Reform Party
of Arizona
September 2001 Newsletter
The following is the full text of the newsletter. The printed
version will be edited to fit the page limit allowed by our budget.
Chairman's Message,
by Dr. Weyrich
Thousands of people were killed September 11 by dedicated agents
of some extremely hostile unknown power. We grieve for these lost
souls, and resolve first and foremost that it must never happen
again. Defense of our homeland must come before responding to hate
with hate. Before Congress authorizes any action, each and every
member should pause to consider President Washington's parting
advice to the American People:
www.virginia.edu/gwpapers/farewell/transcript.html
In it he warns against entangling alliances, and urges our nation
to seek moral and religious leaders. We have failed to heed these
warnings. Declaring that character didn't matter, we twice elected
a immoral despot to the White House who proceeded to bomb civilians
throughout the world in order to divert attention from his own
political crises. We have made so many enemies throughout the
world that we aren't even sure where to look for our tormentors.
While a fool takes offense when none was intended, the greater
fool takes offense when offense was intended. The attacks September
11 were clearly intended to offend. We should be very careful
about rising to that bait. Our reaction should neither be swift
nor ill-considered. The first thing taught in martial arts is to
not strike in anger - because with anger comes carelessness.
Clearly this attack had many months if not years of planning.
We should do no less.
Recall the words of the America the Beautiful - "America, God
mend thy every flaw; confirm thy soul in self control..." Brothers
and Sisters, pray that God have mercy on us for our failure to
follow our founding father's inspired advice, and grant us the
wisdom to rectify these failings. God Bless America.
Solidarity
It is an American tradition to rally 'round the President when we
suffer a foreign attack. For this reason, the Reform Party of
Arizona will refrain from publicly criticizing our national
leaders during this time of crisis. However, we urge all Americans
to give thoughtful consideration to the lessons of history, and to
privately share their concerns with the President and Congress.
Consider for example the Reichstag Fire in Weimar Germany, and the
ensuing disastrous loss of civil liberties:
www.weyrich.com/political_issues/reichstag_fire.html
.
While we will be rallying 'round the flag at the national level,
the Reform Party of Arizona sees much fair game at the state and
local level - won't you join us in reforming our corrupt or
incompetent state government?
Maricopa County Meeting Scheduled October 13, 2001
Maricopa County will conduct a general business meeting from 11
AM to 2 PM. This will be the first opportunity for us to meet to
discuss the events of September 11. We also need to discuss voter
registration, clean election funding, and local office candidates.
Other possible business items include electing State Committeemen
and County Officers, and other organizational matters.
The meeting location is COUNTRY HARVEST BUFFET, 7720 S Priest Dr.
on the SW corner of Priest and Elliot in Tempe. Take the Elliot
Road exit from I-10 and go East one block. To cover the cost of
the meeting room, please plan to arrive early and buy lunch at the
restaurant and sign the roster at the cash register.
Convention Call
Be sure to mark your calendars, as this may be the only
announcement we have funds to mail out.
The Reform Party of Arizona will hold its annual convention January
12, 2002, 1:00PM - 4:00PM in the Quail and Coyote Rooms at the Sun
City West Community Service Center, 14465 RH Johnson Blvd., Sun
City West, AZ. Important agenda items include ratification of
revised state party bylaws and platform items, election of state
party officers, and election of delegates to the 2002 National
Convention. All members of the Reform Party of Arizona are invited
to attend (bring proof of voter registration to vote).
Maricopa County residents will also hold a County meeting preceding
the convention (12 noon to 1:00 PM). Possible business items include
electing State Committeemen and County Officers, and other
organizational matters.
The Executive and State Committees will meet in joint session
following the convention (4:00 PM to 5:00 PM). Possible business
items include implementing decisions of the State Convention.
Donations of homemade goodies for a bake sale fundraiser are
welcome.
Never Again
When we take sides in foreign conflicts, we must expect to draw the
ire of the other side. For example, if we are going to support
Israel, we need to expect to draw the same heat Israel receives.
While this is not a time for precipitous changes in foreign policy,
we need to consider carefully how we can best protect our people.
The Israeli model includes a well-trained and armed citizenry.
It is no coincidence that the United States was struck, rather than
Israel. It is obvious that we cannot depend solely security
personnel, our military, and police to ensure our safety.
Terrorists strike the weakest link of our security chain. Each
American must resolve not to be that weakest link. The heroes of
Flight 93 acted decisively to thwart the military objective of the
enemy, perhaps saving the White House or Congress.
