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New Year’s Resolutions are frequently nothing more than wishful thinking with the hidden knowledge that there is no intent to follow through. However, if we never aspire to do more, be more – we will never get beyond the status quo. With the 2022 elections right around the proverbial corner, we Conservatives must commit with unflinching resolve to take on the Top 10 Conservative New Year’s Resolutions. I have taken the liberty of revamping the ten most common resolutions and converted them into a conservative “To Do” list.
The last few years have seen the First Amendment attacked in ways few of us could imagine just a short five years ago. I’m sure it was under attack long before I noticed, but the election of 2016 ushered in an unprecedented assault. As our own Amanda Green wrote in the long-ago days of 2018:
“Let’s get this straight. Nowhere in the founding documents of this country is there a right not to be offended. In fact, one of the rights we have historically enjoyed is free speech. We can pretty much say whatever we want. There are limits, of course. You can’t stand up in a crowded theater and yell “Fire!”. You can lie about someone, but you face the potential of that person filing a civil suit against you. However, this country once stood for the free discourse of ideas. Unfortunately, that seems to be a fading belief — at least as far as certain perpetually offended are concerned.”
So, our first task is to commit to speaking our minds. Do not faulter. Be courageous. Some of us will be cancelled. Some of us will lose our jobs. We will all be labeled as “racists/xenophobic/misogynistic” assholes. Do it anyway. The left understands there will be casualties on the way to winning the culture war. We must be willing to lose some men and battles if we wish to win the war we’re in.
I think I have mentioned previously that I was not a huge advocate for the Second Amendment prior to meeting my husband. However, in nine years years we have been married, he has created a convert. I beg you to do the same! The right to bear arms matters.
“Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 28 that “In a single state, if the persons entrusted with supreme power become usurpers… The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.” Hamilton and the other Founders disagreed quite a bit, but one of the things they all held dear was the people’s ability to remove a tyrant – by force, if necessary. This is why the Second Amendment that protects the right to keep and bear arms exists – to remove tyrants from power.”
NEW – Chinese lockdown rule-breakers publicly shamed and paraded through the streets carrying placards with their names in Cultural Revolution-style disciplinary measures. pic.twitter.com/vGVvveRsmZ
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 29, 2021
Trump ran on draining the “swamp” yet had little success in effecting any real and meaningful change. As conservative politicians think about running for Federal office, they need to commit to selling Trump’s agenda to get rid of administrative duplication of efforts. As The Brookings Institute noted in October of 2020:
“Trump may have been right in March 2017 that there was “duplication and redundancy everywhere” and “billions and billions” in waste just waiting to be streamlined home to taxpayers but showed little interest an aggressive trimming. Trump’s budget office did produce 32 reorganization plans in 2018 that might have saved money, but none received a congressional hearing in part because they were linked to federal personnel cuts and vague promises of employee “reskilling” and in part because the new Democratic House majority (starting in January 2019) had no interest in trimming either.”
A great clip that virtually no one saw is a Minute with Mulvaney:
I like Newt Gingrich. I think he would have made a lousy President, but damn, I like the cut of his jib. He is the Angus “Mac” MacGyver of conservative politicians. He throws ideas out into the political universe like a man with Tourette’s, but at the end of the day he seems committed to finding solutions to America’s ills. When I was a CPAC last year, one of the goodies they gave me was Newt’s book “Trump and the American Future.” It was a phenomenal book with creative ideas to address “The Deep State [that] is Crippling America”, “Loving Criminals, Hating the Law”, “An Economy for All Americans” , and “From Education to Learning.” As the original creator of the “Contract with America”, Newt should know a thing or two about selling an agenda. We should let him.
Earlier this year, Politico noted that he and Trump have their heads together working on a new Contract with America:
“Its construction has been teased and talked about for weeks, but the fact that the principals are beginning to put it together underscores Trump’s continued interest in trying to shape the Republican Party — beyond issuing endorsements, holding rallies and raking in fundraising dollars ahead of the midterm elections. It also suggests that Trump still feels the need to move the party in his direction, at least intellectually.”
This guy really speaks for all of us!
https://twitter.com/DrewThomasAllen/status/1474051607339814921
Waiting until we lose elections is not the time to fight for election integrity. One of the many critiques I have against former President Trump is his naiveté of the political arena he entered. As Dan Bongino frequently states, “Republicans think Democrats are people with bad ideas. Democrats think Republicans are bad people. With ideas.” They have used their immense war chest not just to promote politicians, but to adjudicate elections BEFORE they lose. This is the battle of the year. With Biden now admitting that there is no Federal solution to COVID, they are pivoting en masse to federalize elections. Conservatives and Conservative Politicians alike must read For The People Act and denounce it with every fiber of their being. Create messaging, create advertising, stay on point, and prepare for the legal battles NOW.
As our own Nina Bookout noted in March of this year, “Evidently, wanting states to follow their own election rules and not change those rules on a whim, is a false claim of fraud according to CNN.”
