Rowan Undercover
♦You’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you – and if you are a Republican or conservative residing in the Salisbury and Rowan County areas, “They” are a massively funded, multi-headed leftwing organization. Salisbury and Rowan County are profiled, analyzed, and specifically targeted by Acorn. Yes, that Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The Acorn which is led by professional Community Organizers, financed with your tax dollars, and specializes in generating phony voters to swing elections in their favor. The Acorn that Community Organizer Barack Obama energized by saying, “You’ve got a friend in me.” The Acorn that the late great Andrew Breitbart exposed via undercover video aiding and abetting fraud and corruption in providing housing and tax breaks to support underage child prostitution. After such fraud and corruption could no longer be ignored by the general public and the mainstream media, Congress actually voted to cut off funding, and Acorn (supposedly) ceased to exist. But in reality, Acorn never really died. It just morphed by name changes and, like the mythological Hydra, has now grown numerous new appendages. Several have now wound their way into our community and are actively recruiting our friends and neighbors all in the name of “working for the good.”
Since all that nasty baggage tarnished the “Acorn” brand, the organization transformed itself into Blueprint NC – another intentionally innocuous moniker alas, the transformation is in name only. Blueprint’s website proclaims:
“Blueprint North Carolina is a partnership of more than 50 different local organizations. Our goal is to influence NC state policy so that people here benefit from more progressive policies such as better access to health care, higher wages, more affordable housing, a safer, cleaner environment, and freedom from discrimination. Blueprint NC is a public charity that only engages in activities that are permissible under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Blueprint NC and the members of the coalition are strictly prohibited from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. All Blueprint activities will be strictly non-partisan. In addition, Blueprint activities will not be coordinated with any candidate, political party or other partisan entity.”
But like most things for the “collective good”, there is a dark underside beneath the sunshiny-rainbow veneer and the true intentions of this organization are anything but non-partisan. The goals of this organization were revealed by a leaked memo which lays out a plan to “Eviscerate, Mitigate, Litigate, Cogitate, and Agitate” our state Republican leaders at every level and through any means necessary and available. So much for that “strictly non-partisan” jargon in their mission statement.
One of the many groups that Blueprint would like to “be recognized for the good work that they do” is Democracy NC. This group has recently started a community action organization, Rowan Concerned Citizens, here in Salisbury, N.C., but went at great lengths to look homegrown and promote a very general and positive agenda. Rowan Concerned Citizens sprang up overnight with an attractive website, snazzy logo and a very positive, albeit generic reason for being. They publicly claim to hold no particular political leanings and welcome folks from both sides of the political spectrum. Their very innocent sounding name portends no obvious political leanings or baggage. Their website lists no founding members and provides no history. Their postings are always upbeat and often include quotes from famous Americans such as the Founding Fathers and other Conservative icons. Their postings challenge the reader to “work good” in our community. The political novice would have a difficult time determining on which side of the political spectrum they fall. Apparently this is all by deliberate design–we’re dealing with a political Venus Fly Trap.
Rowan Concerned Citizens holds frequent meetings and invites the general public to attend. Recently I was able to attend one of these meetings and this is what I observed:
The welcoming “facilitator” greeted everyone warmly upon arrival, asked us to fill in personal information on a sign-in sheet, offered us light refreshments and directed us to an “information center” stocked with handouts, brochures, and newspaper items. She especially encouraged everyone to pick up a copy of a recent New York Times editorial blasting our state Republican Legislature for allegedly destroying our state by slashing funding for unemployment, education, and healthcare while infringing upon voting rights and denying minorities the opportunity for legal justice. The editorial was obviously meant to set the tone for the upcoming meeting and to rile everyone up against the evil Republicans. It seems that “fair and balanced” were thrown out before the meeting even officially began. The facilitator specifically asked me for my opinion on the editorial. I could not say I agreed with nearly everything the Republican Legislature has done this past session without giving away my true opinions and thus be banished or shunned from the meeting. I also was not going to lie and say I thought the Republican actions were evil as RCC wanted us to believe. So I responded, “Our state Republican Legislature was able to accomplish all this in just this past year? That’s unbelievable.” The facilitator seemed to take this as an anti-Republican response and asked no specific follow ups.
As attendees continued to arrive, it soon became obvious I was the odd man out since this was my first meeting with the group and I had no one on the inside to vouch for my political leanings. Though the facilitators, and attendees, were friendly and accessible, they all seemed to be wary of an unknown visitor in their midst. As members continued to arrive, there seemed to be zero “small talk.” A lot of group members did not (or would not) give last names, state how they came to be involved in the group, or even provide background information such as where they lived or what they did for a living. The main facilitator of the three that were on hand for the meeting seemed to especially keep an eye and ear out for my movements and conversations around the room.
After about a dozen folks had arrived, we were directed to break into three different “Huddle” groups to focus on a specific topic according to our personal interests and concerns. The Huddles were for Voter ID, Healthcare, and Education. Because I could only choose one, and because I am a former teacher, I joined the Education Huddle. Theses Huddles were organized and conducted as if we were preschoolers. We literally had to use a “Talking Stick” (which in actuality was a pack of Lance crackers) to signify that it was our turn to make a comment. At first, some of the attendees laughed and rolled their eyes as the “Talking Crackers” made their way around the group – but soon they all seemed to ‘get with the program’ and actually embrace the concept.
