A Few Thoughts on 2009

Tea Parties/Town Halls “Angry mobs”, “Astroturf”, “Brown shirts”, I call them Patriots.  The media would like you to think they were “angry mobs” and politicians would like you to believe they were “brown shirts” or “Astroturf”.   I went to Tea Party; there was nothing angry about it.  Sure, people were upset but I don’t recall any rioting or fights… wait, there was one fight at a town hall where a man was beat up pretty bad…by SEIU members.  But I digress.  The Tea Party movement, in my opinion, showed the essence of  America.  Everyday Americans fed up with big government who decided to use their first amendment rights (even second amendment in a couple cases, which the media tried to tell us were angry white men with guns when it was actually a clip of a black man).  They were Americans standing up for freedom and they were attacked.  It’s very shocking in this country that citizens would be attacked for defending the very document that made this country what it is today.  The whole idea of going and standing outside for a couple of hours with signs and protesting was a bit awkward to most of the people at these Tea Parties.  But they felt the need to make their voices heard.  Once again, the media would tell you they made no impact but I’d like to challenge that.  Remember when the President wanted healthcare to pass by August?  Obviously, it never did and I contend it’s because of these Tea Parties, town halls, phone calls, emails, and faxes by the outraged Americans.  Keep it up patriots!

Sarah Palin You either love her or you hate her.  And what we learned this year about Sarah Palin is, everyday Americans love her and the media hates her.  She surprised us all, even her biggest supporters when she announced she’d be stepping down from her position as the Governor of Alaska.  Once again, the media took it upon themselves to claim they knew why and that was because she was a quitter and couldn’t handle the media pressure.  Her supporters who actually listened to her reasons and later read her book know the real reason.  She had been bogged down by ethics complaint after ethics complaint and it was becoming impossible for her to govern her state the way she should be.  Her focus was constantly being shifted to another bogus complaint she had to try and explain off and it starting costing the state far too much money.  She stepped down to ensure herself the chance to make an impact and help not just her state but the country without being attacked and it being on the dime of the Alaskan worker.  November 17 rolled around and the book everyone had been waiting for was released, Going Rogue: An American Life.  We’d finally get to hear the TRUE story about Sarah Palin’s upbringing, family life and the campaign.  The media, unsurprisingly, decided to, not only attack Sarah Palin but to attack her supporters.  The book tour was covered poorly by those in the “lame stream” media and her supporters were pegged as “mostly white”, “uneducated about the issues”, and “confused about Sarah Palin’s policies.”  All things the media WISHES were true.  All-in-all I’d call it a pretty good year for Sarah Palin, despite what the media tries to tell you, she is and will be a force in the conservative movement for quite some time.   Look at it this way; name one other politician or public figure that can impact the debate on a national issue just from a simple Facebook note?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Health care Wasn’t that supposed to pass like… in August?  Oh right, no one wants it.  Except Obama and Congress.  I’m convinced it’s because of the work of the American people that healthcare is having such a hard time passing.  Now, we did see it pass the Senate to go to conference on Christmas Eve, but I don’t see it passing and becoming law.  At least, not in the form the democrats would like to see.  I realize our elected officials are busy but if you plan on passing a bill to make the law of the land you better read it and know exactly what it says.  Do you think the founders just had someone scribble down some ideas on to a piece of paper so they could debate it then pass it without knowing what it said?  Yeah, me neither.  So, congress, do your job.  Before I end on this topic (truthfully I’m so sick of hearing about Healthcare I didn’t feel like writing about it, but it was one of the biggest things in 2009) I want to share a couple of the beefs I have with the plan.  First, being a young person, I’m really quite frazzled over the idea that you MUST purchase healthcare insurance.  Since when can the government force anyone to buy anything?  If a person doesn’t want healthcare why make them pay for it.  Young people are among the largest group of Americans without health insurance and part of that is because they choose to go without it.  This is the beauty of America where you don’t have to buy something if you don’t want it.  On the same front you also have to take into consideration the amount of extremely wealthy people there are in this country, another beautiful thing about America, you can climb the latter and make all the money you possibly can.  A large majority of wealthy people don’t have healthcare for the simple reason of, they can afford it.  I mean if you are rolling in the dough and generally a pretty healthy person why pay for healthcare if you don’t think you need it?  Or HEY, WHAT ABOUT ALL THE UNEMPLOYED?!  We could work on creating jobs, or ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, that would reduce the number of uninsured… just sayin’.  Another thing with healthcare is the idea that it’ll lead to government run healthcare, after all that is what most democrats, the President and other well known liberals want.  I’ve only been alive for 17, almost 18 years and already I’ve come to the conclusion that the government is awful at running anything.  Honestly, someone name for me an efficient, low cost, absent of fraud, government run program.  Didn’t think so.  There is no such thing as an efficient, low cost government system that is absent of any fraud or abuse.   I rest my case.

Climate gate Like we needed hacked e-mails to tell us global warming is all a lie. Ha!  Meanwhile, Al Gore writes poems.

