We have finally caught up.

For years, decades even, the political Left in this country has been a far more effective and influential political force than the Right. As much as many of us on the Right would like to disagree with that statement, I think we all know, deep down, that it is the truth.

There are many reasons for this discrepancy in influence, but I think the primary factor has been the Left’s ability to run circles around the Right in terms of grassroots political participation.

Grassroots activism has long been vital to the Democratic political machine. From get-out-the-vote drives on college campuses, inner city neighborhoods and union meetings to a friendly mass media that disseminated the Left’s agenda to millions of American homes on a daily basis, the Left instituted a multi-facetted approach to get people excited, organized and active. Over the past decade, with the emergence of the Internet as a powerful communication tool, the Left quickly cornered the interactive political market with sites like Moveon.org and the Huffington Post.

During this time, from a grassroots perspective, the Right simply floundered. Yes, political participation was strong and voter turnout remained high, but the movement was stagnant. Passion was there, but it was coupled with a complacency that simply was not present on the Left.

This situation came to a head during the midterm elections of 2006 when the policies of President Bush and Congressional Republicans were soundly routed. While an unpopular president and a failing Iraqi War were enough ammo for the Left, it was their fervent grassroots activism that helped them ignite a groundswell of support for their cause…a groundswell that continued through to the 2008 presidential election.

Faced with steep losses in the House and Senate, an incredibly liberal agenda coming out of the White House and a complacent press, the Right had a choice: either narrow the grassroots gap or go the way of the Whig, Federalist, Bull Moose and Know Nothing parties.

Fortunately, we chose the former. That’s right, things have changed. We’ve closed the gap.

I’ve heard many commentators discuss the recent resurgence of the Conservative Movement in this country and attribute it to President Obama’s policies moving the country to the right. I wholeheartedly disagree with this assertion. I believe this country has always leaned to the conservative end of the political spectrum. The only difference is that now, more and more conservatives are active in the political process.

In short, it’s all about grassroots activity.

The examples are everywhere. Sure, they may take different forms from those on the Left, but they are just as effective.

Look at the millions of people that participated in the Tea Parties and the taxpayer march in Washington that occurred in September. When do you remember anything resembling this come from those of us on the Right?

This grassroots activity doesn’t just take shape in demonstrations; there are media examples like conservative talk radio and Fox News. These two forces provided the push to get Doug Hoffman and the Conservative Party on the ballot in the special, Congressional election in the 23^rd district of New York state.

Let’s not forget the Internet either. Websites like Townhall.com and Drudgereport.com (with it’s 8 billion visits in the last year alone…yes, you did read that properly, 8 billion), not to mention blogs like this one, help organize events like the tea parties and dispense information that major media outlets won’t touch.

What’s especially encouraging about these latest developments is that I think they may be here to stay. This up tick in conservative, grassroots participation rallies around a principle, an idea, not a person. People are fallible. They say stupid things, make mistakes and, unfortunately, die. A movement doesn’t do any of those things, making it easier to follow, defend and rely upon.

These recent developments are as shocking as they are important. Honestly, I wasn’t sure we had it in us to become as active as the Left. After all, our track record hasn’t been the strongest in this area. I am thankful that we did because I’m not sure the Conservative Movement would be able to survive in today’s political landscape without it.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John

Quickie: First Cigarettes, now…

Yeah, let’s cripple more companies during an economic downturn, not to mention the increased tax burdens this will shift to the lower income families (you know the families that liberals claim to support, while we evil conservatives brush them aside to help our corporate fat-cat friends).

This is what Democrats love to do…impose their agenda, beliefs and ideologies on the rest of us with no thought paid to the unintended consequences that these decisions have in store for us.

This is also the precursor to “Universal Healthcare” that President Obama wants to push. He’s going to have to find ways to pay for it somehow and raising taxes on things like soda and cigarettes are just step one. Pretty soon, we’ll see fatty foods, sugary cereals, Vitamin D and 2% milk, candy, alcohol and God knows what else taxed because some Washington bureaucrats think they know what’s better for us than we do.

I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves as we have over three and a half more years to go.

A New Low in Journalism

During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I, like many, were simply appalled by the media’s absolute fawning and teenage-like crush over, then-candidate, Barack Obama. Everything from Chris Matthews’ leg tingle to Andrea Mitchell’s shameless shilling made me believe that the last bastion of the mass media’s journalistic integrity slipped away with the passing of Tim Russert.

Unfortunately for all of us, I was woefully incorrect. The new low hit yesterday during CNN’s and MSNBC’s covering of the tea party demonstrations around the country.

Whether you agree with the tea party campaign or not, it is still a valid form of grassroots, political opposition to the actions of our government and thus, should be reported that way.

Did MSNBC and CNN view it that way?

Absolutely not.

