Ok, I thought I was going to stay away, but I’m too much of an activist and I can’t help but read comments on my favorite blogs. Call me a lurker if you must but I am the good kind, gathering intel before laying out what needs to be done.

Points of order: Loyal opposition, the country has spoken and it voted against our wishes. Eight years ago the country voted and it was with our wishes. Part of being an American is understanding the nature of our politics, we made our wishes known, we lost. We will resist and show ourselves BETTER than the left in their opposition to Bush. Else wise we are no better. Reread that and think about it.

Everybody will be debating why it happened, we all knew it was a long shot to begin with. We just wouldn’t face it. Instead we clung to hope, never a bad thing, but when reality hits we have a choice. Run and hide, snivel and whine, or face it head on.

Can you guess which one I am about to suggest?

Let all the paid people figure out what happened… we know already: Mac was not a conservative, we know this. There was no real counter to liberal ideas. Period, end of story, maybe he could have won, I doubt it. The point is he didn’t and President Obama will take office in about two and a half months.

So ponder this friends, we are about to embark on a journey that will lead to beautiful vistas from high reaching mountains, and dark and lonely valleys. The battle over the country is not over its just beginning. I will not cede defeat until they arrest and silence me. Will you?  

Everyone wants to know what to do now? I have previously given suggestions, yet all continue to wonder what to do, am I talking to myself? It wouldn’t be the first time.

So let me break this down for those who want to know what to do, pay attention, but don’t worry if you miss something, because I have a feeling that I will repeat this often in exhortation and encouragement.

Forget everything you hear and know, forget about various polices that might be enacted, forget about the possibilities of socialism, and focus yourself on the foundational core of what I am going to lay out right now. The rest we will address when the need arises.

FAITH-FAMILY-COUNTRY

Those three items are the three lamposts from which we can find the foundation. Any other guidance is dark and cannot guide us in the tempest that is coming. So let us begin.

There is reason I list them in that specific order, much like the way each successive Right of the Bill of Rights builds on the previous Right.

Faith is a part of the human psyche regardless of what atheists and the like would tell you. Furthermore it is uniquely part of the American experience for a large swath of our society (85% believe in God). It is absolutely unquestionable that our Founder’s understood faith and its importance in governance. (please don’t bore me in comments with “proofs” otherwise) Faith is fguiding, even beyond its immediate religious connotations. God calls everyone to become part of his family, he considers us children of his. The Christian tradition is full of examples of God as Father. It is upon this guidance that our own families are built. We find in faith a blueprint for family and life beyond.

If you pray, pray for your families, our current and next president, and our beloved country. If you don’t or don’t believe in God then don’t begrudge us our faith.

Family is the secondary lampost, but is incredibly important in the rebuilding we wish to do. It is here that we prepare the next generation, it is here that we counter the onslaught from outside, it is here that we help our children hone their skills in cognitive thinking that will allow them to discern the difference between right and wrong, truth and lie. It is here tha we give them the foundation. (more on that later)

This cannot be overstated; our children and grand children are the future of this country. If we fail to restore this nation, it will be they who reclaim it, but only if we teach them what we believe, why we believe and how to apply that knowledge to their own lives.

So from Faith tends Family, and from Family tends Country. For what is a Country but a group of various families? Every nation great and small throughout history has followed a very simple pattern.

Shared vision (faith) – family – groups of families (creating a system to govern all their doings).

So begin with your personal faith whatever that may be. Start with your family ensuring the next generation is ready to take up the mantle of liberty. From your core family move to your extended family, don’t be shy or apologetic for your beliefs, it is your right to have them and to share them as you wish. Beyond the extended family lay friends and co-workers. Beyond them your community, your state, and your nation.

“Why are you being so simplistic RB?”

Because if you can’t talk politics with your family in a civil and yet persuasive manner, you will never be able to with anyone else. There is a building process to it, and experience in formulating and defending your ideas against people for whom you care and in return care for you, is a good place to practice. It will build in you the ability to sympathize or empathize with non –family members when you reach out to them.

So now that I have, yet again, outlined how to change the country, laying out the who and the how, the next question is the what.

What is the conservative message in these times? What is the message that can and will resonate with every member of our society that is worth reaching, our children first, then our communities then our nation?

Is it lower taxes?

Is it capitalism?