Afghanistan Did anyone else get the impression that Obama’s speech on his plans for Afghanistan compared to someone being forced to give a speech at a high school graduation?  Like he was told he HAD to do it to make the Americans pleased?  He looked annoyed the whole time.  Then there was his announcement, in which he told our enemy when we are leaving their country, which was a ridiculous idea.  It’s like “Hey hang on Afghanistan we’ll be out of your hair soon!”  Not to mention the fact that he has no idea what the status in Afghanistan will be in July of 2011.  General McChrystal (the man Obama chose) called for 40,000 (I’ve also heard 60,000) troops but Obama settled for 30,000.  A war is to be fought with the goal of winning and the President should be giving our men and women everything possible they need to win or leave.  When you have a President whose support of the effort of our men and women is severely lacking it greatly harms the moral of the troops.  The President is first and foremost our Commander in Chief and should be doing everything in his power to help our military in protecting our nation. 

Obama’s czars Remember the communist Glenn Beck got rid of?  Yeah, he was just one of many that still exist.  Two that really irk me are John Holdren and Cass Sunstein.  One of which believes animals should be given a right to an attorney and another who advocates for infanticide because a fetus doesn’t become a human until age 3 in his eyes.  Oh yeah! Another one that kills me is Kevin Jennings, the safe school czar.  He’s a real winner.  Check out some books he’d like to have your children reading in school and you’ll see why this guy ought to be kicked out of the White House STAT.

Fort Hood & Christmas Day “crotch bomber” 2 words, PROFILE AWAY!

The Beer Summit…was stupid.

2009 Special Elections Doug Hoffman.  He’s the guy that lost because Sarah Palin endorsed him right?  Wrong, media lie, again.  Doug Hoffman Is one of those everyday Americans who happened to be fed up with the way government is working and took it upon himself to try and make a difference.  He entered the race as a Conservative and ran against a Democrat and a Democrat (well she was supposed to be a republican but I don’t buy it).  He was a no name, and not a charismatic, brilliant speaker by any stretch of the imagination but he knew what he was talking about and just wanted to stop the wasteful spending and put government back in the hands of the people of the 23^rd district of New York.  We all know how election night ended, Hoffman lost but by a small margin (5%)  There were also 2 big governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey.  The race in Virginia was basically over before it started.  The Republican won!  New Jersey, however, was a bit tighter.  Barack Obama knew it was a tight one so he endorsed the Democrat.  Remember how Sarah Palin endorsed Hoffman?  In a facebook note.  Well Barack Obama, the President, went to New Jersey TWICE to campaign for the guy and the democrat lost.   Hmm, funny I don’t remember the media blaming the democrat’s loss on Obama’s impact in the race?  They must have overlooked it. 

Norah O’Donnell I am bringing up this topic because it’s something that happened in 2009 that I, personally will remember for the rest of my life.  In case you haven’t heard/seen/read about the incident I’ll give the condensed version.  On November 18 I went to meet Sarah Palin at the Grand Rapids book signing and while waiting in line I had the treat of doing a LIVE interview with PMS…NBC’s Norah O’Donnell.  What followed was my “15 minutes of fame.”  Tons and I do mean tons of websites picked up on the interview in which O’Donnell tried to stump me.  Several big guys in the media talked about it on their radio or television shows.  Out of it came some great opportunities.  I was interviewed by Alaska’s Number 1 talk radio host Eddie Burke, Newsbusters Mark Finklestein had me on his public access television show “Right Angle”, Jenny Erikson of Smart Girl Politics interivewed me for “The Smart Girl Report” on RFCRadio, and I also participated in several blog talk radio interviews with conservatives and Palin fans.  Not to mention my twitter followers went from a mere 700 to over 1,000 in a matter of 2 days.  I’d call it somewhat of a learning experience.  I say that because I learned how the “lame stream media” operates and I’m ready to take it again if I ever need to.   You can read the full story here

Twitter  Who knew a simple website could turn into a melting pot of conservative ideas?  And a place for conservatives to banter back and forth and get in touch with fellow patriots. I joined twitter in May or June of 2009 and at first I didn’t think much of it but the more conservatives I came in to contact with the more addicted I’ve become.  I could also blame my iPod, which I carry with me everywhere, for the addiction.  If I’m somewhere with wifi I have my iPod out and am checking tweets.  You can mock twitter all you want, but ask any conservative on twitter how they feel about it and they’ll tell you how much they love it.  I’ve “met” so many wonderful people and been engaged in many a conversation about the direction of this nation.  Before you mock twitter, try it out.  In a month you’ll be hooked.  I also, through twitter, met some fellow young conservatives who share my concern not just for the future of this nation but how it will impact our individual lives.  The original four I met  (@paidgophack, @jingstri, @pard68 and @ashlahbee) and myself have actually taken the time to start a new website we hope can become a melting pot of ideas for young conservatives.  Visit and read our mission statement and join.  It’s not strictly for young people; we value the input of our elders and want to learn all we can!  Visit the Conservative Youth Project.

Have a wonderful 2010 everyone!  Congress, we’re coming for you!