Posted on 01/06/2013 11:44:14 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
.......... the United States needs its conservative leaders and activists in the public square now more than at any time in our lifetimes. If we hold on, we'll win. Blue State America is doomed, and the blue-staters represented by President Obama and his party cannot save it.
...... we red-staters must remain fully involved and fully engaged in American politics and culture.
This is especially true after a year like 2012 -- when we lose. Better to quote U.S. General Joseph Stilwell after the loss of Burma to the Japanese. "I claim," Vinegar Joe said, "we took a hell of beating[.] ... [I]t is as humiliating as hell. We need to find out what caused it, go back and re-take it."
The biggest mistake we can make is to stay in our own echo chamber and to talk only to each other. There was already too much of that in 2012......
....... We need to read -- and refute with facts -- the other side's stuff as well.
And engage with it.
Facts are bullets in the war of ideas. And to find facts, we have to look everywhere for them -- not just our own outlets. Winning the 2014 elections and beyond means we have to recruit and proselytize young and/or disaffected or unregistered voters.
It is necessary to go out and engage the culture. Join Democratic FB pages. Visit Progressive websites. Proselytize and organize, registering conservative voters, recruiting conservative candidates, joining in canvassing and GOTV efforts. If you live in a safe red state, go volunteer or donate in an adjoining blue state.
If you live and work in a blue state, fly your colors proudly. Every day......
Above all, let us project confidence. Take joy in the battle. And finally, let us prepare diligently for next time.....
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I'm just waiting for the rioting to start.
The GOP doesn't deserve my support.
Go Galt.
IMO, this article is a big load of BS.
I agree with much of this piece, but personally, I am no longer optimistic.
I am frustrated when I read words such as these: “.......... the United States needs its conservative leaders and activists in the public square now more than at any time in our lifetimes.” That was true during the primaries, that was true during the general and that was true on election day.... we didn’t just lose an election, WE FAILED to come together and we lost our country.
I hate to be such a damn pessimist, but the people of this country are going to have to suffer much much more, before we might even have a chance to turn this mess around, if ever. I don’t believe it will be in my lifetime, I am 64.
Now, I see a few good leaders, but I do not see ANY leader strong enough to lead this wrecked ship out of this storm. Heck, I can no longer tell who in the hell is on our side.
I do wish all of you patriotic optimists the very best... there are ‘some’ very good people left in America, and they deserve a better America.
I would like to ramble on more, but the effort is likely pointless and it’s very late for me.... and I am very tired.
God bless you all.....
Sorry, no sale.
Dear old Dad always said, “Once the parasites outnumber the hosts, it’s all over. America is dead. The Democrats win.”
Well, guess what?
I’m doing both. Doing as much of the Galt thing as possible...but still fighting every step of the way. I’ll be out of the fulltime employment rolls by the end of the month. I’ve joined two local Tea Party groups and about to add a third. All are in my area and each bring good things to the table. Each group, while maintaining strong limited government and fiscal responsibility mainstays, focuses on different issues important to them on the local level. One concentrates on the school system, another is active on the judicial system. It will be interesting to see what the new group is concentrating on. A diverse range of of issues, wich will help me focus on those I’m most passionate about.
Amen, Amen, Amen! I haven’t seen one of your posts in a while, but it sure doesn’t disappoint! This is not a drill. We are in a fight for our very lives.
A Happy. Healthy, & Prosperous New Year to you & yours!
But guys, we're not living in France. We're not living in the Netherlands. On the local and state level, most of us Freepers are in a lot less bad situation than what most European conservatives face, and apart from Freepers living in San Francisco or the District of Columbia or similar places, I think nearly all of us, even in the worst and most liberal states, have at least some options.
And let's not forget that even in places like the Netherlands, they still have several fairly decent conservative parties, two of which are explicitly Christian conservative parties, whose members know they'll never win at the national level or even the provincial level, but can and do win local elections and run local councils and boards to keep things at least someone decent in their small towns and farming areas.
I seriously wonder if most of the people complaining about the Republican Party have actually tried to fix problems locally, where their firsthand personal actions could actually help, or if they're giving up without much effort.
Are people here aware that we have a Freeper from the Class of 1998 who got sworn in this week to a county with a $250 million budget, defeating a Republican incumbent during the primary and fighting against a county board of supervisors that likes insider financial deals and doesn't like public input? Hildy Angius happens to be a politically conservative Jewish woman, originally from New York, which must be a delicious irony for her to throw in the face of leftists. I think it's fair to say she's seen worse liberalism than most of us Freepers have ever faced.
I can't post the full text because it's an Associated Press article, but what appears to be a great profile piece on Hildy Angius and how she got active in politics appears here:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/19/takes-action-tea-party-backers-explain-journey-enraged-engaged/#ixzz2H1CQ95ij
Scroll down past the initial section and you'll find gems like this:
“Her accent screams Long Island and she seems better suited for an episode of ‘The Real Housewives of New York City’ than the Chaparral Country Club in Bullhead City. Yet here she is, Hildy Angius, holding court with three older gentlemen who've just finished a round of golf in this retirement community in the far northwest corner of Arizona... Spotting an opening, Angius launches into the speech she delivers these days to friends and strangers alike, whether at tea party rallies, the local coffee shop or on Facebook. The upshot: Don't gripe, do something. Vote. Volunteer. Knock on doors. Do, in essence, what she's now doing: Whatever it takes to move the Republican Party, and the government, to the right... An avid Rush Limbaugh fan, she's called in to his show on any number of occasions.
