Arm in Arm is a grassroots organization in its truest form. We recognize that different localities face much different problems and circumstances from one another, and thus strongly encourage neighborhoods to form around principles and contingency plans that they feel are most appropriate. The national organization is here to provide tools and resources to help facilitate this process, not dictate what your local groups must look like. In keeping with these goals of forming the most inclusive group possible, we do not endorse and are not affiliated with any political or religious organizations.
There are no spokespeople for Arm in Arm. Any individual speaking who happens to be a member of a local neighborhood organized through this effort speaks for himself as an individual, not for the group as a whole. This includes any of the founders as their individual political beliefs are not to be mixed with the organizing principles of this association. The set of declarations on the main arminarm.us portal page precisely defines the scope and purpose of this organization. Any attempt to portray what we stand for based on the comment of some lone wolf or the editorial opinion of someone in the mainstream media, should not be taken as gospel, particularly given our express attempts to clarify the unifying precepts of the organization on this site. We will not allow this organization to be co-opted by extremist groups on either side of the political fence as has happened to many other grassroots efforts.
In the spirit of keeping the group inclusive and keeping out influences that attempt to use our network as a platform for promoting an extremist agenda, there will be a strict moderation of the various forums and network discussions at this site. Our website is basically there to facilitate communications and scheduling of events relative to the goals set forth in our charter which will be strictly set forth in the Terms and Conditions when one registers to post on our site. The will be no tolerance of discussions promoting illegal activities or sedition. Items such as conspiracy theories and the political blame game, while appropriate for discussion on other forums, do not address the needs of preparedness and creating a sustainable local economy. People with passionate opinions on such subjects tend to be most vocal and dominate a lot of online postings which does take a focus away from our primary goal of uniting and preparing Americans. We seek to create a venue where the majority of Americans feel comfortable being contributing members, without being associated with various political positions they might find objectionable.
Similarly speaking, the use of the Arm in Arm logo on any non-approved literature (all of which shall be downloadable at the website) will not be tolerated. Local chapters of Arm in Arm can feel free to pass out custom fliers and literature in their efforts to organize locally, they just cannot use the logo which some might take as a uniform endorsement of specific positions from the entire organization across the country. The reason behind this is that we do not want our organization associated with any activities that members in general across the country might find objectionable, and violators can be expected to be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by the law.
Finally, we want to highlight that we will not be asking members of this association for any dues or fees. This is a service being provided by a group of concerned Americans who fear for the future of our country if we continue unprepared down the path we are currrently on. We want as many people to join as possible and do not want people to fear being harassed by repeated calls for donations or with high pressure sales pitches for various commercial products, particularly when most people are struggling just to get by. The fact is the majority of what this organization is going to be accomplishing will be done by people on the local level. The key underlying theme to our organization is that of self reliance, and our finances should reflect that as well. If there are worthy goals to be funded, instead of sending donations to some bureaucratic national or even local organization, a budget should be set forth for a project and contributions should be slated for that particular goal so there is maximum accountability. That way the activities that the people believe will hold merit will be funded, while those that people believe are less effective will likely go unfunded. Such is an efficient use of capital, a concept that our society seems to have lost during the loose monetary policy of the last two decades that brought us to the crisis point we face today.
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