Flashback Four years ago:

Superlib co-worker: “Bush lied people died!”

Me: “Huh?” How so?

Superlib: “H-A-L-L-I-B-U-R-T-O-N

Me: “Halliburton, what about Lying Bush?”

Superlib: “Don’t shove your religion down my throat!”

Me: “Religion? What about Lying Bush? And Halliburton?”

Superlib: “You know what I’m talking about! Don’t deny it, how can you be so blind!?”

And so the conversation went with this woman, interspersed with “swiftboater!” every so often for good measure. I calmly walked her through the fallacies of her arguments. With Each one I patiently knocked down, she came back with two more emotional outcries.

Fast forward to present:

I leave my office and walk through the break room, four of my female employees are there discussing what everyone is discussing… $700,000,000,000.00 bailout! One of the ladies happens to be super lib from four years ago.

I think to myself, “As their boss I should probably just keep right on walking”

Yeah right like that’s ever going to happen when a political discussion is talking place within earshot.

So I interject my two cents into the conversation, blasting Dems and Reps and regulatory oversight. Suddenly the tone of the conversation shifts, but its ok I’m ready for it armed with facts and fervent belief in conservative answers to any problem.

Que: Theme to “The Good the Bad and the Ugly”

My eyes squint in a thousand yard stare, mind kicks in to high gear to look for the logical flaws in an emotional argument… Locked and loaded, Let’s roll.

Well, my jaw must have hit the floor when it didn’t turn into a free for all assault on conservatives via Republicans. The conversational shift I sensed was there it just wasn’t what I expected, it was really more searching that accusatory. Here were honest people questioning government, how it impacts their lives and how can we fix it, granted they were wasting company time doing so, and I probably should have scolded them for that. I just couldn’t miss this opportunity to shift an opinion to our side. The pressure is on in a situation like that, one slip and you lose them to emotional ranting.

Calmly I explained a few of the things I have said in blogs here, about how I thought the bailout could be handled that would save the taxpayers the weight of the burden. They asked questions, I responded. A few others throughout the office joined in.

Eventually, all but one left, mostly they left with a different perspective. So there we are the two of us standing and looking at each other. Can you guess who it was? That’s right Superlib.

Superlib: “So you really think that’s the answer, that Republicans know what to do?”

Me: “Nope I think conservatives know what to do. Every thing I have said is based on conservative principle not Repulican party line.”

Superlib: “Really?”

Me: “Yeah, I think I have the answer to our government’s problems, It’s conservative principle. It’s proven, we know it works, when we let it. The problem is we so rarely elect conservatives.”

Superlib: “Ya know I think your right.” (Somewhere the founders are joining with the conservative angel choir in a rousing chorus of “HAAAAA- LLEEEEEE – LU -JAH!”

So there I am getting ready to whip out with my handy dandy “Guide to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” place a hand on her forehead and start casting out her liberal demons.

Superlib: “So what’s the conservative view on immigration?”

Dagnabit! I don’t get to go all come to Jesus on her… grrrrrrr! Just kidding.

Me: “Glad you asked.”

We then proceeded to have a meeting of the minds on that particular point of conservative belief. None of which I’m going to share in this post because it’s the next article in my series.

Suffice it to say that she left with a much more open mind even asking me how do we get more conservative leaders.

Three things led to the ability to sway her,

1-Disgust at the political process as it is now on both sides.

2-The stand on principle made by a handful of conservatives on Capitol Hill

3-A conservative willing to meet her where she was without criticism.

I wanted to post something before the weekend and I was pretty excited about that, so thought I’d share. Now is our chance my fellow conservatives, the Wall Street meltdown has given us a huge opportunity with which to connect with the disaffected middle and even a few on the far left.

Keep the Faith!

Later, in rides the transplanted Texan, his ten gallon hat looking a few quarts low these days, to try and ride herd on a bunch wayward, worthless cattle.