Now is the time
for each American to become personally involved in the security of
this nation. Every able-bodied American, regardless of political
persuasion, is part of the militia referred to in our Bill of
Rights. That doesn't mean going out to practice blowing up cacti in
the desert. Join or form a neighborhood watch group. Take martial
arts classes. If your situation allows, learn to properly handle a
firearm and get as much practice as you can. Sign up for the free
disaster response classes offered by the Red Cross. Get an amateur
radio license and practice disaster communications. Join the
Sheriff's Posse. Support your neighbors in the Guard and Reserve
when they need to leave their jobs for training or active service.
Look for other ways to become trained in disaster prevention and
response. If we fail to get personally involved in defending our
homeland, America may well suffer the same fate as Rome. This is a
job we cannot afford to leave to others.
Bring them Home
Fox News reported that "lawmakers were told in classified briefings
that additional attacks are 'possible if not probable' and they
should not assume a false sense of security." Gen. Jack Singlaub,
the former U.S. supreme commander of all U.S. forces in Korea said,
"There is a possibility of a biological or chemical
attack."
In our view, we need our military here at home protecting our own
borders. The Reform Party of Arizona repeats our call for withdrawal of
American forces from the Balkans and other "police actions." We
also caution against a Desert Storm-type deployment at this time -
we need to defend our homeland rather than leaving our homes and
families undefended while we seek revenge.
Press Releases
We need to issue more press releases to get our message out. But
how? The Reform Party of Arizona Bylaws say that the Chairman
should make press releases, after getting approval from the
Executive Committee, and that these statements need to be
consistent with the principles and platform chosen by our
grassroots members at the State Convention. But here is the
catch - The Chairman is a volunteer, just like everyone else in
the RPA, and cannot be an expert on all matters of interest to the
membership. If the RPA is going to produce quality press releases,
we need your help. If you have a hot-button issue, you can follow
the news on that issue, keep a scrapbook of relevant facts and
figures, and write the first draft of a press release when a
significant event occurs (check with the Chairman first, to avoid
duplicated effort). Then forward the draft, along with a copy of
supporting information, to the Chairman, who can then complete
the task of copy-editing, vetting, and distribution. Press
releases can be thousands of words long. You can use multiply
the power of your research by writing a letter to the editor
(see below).
We also need several computer-savvy people to take charge of
faxing press releases to all corners of the state (so that we
can minimize long distance call costs).
Finally, we need postal addresses, fax numbers, and even better,
e-mail addresses, of political editors all over the state,
especially the small local and weekly newspapers that are often
more receptive to Reform issues. Please check your local papers
and let us know.
Focus Our Anger
We must not repeat the error of World War II, when we used Census
data to round up loyal American citizens of Japanese descent, by
indiscriminately turning our anger on foreigners or non-Christians
within our midst. However, we clearly we need to do a better job
of screening those who enter across our borders. The United States
has welcomed many hard-working immigrants who came here to become
Americans. Unfortunately, in recent years we have also allowed far
too many subversives and criminals to enter our country. We must
reestablish control of our borders, to prevent foreign agents,
terrorists, smugglers, and reconquistdores from entering. We must
also find a way that respects the civil rights of our citizens to
purge from our country the subversives and criminals already within
our borders.
Signature Issues
What makes the Reform Party different from the Democrats and the
Republicans? We asked that question when we mailed out the July
Convention announcements. The answers we got were directed mainly
at the national level. Our signature issues are National
Sovereignty, Election Reform, Fiscal Responsibility, and
Constitutionally Limited Government. Since the Constitution of
the USA gives different roles to the Federal and State governments,
our signature issues are necessarily different at the State level.
What are our State and local signature issues? Election Reform and
Fiscal Responsibility come to mind. What else? Join our platform
committee and help us shape our State and local platform to define
what our candidates will stand for.
Communication Cells
Politics is a battle for the hearts and minds of the voters.
Battles can be won or lost depending on the quality of the field
communications. Because we are small, we must be more lithe and
agile than our big-party opponents. We don't have money for phone
banks and direct mail campaigns, so we need to rely on technology.
The Internet is a godsend to grassroots activists: it is fast,
reliable, and cost effective. You don't even have to own your own
computer - many libraries and senior centers have public access
computers. Internet mail allows many folks, especially those who
have health problems, live in rural areas, or have awkward work
schedules to effectively communicate in party business. However,
if we rely solely on Internet mail, we disenfranchise others folks
who cannot use Internet mail. The solution to this problem is that
we need to organize communication cells - a phone tree rooted with
someone connected to the Internet. This person then becomes
responsible for calling the members of their cell who lack
Internet access, printing flyers to pass out, sending faxes, or
even convening a neighborhood meeting. If you have Internet mail,
please give us your address (send e-mail to
weyrich_comp@yahoo.com).