Still, she acknowledges she did little more than complain until September 2008, when she realized Barack Obama was likely to win the presidency, bringing to office a far too liberal agenda that would mean the kind of changes Angius vehemently opposes. Never before a ‘joiner,’ she went online, learned about the Colorado River Republican Women, went to a meeting and found an outlet for her dismay.”
That, fellow Freepers, is a model in miniature of what we **ALL** need to be doing.
Here's the link to my post: http://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2974438/posts?page=133#133
Activism on the local level is what wins elections.
Words can change minds. Debating is not useless by any means.
But words without actions **ARE** worthless.
If you don't like your local Republican leaders, get involved in your local party and try to change their minds. If you can't, run for office yourself and try to get rid of them. If you can't do that, then go look at third party options.
But try the first steps first before jumping ship.
They will not go into enemy territory and capture territory.
We held our own with as many in 2012 as we'd had in 2008.
Our big drop came between 2004 and 2008 ~ 4 million lost voters.
Now, the problem, we've got about 2/3 of the country who are old enough to vote. That's over 200 million people. The Democrats don't even get 1/3 of that potential vote!
We are as bad, but THEY ARE OUT THERE.
Registration and Get Out The Vote programs are vital ~ we can win every election if we get out more Republican oriented voters.
There is not nearly as much to fix locally as nationally. I live in a blue state, but if it’s bad enough, I can move or enact change at the county level.
The problem is the Federal monster, which for 100 years has gotten us in useless wars and killed us, taxed our earnings, regulated us, made our currency worthless, and forced us and our descendants into never-ending debt to other nations. All this while exceeding the rule of law, the conditions upon which our states agreed to enter into this union.
I do not think this author read Atlas Shrugged. Agree with it or not, by reading it you have to think through the question: whether, by staying in the fray, economically or politically, we perpetuate the tyranny.
The author also fails to consider other ways that possibly don’t enable statism. Changing a corrupt government or a corrupt party may not be possible, due to how those in power have set it up.
Consider other legal ways that may take decades, but have a chance: a third “limited Federal” party, or secession.
Amen and Amen!
I am getting sick and tired of listening to defeatism and negativism among conservatives. Just exactly why is it that we are on the defensive? Has the San Francisco City Council asserted some sort of pretended authority over the state legislatures of Georgia and Texas? Are the county commissions of Missouri and Iowa under the power of Chicago?
Defeatism is a device of the Devil, designed to disarm us.
I'm a lifelong Republican, my father was a Republican Party official while I was growing up, and by any definition of the word, I am a hard-right Christian conservative.
I've also spent my entire adult life in journalism. My wife is a clinical psychologist. It's hard to think of many professions more liberal than that.
We've both had problems in our careers. We're also both succeeding against some pretty difficult odds. Put bluntly, if we can do it, so can lots of other people in far less liberal professions.
We read this from the lips of Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:18-19: “...and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The gates of hell are not offensive weapons, but defensive. We're supposed to be taking the fight to the enemy, not huddling in caves afraid the enemy will find us.
That role of hiding in caves is for the **OTHER SIDE** — read Revelation 6:15-17:
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
I can understand why a secular conservative may be depressed, disappointed, and veer toward defeatism. I don't agree, but I do understand. Things can look pretty bad at times if we don't know there is a God who rules the world and overrules evil people.
But for Christians, and also for conservative Jewish believers, there is no valid reason to be defeatist. While I'm pinging this to the “Great Reformed Ping List” — we of all people ought to affirm the sovereignty of God — this isn't distinctively Reformed doctrine (even though Abraham Kuyper would have liked what I'm writing, knowing that not one square inch of God's creation is free from his sovereign rule). The concept that God rules, and that He will win in the end, should be something all Christians, whether evangelical Protestants or traditional Roman Catholics, should be able to affirm, along with Orthodox and other conservative Jewish people.
Defeatism should be limited to secularists who deny the power of God and who see only what is in front of their eyes. No Judeo-Christian believer should be a defeatist.
The church has seen far darker days than we have today. Jewish believers have seen the depths of the Holocaust, and for nearly two thousand years had good reason to believe the end of Jewish political resistance was Masada.
Go take a look at the rise of the modern state of Israel if you want to look at a group of people who had every reason to be depressed and despondent, but who put their fury into something constructive. Can any of us as American conservatives say we've faced greater odds than Israel?
We, as conservatives in America, have far less excuse for defeatism than they did. And I would go so far as to say that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will not treat us kindly if we, as Americans, fail to stand up for truth when we have every legal right to do so.
Remember, the gates of Hell, i.e., the works of Satan, are supposed to be attacked and broken down. It is the liberals, not us, who are supposed to be on the defensive.
We forget that at our peril.