Is it guns?

Is it abortion?

Is it strong national defense?

Is it trade?

Is it the deficit?

Is it family values?

What is this elusive message that conservatives seem to have lost?

Are you ready, willing, and able to not only hear it but accept it? Let it seep deep into your being and guide everything you know? Are you ready to use it as the measure by which EVERY single thing that confronts the conservative movement can be gauged?

Will you take up the mantle with me and carry this message far and wide and use it as the platform for a revolution? You have heard it before, it’s always in the long list of conservative principles, tossed in as though among equals, when it stands head and shoulders above the rest. In fact it is from this singular principle that all other conservative ideas, notions, and values flow.

Dear reader it is the answer, the counter to every single issue of society, it has been right before our eyes and we failed to see it, instead getting lost in the mire of hot topic issues, like immigration, abortion, gun rights, taxes etc.

To every assault there is a counter measure, battles are won by discovering and using effectively the right counter measure. Here it is.

Individual Responsibility.

Teach it to your kids, explain it to your neighbors, make sure our political representatives understand and have adopted it in their own lives and will govern by it. Think about it readers. Contemplate it for a second or two or sixty. The message of the conservative movement needs to be Individual Responsibility.

Some examples:

Socialism? Individual responsibility, what is socialism if not collective responsibility?

Abortion? Individual responsibility; of those who engage in behaviors known to create babies.

Immigration? Individual responsibility; of those who would come to this nation.

Taxes? Individual responsibility; of citizens to pay, and individual responsibility of members of congress to use it properly.

Crime? Individual responsibility; of those who commit the crimes.

Have I made myself clear yet? This is a simple message that will resonate with people of all hyphenated types. From it's foundation can be built the framework that explains and expands all other conservative ideas and ideals.

Do you want to make a difference? Don’t forget to preach and teach Individual Responsibility.

Today we are a week away from a presidential election, my ninth, in terms of eligibility. My values have been conservative for as long as I can remember. I have a sense, through knowledge and experience, that many American’s are just like me; a potpourri of  history and ideas that culminate into a philosophy on the world… the proverbial “worldview” that every human has, if you will. They may be as varied as the colors of an Arizona sunset, but every individual has a worldview.

I know how I will vote this time and this essay is not a discussion of my vote, one way or another. Rather it is a response, personally, to my view of the challenges America faces. I share it with those who read it, for no purposes other than to share.

I KNOW that conservatism is the answer to much of what ails this great nation; she is sick but still great. As many conservatives do, I feel deeply individualistic tendencies, as such, conservatives, I in particular, rarely join together as a whole, as a group, save when we have a leader with which to rally to or around. The thing about this election cycle, in my perspective, is that conservatives apparently lack a leader to bring them into a cohesive unit. We are assailed by political parties, pundits, pollsters and “reporters” opinion makers all but none leaders. As such Conservativism is adrift. Or is it?

We can bemoan the various reasons for this, we can argue on the finer points of the electoral process, the MSM, liberal institutions of indoctrination, multiculturalism etc, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Sadly, complaining does little beyond refining one’s own belief, it does nothing to actually effect a change.

Regarding leadership however, or the lack thereof, we live under a peculiar political system. We are a representative republic, as I am sure you are all aware. But yet we hear slogans every election regarding leadership. Even we conservatives fall into the trap of “leadership” to endorse a leader is to imply that we are followers. That is not how our Republic works. We elect representatives in BOTH the legislative and executive branches that are NOT there to lead us, rather they are there to represent us; in the laws they create, the treaties they negotiate, the judges they pick, the expenditures of public funds etc, etc, etc. This is a critical distinction; if conservatives look for a leader we miss the point of our founder’s entirely. That point being that we are self governed. Hence the phrases “...deriving their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed”, “We the people”, need I go on?

If then the government requires not leaders, but representatives of those it is charged with governing, where is the failure? Is it on the representatives, or those represented?  

I say it falls to those being represented; it is we who have failed. We have the government we deserve. I have the government I deserve. It is I who have failed, not the Constitution, it is I, as one being represented, who failed to ensure that my representatives knew my wishes, it is I who have failed to ensure that my view is proliferated to my fellow citizens.

