that theme out just about the time fuel oil hits $2 a
gallon!

There are even schools that will teach political direct action.  In
the early 90s, I helped found a gun rights group in Atlanta called
Citizens for Safe Government in response to NRA's getting soft.  We
sent some of our members off to a direct action school in DC put on
by Operation Rescue (not an endorsement of their politics!)  Even
though we used those tactics for a totally different cause, they
worked brutally well.  We targeted individual politicians who we
felt to be insufficiently pro-gun.  We got every single one we
targeted.  By "got" I mean we got him defeated in the next
election.  One of the things I learned from this experience is that
"compromise is for those who find losing half the time acceptable". 
CSG never compromised and neither should we.  Sure, we'll get beaten
every so often but at least we'll have given it the good fight and
hopefully weakened the enemy in the process.

It really doesn't affect me too much since I'm out of the biz but
you younger folks (and those short on retirement credits) might want
to quit thinking and acting like stuffy, logical scientists and
engineers long enough to save your profession with a little
political action.  One thing that's still pretty wonderful about
this country is that a small group of determined individuals CAN
change the course of government.  When one is worried about the
professional image, one should recall that the doctors have one of
the most brutal craft guilds ever invented in the AMA and that
hasn't seemed to affect their image much.

I should remind everyone of something else before the hue and cry of
"The media is against us" gets to loud. When the enviro-nazi
movement was getting started, the media was hostile to THEM. 
Remember that your average journalist has no education (journalism
degree - get real!) and so is swayed by whatever seems popular.  The
environmentalist religion is popular right now so that's what gets
the press.  It can change.

John

-- 
John De Armond
johngdSPAMNOT@bellsouth.net
http://personal.bellsouth.net/~johngd/
Neon John's Custom Neon
Cleveland, TN
"Bendin' Glass 'n Passin' Gas"
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html