Amen and Amen!
I am getting sick and tired of listening to defeatism and negativism among conservatives. Just exactly why is it that we are on the defensive? Has the San Francisco City Council asserted some sort of pretended authority over the state legislatures of Georgia and Texas? Are the county commissions of Missouri and Iowa under the power of Chicago?
Defeatism is a device of the Devil, designed to disarm us.
I'm a lifelong Republican, my father was a Republican Party official while I was growing up, and by any definition of the word, I am a hard-right Christian conservative.
I've also spent my entire adult life in journalism. My wife is a clinical psychologist. It's hard to think of many professions more liberal than that.
We've both had problems in our careers. We're also both succeeding against some pretty difficult odds. Put bluntly, if we can do it, so can lots of other people in far less liberal professions.
We read this from the lips of Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:18-19: “...and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The gates of hell are not offensive weapons, but defensive. We're supposed to be taking the fight to the enemy, not huddling in caves afraid the enemy will find us.
That role of hiding in caves is for the **OTHER SIDE** — read Revelation 6:15-17:
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
I can understand why a secular conservative may be depressed, disappointed, and veer toward defeatism. I don't agree, but I do understand. Things can look pretty bad at times if we don't know there is a God who rules the world and overrules evil people.
But for Christians, and also for conservative Jewish believers, there is no valid reason to be defeatist. While I'm pinging this to the “Great Reformed Ping List” — we of all people ought to affirm the sovereignty of God — this isn't distinctively Reformed doctrine (even though Abraham Kuyper would have liked what I'm writing, knowing that not one square inch of God's creation is free from his sovereign rule). The concept that God rules, and that He will win in the end, should be something all Christians, whether evangelical Protestants or traditional Roman Catholics, should be able to affirm, along with Orthodox and other conservative Jewish people.
Defeatism should be limited to secularists who deny the power of God and who see only what is in front of their eyes. No Judeo-Christian believer should be a defeatist.
The church has seen far darker days than we have today. Jewish believers have seen the depths of the Holocaust, and for nearly two thousand years had good reason to believe the end of Jewish political resistance was Masada.
Go take a look at the rise of the modern state of Israel if you want to look at a group of people who had every reason to be depressed and despondent, but who put their fury into something constructive. Can any of us as American conservatives say we've faced greater odds than Israel?
We, as conservatives in America, have far less excuse for defeatism than they did. And I would go so far as to say that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will not treat us kindly if we, as Americans, fail to stand up for truth when we have every legal right to do so.
Remember, the gates of Hell, i.e., the works of Satan, are supposed to be attacked and broken down. It is the liberals, not us, who are supposed to be on the defensive.
We forget that at our peril.
Not me. My money and support always seems to have helped RINOs. I have had it.
A post/comment left at the site of this article. Something to reflect on AdaGray......
“To know your enemy, you must become your enemy. If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.” - Sun Tzu
Please provide more specifics. Ancient Chinese warrior/philosophers won’t change my mind. I live in the heart of Blue State America. Twenty five years ago I was an elected local Democrat official. I have fought against them time and again since then. (I am now registered to vote as a Conservative in NY State). I know how the Left thinks and operates. Where is the leadership? Who will step up and fight like a savage and scream like a Banshee against them? Why does Left’s opposition alway appear to be a bunch of back-slapping golf buddies with no balls? I have had it.
'Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.”
Regards,
The only reason I can see for anyone in office as a Republican is for the single purpose of enriching themselves in both power and money at the expense of destroying freedom, liberty and the Constitution...nothing else.
It’s a proven fact so far. The selection of the speaker of the house is a flagrant example of this.
What this means is that no matter what the (staged) the Republicans put up against the Democrats, the (planned) outcome is that the Democrats always win no matter what.
The Republicans always lose in anything they do in the name of COMPROMISE. Democrats usually win all compromises with a 60% or better outcome in their favor. The Republicans claim great victory when they lose the other 40%.
We are in a boat (our liberty and freedom) that has a large hole in it and the Republicans are bailing it out with a spoon. Meanwhile the Democrats are doing nothing to help.
No matter what, the boat will sink.
We all have to face the fact that the Republican party cannot be fixed because it has already been “fixed” by lobbyist, special interest, the banking industry, crony capitalists and a whole host of parasites sucking our freedoms away in exchange for Republican “favors.”
Corruption is the name of the game and the people have lost.
We have very little time to replace the Republican party with another one that represents conservatives, if at all possible. We have two generations coming up behind us and they have been programmed by leftists in our 1-12 and college indoctrination centers along with a biased news and entertainment system. They are now in the majority and will vote for Democrats no matter what. Worse yet, they greatly outnumber us conservatives.
What this is all about is that we conservatives may have already passed the tipping point in the balance of liberals verses conservatives and will never gain control of our country again.
I sincerely believe that this is the “last hurrah” and that drastic action must be taken to educate all to the facts and if extreme action is not taken within the next year to form a national conservative party on all levels, all is lost.
I am not a “defeatist” but a “realist.”
You can pray to Gods, Deities, and other religious beliefs for help but help will not come until you (conservatives) actually physically do something.
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