eotp activist manual (2)

8/7/2019 EOTP Activist Manual (2)

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The Power of Ten

Conservative Activist's Handbook

written and edited by Debbie Besselievrefor the Eastern Orlando Tea Party

All rights reservedJanuary 2011

All rights reservedPage 1Property of EOTP


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Table of ContentsIntroduction Introduction Page 3

Chapter One The Answer Page 5

Chapter Two Power of Ten Page 7

Chapter Three Committees Page 8

Chapter Four Activism 101 Page 9

Chapter Five Holding Them Accountable... Page 10

Chapter Six Letters to the Editor Page 12

Chapter Seven Calling All Writers Page 12

Chapter Eight Calling All Talkers Page 13

Chapter Nine Social Networking Page 14

Chapter Ten Get Educated! Page 17

Addendum Tea Party Covenants & Promises Page 19



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Power of Ten

How to Organize for EffectivenessIntroduction

When it comes to organization the Liberals have Saul Alenzsky and his "Rules forRadicals." The Conservatives have... well I can't think of anyone right off the top of myhead, and that may be the problem. We Conservatives have always been anindependent sort, maybe just a little too independent to set up a man or a plan everyonecan follow. However, we do have a written plan we can all follow and it has been in ourhands and under our noses the whole time and we didn't even know it!

I recently attended at tea party group in my city. It was a small group and and poorlyorganized. It was hard for me to even find the group and once I did find them they reallydidn't have a plan for how to lead their people. "We just post stuff on Facebook," theysaid. Well, I am on Facebook and I never saw any posts or events to rally the troops onFacebook. Facebook is a great tool but it is only one tool in a whole tool box. Usedalone it won't build much of anything.

It concerns me that if someone like me, who is politically active, has trouble getting "inthe know" then what is it like for the newbie who has just woken up, wants to getinvolved and has no idea how to do it? At that meeting I went to there were 3 other"new" people. I know I was frustrated and from the discussion it seems they were too.When I went back the next week the other 3 were not there. We can't afford to frustratevolunteers who just show up to help to the point that they never return.

This is where the Democrats outshine and out-pace the Republicans by more than aWashington mile. They have a strong online presence, they know how to work as ateam and they know how to share information. Their media prowess is well known andwildly successful. Community organizing is their "thing" an they do it very well. IfConservatives are going to compete then we need to catch up on the learning curveand we need to do it fast! Our Country, our families and our lives depend on it! A friendof mine when to another meeting clear across the country and experienced the samething I did, so I am thinking that this is possibly a wide-spread problem given the factthat the Republican Party has not been able to get everyone on the same page for the1/2 century that I have been alive and maybe longer. I think the term best used todescribe how we organize is "like herding cats." Have you ever tried to herd cats? Itcan't be done! Each independent cat is hell bent on doing what he or see wants to dono matter what it's master wants. Here is a case in point; I told you about my friend,well she offered to help organize this group. The response was, "We don't need to get



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organized! We are all leaders!" Oh really? Can you start to see why President Obamais in the White House? The sad reality is we have no one to blame but ourselves!What we need now are Conservatives that are humble enough to really want to make adifference. I promise I will stop being insulting soon. The reality is we don't have timeto waist on prima donnas or power grabbers. Ronald Reagan said it best, "There is no

limit to what a man can do and how far he can go if he doesn't mind who gets thecredit." This should be our mantra. Remember, the Country is counting on us!

Conservatives seem to know we need to get better organized and become a morecohesive group with a solid message but, somehow, it seems to elude us like trying tocatch rainbows. Knowing you need to do something and knowing how to go aboutdoing it are two different things.

The mission of this handbook is to fill in the "how" of getting organized and to give youthe tools to effectively use your organization. There is a way to organize highlyindependent leaders to work as a team or group. We can do it. We must do it! The

"how" is the purpose of this handbook.

