Blueprint for setting up a C4L or YAL at GT Posted by EMKirbah

Posted 05/03/10

A while back when I was at the ATL C4L Conference (doing some political soul-searching, a story too long to post here), I went up to Fandangles at the third floor of the Atlanta Sheraton to enjoy some dinner, when someone who recognized me from earlier in the day invited me to hang out.  This was a good experience since I didn't know anyone there and I was planning to head back to my place (I didn't have a hotel room since I live in ATL) after dinner.  As someone with autism, it's usually awkward for me to just "mix" in since my interests are politics, neuroscience, and autism.

The person who invited me to hang out introduced me to the GA Coordinator for C4L.  Finding out that I was an alum from GT, he asked if there was a YAL group at GT.  When he found out they don't, he wanted to know more about how to set up a YAL chapter at GT.

Due to unforseen events, I wasn't able to get back with the GA Coordinator until March, but I did send him an email with all the info and cultural background of GT.

Even though I'm not as deeply into C4L, I do believe that a YAL group at GT would be a long-overdue wakeup call for the GT, especially with a new Institute President.

One recent event mentioned in the student newspaper, the Technique, is GT's acceptance into this group of institutions that set up policy, the AAU: http://nique.net/news/100825.

Below is the email I have sent to the GA Coordinator.  I have not heard back after his first response, so I'm opening up interest of anyone who wants to set up a YAL or C4L at GT.

Mr. Hall,

This is Eman Kirbah from the ATL C4L Conference. You requested some information on how to set up a Young Americans for Liberty group at my alma mater.

I apologize for not getting back in touch sooner: As soon as the conference was over, I had to take care of some business in Augusta and my mother was ill for a few weeks afterward. I did make a note of this request earlier, and I do believe an organization like YAL is needed at GT.

Some background about GT: The schools generally leans more neoconservative and most students who graduate will wind up working for gov't bureaucratic, military/defense, or large corporations. Over the last five years, a few deans and top-level administrators have changed, and GT has a new Institute President who started last year. (Note: If you're reading this after receiving the email about the resolution, this is not the same GT President who was there when I was a student; this one is now the Secretary of the Smithsonian.) Furthermore, GT is not restricted to the ATL campus -- it's global: http://www.gatech.edu/campuses/.

There are some basic requirements for chartering an organization:

1. The organization must have at least 10 students as part of their club for at least one year after forming before they can be formally chartered.
2. The organization must have a faculty adviser before they can proceed with chartering.
3. The organization must got through a committee of SGA called the Joint Campus Organizations Committee (JCOC) and be approved by them before SGA's GSS (Graduate Student Senate) and UHR (Undergraduate House of Representatives) can approve or deny chartering, as it is policy that SGA CANNOT APPROVE A CHARTER IF JCOC DENIES A CHARTER.

The link to get to the SGA website is http://www.sga.gatech.edu. (Apparently, someone in the IT committees forgot to put up the SGA Constitution & Bylaws!)

Other helpful links:

1. Link to JCOC: http://www.sga.gatech.edu/undergraduate/executive/get-involved/jcoc. Also, pay attention to the most up-to date JCOC Policy: http://www.involvement.gatech.edu/pdf/JCOCPolicy.pdf.
2. This JCOC link has all the lists for having Room Reservations at various campus locations: http://www.sga.gatech.edu/undergraduate/executive/get-involved/jcoc/room-reservation. Furthermore, there are various places around campus where you can put up fliers advertising the group.
3. The Office of Student Involvement Chartering Information Page, http://www.involvement.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=2, has the sample lists for the setting up an organization, letters of intent, a Constitution and compliance documents.
4. Tips for finding a Faculty Advisor, http://www.involvement.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=3. Try to find one that will be sympathetic, and don't be afraid to look for someone who may be out of the box. (Meaning: Don't just think about the Engineering or the Ivan Allen College faculty; it needs to be someone who will be sympathetic to the YAL message.) In this case, if you need help on this, feel free to ask me and I'll see if I can find a couple that may be a good fit as I know this may be a hard one for you guys. More tips about the Faculty Advisor: http://www.involvement.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=6.
5. The Student Resource Binder: This has most of the forms and info you will need, and try to make sure you have the most up-to-date one; http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/prescouncil/StudentResourceBinder.pdf.
6. Info on how to keep YAL @ GT Active: http://www.involvement.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=4.

There are more information about chartering on the Office of Student Involvement page: http://www.involvement.gatech.edu.

Now, for some logistics.

