Based on what conservative bloggers are posting, the results of the 2008 elections have delivered a heave dose of “Change they can bereave in.”

It’s not at all surprising to see conservatives getting up on their soapbox and “venting their spleen.” After all, they’ve just endured watching the electoral embrace of candidates who are advocating more socialism as the “solution” to problems that were caused in the first place by too much government.

However, I have yet to find any conservative bloggers offering viable solutions that would win back the voters who have turned away from the party of Ronald Reagan.

To fill that void, allow me to point out an amazing exception to this year’s flight from conservatism. More importantly, this exception offers the blueprint for conservatives to regain the upper hand in future elections.

Running on an unabashed conservative platform, Utah’s Jason Chaffetz handily defeated an entrenched 6-term incumbent Congressman who had come to represent today’s Republican party and it’s abandonment of Reagan Conservatism.

Even more remarkable is how Chaffetz accomplished this victory:

• Chaffetz won despite the fact that the six term incumbent outspent him by $600,000 and despite the endorsement of the incumbent by President George W Bush, both Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, all three local newspapers.
• The incumbent had a paid campaign staff, while Chaffetz defied conventional wisdom and utilized only unpaid volunteers.
• The incumbent spent thousands of dollars on trinkets and other inducements to get the delegates to vote for him, while Chaffetz wouldn’t so much as buy a meal for anyone whether they were working on his campaign or not.
• The incumbent’s campaign was funded primarily by PACs and special interest groups from outside of Utah, while Chaffetz received the majority of his campaign contributions from individuals within his district.
• Following what has become a standard campaign procedure, the incumbent’s campaign ran with a perpetually outstanding debt, while Chaffetz refused to go into debt and kept his vow to not spend a single cent that he did not have on hand.
• Despite all of these incumbent advantages (which as you know has resulted in the perpetual re-election of almost all incumbents), Chaffetz soundly defeated the incumbent by 20 percentage points, garnering 60% of the vote to the incumbent’s 40%.

How did Chaffetz pull this off? By tapping into the full power of local individuals properly motivated to combine with other like-minded people in the same cause (getting Chaffetz elected).

All of it was made possible by grass roots volunteers. As amazing as Chaffetz is as an individual and as a candidate, if he had not had his group of volunteers behind him, he would never have been able to win the election—particularly with the deck stacked against him and the incumbent holding all of the traditional cards. Our success was unparalleled in modern political history.

It started at the precinct level and and with over 1,000 volunteers actively working for the campaign, we managed to pull off a miracle. Because they felt so strongly about supporting a candidate who actually believed in the same conservative principles they did, volunteers stepped forward to distribute signs, get endorsement letters, make phone calls, put up door hangers, write blogs, participate in honk and waves, march in parades, set up and attend meet the candidate nights and cottage meetings, make videos and effectively get the message out to the masses using Web 2.0 tools. That my friends, is the power of the grass roots organization.

And it worked. Combining our integrity, we trumped the special interest money that the out of touch incumbent had previously been able to count on.

That same success can (and should) be duplicated all over the United States. Candidates who commit to uphold the core conservative values that made America great need to step forward and then local individuals need step forward to support their election.

Of course, the key question is exactly how do you get local individuals properly motivated to help you get elected? Fortunately, the people who actually accomplished the “Chaffetz miracle” are available to help you do just that.

If you’re a true (smaller government) conservative candidate within the state of Utah, you can find help by contacting the 3rd District Conservatives and asking for their assistance.

If you live outside the state of Utah however, an excellent resource is the Independent Caucus. They have educational material that will help spread your conservative message and they can help you build the exact same effective grass roots organization that we used to get Jason Chaffetz elected.

Both of these groups played a major part in getting Jason Chaffetz from Utah’s 3rd District elected to US Congress. Both are not just candidate based groups, but they also provide education and resources for those who have a desire to learn more about applying the principles of grass roots activism to promote good laws and put good men and women into office who share and commit to our conservative principles and values.

