April 25th Meeting Report

Thanks to everyone who took time to get together April 25th. We had twice the number of participants as the previous month. Okay, so seven people isn't a lot, but it is a good start. Even better, we had a lot of people who wanted to get information about our next meeting and stay on our email list. This blog is intended for all of us to be able to share what we have learned in our reading, ideas, etc. The meetings are important, but this blog is what enables us to really share and coordinate.

The tone of the meeting was great. Everyone commented about how much we had learned and were surprised by what we didn't know previously. Most of us are less than 50% of the way through The 5000 Year Leap so we decided to keep it as the book of the month through May. Please leave your comments about specific things you have learned as you read. We would all enjoy reading other people's experiences.

We would like to get your input on how to make the meetings successful and useful. So far our strategy has been to use the bulk of the time to share what we had learned or were relating to current events. Of course, a certain amount of time is spent just visiting and enjoying food!

Our goal for every meeting is:

1. Review and share the reading material

2. Give everyone opportunity to discuss what is on their mind

3. Have fun. Everyone should leave feeling more enthused than when they arrived.

4. Commit to action. We won't tell you what to do. But we will emphasize your finding a way of putting your enthusiasm to real action in a way that is meaningful for you.

A couple of concerns have been communicated and discussed. We would like your comments on these issues.

1. Some people are concerned this "book club" will become a political organizing event or simply a "bash other people who don't agree with us kind" of thing. We share those concerns. So far everyone has been equally committed to focus on learning more about the Constitution and discussing differences respectfully. Differences are good. The Founders had them and used them to sharpen the logic of their ideals. That serves as a great example for all of us. Everyone is welcome and valued...complete with their varying opinions. We simply want to share what we have in common, which is a love of our country and commitment to learn more about the Constitution.

2. Bring your friends! Our goal is to facilitate our friends and neighbors spreading their excitement with their friends and neighbors. If you are married, both are invited but not necessary. Trade off or send the one who is most interested. We hope that our group becomes a template for you and your friends to make your own group. This works well when there are about 15 to 30 people in the group. If it is too small, people lose interest. If it is too large, people get lost. Once our group gets too large, we hope to divide it out into smaller groups. So come join us for now, bring your friends, and get ready to host once we have too many.

3. What good is knowledge if we cannot apply it? As we discover/rediscover these great principles in the Constitution, we are excited to see them embodied in our government. How can we affect change? One of the great advantages of networking with people who have some common perceptions is that we can coordinate our time and activities to have the greatest impact. One of the items we discussed April 25th was how local solutions were envisioned by our founders as the best solutions. As friends and neighbors we can spread the word about "meet the candidate" nights, Townhalls, city and state meetings. If we cannot attend as individuals, we can seek volunteers from the book club to attend on our behalf and then report back to us. We don't want to just read books and eat brownies, we want to affect change in the way government is run. Learning what the Constitutional principles are and applying them to the problems facing our society is worth our best efforts.

4. Are we a Democracy or Republic? The 5000 Year Leap is a great way of learning the differences between these concepts. We were all amazed at how we had grown up being misled about the basic nature of what kind of government we have. While majority rule appeals to the emotions, it does not take much consideration before one realizes the mischief that results. We had a nice discussion about this concept. Want to see something really informative? Watch the video at http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment. Who wants to read the book when they can watch the movie right?

The Real George Washington will be the book we begin reading in June. If you would like us to order a copy for you simply email me at jonshart@gmail.com. This book is incredible. It reads like an adventure novel!

Leave your comments, we need your thoughts.