How long would you voluntarily work for this organization? How many people would you shoot or lock up?

I’m writing a column this week about the conservative movement. I’m first going to say that, if Obama’s presidency was good for one thing, the common disapproval was good for fueling the conservative movement, especially when it comes to the economy. I’m going to basically touch upon what conservatism really is since it seems that a lot of people don’t understand it, and why it’s important that we start heading back to what the Constitution granted us. I was hoping you could give me a comment for the column on what you think about the direction the country is taking, and what we should do in order to course-correct ourselves back to a better future. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear back from you soon.

My Response:

Sometimes I worry that the galvanization of the conservative movement aimed at blocking Barack Obama’s policy decisions is keeping the conservative movement from facing some of the demons in its own closet.  The worst thing that the conservatives in D.C. could do right now is assume that the disillusionment with the Obama Administration is the same as fondness with conservative values as they have been interpreted over the past few years.  Conservatives must shift focus, perhaps finding home in a type of conservativeness that reminds people of a time before the neo-conservative movement infiltrated the true conservative movement, stealing and adulterating the principles that made the real conservative movement so strong.  The conservative politicians must convince the people that they stand on principles of small government and individual liberties.  The only way to convince the people that they will actually stick to their principles when they are in power is to consistently apply them before they gain power.

The conservative movement must vocally denounce the policies of the Bush administration as being an un-ambiguous, big government, power grabbing mess that it was.  They must ditch the notion that someone like Mitt Romney will be able to save the party because he is no different than George W. Bush and the Tea Partiers and Ron Paul followers alike know this is true.  Of course the base of the Republican Party will go with whoever is thrown up as a candidate but the same is not true for the fringe voters such as moderate independents, Tea Party types, and Ron Paulites.

Conservatives should stick to individual rights, focus on the economy, and stay consistent to the principle of freedom in America so people will know that they really have woken up to what is important to the majority of Americans.

As I think about the state of our country and the political climate inescapably tied to it I have concluded that in many cases, only time will tell.

Only time will tell.  However, I do have a few guesses about events that will likely take place in the not so distant future.

I believe that the political tug-of-war will continue for an undetermined number of years in which the Republicans and the Democrats will exchange presidencies and political majorities, all the while arguing about out how to spend the loot and centrally plan our carefully constructed façade of a market economy.  In the absence of true change over years, I believe this country will find itself in an unsustainable financial crisis in which the dollar has lost a great deal of its purchasing power thus causing many hardships for a large number of Americans, particularly the already struggling middle and lower classes.

However, when these hardworking, taxpaying, law-abiding citizens raise their fist to condemn whoever it is to blame for the destruction of their country. The two parties will be very clever in the way that they place the blame on the other party’s head.  Each side will believe it is the other side’s fault while pointing out semi-trivial instances where the other party slipped up.  Left with the decision to become more polarized or to ignore political party lines and simply blame the statist elites on both sides of the aisle, I hope Americans will strike at the systemic root of our problem.  The state itself.

It is hard to predict what will happen when my beloved country finds itself in a desperate situation of this magnitude.  I think I would rather not even guess at what things will be like and just wait for time to tell because it always does.

Upon landing I put a bookmark in my copy of the ever-so fitting “On the Road” book and became extraordinarily exited.  DC was beautiful.

I had a few hotel roomates.  These boys are wild liberty lovers just like me and we had a blast everyday and night.  Graham is from The University Michigan, Ann Arbor which is supposedly the Berkeley of the East.  He is a member of the libertarian club on campus there.  Stephen and Trey started a YAL chapter at Middle Tennessee State University.

CPAC itself was draped with Neo-Cons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism) BUT the liberty lovers were also there in large number.

Campaign for Liberty had so many wonderful events and forums.  My favourite was the Judge Napolitano Ron Paul Forum where both Dr. Paul and the Judge confronted the differences between popular conservativism and liberty conservativism.  I was particularly impressed with the Judge.  During his speech he confronted all of the Dick Cheney supporters and made references to the unconstitutional Patriot Act.  Then during the Q and A he declared many of the acts of our government unconstitutional with a thunderous decisive voice.  In fact everyone that C4L hosted was very bold in defining the role of government highlighting the natural rights of individuals and the separation of church and state.

We must now also be bold.  Thanks to a few bold leaders we in the movement now have a loud voice and can afford to be bold ourselves.

“In the long history of the world only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its maximum hour of danger.  YOU ARE THAT GENERATION! THIS IS YOUR ROLE! NOW IS THAT TIME! Freedom must be defended from every assailant in every corner of this country. From outside the country, from inside the country and especially from the government that wants to take it away from us”.

YAL, ASU has fulfilled the 4 requirements to achieve official recognization by the Young Americans for Liberty.

Stayed tuned and check back often for important news and updates.