Because this handbook is on organization and activism the outline is very simple and itis meant to be use and re-used. I would suggest reading it all the way through for thefirst time in order to get the overall perspective of why and how you can better organizeyour group. Then go back and use the chapters to teach your groups and committeeshow to organize.

Remember when this was a symbol of greatness?

Before we get started, you need to know the principles of organization in this book arenot new or spectacular, but they are based on time tested models that are easy tounderstand and easy to implement. We all know them, we have heard them before, butlike our Constitution, we have taken them for granted and so the have all but beenforgotten by this generation. You might say, It is time to go back to our roots and



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beginnings on all sorts of levels. I am no genius, I have just been blessed with theability to remember. I am nobody special. I am just like you! I am a mom, a daughter, asister, a grandmother...a concerned American. When you remember too you willwonder why you didn't notice it before.

Debbie Besselievre

Chapter One

The Answer Was There the Whole Time!

Over the past few years people have read and discussed the 5000 Year Leap. It was afirestorm that washed over us as a Nation that reminded us who we are and what weare all about. We are a nation built on the greatest document of freedom in the entireworld - The Constitution of the United States of America! We were remind through this

amazing book that we are a nation founded on the "Rule of Law." Through the readingand discussing the 28 principles we became acquainted once again with our FoundingFathers and the document that God inspired them to write. It is a landmark work that isa must read for every American.

In writing the "5000 Year Leap" Dr. Cleon Skousen identified 28 principles that theFounding Fathers used as a foundation for our Constitution. These Principles appearover and over in the founders writings. So this is great book to read to get the averageperson up to speed on the Constitutional Principles very quickly. It is no wonder that ithas been so widely recommended and popular. But did you know that the 28 Principlesare in Part Two of the book? What is in Part One is equally important, and largely

ignored. And I believe Part One is the key to our success as a Conservative movementin America. It is the key because it is Dr. Skousen's "how" to his "why" in Part Two. Inother words, Part One shows us very clearly how to implement the 28 Principles in PartTwo.

By now I hope you are all running to get your copy of the "5000 Year Leap" because Iam not going to repeat what Dr. Skousen has so eloquently written. You need to go tohis book to get the details. All I will do here is to give you an overview with a strongrecommendation that we start using Part One of the 5000 Year Leap.Yes, is is true that the Liberals have Saul Alensky's "Rules for Radicals." But we haveDr. Skousen's "5000 Year Leap" and it contains all the information we need to know



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about how to turn the ship, the USS America, away from the waters of Socialism andbegin to sail in the waters of freedom once again.

In the course of history there have been at least 5 times that large masses of peoplehave had to organize in a big way to carry out a specific mandate. And each time thepeople turned to the Lord's pattern of organization to carry out their mission. The firsttime it happened was when God moved millions of His children out of Egypt andtowards the Promised Land. The other times were, the Anglo-Saxons, the Pilgrims, theMormons, and today, this system resides permanently in the Constitution of the UnitedStates of America!

Each of the above groups organized into groups of 10's, 50's, 100's and 1000's to movethousands, hundred's of thousands and even millions of people. The plan is laid out inthe Bible, it is simple and the beauty of it is that it works! (See the model above)Anyone familiar with "Alensky's Rule's for Radicals" knows that he also encouragespeople to organize in this way. When Barak Obama ran for the President his electionteam used this model to organize and it is one of the reasons he was so effective. Theproblem their team ran into is that it was devoid of a key element - they forgot to


Moses(President)

Council of 70(Senate)

Elected Representatives(A Congress)

6,000 groups of 100

12,000 groups of 50

60,000 groups of 10

(78,000 assistants to govern the people)

More than 3 million people with the power to govern themselves

Aaron - Joshua(VP's)


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consider human relationships. People do not like to be used and that is exactly whatObama's election team did. They used these small groups of people for the purpose ofgetting him elected and when their mission was accomplished they forgot them. This iswhy Obama's team could not be rallied two years later in the 2008 elections - they usedtheir people and forgot about them.

