KNOW YOUR BATTLES
Legislation is either Non-controversial: Works when there is little organized or public opposition. Access-based lobbying works.
Legislation is either Non-controversial: Works when there is little organized or public opposition. Access-based lobbying works. Controversial: Education and meeting with legislators becomes ineffective.
3 Types of Battles Survival Out of business. Obligatory Little Brother is Talking Trash. Opportunity All the rest.
3 Types of Battles Survival Out of business. Obligatory Little Brother is Talking Trash. Opportunity All the rest.
You gotta know your limits There is only so much Time Money Talent
You gotta know your limits There is only so much Time Money Talent So you need to figure out which battles to fight. Enter the Red Fox Four...
Win or Lose Red Fox Four Will it attract new money or people? Rate from a +10 to a -10
Win or Lose Red Fox Four Will it attract new money or people? Will it help friends or allies? Rate from a +10 to a -10
Win or Lose Red Fox Four Will it attract new money or people? Will it help friends or allies? Will it hurt enemies or their allies? Defund them? Help me beat them in election season? Rate from a +10 to a -10
Win or Lose Red Fox Four Will it attract new money or people? Will it help friends or allies? Will it hurt enemies or their allies? What is the value of the policy if we win? Rate from a +10 to a -10
Win or Lose Red Fox Four Will it attract new money or people? Will it help friends or allies? Will it hurt enemies or their allies? What is the value of the policy if we win or the cost to freedom if we lose? Rate from a +10 to a -10
Red Fox Four Don t +10 everything to death +10s are rare
What is Red Fox Four? Decision-making, comparative tool Part of your planning process Friends don t let friends do Red Fox Four alone Yes, it s 100% subjective So don t get lost in the numbers Biggest downfall? >>> We won t use it!
Audit the Fed New money / people? Help friends? Hurt enemies? Policy Ratio?
Audit the Fed New money / people? +4 Brings new folks into the battle Campaign for Liberty did have a nice prospecting run, prior to Ron running, but it wasn't off the charts
Audit the Fed Help friends? +4 Propelled Rand Paul to Rock Star status, fighting for us against the big banks Helped make Ron Paul a national figure Helped allied organizations like Campaign for Liberty who uses Audit the Fed as a flagship issue
Audit the Fed Hurt enemies? +3 Nobody was against it in a dangerous seat They just didn t come out against Audit the Fed Few people, if any, lost their seat ONLY because of their stance on Audit the Fed Doesn t defund our enemies at all
Audit the Fed Policy Ratio: Gain if won +3 Find other issues (foreign bank lending, and expose Central Bank money printing) Prepares the way for End the Fed) Normally an audit would be of no value However, unlike Obamacare or Common Core, we don t know nearly as much about the Fed
Audit the Fed New money / people? +4 Help friends? +4 Hurt enemies? +3 Policy Ratio: Downside? +0
Audit the Fed New money / people? +4 Help friends? +4 Hurt enemies? +3 Policy Ratio: 3/0 TOTAL: +14
Obamacare New money / people? +10 Help friends? Hurt Enemies? Policy Ratio:
Obamacare New money / people? +10 Help friends? +10 Hurt Enemies? Policy Ratio:
Obamacare New money / people? +10 Help friends? +10 Hurt Enemies? +10 Policy Ratio:
Obamacare New money / people? +10 Help friends? +10 Hurt Enemies? +10 Policy Ratio: 0/7
Obamacare New money / people? +10 Help friends? +10 Hurt Enemies? +10 Policy Ratio: 0/7 TOTAL: +37 Enemies can t get cover here and this is a HUGE policy fight
When do you do Red Fox Four? Before you get into a fight Part of your planning process When you do this for real you are speculating
More on Red Fox Four Remember that it can change: Over Time By Location Always show your work Save your scores Want an RF4 template? Email tap@facltraining.org
Try It Yourself Do a Red Fox Four on 3 issues Remember Friends don t let friends do this alone 20 Minutes Appoint a group spokesman to give scores and explain your #1 issue
Try it yourself Do a Red Fox Four on 3 issues Remember Friends don t let friends do this alone 20 Minutes Appoint a group spokesman to give scores and explain your #1 issue
The author of the case studies opinion Here are his top three issues Tax Cut Stop the Rail Line Zoning Honorable mention: End involvement in Common Core
Why not these? Create a citizen s advisory task force to stop police violence A referendum to get rid of fluoride in the water A citizen s investigation into Chem Trails and 9/11
Cut Taxes 20% 1 - Raise money and get new people involved? 4 2 Help friends? 4 3 Hurt enemies? 3 4 Gain to freedom if you win? 3 Lose? 0 Potential 14
