LibertyAtStake 2010: Mid-Year Review

This blog is the result of one man observing, orienting, and acting.


Observation

The observation phase really encompasses most of my adult life. I’m one of those weird ducks who voluntarily pays close attention to the news, politics, and policy issues - even though it’s not really necessary for me to make a living. Putting me in an even smaller minority (I think), in parallel with this pursuit, I have developed a cohesive political and policy philosophy. It is classic American Conservatism: limited government, free market economics, respect for tradition, and strong (but reluctantly interventionist) national defense. I also have what I would call a “disciplined” libertarian streak on social issues. That means, for example, I’m the “tolerance, sure; acceptance, hell no" guy regarding the gay rights agenda.

In short, I’ve always been that guy you saw yelling at his TV at home, or yelling at his radio on the road - especially when Democrats or so-called “compassionate conservatives” have been in office. It’s been a long 21 years since Ronald Reagan left office.

Therefore, I was perfectly equipped to instantly appreciate the potential of the TEA Party movement, from moment I first saw Rick Santelli’s seminal rant on CNBC. Along the way, I’ve been alternately amused, bemused, and contemptuous of the MSM’s abject incompetence in its reporting on the movement.

I started wading into the crowd, even though I am temperamentally crowd-averse, starting with the Tax Day 2009 rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Along the way, I talked to many patriots from around the country at various Capitol Hill rallies. The capstone was the Tax Day 2010 rally, my personal experience with which I chronicled in my 04/12/10 post "Prelude To April 15th" and my 04/16/10 post "April 15: MSM Still Clueless, Party Crashers a No Show."

Orientation

Toward the end of 2009, I resolved to get directly involved in this historic grass roots movement that had real potential to bring the United States back to her Founding principles. The question was “how?” Just schlepping to a meeting in someone else’s family room to write a check for somebody else to disperse wasn’t going to do it for me. I could step up my old game of yelling at the TV and radio, maybe even start yelling at people on the street; but that wouldn’t make much of a difference, except maybe getting me locked up on a public disturbance charge. Running for office, or joining an organization backing someone specific to run for office, all seemed far too quixotic.

I can’t pinpoint when the idea of joining the blogosphere first occurred to me. I do know that when it did, I instantly started thinking about how to design it to be distinctively my own. I came up with the general idea of writing the archive chapter by chapter in a manner that would support it being read front to back cohesively like a book. I don’t think I need to tell you this is a contrarian, maybe even comically absurd, concept given the basic nature of the blog format. On the plus side, it gives me a framework to wrap my head around when I’m writing. This notion of allowing it to read like a book is why the first two posts have the respective titles "Introduction to the Blog" and "Foreword to the Blog."

The thematic framework for the faux “book” was significantly filled in when I wrote the 01/11/2010 post "Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion." The spark was a Gallup poll showing the great majority of Americans think of themselves as “conservative.” As this citizenry is now governed by a gang of committed Progressive ideologues, certain political upheavals (yes, indeed, massive Newtonian collisions) are inevitable. This framework also allows me the freedom to make bold predictions no one in the MSM (including Fox) can make for fear of losing professional credibility. I have no such credibility to lose – only credibility to gain as my bold predictions come to pass. For example, I have advanced to openly stating the inevitability of impeachment proceedings during Barack Hussein Obama’s first term. Fox will be the first network to report it to you when it becomes more obvious.

Action

Obviously, the blog itself is the action. The first order of business was to select a tool. My requirements were simple – it needed to be free, and it needed to be low maintenance for me. It needed to be free not only because I had nowhere to expense it, but to emphatically make the point it could thrive with nowhere to expense it. I needed to be low maintenance for me because my primary source of revenue it was not to be. I did what I often do in my professional life: I surveyed the marketplace, measured the sales pitches against my requirements, narrowed the contenders down to a few finalists, put my hands on demos/prototypes for the finalists, picked one and got on with it. I have not been disappointed by my selection of Google’s Blogger service.

I have purposefully avoided monetizing the blog. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (gratuitous Seinfeld reference) – I just don’t want the extra clutter to detract from the blog’s mission. I see that mission as contributing toward informing the great American majority precisely what it is that makes them naturally conservative – so they never, ever, behave so stupidly again as to give both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to the Progressives. iow - So I can yell at my TV and radio less.

In accordance with this mission, the design lines on the blog are intentionally simple – that is, designed to not distract from the dispensing of information. The archive serves as my “book” in progress, Sites That Make Sense to Me links to other various other conservative information sources, The Blog Roll links to various other conservative bloggers, and the Assigned Reading List is for those of you who prefer to be told what to think in a less self-directed format. The spaces in between will contain video and clickable widgets designed to subliminally instill conservative values while remaining entertainmening. I just added the Simple Chart of the Week(ish) – a picture being worth a thousand words, as they say.

Along the way I’ve toyed with the idea of introducing you to a fictional character who is writing the blog. His name is Francis Charles Hamilton. He allows a few close acquaintances to call him “Charlie,” goes by “Charles” with business associates, and insists on “Mr. Hamilton” from everyone else. Mr. Hamilton is aristocratic, eccentric, and idiosyncratic. He blogs from his well-appointed study, surrounded by shelves full of hardbound classics. He has very refined mannerisms, but would bristle at the thought of being considered effeminate. He has distinctly defined tastes. He says things like “I like my cheese white – never yellow, my beer dark, and my women feisty.” He’s the kind of guy that will silently raise a toast of the finest sherry in his study on the election night Obama loses, and then anonymously join the crowd on the subsequent inauguration day for a rousing and invigorating chant of “Barry, You Suck!” For years now, Mr. Hamilton has every so often gone to the downtown bars to pick fights with liberals – for the sport of it. On the few occasions it has escalated to police involvement, Mr. Hamilton’s interactions with the officers have always been cordial and dignified.

I sometimes draw on Mr. Hamilton as my muse when I go troll hunting on the comment boards – for the sport of it. Click on my Random Droppings feature for the raw data.

My 02/11/2010 post "Sparring in the Dark Alleys of American Opinion" documents the process of me wrapping my head around the tactics of the enemy – the Leftist troll. Deception and Diversion are pretty much it in a nutshell.

The next two posts after that document Mr. Hamilton reaching accord with my now favorite comment board haunt – the Daily Caller. I’ve seen obvious trolls come and go on this board. They have been completely ineffective in their mission of moving the debate leftward. On the evening of June 7, I got into it with a Daily Caller regular who may or may not be troll, having the screen name "anniebanannie." Her comments on the Daily Caller are superficially conservative enough. The thing is there seems to be an “anniebanannie” on virtually every board on the Internet, each with a distinctly different profile befitting that particular board. Hmmmmmm, maybe it’s just a really, really, I mean really, popular screen name.

This is why I always sign my comments with my URL, folks. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why some in the blogosphere frown on the practice as bad etiquette. Of course, the very few times I’ve been told directly it was bad etiquette, the person raising the issue was obviously a Leftie and probably a troll. Hmmmmm, maybe sowing confusion around identity serves the larger agenda of the army of Leftist trolls.

Mr. Hamilton is toying with the idea of underwriting a documentary on Leftist Internet trolls, to be produced his precocious young nephew – Jack Wiley Dithers, currently serving as cub reporter with the AP. For the sport of it.

Happy Independence Day, Patriots!