Step-by-Step Organizer Toolkit for the People's Campaign for the Constitution
FAQ on the Strategy of the PCC
If your group is considering getting involved with the People’s Campaign for the Constitution (PCC), members may have some important questions to ask before they decide to get involved. The following are concerns that friends and potential allies may raise about the specific strategy of the PCC along with responses that speak to each concern.
Concerns about the PCC |
The PCC’s Responses |
| Our group wants to maintain our issue focus (the war, impeachment, torture, privacy, etc.) and not be spread too thin. | A broader coalition with a common strategic focus is stronger. This campaign is about building political power by helping to unite people who see that the challenges we face share a common root: the erosion of constitutional limits on government power. Each group can continue involving and educating others, within and outside our PCC coalition, on its focal issues, but we’ll all be stronger by supporting each other. |
| Our group has tried, but we have found our representative to be unresponsive. | Coalition-building is part of our strategy to compel our representative to act. Perhaps our representative ignores our group because s/he perceives it as weak or too small a minority. If we demonstrate broad public support for restoring constitutional rights and protections, our representative will be more compelled to respond to our demands, even if s/he doesn’t attend one of our public events. |
| We need to reach out to new people and groups, not existing allies. | Agreed. Building a diverse coalition united around defending the Constitution is key to attracting many other members of our community who are upset and frustrated, but who don’t know what they can do to restore their rights and our country’s image. |
| The only way to hold our representative accountable is to vote him/her out. | Accountability is grounded in the Constitution. This PCC’s long-term goal is to ensure that Congress works for the people. The Constitution is on our side, and government must adhere to it, no matter who is in office. |
| The electoral system doesn’t work for us. The incumbent always wins because of earmarks and/or gerrymandering, so our efforts to press Congress are undermined. | The point of this campaign is to change the people so that we can change Congress. So, even if we can’t change our representative’s mind, we can still explain these issues to the people who elect her or him so that our representative will have to take notice and re-evaluate her/his decisions.
Since gerrymandering shapes congressional districts in ways that don’t correspond with how our communities are actually connected, regional level coordination among ally groups spanning multiple districts will greatly aid our organizing. Regional groups can share resources, direct new participants to the closest group in their district, and coordinate meetings in multiple congressional districts. An excellent model for such a regional campaign is the Rural Organizing Project’s Costs of War Campaign. |
| We don’t want to duplicate efforts. How is the PCC coordinating with other national groups? | National organizations and grassroots groups share the goal of defending the Constitution, so for the PCC, we are reaching out to national organizations to support the formation and work of grassroots groups. See our list of local, regional, and national organizations that are partners in the PCC. We’d like to add your group to the growing list. |
