Description of the Community Gathering: I keep refining it

What do you think about this description? What questions come up? What are you inspired by?

A community gathering is a cross between a festival, a town hall meeting, a strategic planning session, and a school. Ideally there would be childcare, a free meal, and lots of different rooms where various activities would happen, including music jam sessions, dancing, and various support groups and classes. In the largest rooms, there would be a myriad of conversations going on about things that people care about and want to take responsibility for.

Organizers for the Community Gathering would make sure that people have the opportunity to both discuss and learn about essential things such as alternatives to money (including alternative currencies, time banking, lets system, and barter), emergency preparedness (including natural disasters, terrorism, and martial law), and become self-reliant (community gardens, alternatives to using the grid energy, and water cachement).

Another important and essential activity that would take place at Community Gatherings is political activities. Anyone who wanted to could have the opportunity to use this time and space to promote the candidate of their choice in small groups of willing people. Ron Paul supporters can take this time to work on their strategies and plans if they wish. Ron Paul supporters can also have orientations about the various options for candidates, and give objective views on the stands of all the candidates. This is also an essential time to identify and help elect government officials in every office from school board to city council to quorum court to government to senator.

Education about the issues would be a very important function. There could be a room where films could be shown—like "America, from freedom to fascism". Classes for all ages could be given about the constitution and educating people about our rights and how we can make our voices heard, and grassroots organizing.

The possibilities of what can happen at a well-organized and well-supported Community Gathering are endless. People who often do not get involved such as homeless, single parents and low income people could be offered transportation.

As people gather, cooperate, and build trust, a governing structure where every voice is heard and valued will emerge. In this atmosphere of connection and caring, where people are seeing that they have common needs, and that they don’t need to agree on everything,I believe that people will start learning to work together harmoniously. A governing structure which is minimal, and which insures people’s basic freedoms be met. As was done by our founding fathers who worked so hard to organize a very large country in a way that insured our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we in our neighborhoods will come together to organize for the same purpose.

I think that one of the weaknesses of our constitution is that it does not grant enough autonomy and rights to the neighborhood—the place where people are going to naturally care about the most. I think that if we simultaneously work to elect Ron Paul, and organize our neighborhoods, we will have a win-win situation. Even if Ron Paul does not get elected, we will have power in our neighborhoods. Ron Paul supporters will have a momentum of community service going so that if he doesn’t win, the people power to support Ron Paul can continue to work without missing a beat. Yes, we will be disappointed if Ron Paul loses. But we will have victory in saying, “We are exercising our power whether Ron Paul wins or not.”