I think it will be best to have some YAL members from sister colleges like Auburn or UGA to help with this. I think the best time to recruit for a GT chapter will be around the beginning of the semester, though we can start now. My reasoning will be to get freshmen who might be more YAL-leaning and be enthusiastic enough to set up the organization. Here is some info on the dates for FASET Orientation (for incoming freshmen) http://faset.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=7, and RATS Week http://www.successprograms.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=12.

Just in case YAL cannot get a table or booth without a campus organization, The Technique might be a good place to advertise a decent half-page or full-page ad right now: http://www.nique.net/ads, with their media kit, http://www.nique.net/resources/Technique_media_kit_2009-2010.pdf (Take good advantage of this kit!).

I understand that the GA Coordinator's going to be busy with meetings with other coordinators and will not have time to set this up himself.  However, I wanted this up in case anyone who has the time at the local level can set up a group on their own.  I am willing to give as much help as I can, but it will be up to the students to make this work.

The logistical reason I am putting this up is that the Spring 2010 semester has ended, but the Summer and Fall 2010 semesters are a good time to get some flyers and ads on the public kisoks all around campus (They'll have flyers of local bands all over them.) and time to take advantage of recruiting freshmen at the events I've mentioned above.

I know that at the Conference that Kesari (or was it Rothsfeld?) mentioned that postcards are better than long letters, but this is a blueprint for getting a more "liberty-minded" group in a neoconservative school for a long overdue wakeup call!

I hope this helps! Feel free to message me with any questions or pointers, or if you need to meet with me to help you through this.

Sincerely,

EMKirbah

Health Care: Will it be the Death of us? Posted by talio

Posted 07/31/09

So the talk shows are talking about the 1,018 pages

Open Letter to the GA Assembly - HB 430 Constitutional Tender Act Posted by nadams

Posted 03/01/09 Last updated 03/01/09

Dear Representatives and Senators,

As Georgia faces record unemployment, spiraling inflation, and an unfathomable burden of debt from Washington, DC, I would ask you to keep an open mind as you consider HB 430, the Constitutional Tender Act.

Our Founding Fathers knew well the danger of entrusting monetary policy to unelected bureaucrats or, even worse, a private central banking cartel like the Federal Reserve. Since 1971 when US currency was un-Constitutionally severed from the gold standard, our economy has naturally gravitated away from sound investments in manufacturing and towards the easy gains in finance made possible by fiat money. As a result our nation's largest export has become the dollars themselves. But paper money backed only by itself will only retain the confidence of its holders for so long. The world has begun to realize the ludicrous nature of this system, and like Rome before us our financial system has begun to crumble. Let us not forget that the economic booms of the mid-1980s and late 1990s were fueled by the Federal Reserve's irresponsible lending of credit and were only outmatched by the economics busts of the early 1990s and now. None of these things would be possible under a sound money system, and I suspect that we would have instead seen steady (but realistic!) growth for last 35 years.

The road to economic recovery will not be easy, nor will it be swift. But building Georgia's economy on a bedrock of sound money is surely better than building it on the sands of fiat currency. I ask you to please support House Bill 430.

Encouragement - and Challenges - for Georgia RP GOP'ers Posted by Bill Greene

Posted 12/08/08

Hey, I wanted to remind everyone here that we, the truly conservative Constitutionalists in Georgia, have a HUGE opportunity this coming year to STAY INVOLVED in the GOP process and TAKE BACK our party for true constitutional principles.

We've got a VERY disillusioned party membership in Georgia, who are LOOKING for a change in both leadership and direction, back to real conservative values.

We've got "leaders" in the GA GOP who are floundering about, and don't know HOW to utilize new technologies in conjunction with grassroots activism and fundraising.

We've got strong support from a number of county GOP chairs, including at least one VERY LARGE county.

And finally, this is an OFF-YEAR as far as elections go:

1) That means that the Precinct Mass Meetings will have VERY FEW attendees -- which means that our people could take over the Precinct Chair positions in almost EVERY SINGLE PRECINCT in the ENTIRE STATE. (Do you realize that MOST of those positions have NO ONE in them???) It's my opinion that, if you take those positions and get each precinct organized -- just like the Campaign for Liberty is pushing -- we will go a LONG WAY towards taking our party back!

2) It also means that each county GOP's School District Meetings (or State Senate District or however your county does it, if your county has its own Districts) will have VERY FEW attendees -- which means that our people could take over the School District Manager positions in SCORES OF DISCTRICTS. In fact, our folks in every county that has them should investigate NOW whether their county's School District Managers or State Senate District Managers have faithfully attended all of the regular meetings of the County Committee -- for most counties, if they miss 3 consecutive meetings, their position is automatically declared VACANT and a new Manager is voted in at the next County Committee meeting.