No single action can be more meaningful than to give up the luxury of doing nothing. While the jury is still out on who said these words, the effect is the same no matter who might have uttered them:
“The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing”
So, whether you run for a School Board seat or Congressional seat or become a Precent Committeeman, do SOMETHING!
You're not in the [Republican] party unless you're a Precinct Committeeman. Precinct Committeemen are the Party. — Daniel Schultz https://t.co/qvp6JSTxll
— Rob Biccum (@Ads2Profits) October 31, 2021
Steve Bannon also takes a deep dive into this political exercise:
The old AA maxim contends “The first step is admitting you have a problem.” Conservatives need to admit that many of us do not fully understand the Constitution, the definition of negative rights versus positive rights, and that many so-called conservatives are Constitutional apologists. The only way to remedy this is to actually read the damn thing. If you are lazy, like I am, then here is an even better way to understand our rights:
“In this twelve-lecture course, students will examine the political theory of the American Founding and subsequent challenges to that theory throughout American history. Topics covered in this course include: the natural rights theory of the Founding, the meaning of the Declaration and the Constitution, the crisis of the Civil War, the Progressive rejection of the Founding, and the nature and form of modern liberalism.”
Jim Jordan has a new book out. The concept is so simple, it’s stupid. DO WHAT YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO! What a freaking concept! As one reviewer put it:
“The premise of his book is so simple but virtually no politician ever does it. They tell everyone what they want to hear when campaigning and then vote for whatever financially benefits them the most. Corrupt system!”
Hell to the Yeah! I would love one politician to come out and say, “Hey, I know I’m not perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist. In fact, I have a few really glaring flaws. I’ll share mine with you right now! But after that, I’m also going to tell you what I think matters to all of us and what I think we should do about it!” And then go about actually doing it.
Oh wait, I forgot. We had that person. His name was Trump. Silly me.
An amazing essay I came across recently, really lays out the issue before conservatives in the most condensed way possible. In it, the author points to another piece “written by Michael Anton, a political philosopher who later served on the national security team in the Trump White House.” Anton writes:
“If conservatives are right about the importance of virtue, morality, religious faith, stability, character and so on in the individual; if they are right about sexual morality or what came to be termed “family values”; if they are right about the importance of education to inculcate good character and to teach the fundamentals that have defined knowledge in the West for millennia;
if they are right about societal norms and public order; if they are right about the centrality of initiative, enterprise, industry, and thrift to a sound economy and a healthy society; if they are right about the soul-sapping effects of paternalistic Big Government and its cannibalization of civil society and religious institutions; if they are right about the necessity of a strong defense and prudent statesmanship in the international sphere—if they are right about the importance of all this to national health and even survival, then they must believe—mustn’t they?—that we are headed off a cliff.”
Be clear in what you believe and fear not with whom you share it. Be like Christ.
Dear God in Heaven. Can we please, please admit we cannot afford something! Can we please explain the concept of opportunity costs? Resources are limited. Even if we tax every dollar of every American, we cannot and will not rid ourselves of the social ills of man. So, for the love of God, please stop pretending we can.
My older brother was sharing anecdotal evidence that my more liberal niece, his 21-year-old daughter, does understand the risks our government is taking with her future. She can see the national debt growing unabated and how that debt will limit our ability to actually affect the positive change she would like to see.
My brother and his family once belonged to a wonderful church. The congregation voted to build an enormous and visually stunning house of worship. It was a sight to behold once completed. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the altar. It became an albatross. The cost of paying for the building kept the church from doing the work it had set out to do. The note, the utilities, the maintenance – all to the building, kept the church from performing actual ministries. The congregation was torn. Do they sell the building? Do they keep it?
This is the question we must ask ourselves as conservatives today. Where do we want our money to go? To an edifice or to the People. Shrink our government now so we may do the good works we profess to believe in. The choice is upon us. Vote accordingly.
If there is one thing COVID madness has taught us is this: The Department of Education does not care for the children. It does not care about education. In fact, I dare say, they hate both. Between Bari Weingarten’s child abuses and the lefts insistence that CRT is a right-wing conspiracy, Conservatives need to understand that the low hanging fruit in 2022 are parents. One single-minded demographic that can unite faster than a speeding bullet. Take a cue from Glenn Youngkin folks. Fighting for our youth’s educational freedoms is the easiest battle we can win. Don’t squander the mandate.
I have written much about CRT and the indoctrination of our children. History will prove this is the great failure of Conservatives in 100 years. We gave our youth away to the left without batting an eye. But if I have to give a silver-lining award to COVID for just one thing, it would be the impact of allowing parents across the country to see what the hell our children are being taught. And boy howdy are they PISSED! Conservatives and Liberals alike apparently are NOT fond of segregating our children by race, telling black children they are victims, and America sucks. Kory Yeshua’s TikTok video went viral this year as he spoke truth to power! Let’s be thankful for ALL the parents out there sharing their righteous indignation at school boards across our great land!