So now it’s up to you. You can be content with conservative bloggers dishing out their “post- game” analysis of why the Republicans got their tail kicked. Or you can get involved and get your family, friends, and neighbors involved to put good conservative candidates into office.

You can start on the path of political success by contacting either the “3rd District Conservatives” in Utah or the “Independence Caucus” anywhere else in the United States.

Now’s the time to get started. Via con Dios.

Let’s not bandy about words—we’re in a serious fiscal crisis. You can use whatever word(s) you want to describe it, recession, depression, economic slump, whatever. I’m not going to quibble with anyone over what to call it, I’m simply stating what I see as fact, and as events continue to progress (or perhaps I should say digress), I’ll let the facts bear me out.

And in the light of this current fiscal crisis, you’d think government at all levels would have the good sense to make cuts rather than ask for tax increases. You would also think that agencies of the government would not be so ignorant as to ask for more money to cover their uneccesary program(s), but realize instead that in our current economy, less is more. And you would think that the American voter would demand fiscal conservatism by how they chose to cast their ballot a couple of weeks ago.

Just prior to the aforementioned election, our US Senators and Congressmen voted to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as countless other financial companies in the name of “protecting the integrity of our economy” That’s something to laugh about were it not so painful to contemplate. What integrity? Do you feel as I do, like you just got held up in a bank robbery, only this time it was the banks that robbed you?

We knew months ago that the economy was in for a shakeup, we just didn’t know that we would be on the receiving end of a shakedown in the process. A few months prior to the bailout vote, I received a notice from my city regarding a meeting to determine the will of the people regarding whether or not they should raise our property tax to continue to fund the current level of services. Well at least they were smart enough to figure out BEFORE sending out that notice that it would be a good idea to take the proposed new library off the negotiating table, but I still see plenty of waste in my little town that likes to pretend it’s a real city. Here’s one example of this. We have a population of approximately 6,500 with a crime rate that hovers just above zero. And yet we have 9 police officers and one police chief. Every year our fledgling municipality purchases six new police vehicles for their department. We’ve got a volunteer fire department and a volunteer paramedic/ambulence service, I’m pretty sure there are many citizens (myself included) who would have no problem with cutting uneccessary services and instead take turns helping out when called upon. Unfortunately, even after public comment made it clear we would prefer to have services cut to having our taxes raised, our fine mayor and city council voted FOR a tax increase. I’ll be doing my part to help my fellow citizens remember who voted for that increase when the next election comes around.

There were two bond issues that were on the ballot of the largest city in my fair state, one was to make improvements in the local aviary and the second was for that city’s zoo—which apparently is unable to survive on its own merits. First I’ll tell you what I think, and then I’ll tell you what I really think! Just because you are the largest city in the state doesn’t mean you absolutely have to have your own aviary and zoo any more than every single major city in the US has to have its own Disneyland! Yes, it’s a “nice” thing to have, but if you can’t get it to succeed on it’s own merits in a free market society, we the people are not obligated to bail your failing business out whether it’s by immediate direct taxation or deferred direct taxation in the form of bonds. Ever since the day I gave birth to my first child and realized the ramifications of who pays the interest on the bonds issued today, I have never voted in favor of a single bond issue no matter how wonderful a cause it appeared to support. Why would someone loathe their children to such a degree that they would burden them and their grandchildren with debt so that we can enjoy something today? And yet that’s what our parents have done to us, and the majority of us are doing to their children and grandchildren. Incidentally, both aforementioned bonds passed easily. Are people so ignorant and foolish? Apparently they are.

Then the big 3 automakers flew in to Washington on their corporate jets with their hands out. What the heck, we already opened up Pandora’s Box with the whole financial bailout thing, why not just bail out every failing business that asks for it? Heck, why not just bail out every PERSON who gets laid off their job? Where do we draw the line and say ENOUGH!!! And yet our duly elected representatives voted in favor of bailing out our auto industry. We are quickly becoming a Marxist nation. And quite frankly “We the People” are assenting to it! How many of those who voted in favor of the bailout were ousted from office? 96% of all incumbents were reelected. Why?