Likewise, if you want to be part of a phone or fax tree, give us a
call (480/391-0821).
Communications Officer
The Executive Committee has a vacancy for Communications Officer.
If you would like to volunteer to take charge of organizing our
Communications Cells, and are connected to the Internet, send
e-mail to
weyrich_comp@yahoo.com).
National Platform
The recent National Convention of the Reform Party USA made a
number of changes in the National Platform, which is mainly binding
on our Presidential Candidate and National Officers. These changes
have not yet been officially published. The Arizona State Committee
has reviewed the National planks, and developed a provisional
National Candidate Platform, intended to be binding on Arizona
Congressional Candidates and to guide party officers when making
public statements. This provisional document will need to be
accepted or rejected at the next State Convention. This provisional
platform can be viewed on the Internet at
www.AmeriRoots.com/reform/natl_platform.html
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Reform Party Candidates in Arizona
How can a person become a Reform Party of Arizona candidate? What
state and local candidates will be representing the Reform Party of
Arizona in the 2002 elections? The bad news is that unless we
increase our voter registration or conduct a costly petition drive,
the Reform Party of Arizona will not be entitled to a ballot
position and we will not be able to run any candidates. The good
news is that many people are asking these questions, and one person,
Scott Malcomson, has declared his candidacy. Arizona's clean
election laws will provide good funding for our candidates if we
can get them on the ballot, and the easiest way to get our
candidates on the ballot is to get our voter registration numbers
up. To become a candidate, all you have to do is be a member of
the RPA, file your papers, and collect enough signatures and $5
donations to qualify. Of course, candidates who are active in
assisting our voter registration drives will be most likely to get
the support of our rank and file members :- ). For more information,
contact the Reform Party of Arizona.
Officers
The officers of the Reform Party of Arizona are listed on the web at
www.AmeriRoots.com/reform/officers.html
Business Card Ads
Our treasury is running low - unless we get additional donations
we may not be able to mail another newsletter. You can help by
purchasing a business card-sized ad in our next newsletter for
$24.95. Contact Rosella Quinn for details.
Host a Meeting
Some folks thrive on a good face-to-face meeting. If the Internet
is not your thing, consider organizing a local meeting - we'll
provide a speaker to come and talk about what's happening in the
Reform party of Arizona, and also to listen to what is on your
mind.
Speakers Bureau
Civic groups often need to find someone to speak at their meetings.
We have people in the Reform Party who would be happy to come
address these groups on a variety of topics. If you belong to a
group, suggest they invite a Reform Party speaker. If you would
like to be added to our speaker's pool, let us know.
Pass-along
Do you subscribe to political newspapers, letters, and magazines?
Spread the word! When you are done reading, don't throw it out!
Leave it in some public place for others to read - at a barbershop
or doctor's office, even in a restroom stall. You might want to
remove your name and address label of course. Ditto for this
newsletter. In fact, make copies of the newsletter and distribute
to your friends and relatives!
Contribute Your Time
We need volunteers to help with many different tasks, including
help with phones, preparing mailings, circulating petitions, voter
registration, pamphleteering, speakers, technical support, and
helping people get to the polls. If you can help, please drop us a
note or give us a call.
County Organizers
At present, only Maricopa and Yuma Counties have a County Chairman
(John Gilbert and Jack Kretzer, respectively). Our by-laws provide
for the State Chairman to appoint Provisional Chairmen in counties
that lack elected Chairmen. If you would like help organize a
county, please contact the State Chairman (Dr. Weyrich).
Letters to the Editor
One way to get our message out is by writing letters to the editor.
Although most letters are not accepted, the old saying goes: "If
you throw enough mud at the wall, sooner or later some of it will
stick." Here are some guidelines for writing an effective letter
that has the best chance of getting published:
- Smaller papers in your area are most likely to print your
letter; large papers that don't distribute in your area are least
likely.
- Look on the editorial page of the paper you are submitting to
for specific instructions on how to submit a letter.
- While it is good to refer to something that the paper recently
published in order to submit an alternative view, avoid insults
and attacks. E.g. Instead of saying "you commie pigs got it wrong
again" just say "you failed to consider that...."
- Directly address a single issue that is currently in the news.
- Try to maintain a constructive tone - be sure to offer a
solution to any problems you identify.
- Try to include an ironic or humorous twist, but don't make
inappropriate jokes. The goal is to bring a wry smile, not a
guffaw.
- Cite verifiable facts. Provide an addendum after the letter
that documents where the editor can go to verify your assertions.
- Keep it as short as possible while still getting your message
across.
