Dear Constitution Party of Texas Leader,  

We’ve all heard it. And, the fact is, you might even have said it yourself:

“It’s just TOO EXPENSIVE to run for public office!”

Well, you know what? There comes a time when it’s too expensive not run for public office. Especially when the price you’re paying could cost you – and those you love – your liberty and freedom. For generations to come.

That’s why I am writing to you today to ask you to consider running for public office as a candidate of The Constitution Party of Texas (CPTEXAS). 

Let me assure you that it is possible to run a very inexpensive candidacy over the internet.   The only cost you’ll have to come up with is a small filing fee – and the amount of time it takes to forward email to your email contacts. 

Not much money; not much time.  Oh, you can spend more. But the minimum cost is almost trivial.  And the pay-off is simply priceless.

The whole idea behind Joe Trippi’s best-selling book, “The Revolution Will Not be Televised,” is that it's now possible to run a very successful, inexpensive (and even profitable) candidacy over the internet.

In fact, it’s already being done all over America. And isn’t it encouraging to see folks grab hold of an idea and then to walk in the truth of that idea.

Let me be clear:  Historically, political campaigns have been expensive and time-consuming. But, as a friend of mine says who runs one of the most successful online activist networks in America That was before the Internet.

That’s why The Constitution Party of Texas plans to emulate the strategies outlined in Joe Trippi's book and run the majority of all CPTEXAS candidacies over the internet.  Candidates can walk the streets and knock on doors if they like (in fact, I encourage it).

But if they only have the time, energy, and resources to post messages to their email list … well, they – make that you – can change the face of politics today!

Of course, campaigning will still take a little effort, but it need not be overwhelming.  We now know from experience that we can put together email presentations such that if I email to four people … and two of them email to four people … and two of them email to four more – well, we can generate an "internet buzz" that will sweep the State.

So, make sure you have an Acceptance Speech prepared in advance! 

It's like "viral” or multi-level-marketing." In short, it’s an idea "whose time has come".  If we're right, this idea will propagate rapidly across the internet.  The critical point will be to craft an email presentation that all can understand, and all can forward to their friends. 

For example: If you think the ideas we are presenting on our radio shows and on our DVD God Given Rights have value, what are the odds that some of your friends might also think the same? And what are the odds that each of those friends has friends of their own who would also welcome our ideas?  Once the message is "honed," the internet enables us to reach millions of Texans virtually (and I do mean virtually) overnight.

It works like this: I send an email to you.  You forward that email to your friends under your "From Line".  Your friends see your name and recommendation on the email, and read it.  They forward under their own name to their own friends, etc.  It's not a hard process. And the fact is, it’s an easy sell.

The key is in creating and refining the original email message.  Admittedly, that'll take some work. But, the good news is: you don’t have to worry about it. We have experts who believe deeply in our message – and are standing by to help out.

You can help by showing us what's wrong or hard to understand about whatever email we produce (including this one), and we'll refine it even more. Then it's up to the candidates to simply contact their friends by email, and start the revolution!

This is grassroots online activism at its finest!

If, as a candidate, you want to get even more deeply involved, you can participate in (or sponsor your own) "blogs" to discuss the issue over the internet.  Blogs were a central strategy in the Howard Dean "internet" campaign of 2004.  They require a little more effort than simply forwarding email, but they are not time-consuming.  You can create your own blog for free at http://www.blogger.com/start.

After that, there are public meetings with church groups or civic groups who may, or may not, be sympathetic to our objectives and principles.  Such public meetings require some work, some personal knowledge, and a willingness to speak in public.  Of course, you don't have to speak at such meetings if you don't want to.  But if you do, you might find out they are not only informative, but fun. Fun for you, your family and your neighbors.

And then there's walking the streets, knocking on doors, talking to voters, pounding signs into the lawns of supporters.  That's where the biggest part of the traditional political "work" is. I suspect it’s also the area where candidates will get the least "bang for the buck" – but it sure does make for some great photo ops and “pressing the flesh.” 

My point is that there is a variety of levels of commitment in Constitution Party candidacies.  You can make a strictly email-based campaign--which will require a minimum amount of your time -- or you can choose to go all the way to pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, and kissing babies as part of your candidacy.  Or you can choose somewhere in between these ends – what Bill Gates calls “hi-tech/hi-touch.”

Personally, I believe that it's possible to run a successful political campaign that's almost entirely based on the internet.  I believe that it's possible to run such internet campaign with minimal personal effort or investment.  And I know that such campaigns have been run with significant success in the past. 