All the while, the scrappy four eyes from Searchlight, who needs a flashlight to find a clue runs around like a chicken with his head cut-off; “the sky is falling”, “no one knows what to do”, “the sky is falling”, “McCain agrees”, “sky is falling”, “we need the senators here with us”, “the sky is falling,”, “wait no we don’t”, ‘the sky…Hey maybe I can slide this oil drilling ban under everyone’s noses.”

And the debate? Spokesmen on either side…”its on”, “its off”, “no wait its on”.

Somewhere Billy boy is laughing his head off, and not that over the fact that his wife is out of town, at the mess he started, while Barney-Rainbow-Frank is saying “we have to do something never mind what I said a year ago, it’s a crisis now”.

Its like a bad reality TV show! I keep waiting for Brit Hume, Charels Gibson, or Kattie Couric to come on and in their best announcer voice say “tune in next week… will the economy fail?, will the old knight steal the glory from the anointed One? will Reid finally get a spine? Will Barney do… wait… undo whatever it is he did? Will Hill come home and find Billy “smoking a cigar” (wink, wink)

And so goes this weeks episode of the Amazing Race. Whatever your political persuasion you have to admit this is incredibly entertaining.

“But RB its important right?”

Sure it is, but its over the top soap-opera like posturing and one ups man ship. Pundits from every corner have weighed in and now I’m going to take my shot.

McCain just made a huge blunder! Bigger than anything else I can think of. He has actually put himself in a no win situation. He has one small hope for salvation. One I fear that he doesn't realize is there.

“What are you talking about now RB?”

One of these two candidates is going to inherit this problem, Obama wants to vote ‘present” so he can feign ignorance if he wins. McCain wants to run in and save the day, as though he can.

Here’s the deal, Obama is on the side of the more regulation save everybody while we are at it camp consisting of all Democrats and 4 Republicans. Oddly, or maybe not for him, so is McCain. On the other side are the conservative hold-outs that are saying “hell no! we won’t go... quietly in to taht dark night of socialism, count us out.”

What exactly can McCain do? He said he’s a reformer, a maverick. We know he’s an aisle crosser.

Scenario #1 McCain convinces the hold outs to join in the plan, the one that Obama s mostly supports.

The buzzer sounds and the big red X appears on your screen. Wrong answer! He gives the appearance of reformer but destroys his base in the process. No win there. Alienating his base and Republicans in congress at this late stage of the game kills his chance of winning, and if he does win he’s a lame duck for four years unless he sides EXCLUSIVELY with Democrats (somewhere the people at the SCDS Orphanage are saying "I told you so") , not an implausible thing but will infuriate his base beyond comprehension.

Scenario #2 he sides with conservative Republicans and does his best to restructure it to a more conservative approach. Buzzer sounds and the big red X appears again. Wrong answer! He loses his reformer bi-partisan image, solidifies the conservative base, but in the process looses the independent and moderates. He loses again.

“OMG! Your right RB, What can he do?”

Nothing now, he’s stepped in it. I mean really he’s bungled this entirely. He has but one alternative in my opinion.

Throw away the plan entirely and start over with a pure market-capitalism approach. When this all started he said “the fundamentals are strong” Well Senator McCain its time for you to put OUR money where YOUR mouth is!” Are they strong?The indicators seem to think so, despite the melt-down on Wall Street. Are you going to be a political hack or a free market conservative? If the fundamentals are so strong, unleash them on this problem. The American worker, whose industriousness and ingenuity you tout along the campaign trail are waiting to hear from you, are you going to go full steam ahead with a plan originated by W. and modified by Democrats, or are you going to stick to your reformer guns, and say “oh no this won’t do”?

Deeply cut or abolish capital gains and unleash the power of investment.

Don’t create another worthless agency! Destroy the ones that let this happen!

And God forbid if any worthless politician tries to put pork in this plan, you dalgone better be on TV reading their names and what they tried to do!

Just my thoughts, he won’t do it and I’m probably wrong in my assessment anyhow. We'll see... You better stay tuned...

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming….

