It was a good day.  [Some of the below was in a comment I posted to another Redstater's diary.]

Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling formally kicked off their campaign for Virginia’ governor and lt. governor in Annandale.  Nice turnout, which the Fairfax GOP numbered at 700.  The crowd was quite receptive to the McDonnell/Bolling ticket’s positions on preserving life, protecting Virginia’s right to work status and developing Virginia’s offshore resources.

In addition to the McDonnell/Bolling rally, we had Mark Levin’s book signing in Tyson’s Corner.  There was video here posted by another Redstater, I just can’t find it to link to.  There were hundreds there.  Sure some of the folks in Tyson’s were from surrounding counties, and possibly from Maryland (a/k/a the People’s Republic) and DC (a/k/a the Un-State), but that’s OK.

Tomorrow (March 30), there is a planned anti-tax rally to be held at the Fairfax County Government Center.  The anti-tax rally is aimed at property taxes, so I’m not sure it this can properly be called a Tea Party, but I think it’s close enough.  Go to www.northernvirginiagop.com for more info.  I hope they have a large turnout.

If anyone out there can be at the Fairfax County Government Center between 6pm-7pm, please try to make it. I just learned about this rally yesterday and my time is already claimed.  Hopefully we’ll have many more (and better publicized) rallies in Fairfax and Northern Virginia generally.

I am a Conservative.  I always have been.  I believe in self reliance, self determination, individual responsibility and personal liberty.  If I fail at something, I innovate and try harder.  If I succeed at something, I capitalize on it so as to obtain the maximum benefit.  I suspect that most Redstaters are like-minded.

I am a Conservative.  I always have been.  I believe in self restraint, unobtrusive behavior, humble disposition and quiet reserve.  I do not much like to draw much attention to myself.  Again, I suspect that quite a few Redstaters are in this category.

In the past, I did my duty by going to the polls each November to vote for whomever I thought best reflected my views.  Usually that vote was for the Republican, but at times Libertarians and write-ins were my preference.  My candidate would win at times and lose at times.  When my candidate lost, I knew that my elected representatives would likely vote contrary to my views.  However, things generally stayed the same and I passively waited until the next election to try again … and life went on.

Back then, the American Dream meant becoming a millionaire.  To receive the full benefit of your labor and production.  To do or acquire what you want, when you want, for whomever you want.  To have more than enough to take care of you and yours.  To be successful.  To be secure.

Now, things are not staying roughly the same.  Today, things have a far different feel.  Things are changing fanatically, violently and chillingly.  Life will still go on, but I fear it will be a very different and very limited life.

Today, the American Dream (at least in today’s rhetoric) is earning $249,999.  Earn $1 more, and you are reviled by the press and politicians.  You face repressive taxes.  You may even lose the right to share your financial success with the charity of your choice.  Become financially successful and you are suspect.  You are typecast as greedy.  Your home is visited by hostile protestors.   You become a target.  Success, innovation, incentive and profit are under attack.  Soon, what you earn is not necessarily yours.  “Just enough, but no more” seems to be the new lowest common denominator mentality being promoted by those in power … though they call it “fairness”.   

Things are changing.  The target on the free press is slowly being zeroed in…interestingly, also called “fairness”.   The law of contract is in jeopardy with cram downs and weaponization of the tax code.  International treaties and agreements are on the verge of being abrogated.  Even the by-product of my autonomic respiration is now deemed to be a harmful “greenhouse gas”.   Is it really a stretch to envision a population control program in the form of a respiratory CO2 cap-and-trade plan?  Yes, things are changing, and it is anathema.

I am seething.  I am afraid.  I am NOT passive any longer.  I am changing.

I was a quiet reserved Conservative.  No more.  In the words of the President, I am getting in their face.  And the more they try to ignore me, the more I will challenge them, confront them, defy them.

Never before had bumper stickers adorned my car.  They do now, with McDonnell, Bolling and Cuccinelli emblazoned across my bumper.

Never before had I appeared at the polls as anything more than a voter.   I do now, having spent 15 hours working the polls at the cold drizzly precinct in November.

Never before did Congress hear my voice. They do now … daily and much to their annoyance I am sure.

Never before did I publicly express myself.  I do now, thanks to RedState.com.  I’ve even tried my amateurish hand at sporadically blogging here.

Never before have I attended a political rally.  I will be in Lafayette Park in DC on April 15 brandishing a fine assortment of Darjeeling and Earl Grey.  If at all possible, I will be armed with Orange Pekoe and Oolong on April 25 in Annandale, Virginia.

Never before has a candidate received anything more than a vote from me.  Starting this Spring, I will be contributing money, time and, if possible, my back yard for fund raisers. 