And guess who qualifies as VOTING MEMBERS of the County Committee? Well, for one thing, all Delegates and Alternates who attended the most recent organizational County Convention -- which means our people need to attend them THIS year in droves, just like we did last year! Plus, any registered voter who pays their annual dues to their county party and attends at least three regular County Committee meetings within a one year period of time ALSO qualify as VOTING MEMBERS of the County Committee - so just pay your dues and go to three meetings! :-)

3) It also means that the County Conventions will have VERY FEW attendees -- which means that our people could take over the County Chair positions in DOZENS OF COUNTIES. There's still around 15% of the counties in Georgia that don't even HAVE a GOP chair - in fact, our folks already took over one that wasn't being used at the time!

One good result of getting County Chair positions would be the possibility of getting a Voting Member seat on the GA GOP State Executive Board, which runs EVERYTHING in the state party. You see, the State EB includes one county chairman elected by caucus of county chairmen from counties of 80,000 people or more, and one county chairman elected by caucus of county chairmen from counties less than 80,000 people. If we take a bunch of county chairman positions - especially small counties where they have an anemic or even absent party - we can then get one of our own ON THE STATE EXECUTIVE BOARD. Please understand - that would be HUGE, and would give us a VOTING VOICE in what happens with our party!!!

The GOP "County Executive Committees" are also elected at this coming year's County Conventions, too - that is, the County Chairman, First Vice-Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, AND Treasurer. WE NEED TO RUN PEOPLE FOR EVERY SINGLE POSITION, or support challengers who support US.

4) It also means that the District Conventions will have VERY FEW attendees -- which means that our people could take over the District Chair positions in AT LEAST two or three districts. And even if we don't elect our OWN people there, we could at least target the incumbents by throwing our weight behind a viable challenger. I already know of one who isn't technically "one of us," but is VERY supportive of our efforts, so we could support HIM!

The GOP "District Committees" are also elected at this coming year's District Conventions - that is, the District Chairman, First Vice-Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer are elected at the District Convention, too. WE NEED TO RUN PEOPLE FOR EVERY SINGLE POSITION, or support challengers who support US.

PLUS, and even more importantly, it's at this coming year's District Conventions that 150 MEMBERS of the GA GOP State Committee, which is the governing body of the state party, are elected to serve. One member (which does NOT include the District Chairman, who is already a member) is allocated to EVERY SINGLE DISTRICT, plus the remainder of those 150 are allocated AMONG the Districts in accordance with the number of votes cast therein for the Republican nominee for President in this year's general election. If we just SHOW UP in force, we could take a LARGE NUMBER of those 150 positions -- meaning we would be "sitting pretty" right there on the governing body of the state party!

5) Finally, it also means that the State Convention in May 2009 will be VERY different from this past year's. Many of our folks had never attended one before this year's, and were caught unawares by the underhanded maneuvering of the Old Guard in charge. Well, not any more. Their support of RINOs like McCain and Saxby can be their downfall, IF we just SHOW UP and vote our numbers. THEIR numbers will be way down, I can tell you!

It will be at this coming year's State Convention that new elections will be held for state party "leaders" -- Chairman, First Vice-Chairman, Second Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and Treasurer. WE NEED TO RUN PEOPLE FOR EVERY SINGLE POSITION.

AND, don't forget that it's at this coming year's State Convention that one county chairman will be elected by caucus of county chairmen from counties of 80,000 people or more, and one county chairman will be elected by caucus of county chairmen from counties less than 80,000 people, to serve on the GA GOP Executive Board!

KEEP IN MIND: The "leaders" of the Georgia GOP are COUNTING ON our folks to NOT stay involved in party politics. They slapped us down and did their best to push us out this year -- let us be resolved to NOT run away, but to run TOWARDS the battle now.

And remember... Freedom is Popular! :-)

BG

In Memorium Posted by Ike Hall

Posted 01/20/09 Last updated 02/14/09

Today we learned of the passing of a dear friend of liberty, Kendall Young, a precinct leader in Gwinnett County and a longtime liberty activist. A computing consultant and entrepreneur, he joined the Ron Paul 2008 grassroots movement at the very beginning and proved to be a compass for the rest of us, as well as an endless font of ideas for activism. He will be remembered fondly and deeply missed.