Why Fund and Volunteer at the Grassroots Level?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:20:06 +0100

Why Fund and Volunteer at the Grassroots Level?

What does taking our country back really mean?

For me as a TEA Party member it is simply about going back to a time when people cared and were interested in what happened to their family, their neighbors, their government, their country and the world. It was a time when we didn't sit around waiting for someone else to do something for us but we got up and did for ourselves and others. We were engaged. We weren't apathetic or so overwhelmed by power that we became hopeless and helpless and victimized.
We weren't so enamored with the latest celebrity, sport or thing that we forgot what is truly important in life. We didn't sit around and wait for a politician or a Government to do what we ourselves should be doing, we didn't pass the buck.

How many politicians are altruistic enough to be a politician for the right reasons? How many can be effective when they are fighting against the grain? And once they get into the cesspool of politics can they stay that way? 1 or 2 out of 100, if we are lucky. How can we even expect them to solve the multitude of problems facing our country, is that fair to ask a few individuals to do the work we should be doing?

Now I don't discount the fact that we need change at the national and local level in politics, we certainly do and one of the aims of Conservative Alliance Foundation is to support those who will be the kind of leaders we can proud of.

It just doesn't start and end there, for if it does it will never be enough and isn't it still passing the buck for what individuals themselves should be doing?

Of course our country was founded by great people who led and formed our way of life but in the trenches there were groups of individuals who were the epitome of what we stand for. Involvement, caring, sharing, building, creating and working.

Think of the Rotary Club, The Lion's Club, The United Way, the VFW, the Chamber of Commerce, The Salvation Army, The Urban League and other groups like these that have been around forever, quietly making a difference in their community at the grassroots level. Our churches, feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, sheltering the homeless, working on behalf of a variety of causes regardless of what is happening in Government.

And last but not least the emerging group/movement called The TEA Party. Millions of people working tirelessly to restore the values that all Americans hold dear. The potential and creativity of these groups is truly amazing.

It is groups like these that make a difference and there are many that I am willing to bet most of us never heard of. That is the goal of Conservative Alliance Foundation. To raise awareness of them. To get people involved in them and fund them. Groups like Accuracy In Academia, our first featured cause, working to expose and change the way our schools teach, trying to restore them to what a school should be, where a student is taught to think, not what to think. Or the Association of American Educators, an alternative union approach to teaching that puts children first. Or the National Right To Work Legal Foundation, providing free legal aid to employees whose civil rights have been violated by abuses of compulsory unionism. Or the National Coalition For Child Protection Reform, working to help America's vulnerable children by changing public policy concerning child abuse, foster care and family preservation. Or Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, helping young people in low income communities build skills and unlock their entrepreneurial creativity. Or the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Or the Center For Equal Opportunity. Or the Center for New Black Leadership. This is just a small (trust me, a very small) sampling of groups that are out there and need our support.

This is the quiet army that fights on and succeeds regardless of Government. This is what is successful because this is us, the people in the trenches doing the work, not the generals. It is the heart and backbone of our country and it needs restoring as much if not more than our Government itself.

Want to take back your country?

It starts with you and not your local leader or politician so get involved, support, volunteer for and fund this quiet army.

Stay tuned.

Mary Ferrari
Founder, Conservative Alliance Foundation
Member, Pennsylvania Freedom Fighters

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Why Fund and Volunteer at the Grassroots Level?