By Andrew Hayes of Lawton, Oklahoma – He is a rancher and former candidate for office. Andrew is the founder and president of the Liberty Literature Foundation. He and his wife Katharine have four children – Paul, Addie, Paxton and Annaliese.
The grassroots is unique in the people who make it up. We are not a political people, not by nature and not by default. We have all been awakened as the failures of the state have impacted each of our lives and gotten involved in all the ways we have. Compare this to the left, and even to the RINO establishment—they aren’t involved in politics because too much government has negatively impacted their lives—they see state power as the key to solving all of life’s other problems. It is they, the uni-party, that says, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
This basic difference in attitude towards government and power manifests itself not only in how we expect our representatives to govern, but in how we see the processes that our government rests on. Like power, we also see the process as a tool. Power is not something we seek for its own sake, nor do we participate in the process for its own sake.
No wonder then that we so often get our clock cleaned by the establishment “right” and the left.
What we miss, and what they understand, is that the process is not a 2 year election cycle. It’s not a campaign season sprint. The left has engaged in a multi generational marathon! Early American Socialists never deceived themselves into believing that they were ever just one election away from changing our country. Meanwhile, I, like many others, once thought exactly that—that “this was the year,” and that this person or that person, once elected, would fix everything broken in government!
I no longer believe that’s the case. The country has been changed over the course of generations, and it will take generations to put it right again.
Of course every election matters, and I’m not suggesting that we stop working hard for grassroots candidates when they call on us.
But what I am insisting is that we must incorporate long term goals when we do!
Every grassroots campaign must have two co-equal goals. First, the obvious goal of increasing support for our grassroots candidates, and second—to grow the grassroots. And the vast majority of the doors you knock will be answered by people like us. They vote as a civic duty, but they are not engaged. They are not deeply interested in the goings on of government, because though the government is deeply interested in them, they have not had their lives affected on a very basic level the way many of us have. It isn’t enough to knock on the door and ask for a vote. We must ask them to join us! Come be a part of our meetings, our activities, maybe even our online discussions.
And there is an analog to Christianity here. Candidates call upon door knockers, and as door knockers, we have our work cut out for us! We need more! So too is the case with evangelists in the mission field. “The crop is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
But look at the life of anyone in the mission field. Missionaries don’t just spring up out of the ground. Many start out as unregenerate rebels against God. They are evangelized, and the biggest commitment is made up front. They first repent of their sins and believe. Then they are brought into the church and discipled. And only years later do some of them go into the mission field.
Our grassroots campaigns should mirror this. Go knock on doors, ask for votes, and invite them to meetings. Some counties might even consider having refreshments for those meetings during and shortly after campaign cycles. I’ve seen plenty of people show up to Sunday School for the first time for coffee and donuts.
And because there is so much work, and the workers are so few, our grassroots movement is more susceptible to burnout than any other political movement on the spectrum. Having more people to knock doors with, and thereby, fewer doors to knock, extends the longevity of those already doing the work!
The political class—the Democrats and RINOs—understand that everything is a numbers game. And this is no different. If you invite a thousand people to your county meeting, 10 will show up. 5 will get involved, and 1 will end up knocking doors for a grassroots candidate at some point in the future. If the grassroots candidates will do the same from time to time—promote our organizations and invite people to our meetings—perhaps the numbers will be even higher!
And a single door knocker in a local race is easily worth $15k–$25k!
When a grassroots candidate and his team knock doors and invite those folks to our meetings, it’s improving the political ecosystem and making it better. It’s making a real contribution to the next grassroots candidate who runs in that district! And not just for that seat, but for a number of grassroots candidates running for various offices and over several election cycles.
Granted, it might be a small consolation to the candidate and his team the day after election day if they didn’t make it across the line! Like planting a shade tree, it’s just work, and of little benefit for now!
But this is not a sprint that starts in March and ends in November—it is a multigenerational marathon!
Original content OKGrassroots
You must be logged in to post a comment.