Ok, so I feel bad because I haven’t written much for a while. It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing. It’s not that I don’t have a million things to talk about.
The problem is that I can’t help but to feel defeated, and that’s a hard thing to get over. I watch the news every morning and listen to talk radio all day long, and all I hear about is the degradation of the country that I love. I have worked so hard, but in the end, I can’t help but to wonder what went wrong.
I think that this all started with the “nomination” of John McCain. Sure, fine, he’s a Republican and he’s far superior to either Obama or Clinton; but the only thing that crosses my mind whenever I see him or hear him speak is “is this the best we could do?”
We are a great country with lots of great people. The past year that I have spent blogging has introduced me to some of the bets people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. There are millions of people out there, and not all of them are colossal pains in the ass. Many people are like you and I – people who want to do good things and live in a great country.
And yet, is this the best we could do?
The three people running for the top office and one of which who will lead this country over the next four to eight years are all people that I wouldn’t trust to run a 7-11 let alone this nation. I mean, really, how could this have happened? Sure, I lamented the loss of Fred Thompson, but him aside, there were far better choices out there than John McCain.
In my battle for tobacco rights, I have gotten to know McCain’s idea of freedom, and it isn’t good. If he knew a damned thing about what it means to live free and be free, he would never have made the choices he has regarding tobacco. While this is just one of many things, it is simply an example that I have become quite familiar with. This has shown me what McCain thinks about free speech (plus throw in McCain-Feingold to top it off) free choice, and free markets. And this is the man that Conservatives (Republicans) chose as their man? Give me a break!
I keep asking myself how I can be active in this fight. How I can continue to put so much energy into something when the “power of the people” really doesn’t amount to a whole lot next to the power of politics?
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still fight, I’m just not sure what route to take these days. Do you fight for McCain and keep the dems from taking over and driving us off the cliff (so McCain can drive us off a shorter cliff)? Or do I fight for the dems with the hopes that they’ll spark off some sort of radical revolution? or do I fight for a third party and keep the ideals that I hold dear?
Sadly we’re in a lose-lose-lose situation here and I’m starting to think the best thing we can do is fight at the bottom and hope it works its way up. Build conservative towns and cities. Hope that the counties and states follow. After all, if anybody ever reads the words of our founding fathers, the states are supposed to have the power anyway – not the feds. Sadly we’ve lost our way and become a federal government with 50 smaller subdivisions…
Not the country we were intended to be, I can tell you that much.
I have been reading the federalist papers lately, and it amazes me how smart those guys really were. But where are they now? I guess they’re us – us little people who are out here blogging and making our social commentaries… But there’s a piece missing and i can’t quite put my finger on what it is.
Is it apathy? Do people just not care enough to take action on a large scale?
Is it fear? Are we too demoralized? or maybe people just like it this way… I don’t know.
Either way, I’m still in the fight, I’m just not sure where to take it…
Any ideas?
I feel your pain and it may not seem as so, we are winning this thing here at home. When I came back from the war, I was appalled at the stupidity and ignorance of the morons spouting that which they were.
I have seen a near 180 degree turn around and now more than ever, we must turn up the heat.
My son is now fighting the war and we cannot turn our backs on him or his comrades in arms embracing the suck for us. McCain ain’t the best but the alternative in unthinkable.
The Battleground is in the Lower House for the next two cycles. This is where the Conservative Movement will reassert itself.
Carry on. Ruck up.
http://www.anewtone.com/2008/04/global-cultural-jihad-rise-of-renewed.html
I hate to think of what would happen if we had one dems in the white house and in congress.
McCain is the lesser of three evils. But we should be happy that even a guy with only a few lib positions is standing a good chance of beating two truly incapable candidates.
The middle east is my biggest concern. And in that department McCain gives me no worries. In the next 4 years the other issues can get hammered and wrangled out with the checks and balances we have in place.
And with the shittiest congress we have ever seen in our lives looking more and more like the people will tire of them it looks like the odds are good that we will see a con majority on the hill in a couple of years.
