Posted on 06/28/2013 2:16:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
One of the best lines of advice I've ever gotten came from my aunt Rose in the third grade: "Stop complaining about what you don't like, and do what you can to change it." I took her advice that afternoon, had a much better school year because of it, and promised myself I'd never forget her words of wisdom.
So here I am today, immersed in a sea of politics and culture wars, TV and radio debates, panel discussions and Q & A sessions where I'm challenged to think hard about who I am, what I value, and what messages I hope to convey to the listeners and viewers who count on me to tell them what I really think.
There's never a day that goes by that I don't think about my aunt's advice. So, let's do ourselves--and our country--a favor and apply it.
Yes, the mainstream media is painfully biased. Yes, the Obama administration has and will continue to use Hollywood and the entertainment industry to push its agenda. Yes, the Left has been highly focused on--and skilled at--using pop culture outlets to shift public opinion on political, cultural, and social issues. Yes, academia is often in the brainwashing business and revisionist history is alive and well.
And now for my controversial statement--So what? What do the Left's tactics have to do with me or my ability to counter them with smart policy, solid media strategy, innovative marketing, effective delivery, creative projects, and youth outreach? Nothing. They have absolutely nothing to do with me. Unless, of course, I spend more time complaining about what's wrong than challenging it. That, I'm afraid, is a mistake being made all too often on the right.
Yes, talking Obamacare repeal is important. But what's more important is having smart, charismatic free-market enthusiasts in media, at events, and in liberal hubs talking specifics about alternatives. Why are the alternatives better? Who stands to gain? Why should young people care?
Where are the hired messengers for this? In D.C. talking to each other? On TV being non-specific? Writing up proposals they can toss on a website that the ideal target audience will never read?
Yes, speaking at conservative college forums is very important. But what's more important is speaking at college liberal forums. Be the odd man or woman out. Challenge the status quo. I promise you that someone in that room will leave thinking about what you've said. I did it as a student at Columbia University, I did it among professors while working in academia, and I do it every day in liberal New York City. Trust me, eyes and ears do open.
Conservative and libertarian novelists, filmmakers, artists, musicians, clothing designers--challenge the system. Use your creativity and talent to define this movement; don't let the Left define it for you. Will it be hard to get projects published and promoted? Sure. You know what else was hard? The drafting of the Constitution. They managed to get it done.
There are people in this business who are content to preach to the choir, spew talking points, and hope for the best. I'm not one of them. So I ask you to join me in working to get people of all ages, races, religions, and professions to think a little harder, to open their eyes and ears a little wider, and to question what many in media and academia have told them for so long.
In other words, let's stop complaining and start doing.
Okay/ Start by doing what. exactly? You want to really do something that’ll get the governments attention? Each and everyone mother’s son of us don’t file your income tax.
You mean, I’m actually gonna have to get out and work at it? Campaign for my candidates, and when I don’t like any of them, run myself? I’ll have to start attending city council and county commission and school board meetings and making my voice heard?
Maybe even do my own “journalism” by reporting on the local political scene via the interweb thingy, instead of depending on the local Gannett or McClatchy rag to print the truth?
Well, it all depends on who’s on “Dancing with the Stars” tonight. Can’t miss that, ya know...
/sarc
I think we’ve passed the tipping point, Ms. Bila, and our only hope is to let it burn.
Yeah. Well, join the USMC, jed. No excuses. No worries. No sniveling. Your Mommy will sign for you. You’ll be a heart breaker, days before you report for duty. Have a real adventure. Get to it, jed.
I’m certainly not preaching to the choir here in Beijing. Why do some Americans have to be so American-centric? As if anything outside of America that doesn’t somehow relate to America is meaningless. I’m a US citizen and we conservatives should play a global role and not limit ourselves to US boundaries.
“I think we’ve passed the tipping point, Ms. Bila, and our only hope is to let it burn.”
Why is that?
Because the right had become a lazy ideology of wimps, that relied on rich spokespeople (Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter...) to do all of the dirty work in the media, and took comfort in buying a bunch of guns with the idea that if it all went bad they can just shoot everything in some poorly imagined repeat of the Revolution. Never mind all of the actual work that is needed to sell our ideas on the street. Let Mark Levin do it!
All the while the left actually engaged people in every medium they could find, and if they screwed up, they just took the same ideas and repackaged them with new language.
While we regurgitate quotes from Madison (sounding more like parrots), they took communism and called it “economic justice” and made a bunch of kids think it was cool! They flood Facebook, Twitter, and other sites with those causes. The right sits and acts like those mediums are juts fads for slacker kids. We have something better! A 60-something talk show hosts whose show is on in the middle of the day. That’ll work...
And guess what the result was? Not a surprise to some of us.
Good advice.
I can hardly wait for the usual brainwashed whiners from the surrender monkey parade to show up and tell us that all is lost.
That.
Exactly, when the game is rigged, don’t play the game. What do you do when you can’t fix your car? You get a new one. Same with gov’t. Starve the beast, go Galt, and prep. Socialism always fails, always. The system will collapse under it’s own weight. God, family, country, is the winning strategy.
The open meetings law is another kick-ass strategy you can use against the leftists in local government.
With the open meetings law you can:
1. Shut down village and county board meetings.
2. Sue leftist politicians in court.
3. Throw them in jail.
Believe me, leftists in your states are constantly violating your state’s open meeting laws. Learn about them and use them.
I simply don’t believe God will make a distinction between those who set the fire and those who sat back and watched it burn.
The left has bought their constituents off with freebies. Don’t blame parasites for being parasites. You are not going to persuade freeloaders with words when the honey flows freely. Pain is a great motivator and the left will be hanging from the nearest lamppost when they have no honey to give. This system will not survive. Make plans accordingly. I say again if your car can’t be fixed, get a new one, ride a bike, or take the bus. The golden days of that car are gone.
Uh...
Aren't our taxes already being withheld?
Gummint has our money anyway!
I've read that.... somewhere....
Lot may have been a righteous man; but he called fags "Friends" and he barely escaped with his life!
1. They just throw you out. They write the police and judges paychecks.
2. The system is set up to waste your money and time. See 1.
3. See 1.
The game is rigged.
Oh. I was wrong. Thought Jedediah was a boy. You sure that’s a girl? My first mistake, in 62 years and it was not my fault. Still, good advice for young men.
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