Yes. It’s time for all of us to say it aloud. But it’s especially important for the politicians to come out and give us our lives back. Earlier this month, AP News asked the all-important question: “How will the world decide when the pandemic is over?” If I follow the WHO’s emergencies chief, the answer should be “NOW!”
“It’s somewhat a subjective judgment because it’s not just about the number of cases. It’s about severity and it’s about impact,” says Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief.
With Omicron leading the way for herd immunity, all currently known evidence suggests that this mild cold-like version is what we should all be thankful for. But Biden admits he is once again caught flat-footed and Fauci just doesn’t want to drop the mic yet!
It’s beyond time for conservative politicians to stand with Ron DeSantis and tell our “experts” to pound sand. Most of America has moved on, the rest might join us if we gave them permission. If not, well, I can’t save stupid. From Yahoo News:
“Even though the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, nearly three-quarters of Americans (74 percent) now say their lives have returned to “normal,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.”
Back in September, The Federalist had an article on how to fight America’s emergent Social Credit System. Unlike many political rants, the author, Spencer Lindquist, had some actual solutions. One, hit home for me:
“The enforcers of America’s emergent social credit system are most empowered when they can cut you off not only from your job, but from your community and all other sources of support. The remedy? Establish genuine, in-person authentic communities built around shared values.”
When I moved back home to Austin, a town I lived in from entering the first grade through college, I realized I knew almost no one. I had to build a new community. Where to meet this community can differ from person to person, but for me, I found a social networking group and networked the hell out of it. The first thing I did was invite 12 random women into my home for dinner. I made one true friend.
She had attended a different event from within the social networking framework and introduced me to another new friend. Over the next couple of years, my “tribe” went through a few iterations. It wasn’t that I was seeking a conservative bubble to circle-jerk within, but I did want to be able to be myself. And politics are an overwhelming part of my identity. If you cannot have an authentic conversation about your thoughts and fears, then the community is pointless. Build your circle accordingly.
My circle now is more conservative leaning, but some do not abide the right wing/left wing dogma. One calls herself a political anarchist. All care deeply about this country and believe our politicians (on both sides if the aisle) have let us down.
But if we genuinely want to unite our country, we must forge friendships with those whom we might disagree. Listen to them. Acknowledge their fears. Do not let the media win the war to divide us. Put the spotlight on the issue, not the personality. Then see if you can agree on just one solution. In doing so, you earn credibility.
Last year I attended CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference for the first time. Ironically, it was the final straw, according to my eldest sister, to convince her I had fallen prey to a cult. She currently believes that I went to pray before the golden altar of Trump. I’m sure she thinks I have forsaken Christ for this idiocy:
Come Sunday the CPAC crowd will be salivating or foaming at the mouth awaiting the arrival of their King. I can see the most dangerous man in America being carried in a litter on the shoulders of McConnell, Graham, McCarthy and Cruz. Crazy days.
— Scouser Steve (@ScouserSteve2) February 26, 2021
Never mind that I had a GOP tattoo from the time I was 21. Never mind that I have held conservative beliefs long before The Donald was in office. Never mind that he was a democrat until the year he ran for president. Nope, none of that matters to her. I am a lost sheep.
On the other hand, get yourself there! It was the best thing since band camp! I made new friends. I heard great lectures. I was amazed by the diversity of the crowd. If I felt all of that in the month after January 6th and the “insurrection” I cannot imagine what 2022 will be like.
If life or finances preclude you from joining your conservative brethren at CPAC this year, then put on your shoes and find a local GOP meeting. They are everywhere. I simply Googled “GOP Events Williamson County” and lo and behold, I could fill my dance card up for every week of the month. Pick a week, any week of the month and commit to one regular event. Listen to the bills being discussed. Shake hands with the conservative movers and shakers. Let them get to know you! They work for you. Remind them of that by being there.
I wish conservative politicians would put their money where their mouth is. Literally! Why do we only get the Readers Condensed Digest versions? Yes, we can read them ourselves, but we won’t. If we are going to pay these people’s salaries, should we not get them to inform themselves, if not the voters, of what they are voting for? If they had to read their tripe aloud, perhaps they would create smaller bills!
Shorter term limits, a decrease in congressional benefits, simpler bills. Like single issue bills. A law demanding that every bill be read aloud before being voted on (since some legislation is 1000 pages long and votes are held in too quick of a time to actually be read)
— mayonaise (@Malangst1) September 22, 2019
How many of us vote reflexively? We vote for the last person because we know the name. How much do we analyze how well they vote for the ideas that matter to each of us individually? I was about to get on a soap box some weeks ago about Adam Kinzinger. What a traitor he is. And in many ways, I still contend the idea to be true. But out of curiosity, I went to the Heritage Action for America website and looked at his scorecard. I hated to admit it, but Kinzinger voted the way I would have about 98% of the time. Look up your politicians and make sure they do the same. If they do not, ask yourself if there isn’t a better option. Even if that means a newbie. Take a gamble. What do you have to lose?
Featured Image: “New Year’s Day” Pixabay License Free for commercial use, No attribution required
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