Sun Tzu has a brilliant point, the gist of which is know yourself and your enemy if you wish to be victorious. Make no mistake the battle we fight is an uphill one in which we are late to deploy. To make matters worse, we have been complacent in the past, thinking we had won, our enemy has seized upon our tardiness and our complacency. Not only has our enemy seized upon or failures but our allies (the GOP, President, Senators, and Representatives) have abandoned us at times.

As always, thank you for reading and I welcome your comments and insights. This will be a twelve part series of articles reviewing the basic conservative principles.

Know yourself. There are many variants of conservatives but we have a few basic concepts which are important for us to know because it is these concepts on which we are continuously assaulted. You may espouse all or some but to be conservative you are at least familiar with and agree with most if not all of them.

Know your enemy. Along with each conservative principle I have given my estimation of the left’s view and how to combat it.

America

“I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free…” That sums it up pretty well, I could stop there having said all I need to say about the conservative view point of America… But you know I won’t.

There are two points in that brief lyric that drive the conservative mind when it comes to our view of country. The first is pride. I AM PROUD OF AMERICA. There are many definitions of pride and mine may differ from yours, but simply put we take pride in the knowledge that we are part of The Great Experiment that is our nation. We take pride in being an American. Yes, as a country we are flawed at times but that in no way diminishes our pride in this country, any more than our children’s failures diminish our overriding pride in them.

The second is the phrase “at least I know I’m free”. Take a moment to reflect upon that. You are free, your family is free, your neighbors are free, and you are free to go about your daily lives, for the most part, as you wish. You are free to speak your mind about your beliefs. Free to engage in debate about matters of import to you. You are free to cast a vote for whom you believe would best serve your interests. “At least” no matter what, even today when it seems our freedoms are being eroded and challenged at every turn. When financial markets crumble, and socialist sit in, or seek power within our government, we are free, free to take heart and take action against those things that diminish our freedom. If everything else that we hold dear is stripped from us, if  we lose our jobs, lose our homes, we are still free, free to pick up and start over.

The conservative view of America is one in which America is still a great nation, we have the best system of government yet created by man. We roil against the system where it fails but have indomitable faith in that system.

Finally an issue where we don’t have to reach too far into the center to find allies, the center right of America tends to agree with us. Here locally on the Fourth of July, a local college puts on a narrated fireworks display. The song I reference above is always played. It is amazing the hush that falls over thousands of people in a single moment, kids stop playing, as the song ends it is replaced by our national anthem, people take off their hats and goose bumps rise on arms with palms over hearts. Granted, attendees of such a celebration may not be an accurate cross section of the American populace/electorate, but I know there are those among the crowd, who do not share all of my views. But in that moment we set aside differences of opinion and become “one nation under God” united in our pride of country.

It is innate in human beings to want to belong to something greater than themselves. This is no more prevalent than in the vast majority of the American people, its roots even moving beyond the center and into the left leaning portion of the populace. This is the place where Regan lived! This is the foundation of the Regan Revolution. This is where we have our greatest alignment with the majority of Americans. This is where we have our largest opportunity to fight against that which assaults conservative beliefs.

While most Americans make their living applying their intellect and labor to the great machine of American industry in its varied forms, there are a select few, with loud voice and undo influence that make their living at assaulting and diminishing this great country of ours. The assault is subtle most of the time, only reaching fever pitch in certain media outlets and academia. Instead of offering up successful people as examples of seized American opportunity, they offer them up as demons of greed, destroyers of the have-nots. Instead of delineating America’s successes they harp upon her failures.

To them America is an international bully, full of racists, that systematically restricts opportunity, filled with gun toting, bible thumping illiterates who want to force their morality down the “enlightened’s” throat. To them America is not beautiful, God has not shed His grace on her. It is a bitter country full of hypocrites and idiots, that must be saved from themselves. America and her power must be reigned in and entirely realigned at all costs, in their view.