This is the most striking difference between people who believe in God and people whodon't. Both groups can read the same information and get two completely differentresults because taking God out of anything removes, also, the core of our humanrelationships! When God is at the core of our lives we treat everyone as we would liketo be treated. When we love God and serve Him, then we love our neighbors and weserve them too. We don't use people for our own purposes and then toss them aside.Our Founding Fathers knew and understood these principles of organizing in groups often. They were students of the Bible and they studied the society of the Anglo-Saxons.They knew that people migrated to America in this same pattern of "Groups of Ten."Many of the thirteen colonies were still governing themselves under this same pattern

when the Constitution was written. It wasn't new to them. They understood it, becausethey studied it in the Bible and in History and because they lived it.

Our challenge is going to be if we can replicate the pattern and do it in a way that worksover the long haul.

Chapter Two

The Power of TensIf we are to implement this system into political activism today then we are going toneed to be smart about how we do it. It has to be done in a way that makes sense andin a way that functions how people work together. Us freedom loving humans are adifferent breed from our liberal brothers and sisters, we want it done now, we areterritorial and we like to be in charge. We are also very loyal to those we know andlove. The beauty of the "groups of ten" system is that it is taylor made for our freedomloving natures. Everyone is given something they can be in charge of and the power tomove and to act in their own responsibilities! It is a win-win for your average Patriot andtheir organizations.

Here is how it works -

The idea is that every neighborhood will have at least one group of about ten, it couldbe more or less. Ten is not a set number. The most important thing is that they bepeople you associate with - your neighbors, your friends and your family. Your groupshould be made up of people who are close to you. The reason for this is that youalready have built in relationships and you will have a natural connection with those



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people. For this reason it will not be hard or difficult for you to keep in touch with eachother.Leaving out this personal connection is where the liberals failed. But we will not fail!Our groups of ten will not easily dissolve or go away because your group is made up of

people who are already important to you. Your first job in political activism is to formyour group of ten with your friends, family and neighbors.

The most important activity that your group can do is to meet often to teach and discussthe principles of the Constitution. Take time to meet and discuss the Founding Fathers,our History etc. A good place to start is a discussion group on the "5000 Year Leap."Our larger organization will have other events, activities and classes you can participatein. Encourage each other to go to these events, offer to carpool, call and remind eachother about the events you want to attend. In other words, care for each other andencourage each other to get involved, educated and informed.Once you have formed your group invite them to join in with our larger organization.

Encourage them to attend the monthly meetings, join the website, get involved byserving on a committee, join Facebook and Twitter or start a blog. (These things will bediscussed in later chapters.) The most important thing will be that at least one memberof your groups serves on each committee in the organization. This way your groupbecomes a fully informed micro-group. Your "group of ten" will know about everythinghappening in the larger group as a whole. And because you are familiar with the peoplein your group, you can be a tremendous resource in identifying people who can helpwith specific needs.

The result of this organizational model set up by God in the Bible is that everyone inyour ten's group is being trained on all the aspects of the larger group. This is how new

leadership will be identified and emerge. Potentially, every group will be trained on howto started their own tea party, 9-12, or other activist groups in every neighborhood, cityand county. It is a perfect system and it works! We know it works because history hasprovided the proof!

As the organization grows we will have leadership over 10, 50 and 100 groups. Thebeauty of this system is that it trains leaders. What our country needs now, more thanever, is principled leadership!

This is the Power of Tens!

Chapter Three

Committees

As discussed in the previous chapter it is vitally important to the organization as a wholeand to your smaller "group of ten" that at least one member serve on each committee.



