(from US4Palin; courtesy of Ron Devito)
This week on The Palin Update with Kevin Scholla: Game over! Sarah Palin rocks 30 Rock and routs the 'Perky One' in the ratings. Plus Kevin talks with Thomas Schmitz, Chairman of the Board, American Grizzlies United. Also, Governor Palin praises passage of the STOCK act and she gives a thumbs up to John Stossel's new book. Listen NOW!
AGU Introduced and Showcased
Schmitz gave a brief history of American Grizzlies United (AGU), which was founded by Karen Allen in 2010. Organize4Palin (O4P) and Students4Palin (S4P) are both projects of AGU. O4P and S4P helped Gov. Palin's endorsed candidates by phone banking, walking precincts, installing signs on buildings and in the earth, and doing street visibility sorties. These volunteers, then documented their activities on various O4P and Palin-related sites. S4P grooms like-minded college students to be citizen activists and take the plunge into public service. "AGU is a grassroots organization dedicated organizing, educating, and training volunteers for American political elections. The O4P project helps candidates [who] are endorsed by Sarah Palin, and...AGU helps candidates endorsed by you, the people," Schmitz said.
AGU Resources
AmericanGrizzlies hosts a candidate list and resources for volunteers to use, specifically The Grizzly Doctrine and the Citizen Activism Guide.
"The Grizzly Doctrine: A Crib Sheet is an original manuscript. It provides a framework for discussion about honest, ethical policies. It's very basic. All Americans should expect this from our leaders. It doesn't just cover issues that Americans are concerned with. The manuscript helps educate ordinary citizen volunteers on the best way to approach potential voters, because it's so important to talk to people and to discuss the candidate's positions," Schmitz said.
"The Citizen Activism Guide showcases volunteerism, vetting, and organizing for your precinct," he said. Both resources are available as a free PDF download on the AGU website.
"We encourage people to use the resources to vet and help down-ticket candidates, who put country first, who understand that energy independence is a key element to our security, to our economic security, and a betterment that all Americans want and deserve; candidates [who] believe in American exceptionalism, and just good candidates who understand that above all our foreign policy should be founded in our national interests and not the interests of others," Schmitz said.
AGU Reviving Citizen Activism
Schmitz encouraged everyone to check the candidate list and the resources and start helping a candidate "you feel moved by." He said the AGU model has been highly successful and people have been contacting AGU asking how to help these down-ticket candidates. "It is really encouraging to see regular citizens calling us, texting us to get involved in the political process and bringing about real change. We don't really teach our children civics anymore, so this was kind of a refresher course for a lot of us," Schmitz said.
Scholla asked Schmitz which of the candidates he saw as being rising stars. "They're all stars...they're really putting it all on the line for their country," Schmitz said, but he noted that Josh Mandel, OH won his Senate primary. Now, Mandel is campaigning with Marco Rubio against Sen. Brown.
On the Importance of Down-Ticket Races
Scholla said there is a tendency to over-focus on the large national races and to neglect the smaller local ones. AGU, therefore, helps these lower-level candidates. Schmitz said that while everyone tends to focus on the Presidential race, we need to take the Senate and retain the House to ensure that whoever becomes the next President is working with common-sense Constitutional conservatives. The restoration to our founding principles must happen at all levels of government, Schmitz said.
Schmitz is a "born and raised native Californian who has gone through the various degrees of political activity" for his entire life. He's been very involved, complacent, and once again fully involved. He had been O4P's California State Coordinator and was appointed to AGU's Board of Directors in November 2011, and elected Chairman of the Board the following month.
Many Candidates' Ideas, Platforms Come from Sarah Palin's Facebook Page
"Why is it so important to keep Gov. Palin's message alive?" Scholla asked. He continued, "even if she is not running for office, I think she has tried to explain that to a lot of folks but some people think 'like well if you're not a candidate, we look to other things,' but isn't the reason a lot of us support Gov. Palin - it's her values, it's what she believes in? Is that what we're looking for in a lot of these other candidates?"
Schmitz responded, "oh absolutely, because it's restoration, not transformation that our country needs, and I think concerned citizens get that, and I also think many people running for office get that too - from the down-ticket all the way to the GOP Presidential field. Many of the ideas and platforms coming from these candidates can be found on Sarah Palin's Facebook Page....she's made a really big impact on this race across the board - outside of the race.
American Grizzlies United Website: http://americangrizzlies.com/
Follow AGU on Twitter: @AGUGrizzlies
Follow O4P on Twitter: @O4Palin
Follow S4P on Twitter: @_Students4Palin
Follow Thomas on Twitter: @ThomasSSchmitz
Follow AGU on Facebook: American Grizzlies United (AGU)
Subscribe to the AGU You-Tube Channel: AmericanGrizzliesU
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