5 years is a long time for a Facebook group to be in existence. Most group fizzle out after a couple of weeks. I started a political group titled “We Stand” in 2015 and I’m happy to say we are growing and gaining momentum. Over the past 5 years we have gone through name changes and at one point we had over 20k followers. When people started leaving after the 2016 election, I thought perhaps my group was finished.
In 2015 I was still a proud Democrat. I loved my party and everything it stood for. I voted for Al Gore because I loved President Bill Clinton, and I voted for Obama twice. Not only that, but I sat on my townships Democratic Committee! I attended the fundraisers and canvassed to help fellow Democrats win elections. Our party stood for equality and supported women’s rights. Our party was anti cooperation and pro small business. We supported the police and we supported a strong border. Our party stood for the working class and welfare to work programs. So when President Obama saved the auto industry, bailed out the banks and did wonders to dig America out of what I consider a depression that lasted from 2008 to 2011, I gladly voted for him a second time. Little did I know that I was electing a man who would divide America, kill the Democratic Party, and ultimately pushed Americans into tyranny and oppression.
As I watched Obama’s second term unfold, it became harder and harder to support my party. For me the final straw happened in the summer of 2015 when President Obama supported the taking down of all Confederate monuments, while he also put gay pride lights on The White House. It was an obvious slap in the face too everyone who supports freedom of speech and expression. Confederate flags and monuments mean different things to different people, and just because one group is offended doesn’t make however they interpret something to be true. President Obama didn’t ask anyone if they would be offended by gay pride lights on The White House that doesn’t belong to him. It was tyranny at its core: “Think like we do, be offended when we are offended. Your opinion doesn’t matter, only ours does”. And it was during that summer week that I resigned my committee seat, registered Republican and started the Facebook political group “We The People”.
We The People grew fast and in our first week we had 200 members! The group was extremely popular with Confederate supporters even though we were not a Confederate page. Then the group attracted 2nd Amendment supporters and before I knew it we had over 20,000 members! That December President Obama launched his final attack on Christianity and it was unpopular to say Merry Christmas. Shopping malls got rid of Santa in favor for a “Winter Town” theme instead. The group then changed it’s name to “One Nation Under God” in response to Obama’s tyrannical policies. Not only that, but we planned to organize and congregate onto the capital. We had truckers ready to block every major highway and we had people in place that were going to storm Congress and demand they impeach President Obama!
The post count in our group was high and everyone was talking about what we were about to do. I had to keep reminding members that this was to remain peaceful. But then something disappointing happened. The truckers who all swore to attend, did not. The people who promised to meet up at our gathering station did not show either. It was myself and 4 others just standing there in the freezing cold at a park in Philadelphia.
And so because I loath those who lack the courage of their convictions, every person who promised to attend our event but didn’t, I booted out of our group and blocked! Others left when they saw their friends banished. The following November Donald Trump won the election and I committed our group in supporting him. This angered many others, and I watched them leave our group by the 1000s! By this time after the dust settled our membership was around 4000. The next major apocalyptic membership purge happened after the first white cop black suspect shooting. Suddenly I watched our group transform into nothing short of a KKK meeting! Our membership was teetering at around 500 after I banned all the bigots and racist.
The remaining members were getting use to a new Republican Party under President Trump. And so as we all grew together, I changed our name to “United We Stand”. It’s was an Inspiration from the Abraham Lincoln quote that a house divided cannot stand. For the record, I loath Lincoln but I do admire that particular expression.
Our membership grew a little. I was satisfied. I figured it was Quality over quantity. Finally I changed our name to what it is today, “We Stand”. I changed it after it became acceptable to take a knee during the national anthem.
Currently our membership stands at about 1200. We have 4 moderators and we hear all the time how pleasant and laid back our group is. We continue to grow with like minded patriots and we enjoy intelligent discussions. Sure we have to occasionally delete comments and banish people, but our group firmly stands for the first amendment, and I will never tolerate bullying or persecution of any kind. I think lots of other groups can learn from my style of governing and I think people online in general have to start respecting each other’s beliefs. I also think people have to read a groups description and ask themselves if they belong. It is wrong to join a group and expect everyone to change and cater to you. You should know what you are signing up for.
Here’s to another 5 years….