Don't Let Fear Freeze Our Need to Act Now

I have a deathly fear of water.

I’ve always been kinda shy around it – even as a kid. But this turned into a full-blown fright fest when I was working at my first newspaper as an obituary clerk.

In my first few weeks at The Farmington Daily Times (Farmington, NM), I wrote the obituary of my high school friend, Chelly, who drowned in Navajo Lake near my hometown, while trying to save a little girl’s life. So, that, coupled with an already slightly ridiculous inability to back float, spiraled into me spending more time tanning on the side of the pool while my friends played Marco Polo and water volleyball. Such is the life of a land-bound girl with tan lines …

I talk about fears today because I am seeing fear throughout our Conservative ranks right now. We are a group who is more prepared for the upcoming Barackolypse (“If Obama is elected again inflation will make food and energy prices so high we won’t be able to buy bread!”) than we are in actually trying to mount an offensive and defeat him.

We have respected leaders in our own movement, telling us to head for the hills and store up food in order to take care of you and your own should the worst happen and Obama become reelected as president. I am reminded of the mania surrounding New Years Eve 2000 when everyone thought the new millennium might bring earthquake, death, destruction and a need to retreat to the caves and caverns of the Midwest. Have we already succumbed to the fear of fears here? Are we not even willing to see what we can do as a group large enough in number to actually make a difference?

As a group, it seems we have let our fears consume us. We have decided we don’t have a voice big enough to beat the bias of the media, take down the liberal mob or counter-act the power of the current government.

In watching the Republican debate earlier this week, I was yearning for a message of hope – a message OBAMA seemed to give so many people in 2008 – that actually made them vote for him. But I was left with nothing. All I heard were the problems this country had – not the potential. ‘ObamaCare will ruin the economy,’ ‘Withdrawl of troops jeopardizes our safety,’ ‘Our borders aren’t safe despite what Obama says ..’

Let’s face it. There’s not a person reading this who is involved in our Conservative circles who thinks President Obama has done a good job. We all know he’s sucked horrendously as Commander in Chief and we would like nothing better than to run him out of Washington on a rail … But I don’t need our Republican candidates to remind me of this time and time again. Tell me the problem. Tell me your solution. And lastly, tell me what we have to look forward to.

How about a pro-agenda? Like … (BTW, thank you … you know who you are …)

• Empowering individuals to make their own health care choices through savings accounts, allowing them to buy insurance across state lines, etc – definitely repealing Obamacare.
• Flattening the tax rate
• Changing the tax and incentive structure so more entrepreneurs can take more chances, and get the government out of the business of picking winners and losers
• Follow a pro-growth energy policy – where we find our most EFFICIENT means of energy, develop it, transport it. Or more directly, allow others to do this, and open currently closed areas to exploration and development, and fire and replace the nuclear regulatators
• Sign trade agreements that help American businesses, not protect union jobs
• Return more power to the states to create their own guidelines for schooling, providing for the poor, their own environmental or pollution laws, etc
• Close onerous agencies, like the EPA and HUD, just for starters

I don’t know, are we as a nation really so far gone we can’t choose to find something wonderful amongst the manure pile this current administration has left us with? Are we too worried about self-preservation we can’t figure out how to work together to bring about solid change?

Fear is powerful, isn’t it? It’s defined as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. And politicians on the right and left have learned to play to our fears for far too long and cause panic among our ranks. What is really sad is you’d think they’d realize fear causes the focus to shift from a global perspective into a personal, self-preservation one – and in the case of our country, this isn’t a good thing.

We need fellow Conservatives to team up right now and help get our message out. We need to not only think of how we can contribute on an individual level, but also how we can convince others to do so, too. Have you ‘converted’ anyone lately? Are you armed with the knowledge needed to defend your beliefs and guide a floundering liberal to the light?

We, like any other organization or group, need new members. We need to garner excitement, hope and youth into our ranks to keep us thriving, growing and viable. And while we do need our fear to keep us aware of what’s around us and what is happening, we don’t need it to ruin our focus on what our task is at hand: Take control of the Senate. Keep control of the House. Take over the White House.

This is our mission. This is my purpose in writing this and I am hoping we can rally around it. Those of you familiar with my writing will know it is very common for me to call us to action – and I won’t stop doing it. I feel it as deeply as ever – now is the time for us to get out and make a difference.

Needless to say, I am not canning and planning for a Barackolypse … Nor have I dug myself a hole in the side of the nearest mountain … but I am taking a stand and making my beliefs and positions known …

… Just don’t expect me to do it anywhere near the swimming pool …