For the next hour, the six people in my Huddle discussed everything education related – from a strictly fringe left point of view. Group members voiced many of the same concerns – dropout rates, school performance and testing, drugs and violence in the schools, and teacher responsibilities and pay. However, not a single individual delved deeper and asked, “Why are things this way?” The focus was entirely on adding or expanding programs and increasing school funding. There was no discussion of any accountability on the part of teachers, students, parents, or school administration. The budget battle between our local School Board and County Commissioners served as a much used rallying point in the conversations. No one asked a simple question like, “How much money is already being spent, where is it going, and what is it accomplishing?” It was extremely difficult for me to listen and participate without ‘showing my true colours’ but I constantly reminded myself I was just there to observe and learn.
After problems and issues were identified, we were prompted by the group facilitator to brainstorm solutions and “action plans.” All the solutions focused on gaining more access to the schools through personal involvement in leftwing organizations. A list of these organizations along with training schedules was made available. The facilitator especially praised the growing role of the organization Communities in Schools within the Rowan-Salisbury school system and urged us to attend a training meeting and volunteer. Several of my fellow “huddlers” pledged that they would do this. The facilitator also encouraged us to write letters to the editor of the Salisbury Post, contact specific individuals (teachers, parents, students) in our local school system, and share personal stories on the group’s website. The facilitator even told us it would be fine to “just make something up” along these line if we could not locate a real individual or situation to illustrate our point. The emphasis was deliberately on the emotional in order to make a personal connection with the larger community.
After Huddle time concluded, all the attendees came together in a big circle for the last hour of the meeting. The three Huddle facilitators shared each group’s findings, insights, and plan of action. The Healthcare group thought the best approach for the organization to take was to “emphasize and publicize the twenty-two free programs which are already available through the new healthcare initiative.” The Voter ID group stated that the issue was going to be used as a rallying point to defeat the recent Republican gains in Rowan County as well as statewide political contests. The facilitator then encouraged everyone to attend a meeting of our local NAACP chapter which was going to be held later that week. The group then discussed several upcoming city festivals and suggested ways to “creatively engage the community” with the Rowan Concerned Citizen’s message at these events. The main facilitator challenged us to continue to focus on the question “How do we make citizens more aware and become more active in the issues we have discussed?”
One facilitator especially encouraged us to become familiar with the Rowan County Board of Commissioners. She told us to check their voting records “to be certain they are voting the way (and here she momentarily paused as if looking for just the right word before continuing) – the way YOU would want them to.” At this point the main facilitator quickly chimed in (while looking directly at me), “That means whatever your particular voting preference, as we are strictly non-partisan as a group. I myself was not even involved in politics until about two years ago, and, honestly, I’m a right-of-center voter.” Perhaps I should have invited him to a Tea Party meeting, then. I’m sure he would have felt right at home.
The RCC facilitators were obviously trained in what is known as the Delphi Method. Though the group discussions seemed to be purely member driven, the facilitators were able to carefully craft each comment and observation so that it fit the RCC leftwing agenda. They were able to do this so smoothly that the member who originally made the comment would agree with the facilitator’s “restructuring” wholeheartedly – even if there seemed to be little, if any, connection to what they themselves had originally said. Suggestions that didn’t fit with the program were completely ignored. For example, when discussing the changes in North Carolina’s Voter ID laws, one group member made the common sense comment, “Well, if the law now says that people have to have a government issued ID, what we’re going to have to do is bus people to the places to get that ID. I mean, we already bus them to the polls. We’ll just have to make sure we’re in compliance with the law.” The facilitators virtually ignored this suggestion and immediately changed the focus to how unfair and racist a law like it was in the first place. There was no consideration of any of the merits of a Voter ID law and not another single group member spoke up to defend the idea of compliance.
The attendees at the meeting seemed to come from all walks of life. There were professionals from the educational and medical field, members that were actively working in other groups (such as Organizing for America, the NAACP, and the ACLU), as well as several who were unemployed. I listened carefully as members shared their opinions and tried to assess whether they were “true believers” (as the facilitators were) or just “useful” who were unknowingly furthering the left agenda. Sadly, most seemed to fall into the “useful idiot” category. They were convinced they were “working good” and never looked deeper into the failures of various leftwing programs or the merits of conservative ideas.
After “Group Time” ended, the meeting adjourned and the facilitators made of point of speaking to each individual and tried to elicit commitments for future meetings and activities. I was handed more literature to take with me to study and share. I would have to say that, though I completely reject the leftwing message out of hand, I could not help but be both impressed and troubled by their ability to focus, organize, and implement their agenda. We can learn a lot from leftwing organizing – and it is imperative that we learn this as quickly as possible. The left can cater the message to the individual, place individuals into positions for which they are most interested and best suited, and never stop shoving their agenda forward for a second. If I were not already Republicans convinced of the falseness and outright shortsightedness of the progressive agenda, we better confess having been swayed by their accepting, positive, and potent presentation. And, if I had joined the program, the facilitators would see to it that I was immediately set to work forwarding the leftwing agenda because they do not waste time or effort and are dedicated to winning. This was the most striking difference I observed between the Republican and leftwing approach and the most important lesson – and warning – I can relay.
Rowan Concerned Citizens’ Flash Mob on Main Street in Salisbury, N.C.:
