The public was outraged once again, last fall when it was revealed that the Boy Scouts had a history of not reporting child sexual abuse dating back to as recently as early 1990s. The Boy Scouts report that they have changed their policies to address their past failures. I realize that “times were different” back then. It is, however, no excuse for anyone who did not act to protect children. Unfortunately, we saw last year at Penn State that very powerful men can be weak in preventing child sexual abuse.

What does this have to do with Kermit Gosnell? When I look at these scandals and the natural public reactions: how could the church enable these men; how could the Scouts protect these men; how could Penn State stand by that man? How could so many people just look the other way and ignore evil ? It is with a heavy heart that I see it is very easily done and that it is on full display today. Our society is looking the other way right now. While a man whose crimes remind me of creepy ghost stories stands trial, our media and we as a people are collectively out to lunch.

Kermit Gosnell ran two multimillion dollar abortion practices. Gosnell could face the death penalty in deaths of 7 infants born alive in botched abortions. He has a long history of criminal behavior, with a reported forced abortion in 1998 on a 15 year old girl. Gosnell performed abortions for cash to poor women that were past the 24 week state legal requirement. His clinic was filthy with blood stained blankets, cat feces and jars of severed feet of aborted babies. Gosnell’s unsafe practices jeopardized the life of many of the women and resulted in the 2009 death of Karnamaya Mongor. Most gruesome is the descriptions of how the doctor and his staff would snip the necks of babies to insure fetal death after removal from the womb.

The trial for Gosnell began on March 18th, but the major news networks haven’t covered the trial at all. The problem is that Gosnell was performing abortions. The right, even entitlement, of abortion on demand is a key tenet of progressive doctrine. Coverage of this trial would be bound to raise questions about the morality of abortion, particularly late term abortions. Recently, Planned Parenthood, expressed opposition to a Florida law that would have required medical treatment for babies born alive in botched abortions. This too, provoked little outrage or publicity. Our sensitivity to the treatment of tiny babies born alive is so small that we twice elected a President that also expressed opposition to such a law while he served as an Illinois State Senator

I am dumbfounded at the contrast between our concern for children of child sexual abuse in church, scouts and other organizations and our apathy for unwanted babies born in abortion clinics. The adults that spoke out about their experiences being molested as children, were heroes. They changed our society to be more responsive to children in danger. Unfortunately, victims of botched abortions are unable to speak out.

The workers in Gosnell’s clinic found ways around facing the reality of what was happening by using different terms for fetal remains. I would imagine that priests and Boy Scout leaders guilty of hiding and enabling child sexual abuse found ways to divorce their minds from reality. Today, we are also looking away so that we don’t have to face what really happens in an abortion. We are avoiding the Gosnell case so we don’t have to ask ourselves if it is not OK to snip the neck of a baby born alive, why is it OK to do it to a fetus still inside the womb? I would not be so easy to dismiss the impact of this betrayal of life on our own lives. If we can ignore the horrors of the Gosnell clinic, what other evils will we ignore? Who else will we abandon? Will we respond to quality of care issues in our new govt. run healthcare system, also a tenet to progressive doctrine? (For a look inside our future: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273054/Thousands-NHS-staff-admit-wouldnt-want-families-treated-hospitals-care-poor.html.)

A priest dismissed from the Catholic Church in early 1990s quoted in the 2002 Boston Globe story had this to say about the Church coverup: “What they were protecting was their notion that the church is the perfect society.” Is that what progressives are doing today?

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. https://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/preventionmonth/

The unification of these two districts will be challenging as the systems are very different. Memphis City Schools have over 100,000 students and is the largest district in the state of TN, while Shelby County Schools have less than 50,000. The city schools spend more than 2,000 per pupil than the county schools. Standardized testing results show that roughly 26% of city school students are proficient in reading and 23% are proficient in math. Results from testing of Shelby County schools show that 57% are proficient in reading and 49% are proficient in math. Ninety percent of students in the city schools are classified as economically disadvantaged, while 37% in the county schools meet that criteria.

While it has been portrayed as a “merger” that would “save” costs in administration, the reality of what this merger will mean to students in the county and their families is far different. Memphis City Schools have high administration costs. The former superintendent of city schools often traveled with a large security entourage and at least two administrators have been caught being regularly driven to and from work and around town by security personnel. The chief of security for Memphis city schools oversees 120 employees and makes 40% more than the police director for the city of Memphis who oversees 3000 employees. City schools have been criticized for the large number of assistant superintendents getting high salaries and at one time, there were more employees of the district working outside the classroom than inside the classroom. Even in the construction costs for new schools, the Memphis City schools spent significantly more per sq. foot than county schools.

It is doubtful that a combined school system will be able to support this level of excessive spending. In fact, the new unified school board requested an additional $145 million in their budget. This request was denied and the latest request is for an additional 65 million dollars in revenue. In order to get to the lower figure the unified school board cut staffing at many of the suburban (currently Shelby County) schools, which had already been spending less per pupil than the city school system. A property tax of 9.9% which is the most the county expects to be able to pass would only generate 45 million in revenue. The finances of the unification are a nightmare, but that is just part of the story.

Citizens living outside Memphis that send their kids to Shelby County Schools have tried to form their own municipal school districts in order to avoid being swallowed up by the much larger Memphis city schools. State laws passed in 1982 and 1998 prevent the creation of the special school districts, and new municipal school districts. A new state law was passed that specifically addressed the issues in Shelby county allowing for the creation of new school districts. Four municipalities in the county have voted overwhelmingly to form their own school system and fund it with an additional increase in sales tax. Yes, we voted for higher taxes. In my city 80% of the votes on this measure were in support. The county commission, which has supported the unified school district, was not satisfied with that result and sued the municipalities (yes our own government sued us) to prevent the formation of the new school districts and they won as the judge did not see the state law as being valid since it specifically applied to Shelby County.

The fight has not been limited to Courthouse and mediation rooms. County politicians are accusing supporters of municipal school systems of racism for opposing the unified district. It is true that the city schools have a higher proportion of non-white students, but the entire community is a mixed community. What I find most troublesome about this attack is that it sends the message to students in the city schools that people don’t want them in their schools because of their race. This will serve to further divide the community and it doesn’t actually reflect the feelings and the people that are behind the municipal school initiatives. I volunteered when we voted for the districts. Supporters were coming from all races and it appeared a variety of income levels. Additionally blaming the issue on race completely ignores the poor management of Memphis City schools that has made the district the worst performing in the state. Municipal school supporters are also concerned about the very large size of the district diminishing their voice in the education of their children.

As the march towards unification goes on, the tactics of that support unification have only gotten more outrageous. An outside group, Stand for Children, has poured in over $200,000 in money collected outside Shelby County to this effort. They are currently lobbying in the TN state house to prevent any new measures for municipal school districts. The new unified school board has already expressed a desire to scrub the name Shelby County Schools and have the district carry the Memphis as part of its name. While this is largely symbolic, it begs the question do these politicians really want to represent all of Shelby County? The latest and most disturbing move is that the county plans to add 6 members to the school board to be appointed by the same County Commission that blocked the formation of municipal school districts. These school board members will join 7 members elected county wide that are already serving on the board. This move in my view isn’t all that different than the court packing scheme by FDR during the Great Depression. Eventually, the appointed members will have to be re-elected, but that won’t be until 2014 after many of the key decisions on budget cuts for consolidation have been made. Essentially, the county commission that has blocked municipal schools will be able to name half the board members that will be making the decisions on how funding is allocated between the current Memphis City Schools and the current Shelby County Schools.

At every opportunity the county government has sought to block citizens outside Memphis from having a say in their child’s education. The court costs for this battle have exceeded 2 million dollars and there is no end in sight. When your own government is suing you with your own tax dollars there aren’t a lot of options. Our TN Representatives and Senators have introduced a new bill into the statehouse, SB1353 and TNHB 1288. This bill is designed to allow Shelby county to create new districts and address the concerns that the judge raised on the earlier bill applying to only Shelby County. Many of the arguments against municipal school districts is that they’d be smaller in size and thus, less efficient. In the case of Shelby County, the district would be one of the largest districts in the country with 150,000 students. In 2002, the 100 largest school districts had 45,000 or more students in it. The individual municipal school districts would be more average in size than the unified district. It would give parents a larger say in the education of their children and it would be more tailored to the needs of the community. As populations change, it would be beneficial for all citizens of Tennessee to have more options, should they be caught in a situation like we are in Shelby county where we are facing higher taxes, losing our teachers, support staff, our district name and our voice.

Our tea party focuses on local, state and federal issues. We split up responsibilities for each of these areas among the group, and have a group of activists specifically focused on each area. My activism has largely been on a local level. We monitor city and county agenda meetings and get involved on zoning, taxes, schools and all spending measures. Last fall we discovered that one of our county commissioners was introducing an ordinance to combat wage theft at a county level.

Wage Theft is a term widely used in Progressive circles for the practice of under-paying employees, forcing them to work off the clock or not paying over-time and any violation of state and federal laws for employee compensation. While this practice is illegal and immoral, it is not clear how large a problem it is. If you Google wage theft you will likely find a numbers of wage theft cases against non-unionized workplaces.

Last year, the wage theft fight went local. It started with a study from Florida International University, authors Cynthia S. Hernandez and Carol Stipek, estimating that between 60 and 90 million dollars are taken from Florida workers per year. More information on the group behind the study can be found http://www.risep-fiu.org/. Claiming that there was not sufficient federal or state law to address wage theft unions and community activist organizations worked to have local laws enacted to address wage theft. Both Broward and Dade Counties passed wage theft ordinances last year. These ordinances make it very easy to file a claim and carry heavy penalties for companies found in violation of the policy. In Broward County unions are also allowed to make claims to the county.

A Democrat Commissioner for my county in TN worked to bring forth wage theft legislation modeled after the Dade county ordinance for parts of our county, while the city of Memphis itself is considering the legislation as well. Worker’s Interfaith Network based in Memphis supported the measure. The Mid-South Tea Party local group decided to oppose this legislation as it goes above and beyond state and federal law to create an extra enforcement bureaucracy leaving businesses more vulnerable to frivolous or illegitimate claims. It is difficult to measure the impact such an ordinance would have on business, but even the most ethical of companies are vulnerable to claims from disgruntled employees. The cost of fighting the claim may be more than simply paying off the complaining employee or former employee. Either way it is an additional expense for businesses that already must comply with state and federal law on wage issues.

When a business leader spoke out against the ordinance, “WIN” started a PR campaign against his place of employment falsely accusing the business of supporting wage theft despite the fact that there were no claims of wage theft against this business. WIN planned a protest against the business. Our local team had been monitoring the website for this organization and tipped off the manager of the targeted business about the protest and they were able to hire extra security for the protest. The tea party also decided to stage a counter protest in support of the right of businesses to speak out against bad legislation.

It was very difficult to come up with a strategy to counter-act a protest in favor of something as emotionally charged as wage theft legislation. Claims that something is anti-business have limited appeal, particularly in progressive areas. We focused our counter protest on the fact that they were falsely accusing the business of wage theft simply because they spoke out. Our protest focused on the importance of jobs, free speech, and fair dialogue.

Things I learned from the protest.
1.) The media will catch at your worst moment. The camera is the most important thing. Don’t let the other side get you off message.
2.) The best sound-bytes won’t be on the newscast. So take your own video
3.) Politicians sound completely different when caught off camera.

I was mostly disappointed that the media did not air a stellar interview with an employee of the business under protest. She was fabulous speaking in defense of her employer. The protest by WIN jeopardized the reputation of this business and consequently the jobs of the employees at that particular business, Our counter-protest was well-received among the employees we encountered.

Final votes on the ordinance came on the heels of the protest. First the County Commission had Committee meetings to discuss the ordinance. Our group had done research to outline the actual cost a business might incur with this ordinance over a relatively small claim of wage theft. We discussed where our metro area ranks as business friendly (50 out of 50), and emphasized that this bill creates an additional bureaucracy making business conditions more uncertain for people looking to employ people in our area. Plus, once they have the separate ordinance in place beyond state and federal law, it could be expanded to have different pay rates and other requirements for hiring in our area, making it more desirable to employ people in neighboring counties. Recent census data shows that people and businesses do tend to leave ares of high regulation and high tax burden.

The big vote was January 14th. Prior to the vote, a republican county commissioner sought to get tax and donor records from WIN that was backing the ordinance. They did not comply. We also learned that WIN works out of AFL-CIO headquarters. Despite this revealing information we could not discuss the union connection out of fear of alienating some of the commission members in a highly democrat county. WIN had brought about 20-30 people to the meeting. We heard testimony in support of the ordinance from union leaders, religious leaders, lawyers and citizens with personal stories (or stories of people they know) speak in support of the ordinance. They also brought professionally made signs. Our local tea party group followed up with the same arguments and concerns expressed at Committee meetings. The ordinance was also opposed by restaurant and hospitality business groups and The Chamber of Commerce.

Unfortunately, as a citizen activist, I had to leave the meeting before the vote, my but fellow activists stayed to the end and the ordinance was defeated. We won!

This took a lot of effort and it didn’t come easily. Our local group has been monitoring county meetings and speaking out against and for various proposals for years. We have spoken out and exchanged communication among commission members. It started out opposing a simple ordinance, but over time many in our group now have relationships with both democrat and republican members of our commission. It took a lot of effort for us to get to where we are, and we have a long way to go, but these are the steps we have to take to get our community back.

Other facts about local wage theft legislation
1.) Palm Beach county Florida allocated additional funds to allow wage theft victims to have the legal backing to go through existing channels for relief.
2.) A business group in Florida is considering commissioning a study on the impact of local wage theft ordinances on local business.
3.) More counties are continuing to take up wage theft legislation.

One of biggest challenges facing the nation and Tennessee is how to deal with Obamacare. Obama’s signature achievement dodged a bullet in Tennessee when a health care bill designed to get around Obamacare was defeated on the last day of the session when repubicans would not vote, despite previously expressing support for the legislation. How can we deal with Obamacare in 2012? With challenge comes opportunity, and citizens across the state are responding. The recent redistricting brings the opportunity to offer new challenges to entrenched incumbents and 20 of 64 House Republicans are in contested primaries. Debra Maggart, herself, faces a primary challenge in Retired Lt. Col. Courtney Rogers of Goodlettsville. Rogers is retired from a 28 year career in the armed forces including boots on the ground experience in Operation Just Cause (US invasion of Panama to oust Noriega). Rogers is passionate about liberty and the duty that each citizen has to take their liberty. As someone who has served around that world and studied Cold War Soviets in college, Rogers understands and articulates the dangers of totalitarianism and the toll it takes on the human spirit. She speaks light-heartedly about the administration’s numerous watch lists, but she credits these and other Obama policies with urging her to share her views in the public square.

Already Republicans are starting to take sides on this race. Governor Haslam is supporting Debra Maggart and is participating in fundraising for her, while former State Senator Kerry Roberts is showing his support for Rogers. The Tennessee Firearms Association is targeting Maggart for blocking an up or down voter on the House floor for a gun rights bill. As majority caucus chair, Maggart has influence on how Tennessee state house is run and by blocking the gun rights law she has shown her willingness to use that power. For this reason, the primary in TN district 45 should be of interest for all Tennessee Republicans. For tea party activists, defeating Maggart could be vital to getting key legislation passed in the 2012 session. This district did change since the last redistricting, and this will be the first time Maggart has faced primary opposition since winning office in 2004. Maggart has easily won in general election races as this is a predominately republican district.

At first glance, this appears to be a battle of an entrenched establishment Republican against a conservative opposition candidate, but there is more at stake than that. It is about what kind of message the 45th district want to send to repubicans in Nashville. The republican establishment does seem to be lining up behind Maggart, and that should not be a surprise. Rogers however is a top notch candidate and her voice and experience would be a refreshing change and an opportunity to see more conservative legislation in the 2013 session. Rogers understands the big picture. She gets it. The challenge will be getting her to Nashville to share that vision. The first obstacle is the Tennessee primary August 2nd.

Memphis is the home of Federal Express, and a number of other compaines.  In 1989-90, a group of entrepreneurs working in conjunction with a local museum, The Pink Palace, created The Society of Entrepreneurs to honor great local entrepreneurs and tout the benefits of starting a business in Memphis.   Its’ members include prominate figures in healthcare, chemical, real estate, business consulting, finance, construction and other industries.

Many people do not appreciate or more importantly understand entrepreneurs.  Entreprenuers are not likely to make the best of employees because of their desire to try their own ideas.  They take huge financial risks, borrowing money from family, friends a bank or even a venture capitalist.  Many entrepreneurs rise from humble beginnings.  The trials, tribulation and insights of some of these entrepreneurs are shared on the website www.societyofentrepreneurs.com.  

Although successful entrepreneurs do make a lot of money, it typically doesn’t last more than a few generations.    Future success and innovation depends on developing future entrepreneurs.  I would expect that there are many people who think we have enough rich people, or that the rich have enough, but if we take that position, we risk cutting of the lifeblood of our economy and competitiveness.  By failing to recognize the hard work, risks and rewards that face small businessowners their success is taken for granted and somehow deemed “unfair”.   Not everyone is cut out to be an enterprenuer.  I am not, but my family has benefited from some of the Society of Entrepreneur’s members by providing us jobs.   Instead of spreading the wealth of these successful, unique people we should be encouraging others to follow their dreams. 

Every politician today is saying we need to create more jobs.  Well it really isn’t that difficult to create a job. I could hire someone to butter my toast for me every morning.  Is that the kind of job that we need?  We need jobs that genuinely create value.  Jobs that grow the economy.  Entrepreneurs don’t just create jobs.  They define the job.  Without their risk and their idea, there is no job.  Has anyone at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations considered what it takes to “create a job” that has meaningful value?  They say they are well educated, but what is the benefit of that education if it leads them to a cold park with nothing but a sleeping bag and a tip jar?

Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express is perhaps the most well known member of the Society of Entrepreneurs.  The magazine cover in my office underscores the challenges facing visionarys to get buy in on their ideas.  One member described the journey as a taking a “leap of faith.” More than 30 years since that magazine cover came out Federal Express has touched people around the globe, and has made America a stronger country and Memphis a better place to live.

I think the hardest part of moving forward is accepting where you are.  Obama’s Presidency has highlighted the values of the political class and the media, including the entertainment industry.  The country is now divided more than ever.  Unfortunately, the advantage is still on the side of the lefts and the liberals.  The fact is that we have many inherent, structural problems in our society that have allowed the left to dictate the rules of political discourse. 

If we are to convince independents, moderates, ill-informed democrats that conservativism is best for their future, than we must acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead of us, and circumvent the inherent advantage the left has in getting its message out.   Tea Partiers and conservatives want drastic change, and we’d like to see it as quickly as possible.  Unfortunately, for many American, especially those that do not make the effort to inform themselves, change is not appealing.  It is not comforting, and they will find any way to support the status quo.  The left will paint conservatives as amoral, radical, misguided or ignorant, and many will believe that simply because they don’t want to face the truth of where we are as a country and what will need to be done to fix it. 

There is no magic formula for speaking the truth to these Americans.  But that should not keep us from acknowledging that we are asking people to see the world, their country and their President in a way they don’t want to see them.  The Dresden Flags, and bizarre anti-Obama shrines that you might see rolling down a CA freeway may just drive them away.   I’d like to think about some ways that we can draw them in.  The easiest and most direct way is through conversation.  I came up with a few “fun facts” that I tried to keep simple, but also relevant to most Americans.   if anyone has any other suggestions or anecdotes that might be helpful, I would love to hear them.

On the surface the interference by the federal government in Boeing’s decision to build in South Carolina is a union issue.  I’d like to make it more personal than that.  In the past the community that offers the best overall package to a company will get the facility.  If the federal governemnt can start making these decisions rather than the company, than it could affect any community.  In a time of high unemployment, everyone is scrambling for jobs.  What if the government were to take away a business investment from your community to give it to thier political favorites.

More government power means more opportunity for corruption.  If the government is making the decisions that effect the livlihood of businesses, the businesses are working for the government not the consumers or the people working for them.

10 years ago a 250 Euro hotel room would cost about US$217, last month, it cost me $353.  The US dollar is declining

Stealing from Santorum here, but Obama’s foreign policy successes have come from his continuation of Bush’s policies. 

The deficit is too large to cover with the profits of all the Fortune 500 companies combined.  Fortune 500 combined profits in 2009 were $391 billion.   The deficit for 2011 is expected to top 1 trillion dollars.  Why are we blaming corporations for Washington’s spending problem?  http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/13/news/companies/fortune_500_profits.fortune/index.htm

Medicare will change:  The cost of this program is escalating out of the control.  Entitlement spending will consume the entire federal budget in 10 years.  There is no option to avoid changing Medicare.  Obama will have his Independent Patient Advisory Board to ration care to cut costs.  Everyone will get the same level of care.  Doctors and patients would no longer make the decisions on their care.  Paul Ryan’s plan is making an effort to save Medicare by making it more consumer focused.   

Mary Katherine Ham has noted that the nations roughly 400 billionaires have a net worth of approximately 1.3 trillion, while the deficit for 2011 is estimated to be 1.6 trillion.  The deficit cannot be covered on the backs of the rich.  http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/11/hammertime-moores-national-resources/

 My last point is one that I think about everyday.  As consumers we have the power to choose what products we want.  The corporations, driven by profit motive, try to respond to our desires through innovation and improving efficiencies of production.  Putting government between the consumer and the corporation will take away our power, and we as taxpayers will be paying our government to make decisions for us.  Is this really the kind of country we want for our kids? 

I want more people to see things my way, but some never will.  Meanwhile there are millions of Americans who do not want to think about or believe the things we at Red State talk about and debate every day.  Many of these Americans will be turned off by what they see as scare tactics.  There a many simple ways we can have these philosophical discussions that can gently sway opinions, change minds or even better, encourage fellow Americans to become more informed themselves.

Yesterday we had the county convention.  It was a beautiful day, and right in the middle of the NCAA tournament.  When we entered the building we were greeted with a slate of the suggested candidates that we vote for on each position.  We had specific seats to sit in inside the auditorium so each precinct would sit together, and roll call was done shortly after 3 pm.  No delagates would be seated after roll call, and one latecomer was denied the right to vote because she missed roll call. There was no opposition for the leading officers, including the chairman of the county Republican party.  Whew, I thought, this is not going to take long.  I heard someone say it usually takes a couple of hours, but I thought we could beat that.

Things got interesting when it came to the elections for at-large members of the steering committee.  According to my district’s outgoing steering committee member, the responsibilities of the steering committee range from deciding on how to spend the county’s money, endorsing candidates in non-partisan races such as judges, and candidate recruitment.   Last year, we did have a success story with a candidate for Shelby Country trustee.  The GOP did not have a candidate, and the committee found a good candidate with banking experience and he was elected in our sweep of county offices in late 2010. 

Each house district in the county gets to elect a member of the steering committee and there are 8 at-large positions elected during the convention.  Each at-large position was contested.  While the party did give us a list of suggested candidates by the party leaders, there were some very good candidates that were nominated to oppose the “establishment pick”.   For kicks I kept track of the tally.

At Large Position 1, Establishment Pick 121, Opposing 120

At Large Position 2, Establishment Pick 136, Opposing 107

At Large Position 3, Establishment Pick 132, Opposing 109

At Large Position 4, Establishment Pick 139, Opposing 98

At Large Position 5, Establishment Pick 109, Opposing 120

At Large Position 6, Establishment Pick 167, Opposing 59

At Large Position 7, Establishment Pick 105, Opposing 119

At Large Position 8, Establishment Pick won (I skipped out to the vending machine after we voted so I didn’t get the tally, but was told it wasn’t close).

You can see an increase in the delegates can make a difference.  Two establishment candidates were defeated by great candidates.   Other opposition candidates were also very good, despite the fact that they did not win.  That is not to say the establishment candidates were bad.  I knew and voted for three of them, and each of those was elected. 

What is remarkable to me, is that the party was clearly not prepared for close votes.  People who had been to the convention in the past indicated it never took this long.  The split in votes was acknowledged by some of the speakers as a good sign that more people were getting involved in the party.  It is my hope that some of these remarkable candidates that got defeated stay in the party and find other ways to contribute their skills, and the precinct delagates that sought to bring more diverse voices to the party stay involved. 

The precinct delegates representing each state district had a separate secret ballot election for the representative from their state district to the steering committee.  For my district we also went with someone new that has done volunteer work for the party.  It was also a close vote 19-16. 

In short, a few voices can make a difference.  While I did support some of the establishment picks, I was thrilled to get two really great candidates that were not picked by the party leadership into the steering committee.  Overall 5 of my chosen candidates made it.  It was incredibly easy to be a precinct delegate.  I just had to show up  at the caucuses.  The convention itself took close to 4 hours, but it was worth it.

There were some new delagates there that were so determined to get new voices into the party, that they only voted for opposing candidates.  Others did split their votes.  Of those I was sitting around, we all agreed that it was good to get some new people involved.  The message about the need for new blood in the party seems to be getting out.

The protests were not violent in any way. There were arguments between pro and anti health takeover forces, but no shouting.  One of the tea party leaders was actually a formerly homeless man that had lived under a bridge at one point in his life.  He knew hardship that most of us will never understand.  The Move-On group was led by a local black pastor, but aside from him the group was (sorry MSNBC) entirely white.  Many of them were older.  Much was said and nothing was resolved, but we did each sign a petition stating our position on the subject.  Ok, so what did I find disturbing?

It was a little frightening to hear the democrat talking points recited back at me like a little child reading a Bible verse without understanding the meaning.  The eyes of the protestors were vacant. Their demands were great. Their arguments were flimsy.  I sat there and asked myself, when did it become a virtue to demand something for free, and a vice to do as you choose with what you have earned?  I chatted with one woman who suggested that I might prefer a government job to my private sector job.  Her fondness of government bordered on creepy.  I didn’t really believe that there were many true socialists out there or that there would be so many people who could so easily be deceived and controlled.  It took me months to figure this out, but what bothered me most about this event was my reaction.

I felt uncomfortable standing up for my principles.  It seemed mean to tell people they should find a way to take care of themselves, that empowering individuals to take care of their needs is better for society as a whole.  I felt guilty for having what I have (which really isn’t a lot).  On an intellectual level, I knew these people were wrong, but I felt selfish and mean-spirited for standing up for my right to have what I have.   I couldn’t articulate the principle of why they were wrong.  My voice was stifled by guilt. 

President Obama and Vice-President Biden campaigned on saying well-off Americans (by their definition) should want to make sacrifices.  How are they or any of these health care protestors to know what sacrifices I have already made?  Sacrifice is not just measured in dollars. 

People who look upon me and my husband with jealousy and spite will not know about the extra years I spent in school making no money to be able to get a higher salary.  They will not know that my husband and I are in debt because of his step-father committing credit card fraud when he was just 18 and didn’t know he could protest the charges. They will not know that we kept putting off having kids because my husband went through some rounds of layoffs.  They will not care about the fact that between student loans and my husband’s debt we will be in debt most of our working lives.  These people will not consider that my husband and I both relocated away from our families to find higher paying jobs.  Some of this is by choice obviously and some not, but when playing the “fairness card” most people look through a prism of their own design. 

Highly successful people make sacrifices for their jobs and careers that others would not be willing to make.  It may be very long work hours, high risk ventures, longer education or jobs requiring heavy travel loads.  Most of us would not be willing to take on these jobs, but we need these people.  They open up other opportunities for all of us, and they deserve to be rewarded for their sacrifices. 

This country was made great by protecting the rights of the individual to keep the fruits of his/her labor.  We are facing a force that seeks to confiscate wealth and trample our rights.  It is “no time to go wobbly”, as Margaret Thatcher once said.  We cannot allow those that want to enslave us to silence because we fear what people might think of us.   We expect our politicians to stand up for our principles against the liberal media and we need to do the same in our lives.  If we are to take back our country, we must first take back our voice.

Still, I must say that my life experiences and the feedback I have received from conversations with both liberals and conservatives have given me a few things to gripe about the Right.  Not every conservative is guilty of these things, but if we are asking the lefties and independents to reconsider their behaviors and philosophies, shouldn’t we also consider how we conservatives can better spread the word about how liberating conservatism can be?

I don’t accuse all conservatives of these things, but there are some that have woven their way in and out of my life that I wanted to share.

1.)    Conservatives are so sure in their belief system that they feel no need to defend it to those around them.  We expect others to see that the economy is bad because of the democrats without explaining why.  There are so many opportunities to do this, but I will list a few of my favorites here and ask that anyone else that reads this blog and is not too ticked off to think clearly to add theirs.

a.       When do you feel more empowered?  Dealing with your school, local license branch or other government entity or at the supermarket, retail store, eye doctor.  When the consumer is in charge they will make the better choice for themselves, but if you have to go to the government you are powerless.  The only time to make changes in government is at the voting booth.  We don’t have elections every day. 

b.      When something is free, people will use it more.  We all understand the supply vs. demand equation, but why don’t we discuss that when we are talking about things like healthcare, if you make it free to go to the doctor than more people will go for more minor illnesses.  Unfortunately, we will probably see our less productive citizens using more and more healthcare services because they have more time to sit around and complain about a stuffy nose to their physician.

c.       If the government has to subsidize it, than do we really need it?  Having the government in charge of picking winners and losers, cuts back on innovation that may be truly meaningful because it keeps other people with better ideas out of the game.

d.      More government creates more government corruption.  In turn, that can also create more corporate corruption.  Larger companies give big government the fuel to grow by cozying up to politicians to get legislation passed in their favor. 

e.       Taxes are an indicator of how free we are.  If our tax rate was 100% than we would be slaves, work your way down and figure out how much of a slave you are, and why should we strive to earn more if it means the government owns more of us.

f.       Having said the above, conservatism isn’t just about lower taxes.  It isn’t just about being cheap.  It is about getting government out  of the way so that consumers can make decisions for themselves about what is right for them, and entrepreneurs can be given a fair shot at success with the right idea and hard work.

2.)    Conservatives don’t admit to being conservatives.  This criticism is blamed squarely at myself.  I have consistently avoided discussing my conservative beliefs around my liberal friends and acquaintances.  This is not to say we should lecture our friends, but simply saying nothing while liberals talk nonsense about conservatives is not acceptable.   I lost a friend recently because I started to stand up for conservative values.  He was a bit surprised to hear my views.  He began to share his views with more and more in an effort to convince me.  When I challenged him, I was shocked as to how uninformed he was.  Eventually he walked away from our friendship, and I have no regrets.  It was his decision, and I was always civil to him.  I have a right to my opinion and being conservative does not mean you are less of a person.  I do believe that many of the elite left hold that belief.

3.)    Conservatives sit on the sidelines.  The truest of all my criticisms.  I know so many conservatives who will complain constantly, but will not get out and do anything.  I have even had trouble getting conservative friends to vote.  WHAT???  It doesn’t take much to be active, and I know Cold Warrior and others have really beaten this drum hard.  I just suggest that each of us find easy, gentle ways to show our conservative friends the value of participating on the local level.  Whether it is property tax issues, opportunities to meet elected officials, overdevelopment, getting the electorate more in control of the local school boards to protect our kids’ education, etc.  Again, those that are not too ticked off at this post, please add more ideas as to how to show these benchwarmers why even a small level of participation is worth it.

4.)    Conservatives are intolerant.  I got so tired of hearing this while I was dating a super liberal, dope smoking guy in college.  Of course we hear it all the time, usually it is tied in with the “religious right” as if being religious somehow makes one’s opinion less valid.  I have spent many of the past couple of years shocked at what the left is saying and my eyes are wide open as to their intolerance for other views.  However, my time on this site and others has shown me that some conservatives just want to fight with other conservatives.  It is one thing to call someone out on something dumb, or arrogant or simply correct a poster.   For some though the passion gives way to ugliness and I wonder just what the motivations can be.  How do you expect to convince people to your opinions by condemning them?  One of the things that amazes me about Rush Limbaugh is how he handles his detractors and some of the stupid callers that call into his show.  He always gives them a chance.  His audience would not be as large if he didn’t, and his paycheck not nearly as fat (Rush is slim now, so no  pun intended!!!).   Frankly, some of the coment sections following posts it feel more like having a chat with the church lady than an exchange of ideas.  

It may be that some are content to be the smartest guy in the room, and aren’t really interested in advancing the conservative agenda.   Me on the other hand, I want to build the movement.  I want to build more activists and I will continue to use this site as a launching board for those efforts.  I am proud of the contributions I have made and conservatives I have helped elect on a national and local level.  My participation in these elections would have been far less if not for Red State

We all falter, but I will move forward and try not fall into the trap of being “one of those things I don’t like about conservatives.” 

This summer is a particularly hard one for me.  My little boy will start kindergarten in less than a month.  Of course I know he’ll do well in school, family genetics have definitely made an impact I can already see, and sometimes lament when he outsmarts me.   In fairness, he probably won’t be the greatest athlete of all time, but that probably points back to family genetics too, particularly me.  We all have our gifts and going to school and participating in extra-curricular activities are meant to bring out those gifts and guide us towards future professions.

Unfortunately this summer will also be bringing more economic killing legislation, but what is more offensive to me is the diminished opportunities available for white boys thanks to the gender and racial quotas in the new Financial Reform bill.  We have taken another step towards making white men second class citizens.  It is hard for me to accept, that I supported one of the Senators that will be green lighting this legislation.  

My son was born on the 4^th of July, I thought it was really cool at the time, but now it feels like a cruel joke.  For some reason, I had convinced myself I was having a girl.  I am ashamed to say that as I held him shortly after his birth, I had a feeling of sadness come over me when I realized he would grow to be the most hated demographic in America.  He had done nothing, but that part of his fate was already sealed simply by the color of his skin and the fact he is a boy.

Today, overwhelmed with anger over this legislation, I called each of the offices of Snowe, Brown and Collins.  I asked them what kind of professions should I encourage my white boy to pursue.   No one had any answers.  The staffer at Collins office told me he didn’t feel he should have to answer that question, and then hung up on me.  

My suggestion to each of these Senators is that they get together and sponser legislation listing professions that they believe would be acceptable for white men to pursue.  My son is very smart, but I don’t want him to waste his time getting educated in a particular area if he will be denied a job based on the color of his skin and his sex.  It reminds me of a saying I heard once, ”a mind is a terrible thing to waste.”