Conservatives have applied a “buy and hold” strategy to our representatives. But this type of investment does not function as it should without constant tending and adjustment. We have rested in our electoral victories while around us our ideas and ideals have been incrementally and steadily eroded. There is no rest, even if tomorrow brought about a fully restored Republic based solely on the Constitution, we cannot rest. It is Truth that failure is only ever one generation away. We can never rest, there will always be those who wish something different than what should be. We must commit ourselves to the long war of ideology. Become active citizen soldiers in the war of ideas, the culture war that has raged since our beloved nation’s founding.

I speak for no one save myself. FOR ME THIS STOPS TODAY!

Call this a manifesto if you wish, though in truth it is more an action plan of what one man thinks he can do to change the world he lives in to make it Veer Right. Feel free to make suggestion as you too may have ideas that will work.

The Electoral Process.

Picking and selecting a representative is a solemn responsibility endowed upon us by our Founding Fathers. But it is ultimately a small part of what actually guides the Republic. Individuals cast votes; a certain majority of votes creates a mandate. A minority of votes creates underrepresentation and disaffected citizens on one or another end of the political spectrum. The country is not made of one ideological group, therefore there will always be those who are “on the outs” Our representatives must make coalitions with ideological opposites and times to effectively govern the mass diversity of populace. The key in this is not the making of stubborn representatives, but rather in making known what we are willing to compromise on, and exactly how much we are willing to compromise. Yes this is a slippery slope, and one to be guarded against at all times, but it is a dose of reality. I leave the line to be drawn by fellow citizens. But draw the lines and recognize the need for compromise we must for there is no other way given the current form our government as taken. Arguing about principle, or lack there of does little to effect how the government governs. So cast you vote but know that this is only the smallest part of veering right.

I have no desire or inclination whatsoever to run for office, as it is now. Others may and I wish them luck but, the entire massive beast, Fedzilla, as Ted Nugent calls it, is far too corrupt. Those who enter are or rapidly become unaccountable despots and are prone to excess due to the nature of the beast. They are unaccountable because the populace sleeps. Therefore winning elections does very little to advance the ideological goals of Conservativism. On another note, why would I ever wish to subject myself and my family to the brutal assault of the enemedia. But I want to change government so what do? I work to increase the conservative ideal in the mind of the populace.

I have written before of the Time – Talent – Treasure principle of capitalism. They make convenient subsets of address for the balance of this essay, since everyone has some measure of each.

I live in a metropolitan area, though not extremely large. 600,000 I think.  We have several large chain bookstores, I have posted notices there for a conservative book club. It sounds quaint I suppose, yet I have several takers already. My intention is to avoid the lesser works of today, the Malkin, Coulter, etc type books. The first book on the list is valentine’s conservative handbook if you’re wondering. Also on the list are the founding documents, the federalist and anti federalist papers, and other serious works.

There are also various web sites like meetu.com where you can meet other’s of like mind to work together to affect change. As of the moment I haven’t decided which site to use but intend to do so soon.

I am thinking about teaching adult literacy at the local library, living in Southern California this sometimes takes on ESL (English as a Second Language) imperatives. What better place to insert my influence into a growing populace within our country?

I have and will continue to engage people in open honest debate about beliefs and my views of how to fix the problems we face.

Beyond this, there are several principles that guide me. I have children (babies) and grand children (long story), I strive to combat whatever indoctrination they might receive through the public schools system, TV, Video Games, Music, and other cultural incursions into my family. This is no small feat, and perhaps has given me my perspective on the battle. I don’t allow certain things in my home. Those things that young minds cannot properly understand nor discern as right or wrong, in doing so I hope to raise the next generation of conservatives amongst my own family. Books are essential to this as children in my experience love to read and be read to. That means turning off sports, or news and spending time reading them books with a conservative bent. The Bible is on this list, but so too are other books, Lynne Cheney’s children’s books come to mind at the moment. There are also plenty of homeschooling websites that have booklists for young readers. Do not underestimate the power of this type of counter assault on society. There is no better school than the home, and no better teacher than the parent.

2. Talent

Most of those who read this essay, share a talent with me, writing. I have had the pleasure of reading many of the essays found on TH and have been impressed by the styles and coherency of thought put into them. I have determined to begin a one man writing campaign. Frequent letters to my representatives at all levels of government is on my writing agenda. In addition to that, Letters to the editor of the local paper, or posting comments on their on-line columns and articles. I will of course include the “meet-up” group link on these posts. Organizing and public speaking happen to be talents of mine as well, I fully intend to utilize them when the opportunity arises. Should no opportunity be forthcoming I will actively seek to create one.

