Social Network of African American Conservatives & Moderates
Why Move-On-Up.org?
In the past, whenever I met a fellow African American Republican or conservative, it was always a bitter sweet moment for me. On the one hand, I was elated to meet another African American who shared my cultural values and view of the role of government in our lives, but the elation subsided rather quickly when the realization set in that there wasn't an efficient mechanism to connect them with my conservative African American friends from around the country, or vice versa. There are millions of us out here! John McCain only received 2% of the African American vote, but how many millions of African Americans does that translate too? That was the initial purpose of organizing this social network; to have a centralized meeting place for us to network, share ideas, and let the closet Republicans and conservatives among us know that they are not alone.
The second purpose of this site is to grow a true grassroots, un-bureaucratic organization that will be a force on the national scene to advance our agenda within the party and in the national debate. I do not consider myself the leader of this social network. I would much rather prefer that every member of this network take ownership for this site's success and it's mission to empower ordinary individuals to do extraordinary things. That is what true grassroots activism should be all about.
Most of us will attest that the outreach efforts by the Republican Party have been pretty anemic at best. Past history tells us that they're probably not going to improve much in the future, especially now that an African American will be our next president, and Hispanics now comprise the largest minority group in America. To be candid, the party is somewhat justified in ignoring us because we bring nothing to the table; no organized numbers, no ability to raise large sums of money. In politics, numbers and money are the squeaky wheels that gets your cause attention, not your past loyalties. We have a choice. We can either continue to complain and keep experiencing neglect during and after the campaign season, or, we can build an organization that literally has hundreds of thousands of members and that advances our agenda due to its sheer size and influence.
A third purpose of this site is to find tomorrow's future leaders and candidates for elected office at the local, state and federal levels. I envision in the very near future, a Move-On-Up 527 PAC that will provide needed funds so that these candidates can wage credible campaigns. I also envision the PAC being heavily involved with issue advocacy through the use of 30 second videos and the new media. The late Missouri State Representative Sherman Parker wrote in 2005 about the need to elect more African American Republicans to expand the base of the party.
In future posts, I will expound further on my ideas and vision I have for Move-On-Up.org, but as i wrote earlier, this is your site. I heartily encourage you to spread the word and invite others! Be relevant. Join the revolution. Make history!
The second purpose of this site is to grow a true grassroots, un-bureaucratic organization that will be a force on the national scene to advance our agenda within the party and in the national debate. I do not consider myself the leader of this social network. I would much rather prefer that every member of this network take ownership for this site's success and it's mission to empower ordinary individuals to do extraordinary things. That is what true grassroots activism should be all about.
Most of us will attest that the outreach efforts by the Republican Party have been pretty anemic at best. Past history tells us that they're probably not going to improve much in the future, especially now that an African American will be our next president, and Hispanics now comprise the largest minority group in America. To be candid, the party is somewhat justified in ignoring us because we bring nothing to the table; no organized numbers, no ability to raise large sums of money. In politics, numbers and money are the squeaky wheels that gets your cause attention, not your past loyalties. We have a choice. We can either continue to complain and keep experiencing neglect during and after the campaign season, or, we can build an organization that literally has hundreds of thousands of members and that advances our agenda due to its sheer size and influence.
A third purpose of this site is to find tomorrow's future leaders and candidates for elected office at the local, state and federal levels. I envision in the very near future, a Move-On-Up 527 PAC that will provide needed funds so that these candidates can wage credible campaigns. I also envision the PAC being heavily involved with issue advocacy through the use of 30 second videos and the new media. The late Missouri State Representative Sherman Parker wrote in 2005 about the need to elect more African American Republicans to expand the base of the party.
"Electing African-Americans to legislative, statewide, and congressional office is the only way we are going expand the base of the Republican Party...Democrats were successful in the battle over African-American voters by presenting them a convincing message, that message may have never been received had it not been used in conjunction with the Democrat Party’s considerable effort to legitimize that message by electing African-Americans to office...In electing African-Americans, Democrats gained messengers capable of relating to the communities that they were asked to persuade."
In future posts, I will expound further on my ideas and vision I have for Move-On-Up.org, but as i wrote earlier, this is your site. I heartily encourage you to spread the word and invite others! Be relevant. Join the revolution. Make history!
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Comment by Raymond Dix Jr. on December 11, 2008 at 7:40am
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Thank you for you vision and precision of execution. I will do whatever I can to help make this a reality. (Corrected spelling) :)
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Comment by CeCe on February 17, 2009 at 11:10am
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Although I was not a big fan of John McCain and all his war since I am in the military but I totally agree with what you are saying about getting more AA's elected and coming together in great numbers and I really hope that this site can get us there. I was more of a Ron Paul supporter because he was ready to come in and create real change meaning get rid of all these ppl that are going to make our kids and grand kids poor like Nancy Pelosi is going to help do. He was all about firing congress, the IRS (a privately owned coorporation), and the federal reserve system. I just pray that Obama gets in there and does something good like actually reading this bailout that is before him to sign.
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Comment by Ron Miller on September 8, 2009 at 12:51pm -
Chris, I am on board with your vision. I am running for office and I write and speak out regularly on the harm that identity politics and dependence on government have caused to our communities. Please feel free to use me in whatever way you choose!
Warmest regards,
Ron
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Comment by Chris Arps on September 10, 2009 at 11:17am -
Thanks Ron! We've got some exciting things coming up and I hope you'll be actively involved, especially in your own area.
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