Because of the loud voice of these messengers enabled by media, Middle America is awash in a one sided view of America, on the inside they struggle to align what they know about America, to the view they are inundated with. It slowly chips away at their resolve, at their faith in America. They want to believe that America is still great, but all they hear is the America hater’s droning on in their steady assault on our beloved country. After a while the diminished version of America takes hold subconsciously and they begin to view America critically also.

It is our job to re-inspire the American people as the Great Communicator did. In this task we have the great weight of history and the vast majority of the good and gracious American people. This is the greatest nation to have ever graced the planet earth. It has done more to promote the advancement of mankind than any other. Its people are proud and industrious. They are optimistic in all things, they live their lives and raise their children in the knowledge that here, in America, can they truly aspire to greatness in whatever they choose.

When you join in the great debate, invariably the talking points of "America as evil" will come to the fore in some form or another. This is the opportunity to remind them that America is not flawed, though the people that run her sometimes are. Remind them that the single most radical thing about America is the birthright of the American people. A birthright of imeasurable wealth. The birthright our founding father’s left us, the ability to speak up, speak out, and change the direction of our nation for the better.

Coming soon…Sun Tzu & the Culture War – Part III Immigration

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle. - Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu has a brilliant point, the gist of which is know yourself and your enemy if you wish to be victorious. Make no mistake the battle we fight is an uphill one in which we are late to deploy. To make matters worse, we have been complacent in the past, thinking we had won, our enemy has seized upon our tardiness and our complacency. Not only has our enemy seized upon or failures but our allies (the GOP, President, Senators, and Representatives) have abandoned us at times.

As always, thank you for reading and I welcome your comments and insights. This will be a twelve part series of articles reviewing the basic conservative principles.

Know yourself. There are many variants of conservatives but we have a few basic concepts which are important for us to know because it is these concepts on which we are continuously assaulted. You may espouse all or some but to be conservative you are at least familiar with and agree with most if not all of them.

Know your enemy. Along with each conservative principle I have given my estimation of the left’s view and how to combat it.

Abortion

Let’s begin with one of the most divisive issues in modern America. This topic has dominated our national politics for over 3 decades now. The issue is not whether you are pro-life or pro-choice.

“What! Are you crazy RB? Of course its about life and death.”

The real issue, the conservative viewpoint issue is that the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade is constitutionally flawed. The constitution does not address this type of issue. The constitution recognizes its inability to deal with certain types of issues and SPECIFCALLY leaves them to the states to decide individually or allows itself to be amended to address those issues. It is the job of the state legislatures and/or the U.S. Congress to determine whether abortion should be legal and to what extent, not, I repeat NOT the Supreme Court of the United States.

The left tries to paint this as an issue of individual rights and their infringement. In doing so the battle is joined in emotional melee rather than in constitutional law. When Pro-choice people combat pro-life the argument invariably boils down to “keep-your hand off my body” v. “baby killers”. The left has done an excellent job of shaping the battleground of this issue, making it difficult for the pro-life side to appeal to anything but emotion, religion or vague concepts of the beginning of life. By doing this they make us out to be extreme and therein lays their power. They have shaped the electorate’s mindset to such an extent that that the mere mention of abortion and pro-life invokes in the center right majority a sense of distaste, not because they disagree, but because they have their beliefs and they don’t want to ARGUE about it. We must reshape the argument, yes it is about when does life begin and killing an innocent, but no ground can be effectively won on those points alone. Further arguing with someone in the center about the finer points of constitutional law is not likely to get too far either unless you strip away the emotion first. Instead of focusing on overturning Roe v. Wade, when it comes to abortion, I believe we should be focusing on this simple question: How does the government decide who gets to do what? For those of you that are already ahead of me you know right away that this leads into a whole bunch of other issues for discussion, but I’m staying focused on abortion. By diffusing the morality question we allow ourselves an in-road into coherent discussion. Indeed how do we as a nation decide who gets to do what? The vast majority of the American electorate is unable to answer that question in any semblance of detail, including the left.

