The Citizen’s Call to Action
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln

The following are 4 steps we encourage you to take if you want to be become more involved in returning our country back to its conservative, constitutional roots.

STEP 1: Join your local tea party. Involvement with your local tea party is key. If you haven’t already joined your local tea party, and don’t know how to get in touch with them, try this link. http://teapartypatriots.org/. The San Antonio Tea Party, Inc. can be reached at www.sanantonioteaparty.org.

STEP 2: Use the “Contract with the U.S. Constitution”. The “Contract with the U.S. Constitution” is a tool that you (and your local tea party) can use to gauge a currently elected official, or a candidate for public office’s willingness to commit to full adherence to the Constitution of the United States. The Contract is a statement of ten principles upon which the Constitution is based, and is designed to be literally a contract between the elected official/candidate, promising to adhere to those principles so long as he/she is in office. (If your tea party doesn’t have the Contract yet, a copy is available at www.sanantonioteaparty.org). Some politicians will refuse to sign the document, or simply attempt to ignore it. Some will sign it and expect that they can break their commitment when we are not watching. And then some politicians (hopefully most) will make a real effort to comply with those principles.

The key to the Contract is simply… accountability. The Contract, even if signed, will not matter unless we hold the politicians accountable for their subsequent actions. If you and your local tea party do your part, we can all begin to hold them accountable. Here is what we recommend:
a. Have your local tea party print off a copy of the Contract, and send it to your elected official and candidates for public office. Request that your local tea party chapter mail/email a copy of the Contract to your city, county, state, and federally-elected officials. (Remember that most tea party chapters have highly limited resources at this point… you should plan on really helping with this effort throughout the whole process.)

Note: Tea party chapters that share several candidates/officials (typically state/federal officials) may want to meet first with each other to assemble a list of shared candidates/officials and then allocate responsibility among themselves as to which tea party chapter will be responsible for obtaining a Contract signature or refusal. (A list of tea party chapters can be located on http://teapartypatriots.org/, although that list is admittedly not comprehensive at this time.)

Along with the Contract, a polite cover letter should be included on your local tea party’s letterhead, asking the official (i) to sign the Contract, (ii) witness the document with two witnesses at the bottom of the document, and then (iii) return the document to the tea party chapter within 30 days. Politely mention that should they have any questions regarding the Contract, they can contact your local tea party (you’ll need to provide a name, phone, and email address for the contact), but that in any event you’ll expect to receive the signed, unaltered document within 30 days or you’ll be forced to presume that they refuse to sign the Contract. We strongly recommend that when the Contract is sent that it is done by certified mail, return receipt requested (ask your Postal Office if you don’t know how) to establish proof that you sent the Contract to the official’s office… otherwise he or she may claim that they didn’t sign the document because they never received it. Make sure that you keep the “green card” from the Postal Service with a copy of the Contract and cover letter so you can have a complete file.

b. Make sure that your tea party chapter follows up with the official/candidate during the 30 day period. Telephone calls and emails are good tools to let your officials and candidates know that the tea party is serious about getting a response, even if the response is their refusal to sign it. But all times, communication from you and/or your tea party chapter should be polite but firm.  Keep a log of all attempted and actual communications (emails, phone calls, letters, etc.) with the officials/candidate’s office, include dates, times, etc.

c. Tea Party chapter communicates outcome to all its tea party members. Have your tea party chapter notify (1) your local tea party chapter members, as well as (2) www.HeritageAlliance.com of the outcome. (Notification should include the name of the official/candidate, what office they hold or are seeking, when the Contract was sent, attempts made to have the Contract signed, and any responses received from the official/candidate.) The local tea party chapter should always retain at least a copy of the signed Contract, correspondence, the log (if any), and evidence of receipt by the official/candidate in the form of the certified mail ‘green card’ from the Postal Service. If a signed, unaltered Contract is not received back from the official/candidate after the 30 day period by your local tea party chapter, then that chapter should notify both its members of that fact through its website as well as www.HeritageAlliance.com.

d. Post results on local tea party website. Your local tea party chapter may want to consider posting the results of the Contracts sent to various officials/candidates. If your local tea party is unsure about how such results should be posted, or would like a suggested format, they can contact www.sanantonioteaparty.org. We suggest that upon receipt of a signed Contract, your local tea party chapter send a ‘thank you’ letter acknowledging receipt. However, the letter may want to also respectfully remind the signing official/candidate that their compliance with the Contract will be monitored, and that their performance in adhering to the principles in the Contract will be shared with all tea party members who will vote accordingly in the next election. We do not suggest any followup communication with officials/candidates who were offered the opportunity to sign the Contract but either declined or neglected the opportunity to do so.

e. Followup on the signing officials/candidates. We anticipate a number of the signers of the Contract, perhaps even most of them, will be tempted to “fudge” on their commitments to adhere to the 10 principles in the Contract. Let’s face it, a number of them aren’t used to being held to their word. It will be up to your local tea party to monitor the signing officials/candidates. The operative motto in this case is “follow-through, follow-through, follow-through”. Getting a signed Contract is only the beginning. Expect that a number of officials/candidates will need to be “educated” through both your and your tea party’s persistence that you are not going to just ‘give up and go away’ if he/she violated the Contract. If a piece of legislation is voted upon or handled by the official/candidate in a way that you believe violates the Contract, you should report that matter to your tea party chapter so your chapter can appoint a spokesperson to contact that official/candidate on their perceived violation of the Contract. (You can track you state or federal legislator’s voting record on www.HeritageAlliance.com).