Jesse Ventura won the governorship of Minnesota based, primarily, on an internet campaign. Howard Dean came within a whisker of winning the Democratic nomination for President in A.D. 2004.  Neither campaign was given the time of day at the outset. Yet both took America by a storm. And compared to most political campaigns, these internet-based campaigns were dirt-cheap. 

The truth is, in Howard Dean's case, his internet-based campaign wasn't just "cheap" it was astonishingly profitable.  Dean raised more money over the internet than any other Democratic candidate in history.  He didn't win the Democratic nomination for President, but he came so close that he scared the daylights out of every Republican and Democratic party boss.  Dean showed the world how to beat the "system".

Now, let me point out that both Ventura's and Dean's internet campaigns were based on running a single candidate for a single major office.  We, at the Texas branch of the Constitution Party, are not looking to run a single candidate--we are looking to run a significant number of candidates. 

We believe that if 100, or 500, or even 1,000 CP candidates run within Texas for elective office, there will be a synergy, a complimentary force, from each small and relatively inexpensive candidacy. And ultimately that synergy will amplify the Constitution Party "buzz" and increase the chances that each candidate may be elected. 

In other words, to run for office all by yourself--even by means of the internet--requires a lot of effort.  But if you run for office, and I run for office, and 500 other CP candidates each also run for office, then our virtually identical internet campaigns will compliment and reinforce each other's campaigns with minimal individual expenditure. 

For example, when I run, I will try to send my email presentation to all my contacts in my political district.  But inevitably some of my email contacts will be outside my district, and even outside of Texas.  That's not a problem because some of those contacts will be in YOUR district, or maybe the guy I send an email to in Minnesota ultimately forwards my message to some of his friends in YOUR district.  Or maybe the guy in Minnesota forwards the email message to a friend of his in Florida, and the Florida guy forwards to friends in YOUR district, or the districts of other CP candidates. 

Thanks to the internet, the message we are promoting can be spread like a VIRUS--except it's a good "virus".  A virus to stop the cancer of Big Government.

I believe that if we can get enough candidates to sign up before December 31^st (the filing deadline) … and if we can link all of those candidacies to a common Constitution Party of Texas website (coming soon) … we can reach a "critical mass" sufficient to make this Party FLY.  I can't tell you this is God's truth, but I believe that if enough of us work together, we can--in association--achieve results that would be virtually impossible for a single candidate.

In other words, I believe that if I do a little work on my campaign; you do a little work on your campaign; and each of the other candidates does a little work on their campaigns, then all the sudden the entire State of Texas might be flooded with emails that offer this great State the first real hope in decades for restoring personal freedom and respect for God to this political system.  If we can inspire those people to act, to vote, we can stun the existing political system.

Will this strategy work?  In a word, YES! 

We know that because it is already working with online activism networks nationwide. And it could work with minimal effort from each of the CPTexas candidates. 

That’s why I am so excited about making that same strategy work here.  More precisely, I feel compelled to give this strategy a chance to work.  I really believe that if we can get several score of Texas candidates, this strategy will take on a life of its own.  I believe this is an idea whose time has come.  If so, then if we can just get this strategy started, it might take off like a rocket and shock, amaze and perhaps delight the whole USA. 

If you sign up to run as a candidate, will you win?  Perhaps not – the first time around.  I'm signing up, and I know very well that the odds are way against me. But the bad guys are going to know they’ve been in one heck of a fight!!!

Frankly, what matters most this time around is that we test and demonstrate the validity and value of the strategy.  For example, suppose the CPTexas succeeds in motivating 500 candidates to run for Texas office in A.D. 2006. And suppose only a handful – or, maybe even none at all -- wins.  Is that a defeat?  Well, sure … in the eyes of those who take the short view – and don’t realize that we’re in this for the long haul. 

But what if the CP--despite “losing”--pulled 15% of votes cast in the election?  That result would astonish and terrify every Republican and Democrat party official in the USA.  They would KNOW the end was near.  They would KNOW that the strategy that we may have implemented in A.D. 2006 could well sweep the whole country in A.D. 2008. They would KNOW that the people want to return to the principles of the Declaration of Independence -- and thereby return to God. 

And once the WE THE PEOPLE know that, who could stop that return? 

My point is that we don't need to win the every battle to win the "war".   I've heard people say that George Washington never won a single battle.  Yet, he won the first American Revolution.  And now we’re about to win the second!

All we need to do in A.D. 2006 is make the people aware that it is POSSIBLE to return to the principles on which our country was founded.  If we can simply show the world that it's possible to return to unalienable rights and to God, we can ignite a political revolution that could be every bit as inspiring as the Statue of Liberty. 