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This way not everyone has to go to every committee meeting. You can send oneperson from your group to each committee meeting and then those committee memberscan come back share the information within your "group of ten." this is just another layeron how to keep everyone informed. This organizing model does three things:

1) It allows every "group of ten" to know and share information that is happening acrossthe larger organization with a smaller output of time and energy on the overallleadership. This gives the smaller groups responsibility and personal accountability tomanage their own "group of ten."

2) It trains new leadership in a way that allows individuals to act within their own comfortzone. Many activists burn out because they become overwhelmed at the amount ofwork that needs to be done. This system supports the idea that "many hands makelight work." So when we all take an organized share of the burden the size of the jobfeels lighter even-though it may still be very large.

3) Activists are working one on one with the people closest to them. Not only does thisstrengthen their personal relationships by fighting for a common cause but it also giveseach person a sense that they are personally vested in that cause. They becomeresponsible and accountable to their friends, families and neighbors welfare and safetythrough the work they do.

Chapter Four

Activism 101There are a number of way you can join us in becoming a grassroots activist. We havealready discussed in this handbook how you can help by forming your own "group often." What we will cover in this chapter is how you can work with your groups to make adifference by educating others, holding your elected officials accountable andnetworking with others to encourage them to do the same.The following chapters will cover the basics of political activism by participation in thefollowing areas: Calling your Elected Officials Writing letters to the Editor Writing in Op-Ed's and Blogs Calling Talk Radio Shows Social Media EducationThanks to the internet a lot of our work as grassroots activists can be done at home inour pajamas. Through the internet you can make a difference and an impact that was



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never possible before now! This time in history is like no other. While our Newsorganizations are failing in their job to be a watchdog on our government, the internetallows ordinary people to exercise their citizenship like never before! You can take astand - YOU can make a difference - all you need is to know how. This handbook willhelp you with the know-how, all you need is to supply the desire! Online activism is only

a click away...

Chapter Five

Holding Our Elected Leaders Accountable

Your representatives in your City, State and Washington want to hear from you. Withoutyour voice they are left to themselves (and the opposition) to decide what is best for thecitizens they represent. If you are not talking to your representatives we can promiseyou that the other side is talking to them! If you do not speak up and tell them what youwant then guess who they are going to listen to? Constituents can have a real impactand help sway votes and shape policy if they will communicate with their electedofficials.

It is easy to find your elected officials using the internet as a tool. Search for localleaders on www.myflorida.gov and search for your state and national leaders onwww.senate.gov or www.house.gov You can also search for their own website bysearching for their names. Many of these websites contain addresses, home address,phone numbers and email addresses. Some of them allow you to email directly fromthe website.



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Your legislators were elected to represent you! You should not be shy in letting themknow that you are interested in what they are doing and letting them know what youthink.

Writing

Writing is one of the most common ways to do this. When youwrite to your legislators make sure to keep it local, keep it personaland keep it concise.

Your representatives need to know how the decisions they aremaking affect your life, family and business.

When you are writing to them address the letter to "TheHonorable..." and write your letter on your business letterhead if possible to keep it asprofessional as possible.Keeping your letter to under one page lets your representative know that you value their

time and can make your point quickly.

Be sure to always be respectful and pleasant because you will get more traction if youdo not put them in an adversarial roll.

When writing please keep your letter to one issue. Be sure to include any specificinformation like bill numbers, articles or URL's that will help them know what you arespecifically talking about.

When you address your letter, be sure that you have their specific room number so thatyour letter can be received promptly.

The last thing is to make sure that you hold your representative accountable for yourcommunication and to let them know that you will be following up with them. Makeyourself a contact form where you can record who you wrote, the date, the issue and ifyour received a response. This allows you to follow up with them if you don't get aresponse.

CallingWhen you need to call your representative to ask them to support abill or not support it be sure to keep your communicationshort. The person on the other end of the phone is usually

getting a lot of calls in these situations so be brief.

When you call ask to speak to the legislator or their aide.Thank them for taking your call and identify yourself. Tell themwhy you called, i.e. to support bill number 3. Then ask themfor their name and title for your notes. If they know that you areasking for information then they are more likely to pass theinformation to the representative.



