Action – Central Panhandle Progressives

GROUP GUIDELINES

Why You Are Here: If you’ve arrived at these Guidelines from a link on your Facebook page, that is most likely because a friend of yours added you to our group, believing that you would be a good fit and that you are ready to take action to promote the progressive agenda. If your friend was mistaken, simply remove yourself from the group and we apologize for the intrusion. (If you want to remove from the group, go to the group page. In the bottom right of the cover photo for the group page there is a button that says “joined”. Click the down arrow in that button and then click on “Leave Group”.)

Who We Are: Our response team is a ‘secret’ Facebook group of Progressives with a focus on political activism in the Second Congressional District, Florida, (see map)  who are taking responsibility for self-governance. The group’s postings suggest effective actions you can take to promote progressive values and influence lawmakers to follow a sound progressive agenda. We believe in science and have concern for our natural environment. We support equality for all, regardless of race, national origin, gender, religious beliefs (or absence thereof), handicap, or sexual orientation. We believe in economic fairness, educational opportunity for all, affordable healthcare for all, and we oppose money in politics. We believe our lawmakers should represent the people and not just their large corporate donors, should provide transparency, and should be accountable in all that they do. We believe in voter protection, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. We are ready to take forceful, but non-violent, action to promote these values.

Although the focus of our group is on one congressional district in Florida, we welcome people from all locations as much of what we post has national application. Many from other areas have joined our group to learn about grassroots organization and action calls to apply in their districts and we welcome you as well.

How Can I Join?: If you found these guidelines on the web because you are interested in joining a progressive group with our focus and are not yet a member of this group, there are two ways you can join us. One is to ask to join our discussion group. As our action group is setup as a “private” Facebook group, you will need to establish a Facebook “friendship” with someone already in the group to be invited. The route to do this is to first join our discussion group), and then ask within that group if someone is willing to accept your friend request and invite you into the private group. The second way is to send us a contact message from this site. Due to the nature of ‘secret groups’ it is necessary to have an invitation from a Facebook friend in order to join. Thus, expect to see a friend request from someone in the group in order to join you. (You may maintain that friend connection or undo it after being joined to the group as you see fit.) As there are usually many people with the same name on Facebook, please include a link to your personal Facebook profile in the contact message so we can locate you quickly. Please specifically state that you want to join our action group.

Guidelines For Posting in Central Panhandle Progressives Rapid Response Team: This group is part of a larger network containing other components with different guidelines (more on this later). Within the action group, however, we try to be disciplined in order to accomplish the specific goal of providing effective action calls for the ‘time-challenged’ among us. We discourage the posting of any articles that do not relate to specific actions that can be taken or that do not relate to strategies that guide our actions. We discourage debates and discussions of principles and we discourage the posting of articles that provide analysis or insights but do not relate directly to actions that can be taken. Our overriding group goal is to provide a very quick and efficient place for our very busy members to come in and find out who they need to call or write for the day or where they need to show up to publicly express their opinion. We try hard to keep the notifications generating from this group to a manageable level. In other words, this particular group (just one component of our network) is designed and intended to be action oriented and time efficient. It is intended to be “lean and mean” – all action and little discussion. Please discipline yourself as you participate to promote this goal. (If you are interested in posting articles and having discussion, please see the section below on our discussion group.)

Contact Information for Lawmakers: Here’s a handy link to contact information for your lawmakers. Please consider saving or bookmarking this link so you can grab it quickly when you’re ready to take action. Contact Info for Lawmakers

Please also add any friends of yours you believe could benefit from participation in the group. Here’s how.

Another Group is Available for Discussion. As stated, we also have a network component for free discussion and analysis. Our “Discussion – Central Panhandle Progressives” Facebook group is the place for that. In that separate group, you are encouraged to post any articles you deem pertinent to the progressive cause, to initiate and participate in discussions, get to know other members, and be relaxed. Feel free to treat the Discussions – Central Panhandle Progressives group as you would any other Facebook “community”, except we insist that respect be shown for all members and politeness always be the tone. If you would like to join that discussion group, just click on this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/1855153298074347/ and send a join request. (Be patient. It may take some time for someone to notice your request, make sure you’re not a troll, and approve your request; but we will get to it.)

Our Public Facebook Page: In addition, we also have a public page component to our network at https://www.facebook.com/LightGetsThrough/. This is where we post articles and discussions intended for public view. As a member of one or more of our groups, please feel free to post there as well. We also use this public page to find progressives who may still be lost and frustrated and guide them to a group that will provide them hope and guide them in taking proactive steps to promote the progressive agenda.

Our Website, Indieway.com: The fourth major component of our network is our public website. (The domain name has a historical explanation and does represent the independent way of thinking that characterizes many of our members.) On the website, you will find articles, references, and resources to educate and assist you in taking progressive action (as well as some art and music to round off the rough edges). Please visit the website often and feel free to comment on the posts you find there.

Watch Teams: We also have a number of “Watch Teams” designed to delegate the research and analysis necessary to keep up with what is happening and to organize needed action calls relating to specific lawmakers and specific issues. Most of these have their own Facebook groups in which to organize and share information and strategies. If you would like to volunteer for one of our Watch Teams, please make a post in one of the two groups and let us know. The appropriate “Group Liaison” for that watch group or one of the members will add you to their group.

Search Teams: We also have “Search Teams” whose objective is to find and nurture promising progressive candidates for our local offices. Let us know by posting in one of our secret groups if you would like to volunteer for a search team and someone will join you in.

Outreach Teams: While all the members of our group are asked to actively engage in outreach, we have a team that investigates and experiments with the best way to identify progressives in the area and invite them to participate in organized, effective action with us.

Coordination with Other Grassroots Groups. We actively communicate with and coordinate with other grassroots progressive groups in our area and elsewhere. Our philosophy is that the more locally specific grassroots organizations, the better. Local groups can have face to face meetings to discuss and plan local actions. We, then, as a District group, assist them with their activities and efforts.

Overall Organization: We are only informally organized at this time and have no immediate plans to incorporate as a legal entity, require dues, require attendance at meetings, or other such formal undertakings. Our vision may or may not change as we grow and gain experience. Our primary goal is to help you take action to promote a progressive agenda. We want to do that as simply and efficiently as possible. It’s not about us, it’s about you! It’s about progress!

If you have any questions about our network or a specific group or team within our network that you need answered before joining or participating, please send us a contact message.

These Guidelines are primarily intended to provide you the rules for our secret Facebook Group Central Panhandle Progressives Rapid Response Team and to briefly introduce you to the remaining components of our network. Additional guidelines may be posted for the other components.

These Guidelines may be amended from time to time as experience guides us. Please check back from time to time to stay current on our vision and guidelines for the group.