It is possible that after speaking with the official/candidate for an explanation of their conduct, you may conclude that their Contract violation was either a matter of ignorance or a difference of opinion. In any event, discussions with the official/candidate, if conducted in a respectful and professional manner, will most likely result in the same official/candidate giving serious second thoughts before they violate the Contract again. However, if there are repeated violations of the Contract, it is suggested that your local tea party chapter coordinate with other tea party chapters that are affected by the official/candidate in question to determine whether all the affected tea parties should consider the official/candidate as insincere, in which case all participating tea parties should note on their respective websites that the official/candidate has violated the Contract, and describing why and how your tea party determined the Contract was broken. Great care should be taken to avoid abusive language in reporting the noncompliant conduct, and the conduct and attempts to reconcile with the official/candidate should be reported in purely factual language, with no resorting to personal attacks or name-calling. (Avoid speculation on your website at all costs as to an officials/candidates’ motives, report only verifiable facts…ultimately facts are more powerful than speculation.) We recommend that this step be taken only as a matter of last resort, and only if all reasonable attempts at educating and remediating the official/candidate seem unlikely to result in any material change in conduct.

Example: Joe Jones is U.S. Congressman representing a 12 county area. There are 5 tea party organizations located in the 12 county area. If Rep. Jones refuses or neglects to sign the Contract, then all 5 tea parties would note that fact on their websites. (Note: it is important to note that Joe Jones may have signed the Contract with one tea party, thinking that the other 4 tea parties are aware of that fact, and may therefore not sign any other versions of the same Contract, offered by any of the other 4 tea parties, consequently it will be important for all 5 tea parties within Rep. Jones’s area to coordinate their efforts to avoid duplication of effort, or to avoid one tea party chapter unfairly assuming that Rep. Jones won’t sign their Contract when in fact he already has, but for an another prior tea party in his area of representation). If Rep. Jones engages in behavior that one of the tea parties believes is inappropriate, it should coordinate with the other tea parties to discuss the matter, and appoint one or more spokesmen to confirm him on the matter. Preferably, all of the 5 tea parties should be given an opportunity to participate in the matter. If the meeting with Rep. Jones results in him apparently desiring to remedy his noncompliance with the Contract, the tea parties should give him the reasonable opportunity to do so, with a clear, specific (but reasonable) agreement during that meeting of what Rep. Jones will do and by when, to remedy his noncompliance. The results of that meeting should be reported to all 5 tea parties, regardless of whether representatives from all 5 tea parties were present at the meeting.

If Rep. Jones follows through on his agreed commitment, the tea party can report that success on its website, possibly coordinating with the statewide tea party organization, if there is one. If Rep. Jones fails to meet his commitment, it should be within the discretion of the 5 tea parties of whether they wish to meet with Rep. Jones to attempt another discussion of the matter, or whether they will simply reference that Rep. Jones has violated his commitment with the Contract, and explain the details on their websites.

STEP 3: Sign up with HeritageAlliance.com. HeritageAlliance.com is a uniquely-capable website that will allow you to track the actions of both your state and federal legislators, once you sign up. Based upon the registered voting address you input, the website will determine who your state and federal representatives and senators are, and help you track each of their voting records, as well as giving you an easy, quick and painless way to email all of them on any legislation that comes up, voicing your support or opposition to any pending bills. Finally, HeritageAlliance.com has a “Volunteer Ladder” that those who agree with our Contract with the U.S. Constitution can participate in… we strongly encourage you to visit their web site as soon as possible to take advantage of their free services. After identifying others in your precinct who share our values (Step 2 of their Volunteer Ladder), contact them if you want specific suggestions on other ways to multiply your civic influence.

STEP 4: Sign up with AmericanMajority.org. AmericanMajority.org is a nonpartisan group whose mission is to train conservatives–whether they want to be better activists or they are interested in running for office. Check their website… they may have training in an area near you. If not, they will be offering training online this fall.

Admittedly, this document is a product of the San Antonio Tea Party, Inc. and not some statewide or national “tea party” organization. We don’t pretend to exercise any authority over any other tea party chapter, nor do we consider ourselves to be experts on civic involvement. Please consider all of the above to be an offering to the various tea party chapters, with the understanding that it will doubtless need to be refined and
improved upon in the future. Please let us know of any refinements you come up with.

We are always up to learn from our fellow patriots in other tea party chapters. Contact us at www.sanantonioteaparty.org with any thoughts.

Good luck… and remember the words of Thomas Jefferson who once said “One person, with courage, is the majority.” Be that person of courage, and become that “majority” in your neighborhood. One person can, and often does, make the difference.