Organizing for Constitutional Compliance

1. Austin Constitution Meetup April 16, 2009 Presented by Jon Roland Organizing for Constitutional Compliance

2. Stages • Form core group. • Research the problem. • Select a goal. • Develop a strategy. • Assess and gather resources. • Communicate with targets. • Implement activities. • Evaluate your efforts.

3. Form core group • Recruit those needed for success • Decide who should not be included • Select leaders • Select regular meeting times and places • Inventory assets • Acquire more assets • Develop skills

4. Develop skills • Public speaking • Rules of parliamentary procedure • Management • Bookkeeping • Research • Writing • Motivating

5. Research the problem • Organize the subject. • Answer who, what, how, when, where, why, and whither. • Model the system. • Find the points of maximum leverage. • Prioritize the interventions. • Assess what the interventions will require. • Determine what tasks are to be done.

6. Select a goal • Define an general goal, put it in writing. • Break out into subgoals, down to daily ones for each. • Select milestones and a timetable. • Don't overreach. • Don't become discouraged if subgoals not met on time. • Keep moving forward.

7. Constitutionalist Goals • Level: Federal, State, Local • Branch: Legislative, Executive, Judicial • Civic culture • Legal profession • Academia • Media • Civic organizations

8. Constitutionalist Goals • Good place to start is constitution.org page on Political Reform: • Statement of Grievances and Demands for Redress • Constitutionalist Platform • Pick a goal on which your group will focus. • Pick most important one that is most neglected. • Encourage other groups to pick others and support one another. • Coordinate on a few shared goals for many groups.

9. Cons Doesn't help with things that don't make it to a jury. Not as attractive to people who want total remedies. Requires more education of those persuaded. Example: Trial Jury Reform • Pros • Only have to persuade about 6% of people. • Those can be secondary adopters for further reforms • Not too difficult to explain basics to newbies.

10. Develop a Strategy • Identify which decisionmakers can be persuaded and how far, and which must be replaced. • Prepare replacements. • Get replacements into key positions. • Draft legislation (don't leave drafting to others). • Select winnable cases that can establish precedents. • Spread the word on outrages.

11. Assess & Gather Resources • Leaders • Workers • Donors • Supplies, capital • Allied groups • Opportunities • Threats

12. Communicate with Targets • Replacements for core group • Next level of adopters • Intermediate decisionmakers • Staffers • Media • Constituent groups, sponsors • Ultimate decisionmakers • Potential successors to decisionmakers • Find, give them what they want to get what you want

13. Implement Activities • Keep it professional • Pace yourselves • Make it fun • Economize • Focus on what works • Keep everyone busy • Praise small victories • Remember they are volunteers

14. Evaluate your efforts • Try to measure your efforts and the results. • But not everything important is measurable. • Figure out what went right, what went wrong, and why. • Learn from the examples of others as well as your own. • Commemorate the victories. • Document for later reconsideration.

15. Constitutionalist Movement History • Roots in antiquity • The frontier experience • Ratifying state constitutions • Ratifying U.S. Constitution • Election of 1800 • Secession war • Reactions to usurpations, especially since 1886 • Post-cold-war revival

16. Lessons of other movements • Legal codification • Union • Women's suffrage • Temperance • Civil rights • Anti-war • Environmental • Consumer protection • Campaign finance reform

17. Prepare Yourself • Join existing successful organizations to learn how to make them work. • Try to also pick organizations where there are a lot of recruitment prospects. • Develop support networks for adversity. • Get your family on board. • Know everything, believe nothing, and be prepared for anything.

18. Organization Models • Centralized, top-down • Charismatic leader • Scripture • Decentralized, bottom-up • Public, open • Clandestine • Leaderless resistance cells

19. Organization Types • Public education • Litigation • Lobbying • Electoral • Professional • Academic • Religious • Infiltrative • Millenial

20. Organizing Tools • meetup.com • ning.com • facebook.com • Listserv • Websites, blogs • Email, mail, newsletters • Books, campaign handbooks • Robert's Rules of Order, Revised

21. Recent events: Tea Party • Grass roots, spontaneous • Grew quickly to enough people to be news • Instigated by meltdown, government bailouts • Politicians, media got on board • No real charismatic leader involved • Better than a march on Washington • But most participants not educated on legal issues

22. Beware Pirates! • Opportunists like to hijack new movements. • Most participants don't recognize the pirates until it is too late. • Asking politicians to “do something” without being specific is asking them to do something to you, not for you. • Simple, obvious solutions aren't. • There are very few constitutionalist lawyers. • Large donations can do more harm than good.

23. Now it's up to you!