Waiting

I don't know about you, but I'm getting antsy, waiting for Obama to take office. I'm not in a hurry for him to, I'm just wondering what his coronation is going to be like. Yes, I said coronation, not inauguration and I said it on purpose. I just hope that we can throw Caesar Augustus Obama out of the White House after his first term.

So, from now until January 20, 2009, what will I do? Well, for starters, I'm writing a lot of letters to the editor. Lots of them. I haven't sent them yet but I've got them ready. I'm going to start posting them and e-mailing them shortly. I've also been working on a book that's almost completed. The book has only taken me a little over a month to complete the rough draft, less time than it's ever taken me to write anything before! I'm very excited about it. I'll post some of it on here when I get it finished.

Anyhow, keep the faith, don't let the two or three remaining Republicans in D.C. forget about us!

A Call To Arms

Okay, so John McCain lost, it's time to move forward with the conservative agenda. Forget the fact that the Democrats control the House, Senate and the White House, we can still move forward. I have a plan that focuses on four key points to keep the Democrats on the defensive until we can take the Legislature back in 2010.

It all starts with a roll call. It's not exactly a chain letter because I'm not promising any sort of dire consequences if one doesn't sign up and forward it to a certain number of other people. What I really want is a list of e-mail addresses and blog URL's that I can use to create a monster-sized mailing list for the rapid distribution of information. Here's the plan:

1. Letters to the editor - They are great ways to get people's attention and get discussions started about topics that perhaps the MSM doesn't want to report on. If we can provide a template, kind of like a form letter for people to customize and send to their local newspaper about whichever issue or event we choose to focus on that particular week, we can have these letters in most of the papers in the country all in the same week!

2. Conversation starters - This kind of falls under the "Letters to the Editor" category because they come from the same place. Basically, a guide for how to talk to people about these issues, facts to support the positions we take and a few answers to the questions people are likely to encounter. These will help some of the more shy and reserved conservatives get the conversations going with people they might be able to reach.

3. Accountability Alerts - These are alerts that can be compiled on a monthly or quarterly basis (or as they come in depending on urgency) and distributed to our members. These will serve a couple of purposes: allow conservatives to hold Republicans' feet to the fire to ensure they act like conservatives, praising them when they do and blasting them when they don't and secondly, keeping a record of the votes, comments and actions of the Left so that we can educate others about them and contrast our stand on the issues with the actions of the Democrats who are currently in office. No more "wish I'd known about that before hand" statements!

4. Continuing Education - I'll be doing posts that I'm going to archive in another blog that detail not just what we, as conservatives, believe but why. I'm going to divide my posts up into the following categories:

-Economics

-Family Values

-Religion

-National Security

-Immigration

-Second Amendment/Self-Defense

These will serve as quick reference posts that can be linked to (I'll do everything in my power to post as many of my sources as possible for reference purposes) as well as opportunities to polish up on issues before engaging in a conversation or debate with someone. A solid command of the facts and an understanding of the rationale behind our positions is vital if we are to keep the conservative movement alive.

But I'll need help. I need people to send this information to and I need people to send me information. We conservatives need people to send the letters to the editor, we need people to start the conversations and we need people to hold the politicians accountable. To paraphrase Samuel Adams, I need people keen to setting brush fires in the minds of men.

If you're interested, send me your name, state of residence and your e-mail address and blog URL.

Michael A. Stone (Ohio)
http://nukethelibs.blogspot.com
conservativerevolutionhq@gmail.com

Where Do We Go From Here?

Okay, so the Republican party has been handed yet another wake-up call by America, admonishing them for trying to play to the left in an effort to steal Democrat voters. If one thing should be absolutely, perfectly clear by now, it is that liberal Democrats are going to vote for liberal Democrats, not liberal Republicans. If they have to choose between the two, they are going to vote the way they have voted for a century, with the party they're comfortable with, not with the party they have argued against, campaigned against and voted against. Playing to the Democrats in an effort to win them over is as futile and ridiculous as spitting into the wind.

So now what? Well, for one thing, we've seen a glimpse of the future, of the excitement and energy that could be behind our campaign when we pick the right candidate. McCain's advisers are trying to rehabilitate his image after the loss by blaming Sarah Palin for his loss. Anyone with half a brain could've seen this coming of course, it's straight out of the Democrats' playbook. "She's too much of a right-wing extremist, she doesn't have the same values as most of America, etc." The mainstream media may be more than willing to listen to these sniveling, backstabbing cowards but the Republican party, if they ever hope to see majority status again, should turn a deaf ear to them. Sarah Palin gave John McCain a fighting chance and anyone who isn't in the tank for McCain knows it. But, that's the distant future, there's other things to be done first.