Today I read in the paper that one of our National Parks is looking for government money to prop up their bus shuttle program. Again, no one within the agency has any qualms about this. The economy is in shambles, but hey, Uncle Sam has his checkbook open—might as well take advantage of his generous mood before it changes (yeah, like that’s ever likely to happen). At what point will people step up and demand change by voting the current slate of bums out of office? The American people had their opportunity to do so this last election and failed to do so EVEN THOUGH THEY TOLD THEIR REPRESENTATIVES 400 TO 1 THAT THEY WERE AGAINST THE BAILOUT AND THEN WATCHED THE MAJORITY OF THOSE SAME REPRESENTATIVES VOTE IN FAVOR OF IT!

In my kinder moments, I chalk such incongruence up to general ignorance and lack of education on the issues. When I’m feeling a little more than riled up about things, I attribute it to downright stupidity. We said no. They (our alleged “representatives”) ignored us and voted the opposite way. And then we (apparently) said, that’s OK, we like you anyways and we’re going to let you stay in office even though you out and out ignored what we told you to do and you’re not really doing the job we elected you to do to keep us from getting into these kinds of messes to begin with. How smart is that? It’s time for the American people to stand up and be heard, and like the reporter from the movie “Network” admonished us to do, stand up and say, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

Until we decide as a majority of people to elect new people into Congress, we will be subject to the same craziness that we’re dealing with right now. And it’s not going to get any better either regardless which party holds the majority, that is until we let our will be known. Stay tuned for more on that topic, coming soon…

The Republican party is licking its collective wounds after taking a whipping at the polls this last election. And even now as the take the time to assess all of the reasons for massive failure, GOP leadership still doesn’t get it.

I voted for George W Bush, and I’m ashamed to admit it because if we really want to understand the backlash against the Republican Party on election day, it all begins here. Let’s not simply point the finger at GW, he had plenty of accomplices along the way from BOTH parties, but the traditional conservative values of smaller government, fiscal conservatism, and anti-war were ignored to their detriment. What actions gained many of our outgoing Congressmen and members and staff of the Executive Branch the RINO (Republicans in name only) label:
• Pre-emptive, unjust, and costly (in terms of both life and tax dollars) wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight
• Rhetoric indicating similar plans of hostility in Iran
• Massive government growth, particularly through the consolidation of functions under the Homeland Security umbrella
• Engaging unapologetically in torture of illegal enemy combatants
• Impinging on the freedoms of American people through laws rammed through using fear tactics such as the Patriot Act (an ironic name to be sure), the Military Commisions Act, and the Homegrown Terrorist Act
• Spending like there was no tomorrow (which giving the course President Bush et al have set us on, could be the case) handing out billions to the war machine through military contracts to his buddies, and now the financial bailout to Wall Street and possibly the Auto industry (what part of free market do you RINOs not understand)

The Republican Party has lost its way and in an article by Jonathan Martin in Politico’s online rag, older party members blame John McCain’s lackluster campaign on their losses. The newer members of Congress however “get it.” They understand that core conservative values must win out in order for the party to survive. But longtime GOP leadership is not listening.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty opened up a luncheon speech to his fellow governors by noting that excuses could be made, citing the unpopularity of President Bush, the Iraq war and the poor state of the economy.

But, he continued, such a rationale was “not fair and it’s not complete.” The party’s problem, he said, is far more grave.

“We cannot be a majority governing party when we essentially cannot compete in the northeast; we are losing our ability to compete in the Great Lakes states, we cannot compete on the West Coast,” Pawlenty argued, also citing similar problems in the mid-Atlantic and the Mountain West. “Similarly, we cannot compete and prevail as a majority governing party when we have a significant deficit as we do with woman, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics, where we have a large deficit with African-American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes.”

Later, talking to reporters, Pawlenty put it more plainly: “The Republican Party is going to need more than just a comb-over.”

He doesn’t advocate for a major ideological shift — few prominent voices in the party are — but rather for aggressively offering solutions on issues such as health care, energy and education that have been viewed as Democratic turf.