Instead of reporting it as a legitimate news story, they treated it like a crude sex joke at a frat house.

If you are not aware, “tea bagging” is slang for a sexual act performed between a man and a woman. I’m not going to describe it any further. If you want to find out what it is, just Google it.

In case you’re interested, here are some examples of what I’m talking about:

"It's hard to talk when you're tea bagging."-CNN anchor Anderson Cooper

"Tea bagging day for the right wing and they are going nuts for it."

"They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending."

Also described the parties as simultaneously "full-throated" and "toothless" -MSNBC reporter David Shuster

Also, while not sexually charged, but equally delusional…

"I think you get the general tenor of this. It's anti-government, anti-CNN since this is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox."-CNN reporter Susan Roesgen

Seriously? This is what passes as “journalism” and “reporting” nowadays?

Listen, if someone like Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow wants to rant about the “simpletons” and “sheep” (their words, not mine) that attend these gatherings, that’s fine with me. They are political commentators, not reporters. It is their jobs to give their opinions on political stories, not report the news.

However, what happened yesterday shows that reporting the news has taken a back seat to political ideologues posing in the guise of legitimate news reporters and anchors passing their judgment on events, people and groups that they’re supposed to remain neutral towards. That is not political journalism, that is political activism.

Hmm…I can only wonder why CNN and MSNBC continue to lag in ratings.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself by looking at the cable news ratings from April 15 (the numbers in parentheses are the number of viewers…thanks Drudge!):

FOXNEWS 3,390,000
MSNBC 1,210,000
CNN 1,070,000
CNN HEADLINE 909,000

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,980,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,239,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,947,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,740,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,401,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,185,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,499,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,336,000
CNN KING 1,292,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,149,000
CNN COOPER 1,021,000

This also demonstrates the Left’s favorite pastime of trying to discredit a group of people that don’t follow their beliefs with ridicule and profanity.

I guess when you have nothing else to argue with, you can only resort to the lowest common denominator.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John

Conservatives: The untouchables of America.

I had a strange thing happen to me the other night and I thought some of you would find it fairly interesting…

Due to the relatively pleasant weather that we Milwaukeeans were enjoying this past Sunday afternoon/evening, my wonderful girlfriend and I were invited to a barbeque with some of our friends.

To be honest, they were her friends first, however, in the nearly two years I have been with my girlfriend; I have become friends with them as well.

We were at the incredibly posh condo of one of the couples that has done very, very well in real estate development. The condo is located on the fashionable, trendy and extremely liberal East Side of Milwaukee.

There were three couples all in their late 20’s or early 30’s, a woman (the neighbor of the host) who is probably around 50 or so and her small dog.

Very good group and atmosphere. Casual, lighthearted, fun.

The night was quite pleasant as the food was quickly eaten, beers and martinis drank and humorous stories ranging from pets, grandparents, professional mascots, chimpanzees and awkward encounters with neighbors were exchanged.

For once politics did not really come up…but I do stress the word “really”.

Knowing the political leanings of the other two couples and after hearing the neighbor woman go on and on about Jon Stewart’s “brilliant” performance while debating Jim Cramer, I knew that my girlfriend and I were outnumbered…badly.

And let me be honest about this…I’m perfectly fine with that. Many of my friends are liberals and I have no problem hanging out with them, confiding in them or even discussing politics with them. To me, they are not defined by their political views. Even if they were, I am not that close-minded to only surround myself with like-minded individuals.

Anyway, as I said, we were discussing chimpanzees and I brought up an old program that Fox ran a couple of years back called “Man vs. Beast”. “Man vs. Beast” was a ridiculous competition pitting humans and animals against each other in athletic events.

The strange thing that happened to me was when I brought up the show.

I said, “Have any of you heard of the show “Man vs. Beast?”.

No one did.

Somebody asked me what channel it was on and I responded, “Fox”. The neighbor woman heard the word “Fox” and replied, “Well, there’s your problem”…she was clearly referring to Fox News.

At that point, one of the girls mouths to the neighbor woman with her eyes open wide and a slow nodding of the head, “No, he’s a…”.

In response, the neighbor woman mouthed “oh…”, eyes equally big, nod equally slow.

She didn’t even have to say or mouth the word “conservative”…she knew what she meant.

Now, I know they did not intend me to see the exchange, so it’s not like they tried to make a big deal about it or anything, but it just kind of struck me as odd that the exchange even took place. It was as if to say, “Well, this barbaric and simplistic interest is only explained by his conservative viewpoint”.

And the look on the neighbor’s face was priceless, as it seemed to convey the thought, “My God, one of them slipped in!”.

The rest of the night concluded without incident and nothing more was made of the issue.

