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August News Letter

Fiscal Responsibility? Let us count the ways we're getting ripped off!

====== 67,865 INDIANA STRONG! ======

====== Passed State #06 ======

COS Indiana Vision: To build a strong, engaged army of self-governing activists.

===== STATE NEWS =====

709 Events & Festivals | Visit Indiana – schedule and host a booth for COS!

COS INDIANA EVENT CALENDAR

Click on the Event Calendar to go directly to Teamup for more details.
Make sure to schedule your events in Teamup so they will be listed in the calendar!

===== COMING EVENTS =====

COS INDIANA LIVE BROADCAST
With State Director Dale Parrish and Co-Host Ken Kashuba

Dale's weekly broadcast is live-streamed on Facebook and Youtube
Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern Time

Don't miss the Roundtable discussion on August 28th!
The panel will be tackling the relevant topic of human trafficking.

===== MARENGO MIKE =====

Marengo Mike is in orbit about Convention of States!
Created by COS Indiana State Comms Director, Ken Kashuba

===== PAST EVENTS =====

COS Article V Simulated Convention 2023 Highlights

Simulation Watch Party 2023 – Marty Wood reports fellow patriots discussed, laughed, ate and enjoyed each other's company. They're eagerly waiting the amendments to be published in their final form!

Indiana representatives in Williamsburg for the COS Article V Simulated Convention!
Christy Stutzman and Davyd Jones stepped up to participate
in the simulation as commissioners for Indiana.

PROMOTE YOUR EVENTS HERE!

Submit info to COS Indiana Newsletter Editor and please make sure to post details of your event on the Teamup Calendar and share pictures on Slack!

* Promote your event in advance
* Apply for national $ assistance
* Coordinate resource materials
* Recap your event – inspire others

* Inform and motivate our Patriots
* Increase attendance at the event
* Recruit volunteers to staff event
* Issue a Call-to-Action in your area

===== THE DIRECTOR'S CUT =====

COS Indiana State Director – Dale Tipton
Click Here to View the Video

Our COS Director, Dale Tipton reports:

The report for July, 2023 illustrated our activity reporting stats fell way off, probably due to summer travel, family activities, etc. I am confident we will rebound in August. Region 5 won the honors for the most active region through the action reports system. Individual leading performers included David Nally, Michael Gibson, Diane Jones and Gary Speelman. We sit at roughly 68,865 total supporters and 63,982 petition signers. We remain at 21 District Captains with more moving through the LMT. We are getting comfortable in the Flyover Region where we are led by RD Catherine Zemanek and ARD Karen Schuster. Please take part in any Flyover Region meeting offered to you. Participants include Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan. Our Comms Team, led by Ken Kashuba, now has a growth strategy in place with the assistance of COS National and they are making steady progress. Dale Parrish, Virtual Programming Coordinator, continues to push the reach of COS Indiana Live to a ever larger audience. Our region activity is strong where a large number of meetings and presentations are taking place, spreading the word about COS across the state. Christy Stutzman and Davyd Jones have stepped up to participate in the upcoming COS simulation in August as commissioners for Indiana. RC Cheryl Schopmeyer in Region 7 earned a Patriot Pin for outstanding performance. We are also looking forward to our Strategic Planning meeting to be held on October 21, 2023 in Anderson, Indiana. Please RSVP with State Event Coordinator, Stacey Garrett, via a Slack message as soon as you place this event on your calendar. All active volunteers are welcome to attend.

===== IDEALS OF SELF-GOVERNANCE =====

IDEALS OF SELF–GOVERNANCE

“Higher civilizations advance and honor only those leaders and rulers
who are most fit to bear social and political responsibilities.”

MEDIOCRITY, AND UNEARNED WEALTH

The appearance of genuine brotherhood signifies that a social order has arrived in which all men delight in bearing one another’s burdens; they actually desire to practice the golden rule. But such an ideal society cannot be realized when either the weak or the wicked lie in wait to take unfair and unholy advantage of those who are chiefly actuated by devotion to the service of truth, beauty, and goodness. In such a situation only one course is practical: The “golden rulers” may establish a progressive society in which they live according to their ideals while maintaining an adequate defense against their benighted fellows who might seek either to exploit their pacific predilections or to destroy their advancing civilization.

Idealism can never survive if the idealists in each generation permit themselves to be exterminated by the baser orders of humanity. A spiritually defensive reaction of the majority to save themselves, as far as possible, is necessary to keep from suffering the consequences of the acts of a headstrong, wicked, and rebellious minority. In high civilizations the people begin to foster a new form of social disgust – disgust for both idleness and unearned wealth. Everyone contributes enough for their keep and more, with the exception of the elderly who have reached the age of retirement and the disabled. Even they find worthwhile pursuits for their time. The pursuit of excellence is the goal of all citizens in an ideal society.

Democracy, while an ideal, is a product of civilization, not of evolution. Go slowly! select carefully! for the dangers of democracy are:

1. Glorification of mediocrity.
2. Choice of base and ignorant rulers.
3. Failure to recognize the basic facts of social evolution.
4. Danger of universal suffrage in the hands of uneducated and indolent majorities.
5. Slavery to public opinion; the majority is not always right.

And yet, here is the great test of idealism: Can an advanced society maintain that military preparedness which renders it secure from all attack by its war-loving neighbors without yielding to the temptation to employ this military strength in offensive operations against other peoples for purposes of selfish gain or national aggrandizement? National survival demands preparedness, and religious idealism alone can prevent the prostitution of preparedness into aggression. Only love, brotherhood, can prevent the strong from oppressing the weak.

There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are:

1. Freedom of the person. Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear.
2. Freedom of the mind. Unless a free people are educated — taught to think intelligently and plan wisely — freedom usually does more harm than good.
3. The reign of law. Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will and whims of human rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in accordance with accepted fundamental law.
4. Freedom of speech. Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions.
5. Security of property. No government can long endure if it fails to provide for the right to enjoy personal property in some form. Man craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his personal property.
6. The right of petition. Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be heard. The privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship.
7. The right to rule. It is not enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress to the actual management of the government.
8. Universal suffrage. Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage, while remaining universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified, regrouped, and otherwise differentiated.
9. Control of public servants. No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the citizenry possess and use wise techniques of guiding and controlling officeholders and public servants.
10. Intelligent and trained representation. The survival of democracy is dependent on successful representative government; and that is conditioned upon the practice of electing to public offices only those individuals who are technically trained, intellectually competent, socially loyal, and morally fit. Only by such provisions can government of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved.

The ideal state functions under the impulse of three mighty and co-ordinated drives:

1. Love loyalty derived from the realization of human brotherhood.
2. Intelligent patriotism based on wise ideals.
3. Cosmic insight interpreted in terms of planetary facts, needs, and goals.

Excerpts from the philosophy of The Urantia Book on the subject of self-governance.

===== PATRIOT VOLUNTEERS =====

Servant leadership is important for COS. We appreciate our volunteers!

“SHARE THE PETITION” MONTHLY CHALLENGE

These are critical times! Forward this newsletter to your family and friends!

Explain why this project is so important!

THE CHALLENGE:
Share the COS Project with at least one person who signs the petition each month!
It's the least you can do!

THE GOAL: 70,000 SUPPORTERS

www.conventionofstates.com

When you sign the petition, go to the volunteer page to see what your service options are!

===== ONE NATION UNDER GOD =====

Aspirational Goal: To bring a Political and Spiritual Awakening to America.