Is it going to be Top Down or Bottom Up for us?

Should the grassroots organizations be making alliances with and inroads into our county parties at the grassroots level or should we try to further our cause by making an alliance of common cause with one of the parties at the state level?  Be careful how you answer this question.   Top Down and Bottom Up are organizational structures that determine how effective an organization can be in a particular environment.

How we organize determines how we win against those who are destroying our country.   Let’s not forget that Republicans and Democrats are both responsible for the state of our nation.   (At the moment, the Republican party is saying a lot of things that we like to hear.  As Reagan said, “Trust, but verify”.)

Both major political parties are Top Down organizations.  That means that they (organizations like the NCGOP) are:

Coercive   They make rules and enforce compliance universally across all organizational layers in the chain.
Divisive  They create and fostering conflict between factions that come under their control.
Exclusionary  They eliminate and/or marginalize dissent.
Cautious  They always go with the “compromise” candidate because he/she is thought to be “safe”.
Reactionary    They manage by “crisis” and “damage control”.
Traditional     They look to tradition instead of looking fresh at new solutions

Bottom Up organizations (most grassroots groups) are:

Collaborative  They work easily with groups within and outside of the organizational sphere
Sharing  They volunteer to help each others’ sub-groups for mutual benefit.
Self-motivated   They take ownership of ideas and plan missions that further the organization’s goals.
Risk takers  They take calculated risks.
Creative       They form coalitions with other groups that compliment their activities.
Visionaries   They have an end game and are not short-term (short-sighted) oriented.

The only reason that the state GOP can be asking for a summit is to promote an arrangement that furthers the cause of the current NCGOP leadership to get elected to a full term this June.   If the cause goes beyond that, it is only to the next election.   Remember party goals are always short term, also remember they rule by coercion, division, exclusion, caution, reaction and tradition.   Joining in this deadly embrace only serves to sap our strength and ultimately consume us.  We must choose wisely.  Our country may depend upon it.

The above comes from various studies of organizational science.  The conclusion is solely mine.

Gary M. Shoemaker

Asheville Tea Party

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