http://sanderhicks.tumblr.com/post/3821083949/truth-party-ten-point-program-draft-feedback
The Truth Party
Ten Point Program
March 12, 2011
Vista, CA
Brothers and Sisters,
It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Vista, California, a lively village community between LA and San Diego. I am grateful to my hosts at the 12 Tribes community, who fed and housed me last night. Now that I am recharged, let me tell you what I learned from listening to people nation-wide on this whirlwind tour. I realize now that I was too modest in my goals for this Party. I was reticent at first, but when activists kept suggesting we hold a convention and nominate a Presidential candidate for 2012, I soon stopped saying, “we can’t” and said “Yes!”
So, yesterday, I called my old pal Lenny Charles at TV show INN World Report, back in NYC. He invited me to be a part of the planning for 9/11 truth events in NYC around the big ten year anniversary. We are now working on making a “Truth Party National Convention” a part of the after-events. (Think, perhaps, Monday 9/12/11.) People nation-wide are talking about “putting a million people on the street” in NYC on 9/11/11; the Truth Party convention will help add that. Please plan to be there. At the ten year anniversary of 9/11, we will witness the unveiling of the 3-D propaganda vehicle “9/11 Memorial” at Ground Zero, juxtaposed with a massive throng of activists in the street, asking for answers, through the simple, profound power of presence. The Truth Party National Convention will add to the importance of that time.
Here’s a report on what we started, in just two weeks. There are now official Truth Party facilitators in: Boston, NYC, Chicago, Madison, Austin, San Francisco, and San Diego. I am also talking to people about this now in Eastern PA, Concord, NH, Central Iowa, Phoenix, Portland, Minneapolis. and Las Vegas.
Over the course of my talks and discussions I realized we have to make certain points about strategy. This is the beginning of a “Truth Party Ten Point Program”:
1. The Truth Party has a Positive Vision. We stand for something substantial. We define ourselves in terms of what we are for, the way the positive symbols in the logo carry our message. The Truth Party has three core values: USA Peace Leadership, Economic Democracy, and Total Transparency. It’s time to expand upon this.
2. The People Can Be United. On certain issues, people are moving beyond the same old political categories: the bailouts, the cover-ups that create war, etc. This is a huge strategic advantage: let’s unify around these issues. This has never really been tried before: a political movement based on the big ideas that unite people, people from all sides of the so-called “left and right”. Together, we are developing a program that is uniting a mass movement: patriots, populists, and real progressives.
3. Economics Is A Vibrant Form Of Direct Action. Jack in New Hampshire talked about “Agorism” (i.e. “marketism”) and the 12 Tribes community out here are doing something very similar. What it is is living by example, showing the world a better way, not through scolding, but by doing. By creating ventures, vessels to carry the message. 12 Tribes have an amazing café/restaurant here in Vista that is packed from 9 PM to 2 AM everyday, (all 180 seats). Isn’t it funny that the people best at “business” are the ones who don’t do businesses primarily for money. They have put their mission, first. We need to move beyond the Federal Reserve, and the government of, by, and for Wall Street. We need public markets to work for the public. We need to make capital available to more people.
4. There Has To Be A Way Out. The temptation with deep research work is to get over-whelmed by the data. Every problem has a solution. And remember, that the Truth Movement can’t go anywhere if it’s just a conspiracy theory club. What we want is to spread this realization: the days of war are numbered. War Is Obsolete. How do we know this? By studying the fabricated provocations that have started all the wars. 9/11 is a good place to start. But it’s not the place we end.
5. Everyone’s Creative Capacity Is Infinite. Jim in Madison gave me a book on Nicholas of Cusa, a forgotten 14th Century mystic who states the universe is the unfolding of the Divine. Also in that book is the assertion that the creative powers of each human being are infinite, despite the pessimism and the limits we are taught. The First Amendment knows this truth. The Bill of Rights is based on the reliance on common sense, the “inner light” inside us all. There’s a link between the free exchange of ideas and the life of a democracy. The more we nurture our “inner light” or what the Buddhists call “everyone’s Buddha nature” the better we become as a people, as a republic, and as a democracy.
6. We Are All In a Dialogue with the World’s Great Religions. The First Amendment seems to encourage freedom of religion, as a cousin of the right to free speech, and the right to dissent. So, religion amd spirituality is something that every working intellectual/activist in the Truth Party needs to have a knowledge of. No particular belief system is required, of course, but we have to be able to speak the language of religion and faith. The core values we have: peace, truth, Divinity, and emancipation are also at the core of the Judeo/Christian tradition, and its descendant religion, Islam. We are all for the separation of Church and State, while acknowledging that religion, politics and philosophy all stem from the same tree. Consciousness changes the world. “The power of unity changes history.” -Daisaku Ikeda
7. The Call for a New Political Culture. At one point, during this tour, a 9/11 Truth Activist posted on the tour’s Facebook page, regarding the larger Movement: “No more drama! No more arguing!” Unfortunately, conflict and disagreements will always be with us. We can try to be of “one mind and one spirit” but at the same time, we must be able to deal with conflicts. You can’t outlaw them, unfortunately. One thing that has worked for me in my own life is Compassionate Communication techniques, in which I get away from making accusations, and instead, learn to clarify my own needs. If everyone’s needs can be “held equally” then together people can create a new strategy to meet all of those needs. This has been a good way to get away from the normal dramas, and into some serious conflict resolution success. This has to be a part of the culture we develop inside the Truth Party.
8. Cause and Effect. It’s the age-old law. You get what you give. You become what you focus on. Keep voting for deceptive politicians, you get more heartbreak and economic suffering. Some say work within exisint parties, but we say that that ground is toxic, and we won’t plant there. We can see the toxicity of too many bad compromises in that soil. Time to break new ground! A new Party with a new vision, a new culture, a new spirit has ARRIVED!
9. We Have a Winning Viral Strategy. A smart guy in San Diego said, make it an “organism” not so much an “organization.” We need a Starfish, not a Spider. This is NOT about one man, one ego, or one political career, and this is not the “Sander Hicks Party”. Instead, we should seek to create a network of equals, not an authoritarian hierarchy. To this end, I will reach out to my co-facilitators today, in their cities, and we will talk about goals for Fall 2011. I would like to attempt to coordinate a simultaneous live event, in ten cities, at once, on the 11th of May, 2011. I would like to practice a “network of equals” strategy by where we seek to grow this Party virally: 1 becomes 2 becomes 4 becomes 16 becomes 256….
10. Micro and Macro Politics. The Truth Party strategy for its first ten years or so will be to run candidates at the micro level: neighborhood council, school board, city council, etc. as well as nominate a national candidate, or slate of candidates, in order to gain national stature.
Like what you hear?
I need your help. My car rental bill that has just about depleted my finances. and I am trying to get back to NYC now. I did sell a lot of T-shirts and books on this tour, and money did flow in nicely, at times. But when gas is $4 a gallon in CA, the oil companies take their pound of flesh….
Would you consider donated $50 to $150 at my Chip In page?
http://sanderhicks.chipin.com/final-leg-truth-party-tour
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY:
Will you come to NYC in Fall of 2011? Will you attend and vote at the national convention? Will you consider running for office at the micro-local level? Or for President?
Let’s BUILD this thing together! It’s already started.
THANKS for reading the whole thing.
Love,
Sander
email feedback to sanderhicksdotcom [AT] gmail.com THANKS!