The first thing that must be done is the conservatives in this country must be reminded that they were not defeated in this election, their values were not rejected and their principles were not cast aside. Yes, the Democrats strengthened their majority in the House and the Senate and yes, they managed to take the White House away from us as well, giving them an express lane through which to drive Socialism into the living rooms of every family in America. So be it, there's nothing we can do about it now and there was little that could have been done about it without the Republican leadership learning a lesson it seems they must learn every eight to twelve years. The election is over and it is time for conservatives to join together, to speak louder than before, to make themselves heard and seen and impossible to ignore.

We must be prepared to face down the critics, the pundits, the talking heads in the media, allowing our party leadership to listen to these voices has just handed total control of this country to the most liberal (in fact Socialist) group of politicians ever assembled in this country. We must be prepared to call, e-mail or fax our representatives and senators on a daily basis if need be, no matter what their party affiliation, just to let them know we are watching and they will be held accountable. We must be louder than the know-it-all pundits and "experts" that advised us to move farther to the left. We must be louder and more insistent and more aggressive than ever if we are to give the Democrats a moments pause before they plunge us headlong into the abyss.

We must organize, focus our energy into one battle at a time, bolstering the few conservatives remaining in Washington and encouraging some of the "moderates" to side with the conservatives when it matters. We are going to have to pick and choose our battles, we can't waste what little political capital we have remaining squabbling over something that nobody really cares about anyways. We must start with the issues that we know in our hearts we can win on. We must force these issues into the minds of the American people on a daily basis, remind them that just because Bush is on his way out, all is not well on the home front. There are lots and lots of opportunities out there that simply weren't explored by the McCain campaign that I think we can use to our advantage for 2010. Remember, the Democrats are in constant campaign mode, meaning they aren't going to stick their necks out too far if they think there's a chance they're going to lose their heads over it.

I know you're disheartened, we all are. It's been a tough four years, even longer for many of us. It seems that no matter how much public support the conservative position on the issues holds, nobody is willing to take up the cross. President Bush has been largely to blame for this but he's on his way out and it's time for us to shake off the losses of 2006 and 2008. So we dropped the ball, time to brush ourselves off and get back into the game. If we've learned nothing else from the last two elections, it is what happens when conservatives decide to just stay home rather than get out and vote for someone they have some disagreements with. But whose fault is it that these people are in the national spotlight to begin with? It is ours.

All politics is local. That phrase has been around forever and it has never been more true than it is today. Having a strong national party starts with your local elections, county elections and state elections. This is where we really need to focus on our recruiting, think of these elections (particularily the state level) as the college level in football terms. This is where we get to see who has potential in the big show and who is going to go into broadcasting (ala Kirk Herbstreit). We need to band together to lift up the conservative candidates for every election, better organize our online fundraising efforts and better utilize the tools we have at our hands. Things like podcasts, text messaging, e-mail and RSS feeds and even YouTube can be great ways to get our message out. I know that there are many conservative bloggers and organizations doing this but we need a more focused, concentrated effort from the GOP as well.

We need to be educating the public, insulating them from further lies and attacks from the left. The reason so many people bought into Obama's mantra about hope and change, change and hope, is that nobody had absolutely any idea who he was, what he was talking about and what was coming if he was elected. True, there was a lot of Bush fatigue out there, a lot of people eager to avenge the last two presidential elections and a great deal of war weariness as well but I don't think these were the major reasons we lost. Yes, they are the reasons many people gave when asked why they were supporting Obama but the energy and enthusiasm injected into the campaign by Sarah Palin disproved the lie. People didn't just want to swap out parties in the White House, they wanted to change politics in D.C. for the good of the country.

Okay, so what do we do? How do we educate the American people about the issues and build on the areas where we have the support of the public? We do everything we can to get our message out there. We write letters to the editor, leave fliers and pamphlettes on bulletin boards, send mass e-mails and texts, call in to talk shows, whatever we can do to get the word out. We talk to our friends, our families, our co-workers (use your judgement, I don't want anyone getting fired for discussing politics on company time). We do everything in our power to remind people of the issues that are yet to be resolved in this country, issues like illegal immigration, partial birth abortion, energy independence, the sanctity of marriage and the war on terror. On all of these issues, we enjoy the support of the majority of Americans, as evidenced by many of the ballot initiatives and amendments passed by voters this election cycle.

We must also open the eyes of the people to exactly what and who they've elected to the highest office in the land. We must show them not only what Obama, Pelosi and Reid represent, we must tell them why the ideas they hold must be rejected. It isn't enough to point fingers and make rude noises every time Obama or Pelosi or Reid or Biden says something that hints at the fact that they are Socialists. We must tell people why it is that they are not only wrong, but dangerous for this country. We must get as many people as we are able to care, even just a little, about the day to day operations of this country, not just when it's time for elections. Many people will refuse to listen, many people simply will not take the time or the energy to listen because they feel defeated or overwhelmed or because it is inconvenient. But some will listen, and it is the ones who can be reached that we must focus on.