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You can also leave a message on their voicemail. If you are too shy to talk to someonecall after hours and leave a message. If you do leave a message be sure to leave youremail address and ask them to send you an email confirming they got your message.

Again, record all the information on your contact form. When you do this it allows you to

follow up with them and you will know when you called, who you talked to and what wassaid. Again, hold them accountable!

Chapter Six

Letters to the EditorLetters to the editor are an extremely important weapon to the grassroots activist. Theseletters allow you to comment and respond to local and national publications. Many of

the legislators staffers watch the letters to the editor so they know what the public isthinking about any particular issue. Use these tips when writing letters to the editor:

Check each publication for guidelines for writing and submitting letters to the editor.

A letter to the editor should be short and too the point. Usually the rule is under 250words, which is about one page.

Be truthful and make sure your facts are correct. A newspaper will not print letters thatcontain wrong information.

Make sure your letter is current to the issues written in the paper. Don't wait days andweeks to respond to an article.

Use correct grammar and spelling when writing letters to the editor.

Include your contact information as most publication will not publish letters fromanonymous sources. They also may want to verify facts or ask you questions.

Not all letters are published so if yours is not be aware that it was not ignored. Theeditors and staff read all the letters so keep trying.

Chapter Seven

Calling All WritersThere are plenty of opportunities to write articles in today's worldof grassroots activism. The internet and publications give a widevariety of ways to write to help inform people on ConservativePrinciples. It is important for conservatives to write, blog, submitop-ed's etc. When writing a larger article it still needs to beconcise and to the point. Remember that people have shortattention spans. Most will not read more than 700 words or about



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3 pages.

Be honest and relevant. Do not try to make more than one point. Make one point andmake it well. Stay on your main argument and make your most important argument atthe top of the page because some people only read the first few sentences and move

on, so make sure they read your most important point right away.

Use facts and statistic judiciously because you don't want your point to get boggeddown in a mountain of facts.

BloggingBlogs are websites where a person or group of people can regularly post, comment,make commentary, share content or links that are of interest on a wide variety of topics.It is very easy to start your own blog and share your opinions with the world. The firstthing you need to do is to define your goals and select a focus for your blog. There aremillions of blogs out there so find something that is unique to you or an area where you

have an expertise.

We recommend that you focus your blog on your local government, national issues froma personal perspective or monitor the bias of local, state and national media.Blogging takes some time but it is usually less time than you think. Blog post can beinformal and short. You can post a link with a comment, an action item or a shortobservation. The important thing is that you blog something on a regular basis so thatyour readers can count on you. You can also start a blogging group so you can sharethe job.

Some places you can start a blog are:

www.trinity.netwww.bloodspot.comwww.ning.comwww.wordpress.com

Eastern Orlando Tea Party has a website with blogging and article publishingcapabilities so if you are interested helping us blog we can make arrangements for youto have editor status.

Chapter EightCalling All Talkers

Some activist are writers and some are talkers. We have need of the talkers too.Everyday, millions of people listen to talk radio. By calling into a radio show you havethe opportunity to share your message with thousands of listeners if you call into theseshows. Here are some tips for calling in:



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Make notes on what you want to say before you call in. Decide what point you want tomake and how you want to present it, that way you will know what you want to say andhow to say it.

Every radio show has a call screener that will ask you who you are and what you wantto talk about. Have a one sentence answer prepared on what you want to talk about.You are more likely to get on the air with local or state talk shows than on a nationalshow.

You CAN get on a national show easier when there is a guest host, at the top or bottomof the hour or when there is a caller on the line.

Above all else use correct grammar, don't say "uh" or other space fillers, be pleasantand conversational.

