Redstate

By bobnivik Posted in Archived — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

There has been a lot of talk lately about the “death” of Regan Conservatism, the “divorce” of conservatives from the GOP, and the utter-hopelessness-of-it-all in general. Honestly, it’s like something I’d expect form the Other Side™. So, the one man we all hoped would ride in on that shiny white steed and save our collective day seems to have rather chosen a mule. Honestly, what are we thinking? We’re saying we want one thing and then demanding another: We want the government out of our way, but then demand someone at the top of our party to charismatically tell us what to do. That very shining knight principle, I submit, is myopic and anti-conservative.

Why was Reagan great? He couldn’t have done it alone! He had those years where he controlled the Senate with those long coattails of his. One man alone cannot run the country the way we want him to. Frankly, who’s president doesn’t matter if their vetos get constantly overridden (see: Johnson, Andrew; Republicans, Radical). Or even when state legislatures are a mess and are more than willing to keep the pork-barrel rolling from where the Feds leave it. But when we don’t get our guy at the top to tell everyone the RIGHT way to do things, we take our ball and go home. But that’s the last thing we need to do. With that mentality, we’ll loose the game before it even starts every time.

Gov. Barbour spoke good ol’ Southern Wisdom when he said that we needed to get back to a bottom-up approach. It all starts at the bottom. I believe our Dear Leader, Master Erickson, to be a shining example of this having run for Macon City Council. I think that it is the duty of those of us who care to pursue some sort of office, even if it’s the School Board or even the Parks Commission, and learn how to be a good candidate. And when one of our members slides, “primary” the heck out of him ourselves! We have no right to wait for a shiny knight if we’re not willing to BE him, or at least ride right behind him rather than being air-headed cheerleaders. That’s just lazy and selfish.

Don’t just sit there, DO something about it. And I don’t mean “do something” to make someone else do the dirty work. Do something yourself. As soon as I graduate this year and get settled and familiarized somewhere, you can bet I’ll be running for something.

Be like Erick, and reclaim your sense of American Civic Duty! I‘ll be trying to.