| In
2009, the Tea Party movement was brought to a boil across America by
politicians who arrogantly refused to listen to their constituents.
They even insulted voters for daring to voice criticism.
Now it's time to cool things down a bit and prepare to
put those politicians on ice. The next step is to vote them out of
office by getting independent voters better organized in 2010 to defend
traditional American principles and values against the reckless spending
and transformation of our country by politicians who seem to think that
they have the unchecked power to simply do as they please now.
The heat will be on again in November 2010. For
now, we need to focus on the primaries in order to have much better
candidates available to voters as an alternative in November. If
we are to restore respect for the Constitution and the principles of
limited government, we need to take responsibility as voters for
articulating our concerns, holding politicians accountable for their
actions, and finding better alternatives to replace those who seem to
have forgotten the meaning of public service in America. |
| The
purpose of the
ICED Tea Voter Survey process is to encourage
local Tea Party organizers and volunteers to directly consult many voters in
their area about their political concerns and priorities.
This is a simple introductory step to meet, listen, and
engage many potentially frustrated voters more actively in a local
process to meet and evaluate candidates before the primaries and general
election.
Many Americans identify themselves as independent or
moderate rather than Republican or Democrat, or as liberal or
conservative. That's not true everywhere, but it's common.
Their views are more complex and nuanced than a simple label will
capture. They are individuals, not interest groups. |
In some Tea Party groups, the survey may lead to
independent candidate endorsement decisions
(ICED) and active campaign support as a group or as many
individuals. In other cases, it may just remain a social
networking and information-sharing process to better support local
independent voters by sharing candidate information and voter opinions.
This gives the many independent voters a chance to reach out to better
candidates in either party rather than just accept a Hobson's choice.
This also provides independent voters with an alternative
to excessive reliance on biased news media and political party or
campaign events and negative advertising. In short, the
independent activists can help to better inform independent voters about
their alternatives in preparation for future elections. |
|
The ICED Tea Voter Survey is NOT designed to compile a national
database of voters, nor is it intended to be a public opinion research
survey (like
Rasmussen or others). It is not designed to expand the reach
of a national PAC or party organization. The focus is on serving
local voters better. |
| The
control of all survey data remains LOCAL, such as with the
individuals performing the survey work or the local Tea Party group
which is organizing their survey work among many voters in that area.
The survey facilitates follow-up action as appropriate in support of the
participating local voters. |
| For
example, the survey identifies voters who may be interested in joining
the local Tea Party group, supporting the work it does, or attending
future rallies or candidate meetings. The voters may want to be
informed about upcoming candidate events or endorsement decisions.
It is a tool to reach out to independent voters who may be sympathetic
to the traditional American principles and values of the Tea Party
movement, and may want to better understand and support their local Tea
Party initiatives. |
The
ICED Tea Voter Survey can be performed by any Tea Party
supporter, such as:
 | among friends and neighbors or business contacts |
| within local groups in the community (not just Tea
Party groups or political groups) |
| at Tea Party rallies |
| at "meet the candidate" forums, town halls, or
other public political events |
| by reaching out to strangers in your community and
getting to know them. |
It is intended to be a personal process, performed
face-to-face through meetings with voters, but can also be performed
through printed handouts, mailings, or online processes as appropriate.
The simple questions may stimulate discussion of interests or concerns
which are beyond the scope of the survey questions and tabulation of
results, but are still worth noting because the focus of the work is on
establishing and developing a better voter relationship rather than
simply filling out a checklist. In the age of
robocalls, national e-mail appeals, and partisan fundraising "surveys"
by the national parties and various organizations or campaigns, the
basic idea is to focus on building up trusted local voter relationships
and a more meaningful understanding of the concerns of independent
voters. |
| The
tri-fold survey form (one sheet, two sides) illustrates the concept,
and can be adapted by local groups very easily. A Microsoft
Publisher version of this form is
available on request, or local Tea Party groups can design their
own. The ten questions are designed to be very
easy to answer quickly, and without the partisan bias of political party
fundraising "surveys". The point is to listen to the voters,
rather than to push a specific political agenda or candidate at them,
and then follow-up as appropriate according to their own stated
interests and priorities. In some cases, there may be no follow-up
interest at all by the voter. The process should identify which local
voters have some interest in the movement, even if just to consider the
views of local Tea Party participants as they make their own choices as
voters. |
| A
simple Excel spreadsheet, also
available on request, can be used to tabulate survey results at the
local level. Some organizations may prefer to use a database or CRM
tool for this purpose, such as those used by businesses to better
manage their customer relationships. In this context, the goal is
for the local Tea Party group to develop a better process for managing
their local voter relationships. It is not about gathering and
analyzing data. It is about better serving the market of
independent voters by actually listening to them, rather than constantly
pushing new big government policy ideas at them.
Voters may become cynical because candidates just
pretend to listen to them at election time, but otherwise disregard
their views once in office. The Tea Party movement can
differentiate itself by developing ongoing, trusted relationships among
independent voters by putting the focus on respect for individual voters
rather than the political power ambitions of candidates or party
bureaucracies. As foreseen in our Constitution, this empowers
individual voters to constrain abuses of government power.
More information about the ICED Tea Survey and analysis
process will be shared at
|
| At
the state and local Tea Party level, it may be useful to know which
local groups are really serving their market of independent voters well.
How well do they understand the voters in their area? How many of
the voters actually support the local group? |
| In
particular, if a local Tea Party group is going to seek active support
from Tea Party groups elsewhere, such as to help a specific candidate
win a targeted election, then the potential supporters elsewhere need to
know that the local group really does have the necessary support among
voters. The ICED Tea Voter Survey process is a
simple tool for volunteers to substantiate that reach, and it also
creates the local network to reach out quickly to many independent
voters on any key issue. Instead of reliance on a massive central
database of "supporters" as in national party organizations, this
process relies on a network of local leaders who get to know the voter
concerns in their area.
This is about empowering independent voters through
personal Tea Party relationships. The survey is just an
introductory tool. The key is to develop that trusted service
relationship, as in business. This isn't about empowering a
national "Tea Party movement", or national leaders. The focus
needs to remain on empowering local Tea Party leadership to better serve
their many independent voters, which includes the ability to
quickly rally many other Tea Party groups nationwide to support their
own local efforts. Tea Party leadership is on the front lines - in
local election work - not in Washington DC. |
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