Chapter Nine

Social NetworkingThere is power in social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. It is an excellentway to communicate and organize. If you do not have a Facebook and Twitter accountnow, the first thing you can do is to create these accounts. To create a Twitter accountgo to www.twitter.com. To create an account on Facebook go to www.facebook.com.

Both of these sites are simple to use. Just follow the instructions! If you need helpsetting up these accounts please contact a member of the steering committee. We willalso hold classes in the near future on how to use social networking sites.

We also have lists of members twitter and Facebook ID's so that you can start followingmembers. Let us know and we will email these lists to you.Below is an article I wrote a while back about the power of social media. It is good ideato reprint it here because the message is so important! If you will do the things in thisarticle you will be very successful using social media!

Getting the Message Out: Social Networking forConservatives

"Take Twitter, for example. "So many Republicans nowwant to get on Twitter because they know it's 'cool,'"Rob continues. "But few are taking the time to reallythink about what they should use it for. When thathappens, you get far too many 'I'm sitting on the tarmac



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waiting for my plane to take off' tweets. That's when you just further become partof the joke and not the solution." ~The Daily Beast

Social Networking has become a huge medium for carrying the political message forConservatives. Right now the Conservatives are on fire with their discovery ofFacebook and twitter, but they have yet to understand its power and how to use it. Fornearly two years now I have been using Facebook and Twitter as an assignment withmy non-profit, SolveNow, to learn all the nuances of social networking in order to teachothers how to use it.

Conservatives are notorious for being slow to understand new technologies. We havebeen referred to as dinosaurs for good reason; it is a moniker we earned. SocialNetworking is something we must get better at doing. So in the spirit of education andsharing I am going to give you some tips and tricks I have learned. I hope you will usethem and then share them with others. If we are to win this war we need to understandthe tools of battle and how to use them effectively, or it will be like handling and loaded

weapon without knowing how to use it, it is just best to leave it alone. We had our clockscleaned by the democrats in this arena the last election and we STILL have not got thehang of it 2 years later! I am 52 years old and if I can do this then so can you!! So herewe go:

It is called social networking for a reason it is so you can network with otherpeople. That means you need to be out there making COMMENTS everywhere youcan! Leave comments on posts. Others will get to know you by the comments youmake and that is how they will know you well enough to ask you to be their friend. Youget to know others by the comments they make and that is how they get to know you! So COMMENT A LOT!Dont be afraid to have people disagree with you. People disagree, its what we do.You cannot influence or persuade without having a discussion. If someone sayssomething you dont like, you DONT have to respond! It is not like you are going to seethem anytime soon! And if they become really annoying you can hide or delete themand their nasty comments. A word to the wise, do not be disagreeable when you aredisagreeing! You can disagree and have a civilized discussion. There is NO room forbeing hateful, name calling or using offensive language. Keep it respectful! Be braveand be strong, grow a thick skin! Our Republic is at stake! If you dont fight this battlenow with words then we will be fighting it later with guns. You dont know scared untilthat happens!

If someone posts something you really like, for heavens sake dont just click the likebutton! REPOST IT! If you just click like, never make a comment and never share thenhow are all the people in your network ever going to see it? How will it ever be sharedwith their friends and so on? Social networking, blogging and internet news sites aredriving the news today. Most of the people following me see the news days before ithits the TV or radio. You can get messages out faster if you REPOST information foryour friends to see it and encourage them to send it on. If you read it that is great, but



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dont your friends deserve to read it too? It irritates me when I see all those LIKEthumbs and nobody has bothered to pass it along. LIKE it all you want to but alsoSHARE it! Again, you need to fearless with this one and NOT be worried what otherthink of you. After I had been doing this a while I stopped a few times, I just needed abreak from it. I had so many people beg me to keep going because they counted on meeveryday to tell them what is going on in the world. So be BOLD! SHARE and REPOST it is your duty!Recommend your Conservative friends to other Conservative friends! Dont be shy!Use social media to introduce people you know to other people, the same way youwould introduce them at a party. If we are to stand together as a ConservativeMovement we have to learn social graces, we have to know each other. We have tolearn who we can depend on, we must learn to identify and associate with other greatAmericans. We cant do that without introducing our like-minded friends to other like-minded friends. We are not a country club keeping everyone out - find your voice,become outgoing and introduce! On Facebook, you can introduce in two ways 1) Grab