The left has a propensity to base every argument on “I feel this” or “I feel that” we must move beyond the “I feel” to the “I think” or “I know” position. You can’t win an argument about feelings. Feelings aren’t right or wrong, they simply are. However, the underlying thought process that leads to this “feeling” can be right or wrong and that’s where you have to address it.

Like many authors who state their belief in what is needed, I too ended the conversation before laying out some of the basics, the “boot camp” training, if you will, of soldiers in the culture war.

Let me correct that now. First and foremost let me be clear, the following dissertation and those to come in future articles are in no way the ONLY way to win hearts and minds. They are at best, based on my understanding of people and their motivations. It is also based upon my understanding of how to select, converse with, and convince people to alter their perceptions. So please feel free to comment and add to this discussion, your own understanding.

The following is based on the assertions in my previous post “To Anti McCain Conservatives” regarding the ideological make up of the United States of America.

How do we identify the center-left, center, and center right people in our daily lives, that we can engage in active conversation with the purpose of swaying them more to the right?

Step1. Check our ideological presuppositions at the door. Whenever we are of extreme belief (extreme in this context refers to not with the majority), we have a natural tendency to view anyone who does not share that belief as either hostile or foolish. They must be fools right? Only a fool wouldn’t be able to see what we can plainly see. This tendency is exaggerated in the media, “right v. left”, “conservative v. liberal”, “Republicans v. Democrats”, “Pro-choice v. Pro-life” and the list goes on and on. We therefore pigeon hole people into “for” or “against” our beliefs. That must stop before we ever attempt to identify those that can be persuaded.

Step 2. Ask ourselves why are we doing this? This is important. For example there are those who blog for the sole purpose of generating comments. There are those who blog for interaction with those of a similar mind. There are still others, like myself, that blog in perhaps a futile attempt to add something meaningful to the dialogue. Something beyond the Coulteresque rants that enflame overt passion, but does little to actually advance our beliefs. If you are doing it to win an argument, stop right now. Yes, yes I know it sounds, contradictory, but take a minute to think about it. It is not an argument we are trying to win. It is a living breathing person’s heart and mind. If conservatives lose sight of the fact that we are talking with people and not rehearsing arguments, we lose, just like liberals do when they demonize, diminish, and destroy people.

These first two steps are absolutely essential; we must clear our heads of the saber rattling of ideologues, pundits, and polemists. We are not Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. We are just the guy or girl that someone works with, lives next to, sees from time to time. And they are not the enemy of all that is right and proper.

Step 3. Now that we have cleared our heads of the muck foisted on us by various outlets, we begin the unenviable process of getting in the mix figuring out whom to talk to. I suppose the best way for me to break this down is by my previously asserted groups.

The extreme left: Easily identifiable in a variety of ways, but generally they have a certain intensity about them that swings from anger to depression. They drive cars that are plastered with stickers that run the gamut between “Coexist” written in religious symbols and “Bush lied people died” on the back of their carbon spewing 10 year old Volvos that need a tune-up. I list this stuff with tongue in cheek. Living in California I see them every day and have developed a watchful eye for these and the more subtle clues. The reason I bring up the extreme left at all is simply to say, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine”, in other words don’t waste your breath. Those on the extreme left are beyond our consideration. They have closed their minds to our side for now. Barring some radical change in their life they are not interested in hearing what we have to say, much in the same way that an extreme liberal has no chance in changing ours. Abandon them to their fate. Smile and say have a nice day.

“But Right Brainer you just said to forget the ideological suppositions!”

I know I did, we need to clear our heads before we can re-lay a decision making template on it. The typical extreme liberal is usually evident to anyone who cares to give more than a cursory glance.