WHAT? Did these GOP leaders not just see what a butt whooping they just received by straying away from core conservative principles? And now they think the solution is more tax and spend?! Unbelievable! Even the frosh class of Democratic Congressman is more blue dog than usual. Which means that even when the electorate voted Democrat they were still voting for the candidate with the most conservative platform. It’s time to stand up, get involved and bring the Republican Party back into alignment with the principles that Americans believe in and vote for.

Some say to forget the Republican Party and let’s just start our own party. Confession time. Although I’ve been a registered Republican for most of my adult voting life, I am a true independent, voting for the candidate(s) with the most conservative record/message. I assure you that conservatives will have much greater success getting their desired candidates elected by uniting inside the Republican Party than they will in any third party or independent campaign.

I find it interesting that the Republican Party was unable to recognize their losses in 2006 and their current single digit congressional approval rating handed to them by the American people as a bellweather for this election. They had time to right the ship but they refused to acknowledge where the cancer was and cut it out to save the patient. Even now, within the party there is infighting over what direction we should be heading as we move forward. I can’t emphasize this enough—more involvement by more Americans equals successfully taking back the party and steering it towards the American values we all share and hold dear.

I used to think that voting every two years was enough to fulfill my civic duty. And every time I submitted my ballot, my cynicism would jade my view of what I had just done because in my heart and mind, I was certain that my vote didn’t really mean anything and wouldn’t make a difference. I believed that there were powers behind the scenes pulling the strings so that no matter how I and my family, friends, and neighbors voted, those power brokers would get their way.

Last year I had an epiphany that changed my worldview irrevocably. I had a strong impression that I needed to get more involved politically. Five years ago a dear friend introduced me to the whole concept of the caucus. She called me up and invited me to attend the local caucus so I could vote and I responded by asking, “What’s a caucus?” She very patiently explained to me how the caucus works and how it is the epitome of grassroots politics. After that I dutifully attended two caucus meetings every two years and cast my votes for state and county delegates and precinct officers. Precinct was a new word to me but through understanding it, brought me a renewed faith and hope in the entire political process.

They say “All politics is local.” And so it is. The precinct is the foundation of what happens from that level up. And understanding how you can make a difference in the political process at the precinct level is the essence of “the ground game” of political grass roots organization.

So when I had my epiphany I knew I had to do something more than vote. When the 2008 caucus was about a month away, I had another impression that I needed to run as a state delegate. I made it my goal to remove our incumbent Congressman (who happens to live in the same town as I) from office and as I knocked on doors and made phone calls putting my name in front of potential caucus attendees, I told them so. When I was nominated at the caucus I was asked to give a two-minute speech and answer questions after. I don’t remember much of what I said, except I reiterated my desire to remove the sitting Congressman from office and that I had an honest desire to make a contribution to my community in a meaningful way, and this was the best way I knew I could help.

I was elected and then spent the next few weeks before the State Convention attending the meet and greets of all the potential candidates. I took copious notes and asked many questions of the candidates. I observed their demeanor as they answered difficult questions and looked deeply into their eyes to ensure sincerity and purity of motives. Then I made my assessment and made more phone calls and organized cottage to report my findings and determine the “will of the people” based on my assessment.

The State Convention was unlike any other event I had ever attended up to that moment and I truly felt that I was inside the belly of the beast. And what a lesson in politics I received that day alone! At the end of the day, my chosen candidate had missed removing our incumbent by a mere nine votes. That evening I made up my mind that I could do even more than merely be a state delegate and I donated money to Jason Chaffetz’s campaign through PayPal and then sent Jason an email offering to help with his campaign. Again I received an amazing education in the political process and learned just how much one person could do to make a difference. First you just have to care enough!

