From: Glenn McCalley (glenn@combatcatering.com)
Date: Thu Aug 28 2003 - 19:00:14 PDT
Having worked in the area of coordinated letter campaigns I'd like to offer
the following: do some homework before you sharpen up your quill.
Understand up front please that I'd just love to see HUMMWV's come out
whole, I could use 'em in our business.
But: Understand who you are up against and why.
Scenario One: Let's say that AMG really -does- have some nefarious deal
regarding vehicle disposition. To do that requires friends in high places.
Our letters cause heat to be brought upon these people. To change their
position in such circumstances:
1) AMG will have to admit that they had a nefarious deal; and
2) some gov't employee will have to admit that they went along with it.
Now, in defending their position when the heat is on from Congressman
so-and-so ('cause of all the letters he received) they determine that -all-
military vehicles are inherently unsafe in civilian hands. Remember:
government employees will always find it easier and safer for their careers
to say "No". So, they thank Congressman so-and-so for bringing this
dangerous oversight to their attention and stop sales of usuable vehicles
entirely for public safety reasons. AMG and the gov't employee get
congratulated for their foresight and a press release is issued that one
more menace to homeland security has been removed. Once a gov't employee
retreats behind "public safety" or the "public trust" or some such it can be
nigh'onto impossible to crack that position.
Scenario Two: AMG's fear is lawsuits from idiots who recochet off the
dashboard and decide that it should have been padded and by God, somebody's
going to pay, and who built this thing anyway?. In today's lawyer-saturated
society I think that's entirely possible. After all, holding a hot coffee
between your thighs and spilling it on your crotch was worth how many
millions?
Take the M151 case. I've also heard that the official story goes that the
M151 is a purpose-built vehicle, designed for off-road, relatively slow
speed operation in adverse conditions and as such requires highly
specialized training to operate in a safe manner. On public highways, in
untrained hands, at speed, it is inherently dangerous. Fire/Police
departments are OK because they have the need for off-road, and of course
they extensively train the vehicle operator properly. :-) Same with local
governments, they are considered safe and trained by definition. Sure.
Could fear that civilian sales of jeeps be hurt be the real problem? Maybe.
Much easier to argue safety than economics and the end result is the same:
No Jeeps.
Now, having said all that, with the proper study we could be successful.
But again, it will involve finding out the real objection, then structuring
our efforts so that we get AMG and the gov't to understand that's it is
better to sell than crush, and that (assuming again) that AMG's fear
regarding cannibalization of civilian sales (or whatever is really is) is
just that: "F"alse "E"vidence "A"ppearing "R"eal. This way the press
release congratulates the gov't on it's thriftiness and managerial skill
etc., etc., and AMG 's smarts in creating a whole new market in parts and
manals.
Sorry to be so windy. Thoughts?
Glenn.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Cole" <DavidCole@tk7.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] [MVlist] Re: GL Is a Joke
> I think the same thing applies to the M151, that's supposidly why they are
> not sold to the public.
>
> I don't see how they can have it both ways. Either they are safe for
humans
> to use or not.
>
> Perhaps AMG doesn't believe soldiers should be afforded the same
protection
> as regular civilians?
>
> This could become really ugly for AMG if a group of people pushed the
> issue.
>
> Anyone up for a letter writing campaign?
>
> If someone wants to write up a standard letter to our congress people and
> post it on a server or just send the text to the email list, I'd certainly
> be willing to print off a few copies and send them in with my signature.
> Enough of this bullshit - crushing perfectly good vehicles.
>
> Dave
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 19:28:03 +0100, <jimweb@endgame.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >
> >> Did I miss the constitutional change from democracy to dictatorship?
> >
> > You overlook one small thing - America isn't a democracy its a republic.
> > In case you are confused the best definitions of the words are here -
> > please read before launching into me...
> >
> > http://www.worldnewsstand.net/freedom/democracy.htm
> > http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Politics/Structure1.htm
> >
> > One thing that has struck me about this Hummer/GL debate is that if
these
> > vehicles are unsafe for the road [reason for not reselling them to the
> > public] why are they being issued to the US Army? Does the US Army not
> > operate some sort of health & safety standard?
> >
> > It strikes me that you should not be complaining to your congressman but
> > to the Ralph Nader types - a ruthless investigation by them should see
> > either a rapid retraction of the 'safety' issue or the release of
> > thousands of hummers on the grounds that they are unsafe for use by the
> > US Army.
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Dave
>
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