your friend's URL on their page and post it on your page with a message on it aboutwhy you like and recommend this friend.(The URL is the code at the top of the page thata computer uses to take people to that page). 2) Recommend your friends to others byusing the link on everyones page at the bottom left side that says recommendfriends. On twitter, they are much better about allowing you to share the people tofollow, you just send out lists of your favorites on #FF, which means Follow Friday. Youcan gain massive amounts of followers in a very short time. Now that you know youhave no excuse - Just DO IT!

To become more effective politically use Facebook and twitter together. Either one isgreat used alone. But when you put them together oh my gosh - you can drive themessage in a way that is more powerful than anything you can imagine! For example; Iuse twitter to find the news. Twitter is a constant scroll of information coming in as it ishappening by people I count on all over the world. I find the news as it is breaking. Ionly spend an hour or less doing this in the evening before bed. When I find a story Iwant to share I retweet it. Then it is on my page waiting for me the next day. When Iget up in the morning I take all those stories I retweeted the night before and pick thebest of the best and send them to my Facebook friends. A word of caution: READEVERY STORY all the way to the end before you post it, dont post articles or videosyou havent seen or watched, to do so is very bad form.

This brings me to:

Guard your integrity! If people think you are a nutcase or a whack job they will NOTtrust you. Make sure your news is accurate and from a good source. Use the brain Godgave you please and dont POST the sensational just for its own sake. The real newstoday is crazy enough without posting stuff that is made up! I delete a lot of people whodo this. It is just not worth my time to read hyped-up drivel. We share to educate so becareful of your sources. Find the sources you trust and use them. Some of myfavorites are: Fox News, American Thinker, The Daily Caller, Drudge Report, HumanEvents and others. If you follow me you will know who I use and where I get my



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information from. If you go outside your trusted sources always be sure to verify. Iskipped this step a few times because I was busy, only to have to retract it later andapologize to everyone. That is embarrassing and not worth it. Take a few minutes andcheck your sources; you can Google anything so you really have no excuse not to do it.If you cant find the story leading back to a credible source it is probably false dont

post it! Stay away from fringe elements on the right! We have our crazies, just like theliberals do! And if you DO make a mistake and post something weird APOLOGIZEand admit you were wrong, it can only increase the trust levels. And above all, in yourposts, dont become annoying, we are not here to annoy we are here to educate! Ibecame annoying the other day and I had to apologize. If you are annoying people theywill hide you, or worse, they will delete you and trust me, you dont want to be deleted it makes everyone feel bad.

Follow me on Twitter @debbiebessFriend me on Facebook Debbie Besselievre (with that last name I am not hard tofind!)

This article is the property of SolveNow - all right reserved. You have permission to repost, email, tweetand send with credit attached to the author.

Chapter Ten

Get Educated!I saved this topic for last because it is the most important! You

cannot do anything else written in this manual until you becomeeducated on the principles our Nation was built on, namely, our

Constitutional Principles. I saved this subject for last because it

is the one you need to remember the most! I cannot emphasis

the importance of education enough - knowledge is power! We

need all the power we can get! So get started today!

A good place to start learning these principles is in the "5000 Year Leap written by Dr.

Cleon Skousen. We have copies available to you. Purchasing them from our group will

also help us fund part of our activities.