Maybe I’m being sensitive here, but the more I think about it, the more it stays with me. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I was offended or hurt, but after it happened, I felt different, apart from the rest of the group. It was a feeling I certainly didn’t have before this brief, seven-second exchange took place, that’s for sure.

So, is that what we conservatives have been reduced to, a group of untouchables? A boorish and uncouth group of people that must be identified before speaking as to alert the other, more civilized members of society of our existence? A collection of people whose thoughts and ideals are backwards when compared to those of the enlightened Left?

Hopefully, that’s just the case on the East Side of Milwaukee.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John

The Egotism of the Left

As many of you may have noticed over the years, there are quite a few differences between liberals and conservatives.

The list of those differences is far too long to mention here, so I’m just going to focus on one of those differences today…

That difference is the egotism of the Left.

Frankly, I’m not sure how many liberals get their heads through most doorways, as the level of egotism by many on the Left, particularly those in government, is astounding.

You want an answer to a question? Go ask a liberal.

Sure, you may not get the answer that you want or even an answer that is correct, but trust them; they know what they’re talking about.

This egotism used to be merely a mild annoyance, something to shake your head at or roll your eyes over.

Those days are long gone, as their egotism is getting all of us into deep trouble.

Want some examples?

The election of Barack Obama

In the mind of a liberal, electing a man with no executive or managerial experience to the most complicated executive job in the world is perfectly acceptable. Never mind his lack of experience, look at the man’s abilities, intellect and promise, that’s the true measure of the man.

We all see how that’s working.

The Iranian Nuclear Crisis

All throughout the presidential campaign, all we heard from Obama was that we would listen to Iran and meet with them face-to-face rather than the tired, old tactics of the Bush White House.

But like many, I asked, what is he possibly going to say that hasn’t already been said?

You see, in the liberal’s mind, it’s not what was being said that was the problem; the problem was who was saying it. Now that Obama is calling the shots the Iranians, and any rogue nation or group for that matter, will just go along with whatever we say.

Wrong.

Iran now has enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. Not that this is all Obama’s fault, but he certainly isn’t doing anything about it.

Government Control of Business

The vast majority of liberals want, at best, tougher government regulation on businesses and, at worst, complete governmental control of the private sector.

They think that this is good for business.

This is arguably the most flawed logic I can think of.

Take the struggling automotive industry as an example. Since when are senators, members of the House or even presidents, experts at managing an automobile manufacturer, designing cars that the buying public wants or overseeing assembly lines?

You want the answer?

They’re not experts at any of those things! Yet, it is their astronomical egotism that makes them believe they know what’s right for the struggling car manufacturers…not the actual people that work in that industry.

I mean, has anyone in Congress even worked in the automobile industry in their lives?

Can someone please explain this one to me?

Government Control of Healthcare

This is the exact same argument as the one above; however, this scenario is even more frightening.

Are you curious about what our healthcare system would look like if it were totally under the control of the government?

I’ve got three letters for you…

D M V

Simply frightening.

Again I ask, how many members of Congress are actual healthcare experts?

Foreign Policy

In the mind of many liberals, once the evil Bush Administration was run out of town on a rail, the rest of the world would rejoice, join hands, sing Koom By Ya and be bff’s with us.

Please.

Since Obama has entered office:

He has insulted Gordon Brown.

His drone missile attacks have been criticized by Pakistan.

He had to apologize to Canada for his protectionist rhetoric.

North Korea has intensified its nuclear weapons program.

Kyrgyzstan (bribed by Russia) evicted the U.S. from a major air base critical to the War in Afghanistan.

Israel elected a conservative government.

The Iranians launched a satellite, showing when they have nuclear weapons, they can put them on a ballistic missile.

Our most important ally in the Far East, India, was slighted by Hillary Clinton’s failure to visit the country in her tour of Asia.

Turkey has moved further away from us.

Koom By Ya indeed!

The economy

Now, I’m all for letting someone implement a plan, while patiently waiting for it to mature on its own and start working. However…

President Obama’s economic “plan” has been a disaster. The market is in a nosedive, more and more banks are closing, bankruptcies are piling up and consumer confidence is way down.

Why is this?

Because the Obama Administration’s “plan” isn’t really a plan at all. It’s merely a collection of half-baked ideas concocted by a bunch of government officials that are in way over their heads.

But according to liberals, we should have faith in them because they’re such gifted and intelligent people.

Some would call that confidence…I call it egotism.

You see, we conservatives don’t claim to know everything.

That’s why we would rather let business run itself rather than having government doing so.

That’s why we put our faith in people with a proven track record and lengthy experience to difficult jobs like the President of the United States.

That’s why we want lower taxes as we believe individuals know the best ways to spend their money, not some congressional committee.

That’s why we take a realistic approach to foreign policy.

That’s just my opinion…but hey, what do I know?

I’m just a simple conservative.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John