- Editors prefer e-mail because it is easier to typeset.
- The RPA Chairman (Dr. Weyrich) will be happy to copy-edit
and advise on any letters that you wish to submit.
Difference between State and Federal Issues
One of George W. Bush's campaign themes was education reform. He
proposed to nationalize it. But where in the Constitution does it
say that is the purview of the Federal Government? Granted, as
Governor of Texas, Governor Bush had some success in education.
But if improving education was his goal, he should have stayed on
the ranch in Texas. We as American voters need to be more
discerning of what issues we consider when we elect our National
leaders. The Federal government has certain important duties,
foremost of which is defending this country from foreign threats
and regulating foreign trade. Presidents, Senators, and
Representatives need to be elected based on their competency in
these matters; not in what paternal programs they want to
federalize.
Funding
Our treasury is running low. The Reform Party has traditionally
not accepted contributions from corporations or Political Action
Committees (PACs). We must depend on donations from our members
and friends and the sale of advertising. There has been some
discussion that perhaps we should accept contributions from
like-minded PACs. There are at least two questions here: would
taking money from PACs compromise our integrity, and can we find
PACs that are more willing to donate to us than our own membership?
There is also the question of accepting donations from small
businesses (who may be incorporated). Certainly there are many
small businesses in Arizona who would benefit from our
"America First" platform. Without funding we cannot
accomplish our goals. Without integrity, our goals aren't worth
accomplishing. Tell us what you think!
Call for PR People
The Reform Party of Arizona needs people to work with the Press.
The national party has offered to help train our volunteers in.
If you would like to help as a public relations spokesperson,
contact the RPA chairman, Dr. Weyrich.
Vote with your Feet
We all want to support our President and Congress during this time
of National Crisis. We must present a united front to the world,
whatever our personal misgivings. Communicate your misgivings
directly to your elected officials, rather than mounting public
protests. One thing you can do, however, to demonstrate your
displeasure with the way the Democrats and Republicans have
failed to protect this country's interests (and Arizona's) is to
change your voting registration to RPA (Reform Party of Arizona).
If we are to become a viable political force in Arizona, we must
increase our voter registration before November 1 of 2001.
According to the official numbers from the Secretary of State's
office, 12,373 voters voted in the last election for the Reform
Party candidate (Pat Buchanan), out of a possible 2,173,122
registered voters in Arizona. This means that 0.57% of all
registered voters in Arizona felt strongly enough about our message
to vote for our candidate, despite a media news blackout and
adverse publicity. While we were hoping for at least 5% of the
votes cast so that we could retain ballot status, the good news is
that another way to gain ballot status in Arizona is to increase
the number of voters registered as RPA to 0.67%.
If we can get everyone who voted for Pat Buchanan in the last
election, and a few of their friends, to change their registration
to RPA before November 1, we will be able to run candidates state
wide in the 2002 elections.
Platform/Issues Chairman's Message,
by Dan Gutenkauf
The two major parties may be losing their grip on voters. An
article in USA Today dated August 31, 2001, concludes that the
2000 election showed an increasing alienation of Americans from
the two major political parties. According to Curtis Gans,
director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate,
"It is abundantly clear that both major parties are losing
their hold on the American electorate." The nonpartisan study
reports that this trend creates an opening for an independent or
minor party presidential candidate in the 2004 election.
"It is an accident waiting to happen," said Gans.
One month earlier, in an article from Newsweek magazine, dated
July 30, 2001, Sen. John McCain said "There's a growing vacuum
out there. Unless the two parties move to fill that vacuum,
you'll see the rise of independent candidates."
In the District of Columbia and the 28 states where voters register
by party, Democrats claimed 33.6% of those registered. That
continues a decline that began in the mid-1960s. Republicans
increased their registration slightly to 25%, while independents
and third parties climbed to 18.1% to continue a steady rise from
1.5% in 1960.
Another finding of the SAE committee's report was that two trends
aimed at increasing voter turnout - liberalized absentee voting
rules and expanded access to early voting - actually hurt turnout
in states where they were tried. And Oregon's use of all mail
balloting hasn't spurred turnout as much as expected, the report
said.
Early balloting is becoming the norm in the Phoenix area,
according to an article in the Arizona Republic dated August 6,
2001. If the trends hold, about 80 percent of the registered
voters were projected to cast early ballots in the Sept. 11
election. Arizona is one of 26 states offering some form of early
voting. It used to limit early voting to people over 65 or
residents who plan to be out-of-town on Election Day. But the law
was changed in 1993 to allow any registered voter to request an
early ballot.
