American Solutions

Newt Gingrich asked me to Chair a national effort to protect workers rights and support “Freedom Not Fear” in the workplace.

In a closed-door meeting Tuesday, President Obama told over 100 top union officials that “we will pass the Employee Free Choice Act.” It’s now clear that President Obama, Big Labor, and their left-wing allies in Congress, will attempt an unprecedented power grab that is a mortal threat to our economy and our democratic values.

This is being done in a stealth manner because its backers know that this bill will not pass if the American people understand its destructive nature.

To expose and stop this effort, I’ve joined American Solutions as National Chairman of our “Freedom Not Fear” campaign, and you can join us by signing our petition here.

The Employee Free Choice Act, or “Card Check,” would eliminate the right to vote by private ballot when deciding whether to join a union, and it would undermine the right to freely negotiate contracts.

We can’t tolerate this. We must stand for freedom, not fear in the workplace. We cannot afford to be intimidated. Please stand with us now. This is about protecting our fundamental right to vote privately without coercion. It’s about protecting the right of employers and employees to negotiate freely. It’s about allowing businessmen and women, not bureaucrats and union bosses, to run our businesses. And in the end, it’s about saving and protecting American jobs.

Please sign the petition now.

Mark Halperin had two interesting notes from a John McCain town hall meeting today:

1.  He said that "we have to drill here and we have to drill now," which is an obvious nod to Newt Gingrich and American Solutions.  People on this site have mentioned how we need our own MoveOn and how American Solutions might be it...

2.  He also said that Obama, "should call on Congress to return from their vacation and deal with the energy problem now," which is a nod to the Guerilla Congress that is going on as we speak.

Could this be the begining of the base being fired up and/or the closing of the pesk "enthusiasm gap?" 

More importantly, where do we take it from here?

(As a side note, it's frustrating when your party is thinking of nominating a Jewish vice-president with the name "Cantor," and you have five or six "Jazz Singer" jokes that only you find funny.)
 

In the Army they have what is known as the 5 paragraph operations order which is used to formulate and conduct a plan for any operation they are going to engage in. Conservatives need to adopt this template in order to emerge victorious in the current political climate in America. There is no denying the success that our military experiences, so as they say in corporate America it is time to adapt these best practices to the conservative movement.
All operations begin with the issuing of the operations order. It succinctly outlines the who, what, where and how of any mission. The five elements are Situation, Mission, Execution, Service Support, and Command and Signal (Control). Here is the operations order for conservatives, and like all plans it is always subject to changing and updating based on the most current intelligence. I am keeping my op order to the main 5 paragraph, but there is additional areas under each main section that can be expanded upon, but let's take this one step at a time and concentrate on the basics.

1. Situation
   a) Enemy Forces - Liberals, Progressives, environmental activists, activist judges, mainstream media, and Congress.
   b) Friendly Forces - Talk radio, conservative bloggers, and conservative think tanks.

2. Mission - Establish the conservative values our Founding Fathers espoused, make our government responsive to the people, elect people to office who uphold these principles, develop a viable program for communicating conservative principles by relating these values to Americans by deeds and not words alone. Establish a climate whereby conservative ideals are not something to be suppressed but rather embraced.

3. Execution
   a) Concept of the operation
      1) Scheme of Maneuver -  Break out of our comfort zone of relying on those methods of communication we have firmly established such as talk radio and blogging, which take advantage of the more critical thinking skills, and expand into the visual market using 21st century technology. Make better use of TV, movies and video to capture the attention of Americans.
      2) Formation - Mass all available conservatives and began to be a face to the American public, not as a counter point but as voice speaking as one.
      3) Route - Most direct since enemy resistance is strong across the entire front. Flanking maneuvers while they might be good for the small unit fight must be brought back to the main effort once any pockets of resistance are overcome.
      4) Tactical Mission to Subordinate Units - Confront the progressive movement at every opportunity. Use persuasion at first, but make use of all available examples and resources which demonstrate positive proof of how conservative values and principles improve their lives.

4. Service Support
   a) We must rely on each other. In the initial stages most support from come from internal resources and what we get from terrain we advance across. With each success we gain access to more resources to sustain the operation.

5. Command and Control
   a) At this time no overall commander has been determined for this mission, however we will be relying on small unit leaders everywhere to coordinate with the units to their left and right to maintain a solid front while engaging in the small unit actions.

Granted this is a very rudimentary operations order and people are certainly welcome to expand upon it and refine it, but at this point in time I feel it is important for conservatives to develop a focus, create a starting point, and have a clearly defined and communicated goal.
Only by conducting a sober and concise evaluation of where we are in the public arena can we move forward in an honest and concerted effort. This all hinges on the individual soldiers, meaning you, having confidence in your mission, are aware of the goal, and can go about your efforts, not with reticence, but with bold, unflinching, and decisive action.
In closing I offer this document, from American Solutions, a program started by Newt Gingrich, which explains in greater detail the intermediate objectives that must be accomplished in order for the bigger mission to succeed.

Newt Gingrich's American Solutions is closing in on 140,000 signatures for its Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition. On Tuesday, this number was about 12,000. When refreshing the page this morning, the signature count appeared to be rising by about 100 a minute. Full disclosure: American Solutions is a client of my company, but we haven't worked on this initiative.

This is a proverbial hockey-stick moment, and for an issue -- energy -- which hasn't traditionally riled up a lot of activist passion even if it bites consumers. Perhaps $4 gas is changing that, with gas prices taking their place alongside the war, gay marriage, and immigration on the list of activist hot buttons.