March 28, 2021

Rules for Patriots - Rule #3: Don't Do It Alone


Continuing the rules for Patriots from Rule #2, you can't get involved alone.  You can't get as much done alone as you can in a group. How often do you hear "I'm just one person, what can I do"?  The secret sauce of progressivism is Joining.  As conservative patriots we are attuned to rugged individualism, and while that is important, it is not the be-all-and-end-all of making things work. Putting a man on the moon was not a one man show. It took teamwork. The U.S. military, still the world's greatest, does not rely on individual superheroes, it relies on teamwork and role players to be so great. Even individual sport Olympic gold medal winners had coaches, medical support and team environments for practicing.  We fall short on teamwork on regular basis.

We can't all be leaders or innovators; 10,000 individual bloggers with 100 readers each do not effectively compete with Vox or CNN. There is strength in numbers.  There is synergy in joining. You cannot contribute ideas shouting into an empty void.  But you can in a church group (for example).  You can't do it alone, so don't do it alone.  And don't fall prey to the "You didn't build that" trap of thinking that joining takes away from or removes individual achievement. 

So join. But where?

There are a few things to consider.  Most people assume getting things done requires politics.  Well, yes.  But politics is not the apex of the pyramid, culture is king.  And while national politics is the apex of the pyramid in politics, you can't start at the top.  So we are back to where. We are back to "What can I do"?

Everyone has two things they have to know about themselves. Figure out the answers to these two questions and you have half the battle won. (1) What issue am I most passionate about?  And (2) what is my area of expertise?  You may for example be most invested in the abortion issue, and you have extensive computer science knowledge.  So why not find a local anti-abortion group and volunteer to help them with your computer skills.

Great teams have specialists and exhibit complimentary skills sets among the various team members.  This is how you can contribute in a non-financial and non-voting-day way.  You CAN make a difference.  Just as people need to specialize, effective organizations specialize too; legal, political, education, media, the list goes on.  While conservatives sit at home and rage at the effectiveness of the GOP, we fail to understand that they should not be experts in all areas, but they should be aligned with experts in areas they need.  Democrats have legal experts, media experts, protest organizations that they partner with very effectively.  We need to stop looking at the GOP as the source of 'marching orders' and rather as more of just a team jersey that a number of aligned organizations and people fall under.  The GOP establishment boogeymen have less power than we accredit them if we decentralize the power structure to various aligned conservative groups.  These closer to grassroots organizations should not be outsiders.  The REpublican party should be beholden to them just as they should be beholden to their membership.  NOT the other way around.  The only way to affect that outcome is to join, en masse.

If you find there is no organization that fits your cultural/political passion.  Then find a few like-minded individuals and found one.  Organize.  Seek members and donations.  Register as a non- profit.  These are the rules, take advantage of them. Build numbers, there is strength in numbers.  

Whether in your own group or one you have joined, leverage the work of others on our side - even if they are not involved in the same interest. Copy what works, enhance what you have seen work elsewhere.  Become a force multiplier by aligning similar groups for various tasks or aligned goals.

Even at that level, know what you need, what you have and what you lack.  Build on your strengths, and don't ignore weaknesses (e.g. poll watchers in 2020, legal experts, sympathetic judges) , if you lack something, align with a potential ally with that skill.  And if there is a legitimate weakness, then fix it.

One last point, there is despite all of their strength, something Democrats, progressives and liberals do very poorly that we must not copy.  Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment was "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."  I get that there has been a paradigm shift on that with so many RINOs in the GOP.  But there is still an important truth in it.   Democrats do not know how to keep their allies.  Actually it is a problem of the entire Left.  Once your usefulness is complete they have no compunction about discarding you, often viciously.  They'll turn on you and savage you if you disagree or even if your usefulness is gone. Andrew Cuomo is the latest example (yes, he's scum and deserves it but they have cut ties with a terrible viciousness while using the opportunity to turn it into a #MeToo issue rather than him being responsible for an as yet unascertained number of COVID deaths due to his policies).

The last point; allies; keep 'em.  Don't discard them after you have used them.  That is short term thinking.  It is Democrat thinking.  They use African Americans, women, and other communities to their benefit.  If you cease to become useful, you are discarded.  Once the anti-Trump Lincoln Project was no longer necessary the NYT could not wait to go after the Republican organization for their apparent wrong-doings.

Not only are we unlikely to get as far (since we have fewer allies), we are better than that.  We are the good guys, the white hats (no that is not a racial reference, it's a cowboy movie reference).  

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