3. Treasure

In an economic downturn such as we are confronting. This becomes the most valuable resource I have. Ever hear of the phrase “vote with your pocketbook”? I have already started so have you most likely. Gas prices skyrocket, I drive less. Prices are falling, I have no intention of increasing my driving. Now the ecowhackos might see this as environmentally responsible but in truth its about my money!

I have not contributed financially to a party this time around, and that too is a vote with my wallet. Now let’s get serious for a second. Money talks, and quite loudly, you may feel that your vote is unheard, but your purchases or lack of are always heard. Trust me I used to work in marketing; you would be absolutely shocked at how far a household is broken down, sliced, diced and parsed into a purchasing power and make-up.

Here in California, we are voting on prop 8, if you don’t know what it is, it’s a proposition to add to the state constitution a definition of man and woman to marriage. There is a long list of corporate sponsors of the opposition to this bill, AT&T being one of them. My contract is up next month, and I will be changing to a new provider. I’ll send them a letter so they know why.

Now I could spend a lot of time trying to figure out ever corporation behind every bit of legislation or candidate, but I have neither the time nor inclination to do so (though I would be happy to read someone else’s research into it). I suspect it would be a full time job, and if you with held your purchasing power from all of them you’d end up in the dark, without heat, TV gasoline etc, etc. if I wanted that I’d go camping. But the simple truth is you don’t have to hit every corporation that sponsors liberal agendas. You only need to hit a couple and make it known why they are being hit. Does anyone remember Proctor and gamble being hit for their logo? Supposedly it had 666 in it somewhere. My father-in law worked for them at the time and they were scared. Their sales dropped almost 15% in a matter of weeks. They eventually changed the logo. Imagine how much more impact we could have by targeting corporations that champion causes in opposition to ours.

One in Particular comes to mind at the moment. MSNBC is owned by GE (General Electric). Aside from their electronics and other business entities that I refuse to purchase, they control a rather large portfolio of media, MSNBC is only a part of it. Here’s the list: And here is the link to everything else they have GE  

• BravoBrands
• CNBCBrands
• Focus Features & Rogue PicturesBrands
• Global NetworksBrands
• MSNBCBrands
• Mun2Brands
• NBC EntertainmentBrands
• NBC NewsBrands
• NBC Sports & OlympicsBrands
• NBC Universal Television GroupBrands
• NBC Universal Television StationsBrands
• SCI FIBrands
• TelemundoBrands
• USA NetworkBrands
• Universal Parks & ResortsBrands
• Universal PicturesBrands
• Universal Studios Home EntertainmentBrands
• Weather PlusBrands
• iVillageBrands

Hmmm? I wonder who advertises on those entities, providing dollars to GE that allows them to put the most vile, unjournalistic opinionators on air? I wonder what would happen if I stopped buying from them? Probably nothing. What would happen if conservatives stopped buying from them?  You see where I am going with this? I thought so.

Just stop buying from those companies that support our ideological “enemies”. Chances are you can find a substitute if it’s a necessity. In my case I am more likely to go without.

So this is just the outline of an action plan that I intend to implement. Will it change the culture? Around me yes, even if only one person changes their mind and begins the journey of conservative thought and deed, then I will consider it a success. If more join with me in these simple things, it will grow and spread and perhaps change more than just the around us, perhaps around the coountry.

I welcome other suggestions or even critiques in comments.

My fellow Amer… uhm, ur, Uhm residents of the United States of America.

It has ever been, the potential of citizens to address the state of this Union If I may, with open mind and wounded heart, address said state , I am compelled by reason to humbly admit that the state of this Union is; Shattered.

Sadly, it has fallen on me, the least likely humble servant of this Republic, to point this out to those who still cling to an antiquated notion of unity. We the people are fractured and fractious, diverse and disingenuous, having given ourselves over to the sway, both inconsiderate and ill-considered, of opinion.

A call to unity, is a denial of the state in which we the people find our union. It is a sad and desperate appeal to that which no longer exists, that which, perhaps by countless choices of free individuals or Divine intercession, should no longer exist.