The task before us is enormous, the odds are against us, the mainstream media is against us and much of society is against us. We face challenges among union members who, like the United Mine Workers of America, choose to support Democratic candidates who have vowed to close the very coal mines where they work. We face challenges in schools and universities where, through the NEA and the teachers' unions, liberalism and Socialism have become enshrined and conservative voices are shouted down and drowned out. We even face challenges in our own party, where too many members of our leadership choose to listen to the voices of the media and the Washington insiders rather than the voices of the people. Corporate America has even fallen prey to the left, buying into the whole "green" theology, affirmative action and diversity training. Despite these challenges, we must perservere.

I am but one humble blogger and alone, I can do nothing. I implore you, if you are reading this message and if you love your country, pass it along. If one person reads this and posts it, and two others read it and post it, and two others, before long you've got an army of people ready and willing to engage. Copy this and paste it into an e-mail or post it to your own blog and then pass it along, of course adding your own e-mail address or URL to the list as you go. I hope that from time to time, someone will send it back to me or e-mail me the current list so we can put together a list of those who will stand up for this country, those who refuse to let our Republic go quietly into the night. Once that list is compiled, I will send out letters to the editor that you can sign your name to and print or e-mail to your local media outlets. I will also track stories relating to the five issues that I've outlined above and post the names of our politicians and where they stand on those issues. These are to be circulated as well.

We can win this fight if we band together. The Democrats are cowards by nature, only showing their true nature when they think that nobody is looking. If we keep the lights on them, if we continue to expose them for what they truly are, we can force them to take shelter in the "center", the way cockroaches run for the cabinets when the lights are turned on. If we can delay them for just two years and put up real conservative candidates for the House and the Senate, we can take this country back. We can save America.

So, who's with me?

Michael A. Stone (Ohio)
conservativerevolutionhq@gmail.com
http://nukethelibs.blogspot.com (America Under Attack)

Thoughts of the Day

"Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones, but by contrary extreme positions." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds. " - Samuel Adams

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. " - Thomas Jefferson

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. " - Thomas Jefferson

Voting Is NOT A Civic Duty...

As part of being an American citizen, we are often admonished that we have a civic duty to vote. I contend that this is absolute hogwash! We do not have a duty to vote, we have the responsibility to keep ourselves informed on the candidates and the issues and the privilege to vote and to become engaged in the political process. The country will continue to march on if you don't vote, you just won't have a say in what happens to you or the country.

Not that anyone is listening. Think about the issue of immigration. Over 80% of Americans favor enforcing our borders yet neither major candidate has made this an issue. The Wall Street bailout that a majority of Americans opposed passed easily because everyone on tv said that it had to. John McCain is kind of listening to you when you say we need to secure more domestic sources of oil, Sarah Palin hears you though. Barack Obama and Joe Biden might as well be telling you to go piss up a rope. Oh, and on jobs and energy, Barack Obama wants to bankrupt the coal industry to save us all from the evils of pollution. He'd trade a "carbon tax" for the livelihood of millions of Americans who work in the coal mines and the industries that support the coal industry, all in the name of environmentalism. Great.

Well, today's the day when America decides which direction we are going to take. Are we going to take a hard left turn and convert our Republic into a Socialist Republic state? Are we going to take a chance with a freshman senator who has never done anything besides get himself elected to the Senate and run for president? The media says yes but what do you say America?

This election is all about Obama. It is an up or down vote on him, McCain is just going to be either the benefactor of this vote or the roadkill on Obama's path to power. What do you say, America? What's it going to be?

I guess in about twelve to eighteen hours, we'll have an idea.

Bite Sized Information

I'm often amazed at the things in politics that really should matter to people but never seem to. It's almost as if only the most trivial, meaningless things ever really appeal to anybody, whether it inspires them to support or oppose a candidate. Anything that might require any sort of thought, anything that might take some time to understand gets swept aside by the masses in favor of bite sized tidbits of pointless information. If it can't be summed up in a sentence of no greater length than five words, people never seem to hold on to it.

I'm starting to rethink this whole democracy thing (well, technically a representative republic but who's paying attention anyways?).

But, since people seem to want very small, simple pieces of information to wrap their feeble, atrophied minds around, here is a list of reasons not to vote for Barack Hussein Obama:

1. He's a Marxist (socialist, communist, etc. Take your pick).
2. He will destroy the Constitution.
3. He will hurt this country.
4. He hangs with terrorists.
5. He hangs with other Marxists (socialists, communists, etc.)
6. He hangs with racists.
7. Joe Biden says there will be an international crisis. (I apologize for the length of that one.)
8. Hillary Clinton says he's against gun owners' rights.
9. He wants to share your wealth.
10. The New York Times endorsed him.

