More on the Illinois CCW Debate
Thirdpower has more Todd Vandermyde, at a Chicago “Town Hall” meeting on concealed carry. Todd has been quite willing to engage in this issue at a very grassroots level, and I wish more NRA liaisons would take that cue. It is going to be increasingly necessary, going forward, for the strategy in every state to involve a combination of grassroots outreach and lobbying. Lobbying alone is simply no longer a recipe for overall success, and additionally, tends to drive mistrust and skepticism among the grassroots with the most energy to offer the cause.
“Lobbying alone is simply no longer a recipe for overall success, and additionally, tends to drive mistrust and skepticism among the grassroots. . .”
Wow. That probably deserves a long essay, but off the top of my head there are a couple top-level reasons for that. One is that lobbying necessarily involves the lobbyist as styling him/herself as speaking for everyone, which is not true; and usually having to act if they know better than everyone else what “we” should want. Another is, that I have never seen a citizen-lobbyist who was half as cagey as they thought they were, or, who wasn’t susceptible to being gulled by appeals to their own vanity and self-importance. “Access” politics is a very intoxicating brew.
NRA’s liaison in Maryland (also covers DE and OK) is much the same. Shannon Alford works closely with grassroots and is a solid team player who represents NRA diligently, but also understands that under the corporate banner are real people.
May they – and those like them – improve NRA and ILA.