Dear Fellow SNC Committee Member,

Warm greetings from Tom. I hope 2008 is a year of reward and challenge. May you and your family prosper, and may it bring us closer to liberty and independence. In any event, it’s shaping up to be a year of historic proportions. I guess I was still in a Holiday mood with echoes of Tiny Tim in my mind as I watched yesterday’s squalid spectacle in Iowa and thought, “God help us, every one.” With only one exception in both national parties, a gang of miserable wretches continues to spin a web of self-serving deceit and criminal folly, propelling the country down the pathway to perdition. And today, as the stock market continued to melt down along with the US dollar, and as oil and food and every other vital commodity continues to shoot up in price, the Liar-in-Chief reassured us America’s "financial markets are strong and solid." Considering the source, that reassurance scares me more than any financial data from Wall Street.

Clearly, as the Chinese say in a phrase that is both a curse and a blessing, we are living in interesting times. Yet our beloved Robert E. Lee said, “It is history that teaches us to hope.” As Southerners who see God’s hand at work in the long pageant of human history, we know our hope is not in men and in human institutions, but in His purposes. Still, He expects us to do our part -- to be steadfast, courageous, discerning, and to contend against evil. I pray humbly that the Southern National Congress is in accord with His purposes, and that He will bless our undertaking, for we are going forward.

By now I hope you’ve all seen the notice that we’ll hold the first actual Congress next December 5-7, 2008 at the Kanuga Conference Center (www.kanuga.org) near Hendersonville, NC. If you haven’t seen the notice, check the website. At the direction of the SNCC Executive Council, I will soon issue a formal Call for Delegates via all pro-South websites, message boards, Internet forums, and print publications. Remember that the Committee is NOT the same as the Congress. You are a member of the SNC Committee, and as such, you’ll be at the head of the line for selection as a Delegate to the Congress should you wish to be one. But you will still have to go through the Delegate selection process; it’s not automatic by virtue of membership in the SNC Committee. More details on how that is to happen will be forthcoming soon.

In the meanwhile I’m asking your help on an important administrative matter. We are completing work on bylaws or a constitution for the Congress that will be among the first items of business when the Congress convenes next December. But it occurred to me that we also need bylaws for the SNC Committee. Since the Committee is the convening authority of the actual Congress, there needs to be a clear, logical chain of continuity from one to the other, so that the Committee can hand off its authority to the Congress when the Congress establishes itself and supersedes the Committee. It may seem like a purely pro forma exercise, but please read the attached bylaws for the Committee and e-mail us your approval – assuming you approve – or your suggestions or objections if you do not. The Executive Council has approved them, and now they are coming to you for your consideration. Consider this as a formal motion put to you electronically rather than in a physical meeting, and let me know your will on adopting these bylaws as the progenitor of future bylaws for the Congress itself.

In closing, I know that the slow pace toward making the Congress a reality may have discouraged some of you. As with all other elements in the Southern movement, our resources and time are limited. Nevertheless, be patient and be encouraged, for we are going forward; it is going to happen. Now that we’ve made the decision, paid for the space at Kanuga, and publicly committed ourselves, we must – and will -- make it succeed. I urge you, as I have, to rededicate yourselves to this vitally important effort. The SNC is not a one-man or a two-man show; it will only succeed with your prayerful support and participation.

Thanks in advance for letting us hear from you via e-mail regarding the bylaws (or anything else of concern) and for your continued support. Your “e-vote” will come back to the SNC site and Terry Compton, our splendid Director of Communications and Webmaster. But feel free to contact me personally if you have questions, concerns, complaints, or if you’d like to volunteer for a more active role.