"Give US your tired, your poor, your wretched masses YEARNING to be free," and, by God, we will show them their unalienable rights … we will give them freedom  … and we will take them back to God.

We have a chance.  You have a chance.  Perhaps for the first time in decades, good, decent Americans from all walks of life have a chance together to make this happen.

Should we abandon that chance because some work might be required?  Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, et al., have abandoned the first American Revolution because it involved some actual work?  And they didn't merely risk raising a sweat, they risked their lives.  Should they have waited for a year or a decade until it was "easier" to foment their revolution?  And if they had waited, would their moment have been lost?

We at the Constitution Party of Texas understand that every political candidacy will require some work.  We understand that not everyone can make that effort.   But we believe that--thanks to the internet--the total effort required from each individual candidate can be minimal, bearable, acceptable, even fun—and definitely exciting.

Can you bury yourself in your own candidacy?  Sure.  But you don't have to.  All we're asking is that you find an office that you're willing to run for, pay your small filing fee, and then work with us to send as many emails as you like over the next 14 months. 

If you'll do that much, you'll have a chance to win office. And more importantly, you’ll have a chance to help change America. My chances of winning office will be somewhat enhanced by your candidacy – and yours by mine.  The Constitution Party's chances of making something important happen in Texas will be significantly enhanced.  And America's chances of turning back to personal freedom, limited government and God may be hugely enhanced. 

All due to your involvement!

That’s why I am asking you today to make the commitment to run for county commissioner, or constable, or even justice of the peace.  Invest in the filing fee, create a free blog and take the time to forward some email over the next 14 months.  That's your investment; that's the only effort that's required. We’ll be with you all the way. And I know you will agree that is a small price to pay for the survival and success of liberty.

If you'll pay that small cost and I'll pay that small cost and 500 others will do the same, then we have a chance to shake this whole nation. A chance to move this whole country back towards God.

For me, I have no choice.  This strategy compels me to run for office; it compels me to respond at length to your concerns about not having to run a huge costly campaign.  Frankly, I don't look forward to shaking hands and smiling from dawn to dusk in pursuit of a political office that I’ll have a tough time winning. 

Even so, I cannot escape the belief that God wants me to try.  I'm not saying that God wants me to win.  Maybe God wants me to lose this time around.  But I'm convinced He wants me to run.  So I'm compelled by my faith--just as we have tried to explain in our State Conference and our DVD’s and the Texas Jamboree speech--to embrace this strategy and run for office.

Perhaps, the Good LORD is not calling you to embrace this strategy and run for office. If you pray on the question, and you feel no compulsion to run, then God's will be done.  My prayer would be that you continue to support the Constitution Party and those who are called to enter the fray.

But if you pray, and if you feel the same compulsion that I do, then I suspect you'll have no choice.  If your faith compels your to run for office, if you come conclusion on your own--not because I or anyone else says so--that implementing this strategy just might be service to God, then I think you must find an office and run for it. Some office; any office.  Pick the lowest office there is, but pick one and run.  We need you.

And count the cost.  In this case, the cost is not high:  You'll only have to invest a few hundred dollars for a filing fee, and whatever number of hours you want to invest in sending email.   Contrary to your concerns, a political candidacy that runs primarily over the internet can be dirt-cheap – and incredibly effective. 

In fact, I’ll tell you what I’ll do: If you will make the commitment to me to run for office as I have asked, I will personally send you a FREE copy of Joe Trippi's book, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".  It'll show you what can be done over the internet with a minimum investment. And you and I will both be “singing out of the same hymnal!”

So, what do you say? Will you join me in this great new adventure to revolutionize the way elections are won?

When the Founders fought the first American Revolution, some lost their lives; some lost their families; some lost their fortunes.  The cost was high.   But what would it have cost them (and us) if they had declined to fight?

When you and your spouse and friends count the costs of running for public office, I hope that you'll also count the costs of NOT running, as well.  As one of our former Presidents – a World War II hero -- once said, “The price of liberty is always high – but Americans have always paid it.” Now, it’s our turn to stand tall!

Pray on it.  Follow God's guidance.

Thanks very much for your email, your concern, and your support.  We need and value your help.

God bless you and yours.

Your Obedient Servant,

Bryan Malatesta

Chairman, Constitution Party of Texas

chairman@cptexas.org

866-CPTEXAS

PS: Don’t forget that I want to send you a FREE copy of Joe Trippi's book, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" with my personal compliments. Once you read the first 10 pages, I guarantee you’ll understand why you and I are about to turn this state upside down! Let me hear from you soon.