You know, I'm glad you asked, because it just made me aware of something else I could do. I can talk to other likeminded activists and ask them to buttonhole him too. I know some of them have written him off as a RINO and just don't start conversations with him at all. But if more of them do what I did - especially in a tight election year - it could hopefully tip the balance and get him to get solidly behind the FMA.
National level, Longterm: Conservatives need to do the same thing with the Entertainment industry that we've done with the News industry - namely, do an end run around them. Until Rush (and the other talkshows) and FoxNews came along, the liberals had a near 100% lock on news. Now they're forced to share a huge chunk of their former power with conservatives.
But where we are still losing bigtime to the Leftists is in the Entertainment industry - TV & movies - where a few hundred scriptwriters marching pretty much in lockstep are convincing an ever larger chunk of the electorate every year that people who are against gay marriage are stupid, bigoted, hateful people with pointy-hooded sheets in their closets. (Look how completely they've converted the RINOs and Libertarians to this viewpoint!)
What we need is an anti-Hollywood that puts out movies from our point of view. Gibson's movie proved that religious movies are not DOA at the box office. Religious-themed movies made by the average Tinseltown movie houses usually are DOA, but movies made by deeply religious people are almost always successful if they are also well made (unfortunately that last caveat is not always a given).
But what about movies that aren't necessarily religiously themed, but have a conservative point of view? Of course you can't "over-preach" your side of the story. You have to keep the level of entertainment high, while inserting those little swipes against the other side here and there, just like they do to us.
PC culture, New Age culture, Leftist Boomer culture, etc. - these are all so ridiculous and self-contradictory in so many, many ways that they are just BEGGING for ridicule. I know a lot of people think ridicule is a nasty weapon that might even be banned by the Geneva Convention. But ridicule is a powerful weapon. It's used against us conservatives constantly. Why not use it back?
Good post.
Liberals are always worthy of ridicule.
You've brought up a good point. Why can't more conservative movies be made? Is it a lack of financing or artistry?
Like you said, Mel Gibson proved that there is a huge audience for good, clean movies (of course "The Passion" was more than just that!).
There are "clean" movies being made by small Christian companies, but they never appear on the big screen. Trinity Broadcast Network has made several, but they were never big pulls at the box office. Billy Graham's organization has made several good films, but not many people know it or will ever see them.
Hollywood will shut out anyone who tries to produce and promote conservative movies. So this has to be done by "outsiders." It does seem a possible thing to do though. With enough financing and truly artistic talent involved, fine quality movies can be made. Much would have to be spent on promotion (not everyone is a Mel Gibson), but it still could be done.
So why is this not happening? I know there are enough people with money in the conservative movement to make this happen. And also there has to be enough talent there too among conservatives. So what is the problem? Lack of real organizers who can put all this together and make it happen?
I've had an interest in just this sort of thing. But where I live the only opportunities to be involved with a film project are with young, liberal, independent film makers. So I've never gotten involved.