Traitor! Serpent of ill will! Defiler of sacred unity! You may heckle me as is your wont, though it may be best considered an epithet of denial rather than the solidifying cry of unity amongst equals. We the people are no longer equal, not in fact, nor even in theory.

That which unites a people, under a banner of a nation or creed, which is neither wretched nor wrathful, but exits in every portion of a free society of self governed individuals, has fallen to the consistent hammering and chipping away of incessant opinion. These voices, having at all times and in all places worked to drown out this one lost article, have become insurmountable by we the people.

Truth no longer exists neither in our public discourse nor in our private intercessions with countrymen on behalf of this nation. Where is Truth in the call to unity among individuals, who with thoughtful dispensation determine a course in opposition to their fellow citizens?

Is this a call to unity in the absence of Truth, nay, better my voice be stilled than rally such an inappropriate and entirely unwholesome cry.  There can be no unity in the absence of Truth, for without it every belief of every man is subject to his own subjective reflection. This is the current State of our supposed Union.

For how can socialists and libertarians be united? How can liberals and conservatives be united? In further contemplation of this evident fact, how can those, who either by self determination or ill opinion, called Paleocons, neocons, conservatives, liberals, peaceniks, environmentalists, or other such moniker, of fame or infamy, be united into a coherent voice amongst their own leanings, let alone their disparate opposites?

This is no small matter, in the history of nations both great and small, long lived and short in duration. No small matter indeed in the history of our own republic, which founded in unity based on division of ideas though not ideals.  This nation was founded upon underlying Truth which no longer exists today.

"We 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."

“WE hold these truths to be self evident…”

There is no self evident truth if WE does not exist.

“…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator…”

If no Creator exists, how can we be equal? We are no longer a creation but a random happenstance of biological function, neither equal nor endowed, for endowment requires a benefactor, One who many of “we the people” refuse to acknowledge exists, or by least measure, has any role in the shaping of their lives or actions.

In the destruction of the Creator in public discourse, we have separated and made alien that which was unalienable, for without acknowledgement of our endower the rights endowed are meaningless.

What is Life, when it is merely, a random act of biological function? It is something to no longer be cherished and looked up on as having value unto itself, as the object of creation. It is no more relevant than the waxing waning of tides, the capricious maelstrom that destroys one abode and leaves another standing. It is a burden to those who do not which to cherish it. It is something to be cast away upon a whim as though inconvenient and not special. It was not created therefore it has no value of its own, at any time, neither in the womb nor years after its entrance into this world.

But it is more than the mere appeal on behalf of innocence, for Life is surly more encompassing than just children. Life is the entirety and scope of human endeavor, the pursuit of knowledge becomes a hopeless search for existential meaning in the absence of Truth. The pursuit of wealth becomes self satisfying greed rather than the preparation for future well being. Charity becomes enslavement if life is worthless. Love becomes perverse, merely a word to be deployed for self gratification. Relationships on every level become one individual using another in the absence of the Life endowed by our Creator.

What is Liberty if not given by the True Liberator? It is tyranny, self inflicted and detrimental, though called by another name. It is Government by the ungrounded and faulty, it is the manipulation of Truth to indoctrinate and enslave. Witness the moral fiber, decayed and crumbling, of a civilization unmoored from its anchors. Speak not of unity to me when disparity is rife. Neither commend nor pursue unity in the absence of liberty, there can be none.

What is happiness with out Truth? It is the state of denial, self deluded and demoralized.  There can be no active or passive state of satisfaction, when life and liberty are thusly denounced.  When the fruit of honest labor is given over to the sustainment of the slothful, there can be no happiness. When tyranny, through legislative action or inaction, contrary to the will of the people is subjected upon the citizens, can there be happiness?

The State of the Union is shattered, the fractured pieces of Truth, once held in highest regard with solemn forethought, that now rests comfortably in the hands of a few is all that remains of the shattered Republic. It falls once again to the Patriot, with deliberative mind, servile heart and outspoken deed, to take on the task of citizen warrior.

The hour is late, the sun makes its fateful ark in declination to the twilight of our Republic. It is we who stand in the gap, It is we who defend the Republic, it is we who must confront the lie with truth. For without us, the republic falters.

Keep the faith!

Author’s note: This was supposed to be different, as I wrote it took on a life of its own so I ran with it.