I think most of those are short and simple enough for most people to grasp (I hope). Now, here's a list of reasons to vote for John McCain:

1. Sarah Palin
2. John McCain is old.
3. John McCain is not Barack Obama.
4. Sarah Palin is not Joe Biden.
5. John McCain is not Joe Biden.
6. John McCain is a war hero.
7. John McCain loves America.
8. John McCain is cool with guns (mostly).
9. Sarah Palin is a better shot than Michelle Obama.
10. John McCain is not a Marxist.

I hope my answers were short enough for ya. Hopefully this will serve as a useful guide when you go to cast your vote.

Be well America!

Also posted on my myspace.

Through The Rabbit Hole

Do you ever get the feeling that you're watching the entire world turn absolutely insane? That everyone and everything around you is just completely backwards and upside down and any minute, you expect to see a hookah smoking caterpillar, a cat that can turn invisible and a white rabbit with a pocket watch? This is what I feel like when I watch the news or talk to people about the things going on in our country and our world today.

I'm sick and tired of people acting like the sole purpose of elected officials is to go out and take as much money as they can get their hands on and give it to whatever group, companies or pet projects they deem worthy. People must think politicians are like Santa Claus, every 2, 4 or 6 years, they vote for them and since they were nice enough to vote for them, Santa will come down their chimney and plop a big, fat wad of cash in their stocking.

If you'd have told me a year ago that gas prices and illegal immigrants were NOT going to be an issue in this presidential election, if you'd have told me that the party that is largely responsible for the biggest financial disaster since 1929 was going to be rewarded with an increased majority in the Senate, the House and the White House and if you'd have told me that nobody would care about Obama's associations with William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Frank Marshall Davis and a horde of other Marxist (and sometimes racist) agitators, I'd have said you were crazy. Maybe I'm the one that's crazy.

Here we are, just 8 days from the election that I am certain is going to fundamentally change our country forever. We are standing on the precipice of socialism and a select few of us are trying to hold the line but there aren't enough. While the majority of the country slept, got drunk, stoned or were just too busy fornicating to pay attention, the Socialists took over the Democratic Party. While the same majority was out doing whatever it was they wanted to do, this same Democratic Party took over both houses of Congress. And now, this same clueless majority is rushing headlong into disaster while seeking salvation at the hands of the very people that caused the problems that sent them running to begin with. Like I said, insanity.

Before someone accuses me of being me a Republican Party mouthpiece, I'd like to assure you that I've been just as critical of them as I have of the Democrats. There's no such thing as an infallible party or a squeaky clean politician, it's why I support Federalism and limited government. The more power we vest in elected officials, the more involved government becomes in business, the more money is going to be thrust into the grubby little palms of these politicians, whether they seek it or not. Corruption exists everywhere in politics, not solely in one party or the other.

The Republicans are paying the price for abandoning their principles (or at least the principles that they claimed to have) and as a result, we are going to pay the price as well. Politicians measure gains and losses in terms of seats and states. When they lose, they have no idea what happened so they conclude that the other side just played a better game than they did. Oh, too bad, we'll get 'em next time, good game. Unfortunately, the game they are playing has real stakes and real lives are going to be affected and it's all because they "played a bad game".

Maybe I'm overreacting, I certainly hope that's the case. If I am, great, it's only a premature panic attack resulting from my paranoia and anxiety about the destruction of the last remnants of capitalism and Republicanism (or Federalism, whichever you prefer) that this country possessed. But what if I'm not overreacting? If I'm not, we are going to see changes in this country that are more radical, more unlike anything we've ever seen seen the Revolutionary War. In fact, the last time the world saw anything like what is coming for us was when Castro took over Cuba, or Chairman Mao took over China or perhaps the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (remember how all of those worked out?).

But, we get the government we deserve. Those of you who weren't paying attention, thanks. Here's to you, the ignorant masses who are rushing at breakneck speed towards the destruction of all the freedoms that you've been given. Here's to the spoiled children and grandchildren of patriots, men who fought and suffered and died to preserve our freedoms from those tyrants who would see us subjugated and oppressed. Here's to the pampered, arrogant, ignorant, self flagellating, pseudo-intellectual masses who are going to take the country they were given and sign it away on November 4, 2008.

It's been a good run, America, but all good things must come to an end. Unless... Unless the people rise up, no... WAKE UP, and demand a return to the Constitution. The people have a chance to do the right thing, to draw a line in the sand and say, "Enough". John McCain isn't perfect by a LONG shot, but maybe, just maybe, if we can keep the Marxists in the House and the Senate at bay by denying them the White House, maybe we can save the ship. But we don't have much time. We're short on buckets, we're taking on water three times faster than we can bail it out and people are more interested in draining their beer bottles than in bailing water.

So, are you gonna grab a bucket or pretend there's nothing wrong?

(also published on my myspace at http://www.myspace.com/fishermanandy)