The extreme right: Surely I don’t need to go into descriptions of our own? They are your friends, family maybe, and acquaintances. The funny thing is there are great many of us that we pass by every day and never even know it. It is almost as if we are ashamed. That needs to stop there is no shame in being an American, believing in conservative principles. I recently had a garage sale (see that proves I’m not rich) one of the items on the table was Hannity’s “Let Freedom Ring”, I live in a costal community a block form the beach. While my county is Republican the vast majority of people who live in my neighborhood are left over hippies and environmentalists. So a guy picks up the book wondering how much. I tell him and as he pays me I said “I didn’t think that would sell” listing the geographic area as my main point. He replied “there are a lot of us around here that don’t buy into the garbage.” This is an example of why we must set aside preconceived notions. I would never have guessed that he was a conservative, even when he purchased the book, my mind wouldn’t let me grasp that he was on my side. I relay this story for encouragement. If you live in a predominantly liberal area, be aware that that you are not alone.

The center left, center and center right: Now that I have outlined the two extremes… guess what? Everyone else is in the middle somewhere, leaning either right or left. I know that sounds flippant, but it is the reality of modern day America. The political/ideological groups in our country shrink and swell from year to year, they are not a single group of people with tattoos on their head that say “swing-vote” they are unidentifiable in the abstract. The only way to identify a person in the middle is to engage them first, determine their position later.

If you read step 1, you should have seen my answer coming. For the conservative movement to live on and grow we can no longer quantify people in nice neat demographics, it is dehumanizing at best. That is what liberals do. Conservativism is all about individualism yet somehow we have lost the individual. To be effective in the battle you have to meet the enemy where you find them, not where you go to look for them.

I heard someone on the radio say in regards to Governor Palin, “She is me.” That’s what needs to take place at the grass roots level. That’s why the center abhors the left and the right. They don’t feel that either side is them. The only way to win them over is to show them that we are not abortion clinic bombing, incredibly wealthy, bible thumping whackos. We are in fact normal people that have taken the time to research, understand and get involved, in the midst of going to work, raising families, and pursuing happiness, attending church, etc.

As always I hope this article serves to encourage us to get involved and stay engaged in the battle.

My next article will be on the basic tool kit every conservative should have before engaging in the fight for our culture, our freedom, our country, though I suspect most who read it will already have that assortment of tools in their arsenal.

The crux of the matter lies not with voting for or “against McCain, the aisle-crossing, moderate (to put it nicely). Rather it lies in simple facts that people of the “Abstain from McCain” crowd either fail to see or purposely disregard in an effort to add merit and strength to their position.

First let me apologize for the length of this article. Second let me thank you in advance for reading through to the end.

At least one of the popular TH blogs (no I’m not going to name it) is actively promoting an abstinence vote or a vote for a third party candidate. The author of that particular blog is a Californian, as a fellow Californian I recognize the angst with which he stakes his ground. Namely that our (mine and his) votes don’t really matter anyhow. Unfortunately, California has been abandoned by the GOP as hopeless. Regardless of whether that abandonment is justified or not, it is not the focus of this article. I am simply reiterating the fact in an effort to shed light on another person’s opinion, an opinion that is no doubt colored by the fact that his vote is futile anyhow.

I’d like to step back from the political fray of staking out a position and talk facts for a moment.

The majority of the citizens of The United States of America are center-right. Perhaps you have heard that assertion before, and took solace in the fact that at least you were somewhat on the side of the majority. That surely the “right” leaning citizens would boost our cause. By stating that Americans are center-right we give ourselves a security blanket with which to wrap our fears.

What center-right really means is that there is a large group of people with the power to vote that are socially conservative and fiscally liberal or fiscally conservative and socially liberal in some variable mix. These are people that for some reason, whether it is concern about global warming, the poor, America’s reputation, taxes, Constitutional government, judicial excess, pork-barrel spending, etc, find themselves unable to align all their positions to one extreme or the other.

So we have five distinct groups in America:

The extreme left, the center left, the center, the center right and the extreme right. I make no bones about my being on the extreme right.

I am a conservative both fiscally and socially. I am a constitutional constructionist by belief. I, like the author of the blog I referred to earlier, feel abandoned by the GOP at times. But I am not so far off the deep end on the right side of the pool that I can’t stop and apply a little pragmatism to the discussion.

