FROM OUR PRINTED AUG. 2021 EDITION
by Atty. Robert Snider
Boston Broadside Columnist
Former Suffolk County
Assistant District Attorney
If you have been sitting in your easy chair, seething while the news describes the dismantling of the America you love, including how your children are being indoctrinated into the joys of socialism and that it is the color of their skin that makes some people more equal than others, your frustration is overwhelming. Your frustration arises from your belief that there is nothing that you can do that will make a difference because you lack big money or a well-known name.
But you can make a difference. You are not powerless.
America has always produced men and women, previously unknown, who make a difference in her hours of need. Just as frontiersmen of the 1800s guided those who accepted great risks to create a better life out West, Adam Lange and the organization he created, the United Cape Patriots (UCP) shows the way. Undaunted by the negativity of conservative inertia evidenced by the fact that the Cape had lost more than 3,000 Republicans in the last decade, Adam shows what courage and optimism may accomplish.
Adam grew up in rural Connecticut, obsessed by cars and motorcycles. He rebuilt auto wrecks before he was licensed to drive them. His love of machines blossomed in his four years at Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University. He followed his 1985 aeronautical degree with a master’s. He began his career at McDonnell Douglas, which merged into Boeing in 1997. His education was technical and did not include the courses taken by ego-driven, dreamy adolescents.
Boeing is America’s leading exporter, has about 145,000 employees, and manufactures complicated aircraft that are required to be delivered to exacting standards and on-time. If deliveries are late, huge contract damages are assessed. Thus, managing operations well is critical. Boeing recognized that Adam had superb problem-solving abilities and rated off-the-charts in leadership. Boeing made Adam an operations manager.
When the numbers indicated there was a problem with operations, Adam would fly in with a team. When a section of employees failed to perform, that meant their leadership had not fostered a culture of caring. Adam and his team installed a system of “servant leadership.” That is where leaders first take care of the employees who have boots on the ground as the highest priority. Then they apply metrics and procedures so that each person is held accountable. Substantial autonomy is given, but people are expected to ask for help when it is needed. The level of collegiality amongst employees is expected to be high. When leaders devise fact-based plans, people naturally follow and culture improves.
In 2016, Adam retired and moved to Brewster to be close to his recently widowed mother. His plans for retirement were interrupted by the Cape Cod Coalition for Safe Communities, which supported the passage of a sanctuary city ordinance for Brewster that would make Brewster safe for illegal aliens by barring law enforcement from cooperating with ICE agents holding illegal aliens for deportation.
When Adam gave a well-researched three-minute presentation to Brewster Town Meeting where his facts were greeted with boos, he recognized that there was a profound problem of culture.
To change the culture, Adam founded the United Cape Patriots (UCP) on three Founding Principles.
We adhere to the Constitution as originally intended.
We are conservatives first, and party neutral.
We have a bias for action.
By being party neutral, UCP is not drawn into wasteful intra-party disputes flowing from Boston RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). UCP does not spend its time and energy raising money that disappears into black holes of political windmills. UCP knows that money alone does not change culture. Action changes culture.
UCP applies servant leadership prioritizing the troops on the ground. Emphasizing accountability and objective metrics, like the rapid increase of membership and the number of events, all of the leaders of the four sections of the UCP that cover the Cape are performing superbly.
Adam states, “Our strategic advantage at UCP is our leadership. We identify leaders. We nurture them and give them room to grow to achieve our shared goals.” Adam adds, “The difference between UCP and the Massachusetts GOP is that we hold ourselves accountable for results.”
UCP’s boots on the ground did not climb on board UCP as seasoned professional political operatives. They are citizens who did not appreciate at first what they could accomplish. Adam attracts members by pointing out that “Everyone has talent and UCP has a niche for you.”
Unsurprisingly, there are plans to expand and emulate UCP.
So, are you going to remain a seething, frustrated citizen while your children are being indoctrinated by Marxist ideologues? While the dollar is no longer a reliable store of value? And will you be afraid to voice your opinion because the culture that supported freedom of speech has been shouted down by tattooed fascists? You can make a big difference in a school committee race or a campaign important to you in your town. No action, no fight, no win is too small.
Launching out of a comfort zone and marching to the frontier may be unsettling to many, but it leads to a satisfaction of accomplishment.
The frontier is now your town. We need those who are willing to face the frontier and tackle the progressive chaos like our ancestors of old. We need leaders and marchers to oppose the Marxists and loonies trying to destroy the greatest country in the world.
Adam Lange has stepped up to the task. How about you? ♦
