Mission: “To build an engaged army of self-governing grassroots activists."
I am advised that this is a new mission statement, and having just joined this project a few months ago, I really don’t know what the old one was. But I thought it wise to review and reflect on the words of the statement themselves.
Build.
We all know that one – or do we?
Webster defines it as,” To construct or erect, as a house; to form by uniting materials into a regular structure; to fashion; to make; to establish by gradual means; to raise as a support or foundation. To erect a dwelling or other edifice; to progress toward a goal.”
So this word has many shades of meaning, and it seems that many of the esteemed dictionary’s definitions apply here, each giving a shade that adds to the other in human terms. I am most struck by “to establish by gradual means; to raise a support or foundation,” for that is what must happen, what is happening in this Convention of States Project.
Engaged.
“Occupied, employed, enlisted; affianced; committed; in combat with; meshed or in gear….” There is more, but for this purpose, I think this is the most fitting word, for we must be, we are, engaged in all these ways, not only in this particular Convention of States Project, but in the very workings of this, our home, our America.
Activist.
A person who campaigns to bring about political or social change. This is a limited definition of the word, as it can also mean one who is and remains dedicated to and working for a cause, especially political.
It is paramount that we not only bring about change politically, but that we effect a change in the thinking of the electorate. One of our wonderful volunteers remarked that Nebraska’s current slogan is, “Nebraska, the Good Life,” and that very thing has made so many of us a nation of sheep, accustomed to being led, fed, and fleeced.
For so many years we hardly noticed our Constitution being ignored, our rights being eroded away, the unspeakable corruption of our highest representatives. But the sleeping giant of the American people has at last awakened, and it is incumbent upon us to continue shaking and prodding until she lumbers to her feet and becomes the juggernaut that defeated the British with only few poorly armed colonists to at last establish herself as the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
We cannot slumber, and we must not sleep. We must remain vigilant, diligent, and ready to fight for our beloved America and the way of life imagined for us by our Founding Fathers.
That is the mission of the Convention of States as I see it. I hope you share this vision and expand on it and make it your own!