We have two-party system in this great nation. Yes there are other parties, but because their views, and therefore their positions are so narrow, they have no hope, no chance of ever effecting an election as anything other than a “spoiler”. Even that “spoiler” effect is completely fringe and marginal at best. The results of a third party candidacy have done nothing in American politics except to soften the margin of victory of one of the main parties. Let me repeat that, ALL an effective third party candidacy can do is REDUCE the margin of victory for one of the two major parties. It has not affected an outcome of an election to date, furthermore it cannot. Why you ask? Because of its narrowness of position it cannot appeal to the center-right of America.

Given that the country is majority center-right what is a conservative to do? What is a liberal to do?

On the left, you have the pro-abortion, anti war, global village, secular, wealth redistributing, socialists attempting to co-opt the Democratic Party. On the right you have the pro-life, security oriented, evangelical, constitutionalists attempting to co-opt the Republican Party.

Standing in the gap is that ambiguous swath of citizenry called moderates that are predominately right leaning but encompass the entire mix of political reality in America.

 There is a reason why Democrats run to the center every election cycle. They recognize that their base is on the extreme left, but that to win an election they must appeal to the center-right majority by at least token gestures (I’ll get back to that in a different article). They cannot win otherwise.

There is a reason why Republicans must make token moderate gestures towards the center. They cannot win otherwise. Only once in the modern conservative movement has a Republican candidate been able to stand on the right and reach into the center. More often than not the Republican candidate has to move toward the center in order to win.

In either case, there is a tendency, after wining, for both parties to pander to their base and hope the citizenry forgets by the next election. All of this in conjunction with the vast complexity that has become our governing bodies… all three Branches.

Now that we have broken it down, what does it mean, what are the ramifications in this election?

George W. moved to the center in 2000, in 2004 he had 9/11 to bolster his conservative street cred. If he hadn’t he would have lost. Why? Because he never did move back to the right, in fact after his election he began some of the most non conservative policies ever. Once elected to his second term he had no fear of losing another election so he had no reason to maintain his commitments to his base.

This brings us to an interesting crossroads in modern politics. On one hand you have more of the same liberalism and on the other you have a moderate conservative. He is different from the current President who has proven to be conservative only in foreign policy and security, and even that is arguable. Some of McCain’s positions are better some are much worse. He is vastly different from the left’s candidate, though at times it hardly sounds like it, given sound bites and campaign positions staked out on the fly.

I’m not here to outline the differences of the two candidates and the current President. Rather to demonstrate the efficacy of voting for the lesser of two evils, unlike the “Abstain from McCain” crowd.

“So Right Brainer, what’s the answer?”  

I’m glad you asked. It is NOT the stick your head in the sand (although they refer to it as drawing a line in the sand), vote wasting of abstaining or voting for a third party candidate. The presumption that such an act would have an effect is false. It is not as if there is some single person or even a group of persons monitoring the specific results of a third party candidate or how many registered voters didn’t vote. The demographic of those two options are too large to define reasons behind the actions. It would be a minor blip on the party radar, chalked up to any one or more of a vast multitude of possible reasons.

“So what is the answer!”

It’s the hard road, the road not taken by the anti-McCain people. It is the simple mathematics of elections given the facts listed above, the stark cold reality that if conservatives truly want to have their positions brought to the foreground, they have but two choices. Those choices have nothing to do with a single election or even a chain of elections. In fact they has nothing to do with candidates.

“What the hell are you talking about Right Brainer?”

While both national Parties may ignore the radar blip of both abstaining to vote and a third party taking more than a 2% share. What they cannot ignore is the majority mindset of the people they need to allow them to win an election. That’s right they cannot ignore the majority of center-right citizens! There ARE people and groups of people, who’s sole function is to determine the heartbeat of America, where their concerns are, what is important to them.

That’s where our two choices lie. Either we give-in and suck it up as conservatives and recognize that we can’t always get everything we want or we start moving the center-right crowd more to the right.