"With early voting, there's a potential for voter fraud and
bureaucratic problems such as mailing ballots to the wrong
addresses," said Patrick Kenney, an Arizona State University
political science professor. He said early voting's biggest impact
is on the candidates, who must change their campaign strategies.
"There's no way they can make their final push in the last
six to seven days," he said.
This author discovered a disturbing fact while assisting mayoral
challenger Gene Ganssle with advice on election law in Tempe's
recent, first-ever recall election. House bill 2258, recently
passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, contains a
provision allowing for counting of early ballots after the logic
and accuracy test has been performed. The logic and accuracy test
is mandated by Arizona Revised Statutes 16-449 to ascertain that
the electronic voting equipment and programs will correctly count
the votes cast in an election. ARS requires it to be performed
within one week prior to the election. A major concern with this
new law should be who is supervising the counting of ballots,
especially since such a large percentage of voting is now done
by early balloting. This would appear to leave a large window of
opportunity for vote fraud. The RPA election reform plank calls
for an end to early return ballot casting.
One method for combating vote fraud has recently been proposed as
a Libertarian Party initiative for the city of Glendale. It would
require a 100% manual count of paper ballots at each precinct.
The goal would be to ultimately achieve a manual count at 5% of
the precincts selected at random. This writer's research reveals
that California and Nevada already have statutory provisions for a
manual count at 1% of the polls selected at random. As a joint
study by MIT and California Institute of Technology revealed last
March, paper ballots provided the most accurate vote count out of
five methods used over the past four presidential elections.
In Canada's 2000 election, 13 million paper ballots were manually
counted at the polls in four hours.
To the American Worker:
Opinion by Elton Hall
The media tells the workers that all is well with Free Trade
instead of Fair Trade. Labor leaders in Washington told Union
workers that they were against the NAFA-GATT agreements, but then
they supported the Democrats' and Republicans' destructive
anti-labor Free Trade agenda, which has cost American workers
hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. Clinton went public,
telling the American workers that "He had faith in the
American workers to compete with foreign workers."
What Gall! Workers here pay $800 dollars or more for a roof over
their heads in the cities while foreign workers barely make that
much in a year. WHY? Greed Rules!
The media tells us that the right thing to do is to wallow in debt
and slave labor. The multi-national corporations have no loyalty
toward the people of this nation or any other - people to them are
just producers and consumers to be exploited, not human beings.
As the workers who built unions, and as the members of those unions,
we must demand that our needs and interests be the interests of the
labor leaders too. While labor leaders tell the worker "to
vote for the best of two evils," we demand true leadership
for workers from real labor leaders, not from elitists who by their
proximity to the Multi-Nationals have become multi-Nationals
themselves.
Yes! We want Reform! We want labor leaders to tell the WTO to go
to hell. We want the America and the American worker to be first.
We must demand the same of politicians who continue to bleat their
patriotism while they sell this country out to the highest bidder
and greed.
As working people we fought the communist monster. Now we are faced
with another monster of equal proportions: World Capital. This
"New World Order" would destroy our national sovereignty
and it's liberties. This monster tells the worker that if we work
for less, then our cost will be less (sic). Nonsense! With all the
foreign slave labor and the neo-slavery of the immigration invasion,
the cost to the consumer continues to rise. One would think that
with technology, production would be faster and more economical.
But while workers are being laid off, prices continue to rise.
We are living in a time that reforms are needed. The Reform Party's
task is paramount, but impossible with out you to help. Without
your help, the sellout of the producers in this country will
continue, with ever-increasing personal and public debts and misery,
ultimately leading to the cheapening of our people's very
citizenship. The future is up to you. Together we can and will
control our own destiny, instead of being controlled by the
one-world plutocrats who would have us as slaves.
He is Us:
Opinion by Virgil Roush
I am sadly amused at the reaction of our State Department regarding
the attack on our New York skyscrapers and Pentagon. Our officials
seem to be trying so hard to place the blame in every direction
other than their own failed policies of the past 75 years.
Our government has been guilty of messing around in the business of
small foreign nations and trying to take control of their way of
life. We have been very successful in fostering hatred, disrespect
and envy from countries around the world.
Our "Open Door" policy to the world, inviting them to use
our educational facilities and to walk off with our manufacturing
and technology is an act of pure stupidity. This has to stop! We
have met the enemy and he is us!
Contact the Reform Party of Arizona
Telephone: (480) 600-7695
e-Mail: weyrich_comp@yahoo.com
Arizona web site: http://www.RPAZ.us
RPUSA web site: http://www.ReformPartyUSA.org
Mail: PO Box 5782, Scottsdale, AZ 85261-5782
Web site constructed and maintained by
Weyrich Consulting Services