Rarely have yard signs appeared in my yard.  They do now.  In particular, a nice home-made, hand-painted sandwich board that measures 4ft x 4ft and weighs in excess of 65 pounds (to deter those denizens of Fairfax County that specialize in the theft of GOP/Conservative signs).  When I put this BAITF … that would be “Big A** In Their Face” … sign out with “Vets for McCain” in Novmber, I received numerous honks, waves and salutes.  I also heard lamentations from the Democrat poll workers at the precinct, because my sign was VERY visible on a VERY busy road across the street from the VERY busy grocery store … oh … and it wasn’t stolen. 

[The BAITF sign will go back out after school ends.  BAITF is currently awaiting a new catchy message for the Virginia elections, so I am actively soliciting suggestions.]

Yes,  things are changing.  I am a Conservative and I am fighting back.

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UPDATED: 3/27/2009 a.m.

Before I said … “Never before has a candidate received anything more than a vote from me.  Starting this Spring, I will be contributing money, time and, if possible, my back yard for fund raisers. ”

Jim Tedisco up in NY-20, just received a campaign contribution from me.  Sure it was small, but every bit helps.   It is time to stop the bleeding.

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UPDATED: 3/27/2009 p.m.

Before I said … “Never before have I attended a political rally.”

Tomorrow (3/28/09) I will be at the Bob McDonnel kickoff rally in Annandale.  Hope to pick up some yard signs and meet some other Redstaters.

In no way should the U.S. government regulate, oversee, limit or otherwise intrude in the field of executive pay, bonuses or oher compensation.  I do not care that the Democrat-controlled Congress has intruded into private business and now feels entitled to run those businesses.  The Congress was not designed by the Framers to be this intrusive.  You have over-reached and this Republic is in peril because of it.

The Democrat-controlled Congress, through it’s UTTER FAILURE to read the stimulus package quite effectively voted to ALLOW the AIG bonuses.  Pres. Obama then signed the legislation making it the law of the land, whether you like it or not.

I am NOT outraged by the bonuses.

I am outraged at the Democrat-controlled Congress pushing so hard to destroy the law of contract. 

I am outraged at the Democrat-controlled Congress voting for the bailouts all thoughout 4Q08.

I am outraged at the Democrat-controlled Congress refusing to conduct investigations into the POLICYMAKERS (e.g. your Congressional colleagues) who fed, fostered, promoted and directly benefitted by the sub-prime mortgage problem.

I am outraged that the Democrat-controlled Congress continues to divert, obfuscate and circumlocute about the true cause of this financial crisis (HINT:  it was the sub-primes not executive bonuses).

I am outraged at the clear pattern of shielding the guilty that the Democrat-controlled Congress has engaged in for months. (HINT: Dodd, Frank, Raines, Johnson, Gorelick, etc.)

I am outraged that the Democrat-controlled Congress confirmed an inept tax cheat as Treasury Secretary.

YOU, in your fancy offices and with your lobbyist friends have caused this mess. The stimulus package, the omnibus spending package and the proposed Obama budget WILL ONLY PROLONG THIS CRISIS.

How pathetically egotistical of the Democrat administration and Democrat-controlled Congress to assume that you are even qualified to dictate compensation practices to private business.

The Democrat-controlled Congress has done more to undermine the founding principles of this Republic in the past 3 months than you can imagine.

Do NOT support any legislation limiting or regulating executive pay or other compensation in any way.

Do NOT support any more bailouts of any kind to financials, newspaper, auto manufacturers, defaulting mortgage borrowers or any group of individuals.

Do NOT support the further cancerous growth of government.

Please do not support the stimulus plan currently before the Senate.  Throwing money around will not solve anything.  It did not work for Hoover and Roosevelt in the 1930s.  It did not work for Japan in the 1990s.  It will not work now.

If we must have a stimulus package, a far better stimulus package that would aid struggling families and get spending moving would be to simply give a $1000 tax rebate to every man, woman and child in the U.S.  No excluding people for being too “rich”; no excluding people for being too “poor” to pay taxes.  Just give everyone $1,000. With a population of 310,000,000, such a plan would “cost” $310Billion…less than half of the $780Billion now proposed.

Let the people decide how the money should be spent…be it new tires, lasik surgery, groceries or home repairs.  We, the people, are far better decision makers than any bureaucrat, Congressman or Senator.  My household would receive $7,000…enough to buy my daughter her first (used) car AND repair the dishwasher AND pay for a $2500 battery of tests to finally diagnose the mental, behavioral and cognitive disabilities in our adopted son.

I can assure you that these things have far more value than any “stimulus” plan that comes out of DC.  And I am sure that every other family in America has a similar set of “family earmarks” that you and your colleagues can’t understand.

Do not support the current stimulus plan.

Cross-posted at FairfaxGardener.