Get this book and teach it to your friends, family andneighbors. Form a reading and discussion group andlearn the principles together. As you go along you willlearn of other important works and authors ourfounders read and studied. Among these are:

Alexis deTocqueville

Cicero



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Henry Blackstone

Polybius

Thomas Hooker

Montesquieu

The best thing you can do is to become familiar with the founding documentsthemselves:

The Constitution

Declaration of Independence

Bill of Rights

The Federalist Papers

Study the writings of our Founding Fathers. Read theirbiographies - get to know them and what they believed.Much of our history has been stolen from us because we

don't know what we have been missing! You must read,read, read and read some more! Your education of ourgreat heritage is your responsibility as a citizen. Pleasetake this responsibility seriously!

We also have a website where we post articles, videos and ongoing educational events.We encourage you to make the most of as many of these as possible.

You can visit our website at www.easternorlandoteaparty.org

Welcome to Eastern Orlando Tea Party and Welcome to the movement toreclaim America! God bless you in your efforts and God Bless America!



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Addendum

Tea Party Covenants & Promises

We the Participantsin the Eastern Orlando Tea Party, by virtue of our voluntaryand independent association do present to all interested parties our specific Covenantsand Promises with which our formation, avocations and undertakings shall beconducted we hereby affirm to the following:

Non-Profit -There is not profit motivation, commercial or personal financialadvancement or interest that will benefit any of the founders, organizers or participantsof this organization. Cost incurred by this organization will be meet only by donationsand fundraisers allowed under our non-profit status.

Political Party Affiliation - This organization is not a political party. We arenot, have not been or ever will be an appendage or affiliate of any political party. Allcitizens of broad and varied political parties are welcome to participate in our activities.

Voluntary Participation -Any citizen wishing to participate in any of ourmeetings, gatherings or events, or, who choose to assist or support any of the needs ofthis organization, do so voluntarily, when they choose to do so. There is no specificattendance requirement or commitment of involvement required of anyone, at any time,for any purpose.

Common Interests -The participants of this organization come together asAmericans with common interests in a number of issues pertaining to our county, stateand local governance. However, our Main concerns are 1) to protect, defend andpreserve the Constitution of the United States with the desire to advance the principlesof virtue our country was founded on, with emphasis on; integrity, honesty, transparencyand the rule of law in the actions of our government, elected and/or appointed officials.2) Insisting that our government and/or elected officials implement and maintain laws offiscal responsibility, restraint, and accountability in managing the affairs of government.3) Advocating the decrease in the size and scope of the federal government andallowing free markets to prosper in order to create jobs and economic freedom for allAmericans.

Standards of Conduct -We welcome the participation of all concernedcitizens to join with us with the understanding that participation comes with theexpectation to maintain the highest standards of conduct in all of our actions, writingsand speeches while participating in all Eastern Orlando Tea Party events, meetings, etc.Polite, responsible restraint and appropriate behavior in our actions, speech and



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writings is imperative to the successful accomplishment of our collective goals. Thoughwe advocate and defend freedom of speech, protection of our liberties, question withboldness, and hold our elected and appointed officials accountable; and challenge theunlawful acts of the same, we denounce and condemn, without equivocation, the use byanyone any - hate speech, ethnic or racial epithets, swearing or the use of foul

language, or any slanderous or libelous behavior in any of our meetings, events,writings, speeches or personal behavior. Any participants, outside infiltrators or thirdparties who engage in such behavior will be excused to find other organizations, venuesand methods in which to express themselves.

Abhorrence of Violence -We MUST emphasize that the Eastern Orlando TeaParty, denounces, rejects, and abhors all acts of violence and/or threats of violence(written or verbal). We do not condone or support the imposition of will upon or theintimidation of public officials, citizens, protestors, political parties; nor the removal ofpublic officials or the overthrow of government through any act of violence, or threat ofany violence whatsoever to accomplish any end. We believe that any person who

engages in any act of violence or any threat of violence should be held accountable tothe full extent of the law and such persons are hereby denounced by us and are notwelcome in our presence under any circumstances.

Covenants and Promises used and adapted with permission from the West Orlando Tea Party


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