“But I don’t want to give in!”

Neither do I, take the angst with which you pile disdain upon the current candidate, and start using it to outline why real conservativism  is the answer, quit preaching to the choir and get out and do something to help educate and enlighten those in your sphere of influence. Do it respectfully, but do it firmly. We have the answer. Right now the populace is leaning center right, but more center than right. There needs to be a shift in that polarity to the right.

Only then will The GOP begin to realize that when conservatives run as conservatives do they win. All the pollsters are telling them that the American people don’t buy the full conservative message. As long as that is true, Republicans will continue to move towards the center, continue to aisle cross, and continue to act like Democrats.

In closing let me ask you this? How many people (voters) have you convinced to switch parties? How did you do it? I count many for me, and I didn’t do it by telling them they were wrong, or their candidate was a liar, or giving them doomsday messages about what happens if their candidate is elected and mine isn’t. I did it by reason and example. I encourage you to do the same, don’t give up the fight! Don’t waste your time by throwing away your vote, spend it wisely by calling a friend who is on the left, or undecided and talk to them about what you believe and why. Start the next grass roots movements or become part of the one that’s already growing.

Thanks for taking the time to hear me out.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to evaluate the political bands which have connected them to their nation and their government, and to assume the powers of citizenship, which, not only the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, but also the Laws of their nation, a decent respect to the opinions of citizenry requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the reevaluation and remembrance of that which has been lost

We STILL hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism by manifestly bankrupting them morally and financially, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of the citizens of this great nation; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the past and present President and Congress is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The President and the Congress have refused their Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good, instead relegating their Executive and Legislative responsibility to judicial fiat.
The President has failed to use his power of obtained Assent to require that Laws are of immediate and pressing importance to the citizenry of this nation
The Congress has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. They have done this through the manipulation of voting districts, wherein large swaths of the citizenry are left under or un-represented.
The Congress has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant behind closed doors, and unwittnessed  by the public, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their measures.
The President and the Congress have dissolved the trust of the people in the Executive and Representative Houses repeatedly by ignoring calls for a return to their enumerated powers, despite the citizenry opposing them with manly firmness their invasions on the rights of the people.
The Parties have refused for a long time, after such dissolution of trust, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for with their excess; the citizenry remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
The President and the Congress by allowing the judicial branch to govern have endeavored to prevent the population of these States to self govern; for that purpose obstructing the Laws which the states have deemed to be right and appropriate unto themselves.
The President and the Congress has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by relegating their executive and legislative responsibilities to Judiciary powers.
The Congress has made Judges dependent on their Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
The President and the Congress have erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
The President and the Congress has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
The President and the Congress has affected to render the Military a laboratory in which social experimentation is conducted, while continuing eat out its substance and failing to provide for the common defense of these several states.
The President and the Congress has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For affording the rights of citizens to terrorists
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our reducing our ability to Trade with all parts of the world by policies that restrict the growth and investment in domestic companies:
For imposing and increasing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For abolishing the free System of Constitutional Law, establishing therein an Arbitrary government of judicial diktat, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these states:
For taking away our self governance, abolishing our most valuable rights, and altering fundamentally the Form of our Government:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
The Congress has abdicated its responsibility to the people here, by declaring us out of their Protection and waging fiscal War against us.
The Congress has sought the detrimental restriction, through legislative action and administrative policy, the free and reasoned use of the nation’s resources to the benefit of the citizenry, destroying the lives of our people.
The Congress is at this time exporting large amounts of Domestic Capital, through its legislative action or inaction to those who would complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, this action by our legislators is totally unworthy the governing body of a civilized nation.
The President and the Congress has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive by economic and social disaster brought about by failed socialist policies to, to become the executioners of their own futures and their children’s futures.
The Congress has excited foreign insurrections against us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our nation, the merciless Islamic Fascists, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Governing Body whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our state Governing Bodies. We have protested from time to time of attempts by the legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our grievances. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably result in further degradation of the rights of the people. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.