Passions Ignited, But Minds Doused

It would seem that several of my comments have inflamed the passions of some, yet have doused the ability to apply critical thinking to the problems at hand. The comment threads have taken on a life of their own, and could not have missed the entire point by a further distance.

Originally, the comments began on two other blogs where I visited yesterday. To summarize, the comments dealt with how stupid conservatives were who sat home and "gave" Obama a victory. I thought "there were many conservatives who sat out the election, so let me see where this goes." Unfortunately, the critical thinking stopped there.

To take the reasoning to the next level, we must ask ourselves WHY conservatives sat home. Apathy? Laziness? Ignorance? I posit that it is none of the above. REAL conservatives worked their tails off to give Reagan a 49 state victory in 1984. So I was hoping to hear some explanation of WHY conservatives sat out this election, but it never happened.

I voted for McCain. I don't know how much more clearly I can state that. I would never sit out a major election. I don't think that anyone else should either. Regardless of the candidates, one is a better choice for the nation. I am not sure where anyone found that I said differently. I made a couple of posts inquiring down the next line of thought, and I understand why conservatives weren't motivated to vote. There was NOT a conservative candidate in the race. There was a less liberal candidate, but there was no conservative candidate.

In the comment threads here, there is little said about what conservative credentials McCain possessed, nor what he has done in the Senate to carry the conservative torch. "He is a war hero!" Of course he is. As a combat vet from a line of combat vets, few men enjoy my respect as much as John McCain. However, what the hell does that have to do with championing and leading a three quarter of a trillion dollar bailout for poorly managed companies? Do you find that a conservative approach? How about health care? "Senator Obama has a plan? Well, look at OUR plan." You find government control of healthcare to be a conservative position?

There are neither pro-Obama nor pro-liberal comments in my postings. I have no idea where anyone gets that perspective. A few points:

1) Obama wasn't defeated despite the attempt to undermine his credibility with William Ayers, his preacher, and other associations. NEWS FLASH: It didn't work. The country is turning to the left because there is no real right. This "liberal monster" didn't work in the campaign, and it won't work running up to 2010 and 1012. People really did vote for a change, they just didn't have a choice of changes to make.
2) McCain lost the election because it was poorly managed.
3) There is not a single bit of data that implies that conservatism is alive and well. For goodness sakes, SOUTHERN states turned blue, such as North Carolina. Virginia? The home of Thomas Jefferson? BLUE STATE IN 2008!
4) New voters picked Obama 80-20. Voters under 30 picked Obama 73-27.
5) Obama won the popular vote by 6.7 percentage points. Do you really believe that 9 MILLION conservatives sat out this race?
5) Not a single one of you can give me five core beliefs that McCain possesses.

When are you going to stop and ask why? It is because the GOP is not conservative and has not been for quite some time. What I see in the passion ignited here is that we at CC are not passionate because we are not all pissy about Obama. Guess what? You are right. I don't look forward to the next four years. I see disasterous things on the horizon. But we aren't going to win in 2012 by continuously pointing out that conservatives didn't vote. We are going to win if we can demand that we have true conservatism in the party. This blog will not be like every other blog out there and spend the next four years sounding like a bunch of whiney-asses because of the last election outcome. You can blog your hearts out for the next four years but guess what? Without changes to the GOP the same thing will happen again. Obama acted like a liberal. Is that a big surprise? It isn't to me. You expect the dems to roll over and play dead because we trot out a war hero? Not going to happen....Dems could care less about that, and few respect it. The demographics that the dems target don't even know what decade Vietnam occurred.

Our purpose here is to make long term changes to the GOP and to the hearts and minds of America. It is place for all the conservative voices to get their points across to each other...and to the party, so that we aren't presented with mediocre candidates any longer. The next step to defining conservatism, for the party and for America, and to determine a new paradigm is to take the thinking past "who" stayed at home and discover "why" they stayed at home.

I am not, nor have I suggested that Obama is going to do good things. What I know is that we need to prepare for the future, not languish in the past. People MUST open their minds to move forward....

Passionate About Conservatism

"Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion." George Wilhelm

We've defined what conservatism is. We've discussed what things we need to do to bring conservatism back into the GOP. We've come together on ideas such as small government and personal responsibility and differed on where Reagan fits into the scheme of things. There has been some great discussions and debates and we've exchanged many different ideas. In all this banter though, I've felt one thing that has been decidedly missing and that is passion!

"My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose." Bette Davis

I once heard that passion has no place in conservatism and I heartily disagree. A person without passion has no more value than a heart without love, or a candle without a flame. Passion is a burning desire to a commitment and a cause. It has brought us Picasso, Beethoven, William Shakespeare, Walt Disney and Mother Theresa, who would have been nothing without the passion that they all shared. Every great endeavor has been fueled by passion in some way, shape, or form. Passion is power, an unstoppable force that nothing can hold back. Passion can be magical, it can turn virtually nothing into something glorious. It can change the ordinary into the extraordinary. It can change something boring into something fun and exciting. Passion is severely lacking in conservatism today and we need to change it. With our words and with our actions.

I sometimes joke that I don't always have the right words, but what I have in abundance, is passion. Passion for this mission and the goals we have set and in my vision for the future of America. Without it words don't mean a thing. Without passion where is your drive, your ambition, your hunger for a better tomorrow? This is an uphill battle and without passion, the battle has been defeated before it ever got started.

"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things." Denis Diderot

Think about the last thing that you have been truly passionate about and remember that feeling that you had. Where there were no limits, no goals too high, no endeavor too small. Channel that into our goals and mission here at Conservative Convictions and nothing will stop us. The passion we feel will motivate us every day in our fight for conservatism. I want a better America for my kids. That is the most important thing that drives me. It may be different in all of us, but we need to look within ourselves and find the passion that lives there and use it to accomplish whatever we set out to do.

Something that I think we all realize, is how imperative it is to reach the young'uns! ( I tried some of that southern slang, but I have no idea if that is even a word) Anyway, it is vitally important in our mission. One way to reach them is through the truth and through our passion. The combination of them is the key in getting their interest and keeping it.

"The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to it's fulfillment." Earl NIghtingale