So try to cheer up buddy
I’ll say this. You jumped in to the fray that was property rights and slugged it out. That is exactly what you and everyone else needs to focus on. Don’t embrace populism but truth.Any given issue has very real and local angles. Illegal immigration is tied to crime and job loss. Taxes ? How many ways can you care about that ? Health care ? Well everyone has an opinion and there are many many better ways to fix the system other than single payer Big Nanny.
Have at it Ryan.
Oh shit. I just wrote a post about feeling defeated. I can over here to see if you were feeling the same. And behold…you are in the same feelings (well, sort of) as I am. Just damn tired of all of it.
We are not defeated.
Undoubtedly we were handed some poor choices. But in being able to choose or not to choose is already one thing we have to remember to always celebrate.
Lets not slip into the leftist mentallity that all is wrong with America.
Are we bitter ? yea.
Lets take our lumps like the warriors we are with the inspiration of knowing that we are afforded the rights and abilities to return and fight another day.
Its just been a real crappy year for America. We,ve had worse happen to us and come back far over and above what the original problems were.
We need all the moral and motivation we can come up with for the next round in 4 years so pull your heads out of your rumps and take a look around and realize that if you carry this attitude into the future it will snowball and effect all your efforts and everything you touch.
We will create and feed our own defeatest mentallity if we sit around and cry about it.
As Ryan has told me many times;
” Keep up the good fight”
I know exactly how you feel. Defeated is the perfect word. As the nomination of McCain became more and more likely I also felt defeated. I don’t know any other way to carry on the fight other than to keep exposing the candidates for who they are. I think the best thing to do is to fight for every issue on an individual lbasis. No matter who is the president we can let our voices be heard, one issue at a time. It worked on illegal immigration the last time, and God knows that battle will have to be fought again no matter who the next president is.
We need to keep voicing our positions and concerns, it may feel like we aren’t getting anywhere sometimes, but people read and people hear what we say. It is going to be a long fight, but it is a fight that must be waged.
I hope that you will find yourself rejuvinated, and I hope that you will find your voice again. We need you.
Boy, do I know how you feel!!! Maybe that’s why I’m so pissed off all the time! That would explain it wouldn’t it?
A lot of us understand how you feel Ryan. With that said, I believe we have to fight until the fat lady not only stops singing but is off the stage!
You have been an inspiration to so many on this blog..As a new blogger just a few months ago, I thought wow, this guy is really making a difference! So know that you have even when it seems it is all for naught..because it really is not. We can lose the battle but the war ain’t over.
It is hard and darn depressing! Put on your boxing gloves and hit em hard friend!
Btw, Like the look of your site.
Hi
You really do write right from your heart. If people like you, who really care give up – who is going to see that things go in the right direction?
You will probably never be happy with our politicians, and Yes, this is probably the best we can do – because sadly – the really best don’t go into politics.
Keep on speaking up. Its how you can fight the fight.
I feel your pain. I’ve been blogging for two months and I don’t know if I can keep going. I’ve started blogs several times in the last eight years but this is the longest I’ve been able to keep going. I keep asking myself why bother? I’ve got nothing new to say. I’ll just be ignored like everyone else. Our competition is subsidized about a trillion dollars a year. How do you compete?
I was an anti-environmentalist activist in the 80’s and 90’s. I got no support from anyone. I spent a lot of my own money. I was on a first-name basis with most of the Minnesota House and Senate. To them, I was a Kook.
Everyone was (and is) afraid to jeopardize their own position and/or subsidy. I got a lot of words of agreement (just don’t tell anyone) but no support. Supposed allies would use data I provided to further their own self-serving agenda. Anymore, the conversation is not whether government should control and direct, just how it will do it.
I’m now off the grid. I’m broke and live in a cave (almost). Have no income and little hope of getting one. I refuse to support the machine any longer. If it kills me, or gets me jailed, so be it.
If you’ve got nothing worth dying for, then what are you living for.
If you really want to win this war, you too will have to do the John Galt. There is no other way. Defund them and they’ll tear themselves apart like starving rats in a cage.
Phil