Stop Rail Line 1 - Raise money/people? 3 2 Help friends? 2 3 Hurt enemies? 4 4 Gain to freedom if we win 0 Loss in liberty if we lose? 3 Potential 12
Repeal of Zoning Law #1 Raise money/new people involved? 6 #2 Help friends? 6 #3 Hurt enemies? 6 #4 Gain to Liberty Win 5 Lose 0 Potential 23
This is a planning tool But this is just potential Red Fox Four is a just a tool to help you decide what fights have the most potential It will also help tell the Fluoride people that your issue is valid, but this issue is better And you can do it without invalidating them
Reality isn t optional You need to do this without rose colored glasses Be cynical about how many people will join the cause And write your scores down so you can evaluate yourself later Why? So you can get better over time This is not One and done this is long term This tool will help you pick better fights but ONLY IF YOU USE IT
How do you know your idea will Raise new money / people? TEST IT
McCain Inauguration T-Shirt
Legislative Work
Objectives Mine: Get them on record. Politicians can get very cranky when you try to put them on the record
Objectives Mine: Get them on record. Politicians : Stay off record. Political Class: Ditto
Objectives To achieve MY goal I need help from the inside because
Two things lawmakers can do Introduce Bill Make Motions on Floor that you can t So who do you trust to do this? You need a
Champion (Inside Leader) Bill sponsor Absolutely committed When everyone s watching (and when nobody s watching) Tough (focused on your issue) And this is all that is important
What the Political Class will say: Here s what you need for a champion: Ambitious higher office Leadership/Chairmanship << Attributes to Avoid When a member of the political class gives you advice, what question should you be asking?
Champion attributes (nice, but not vital) Knows procedure Good staff Good spokesman Not a flake (re: out-of-control visionary) Hopefully conservative across board (but don t exclude for style reasons)
For Champions, DO Mobilize Get good press Share lists Beat up their enemies Raise money/volunteers for campaigns **When you re at the state capitol you re with them**
For Champions, DON T Waste their time with incomplete projects Leave them hanging Ask them to cross a legitimate home base Treat them worse than you treat enemies Don t exclude because they are libertarian OR Christian Right
First Time Challenge Your champion is walking by faith, because he doesn t know what will happen Do you educate him/her on our model? Two Theories Tell them, or don t, but always encourage In the moment of crisis they will panic, doubt If left to their own devices they will do something bad
Champions do this Work out tactics and procedure Give speeches (that YOU write) Let you know who the enemies are inside Media work/sign letters Become prophets
Is sacrosanct Is how a bill becomes law Is how they defeat us on the inside And how we can defeat them The Process
Committees are Killing grounds Public Hearings Mostly wastes time Limited turnout Marginal PR The Process
Getting the Roll Call Vote Almost always a way Appeal ruling of chair or other procedural votes. A PROCEDURAL VOTE COUNTS! A COMMITTEE VOTE COUNTS! A 1 st /2 nd READING VOTE COUNTS!
Getting the Roll Call Vote Almost always a way Appeal ruling of chair or other procedural votes. A PROCEDURAL VOTE COUNTS! A COMMITTEE VOTE COUNTS! A 1 st /2 nd READING VOTE COUNTS!
Every time a politician or a member of the political class tries to explain away a vote... Isn t there a question you should be asking yourself?
THE DANGER OF MAKING BAD BILLS BETTER or The Technical Amendment
You can dress up a pig but it s still a pig. You can make the Obama Care bill less onerous, but it s still socialized medicine.
Don t be a deer in the headlights They will try to kill your bill: Re-write it Throw it in the drawer Delay / block a vote Don t let legislative services write it If so check the text Poison pill amendments You can use this too...
Oh, the excuses you ll hear... This is the only way it ll pass We had to fix the bill You don t understand how things work down here Leadership requested this change we have to work with them to pass this bill This bill is too extreme to pass
You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4:2) Say what you want settle for nothing less Makes them compromise Keeps you from losing more Maintains your freedom to attack
You do not have Because you did not plan! Your lack of planning is not my emergency.
You need to know When bills are requested and filed How you learn about amendments The legislative calendar
If you don t know ASK SOMEBODY.... And before you do that:
Summary
Summary These are just basic principles These principles build from the real nature of politics These principles make it possible to involve our members