I won’t bore you with the detail of what I did specifically to help the campaign, but five and a half weeks later, Jason was the Republican nominee for US Congress, 3rd District in the State of Utah. And besides interacting on a regular basis with Jason and seeing what a high quality man of integrity he is, I had the amazing experience of connecting with scores of like-minded people who shared my values and my passion for making a difference in the world by getting involved politically. Now that the election is over and Jason is our new US Congressman beginning in January of 2009, many of those same people are still working hard on effecting change through being involved in the political process at both the precinct level and the legislative level. You can also get involved and make a difference. Even if you’re not a citizen of the United States, you can turn your non vote into ten votes or more by talking to people and helping them understand their civic duty while promoting your cause and/or candidate. That’s the power we have as individuals banding together. If you also share the American values of liberty, freedom and financial success, I invite you to join our discussion group, Third District Conservatives by clicking on this email link and putting the word “Subscribe” in the subject line of the email and we’ll be happy to have you join our discussion. I still believe there are power brokers who work behind the scenes to have their way, but now I’m one of them. Get involved today in order to preserve our children’s tomorrows.

Do people who choose to smoke cigarettes have a right to smoke? Are there consequences for the rest of us when others choose to light up and if so, what are they? The answers to those questions have sparked an anti smoking campaign in many states which have caused legislators to pass anti-smoking laws which restrict or prohibit smoking in public places. Yes, there are indeed consequences when others choose to smoke. They get cancer, and prior to their death, run up large medical bills. Those large bills are left for grieving family members to pay or, if the deceased had insurance, their high expenses increase the cost for the rest of us, so that purchasing private health insurance is way out of reach for many people.

But it doesn’t stop there. Smokers “share” their smoke with others, causing innocent people to also get cancer and die. Ultimately, society pays a very high cost for smokers enjoying their “right” to smoke. Smokers can enjoy their right to smoke as long as it does not infringe on others’ rights. But as I have shown, it does indeed infringe on the rest of us both physically and financially.

As we examine the Gay and Lesbian communities’ assertion that they should have the right to be recognized in a legal manner the same way other groups are recognized legally, we need to first ask ourselves if their “right” to be gay infringes on our rights. They say it does not, but let’s examine the issue a little closer. Because of the nature of the way their sexual relationships are conducted, they are a high risk group for AIDS. Just as the smokers’ high medical costs increased our insurance costs, AIDS does the same thing. And just as innocent people die as a result of passive smoke, many innocents have also contracted AIDS and died as a result of blood infusions, dental procedures, or heterosexual relations with an unfaithful spouse who swings both ways.

But there is a bigger issue than the AIDS epidemic here. Because now the Gay and Lesbian community want us to grant them the “right” to be married the same as men and women who love one another do. After all, it doesn’t hurt us does it? Or does it?

In Massachusetts where Gay marriage has already become accepted under the law, family and religious rights have already begun to be trampled as a result. Many families were particularly upset when their kindergardeners and first graders came home with a “diversity bag” with books and other literature about Gay and Lesbian lifestyles. One particular set of parents that I heard about, went to their child’s school and requested the school respect the parents right to have “parental notification” when such topics were going to be discussed in the classroom (much the way the schools are required to handle sex ed) so that they could make sure their child was not part of that discussion. The school refused because same sex marriage and relationships was legal and therefore it could be taught openly in the public schools without school administrators or teachers being required to notify parents. The parents insisted that they had their rights too, and the father said that he would not budge from the school office until the school officials would agree to parental notification. The school administrators responded by calling the police, who handcuffed him and let him spend the night in jail.

The Gay and Lesbian agenda does indeed infringe on the rights of traditional American families. Take the case of the Catholic Adoption Agency who is now required by Massachusetts law to allow Gay and Lesbian couples adopt through their agency even though to do so violates their religious doctrine and principles. Rather than comply with this requirement, they were forced to shut down an agency that provided a valuable and needed service in the state. Prior to its demise, the agency was renowned for the services it provided and the manner in which they served the communities where they had installed themselves. All of this because of the narcissictic and selfish desire of the Gay and Lesbian community to force their will on us rather than to employ gaining their benefits through civil unions. The Gays and Lesbians claim that heterosexuals are not tolerant of them. And yet they are less tolerant of us than we are of them.

I am disturbed by the recent militant attitudes, and strident words and actions coming from those in the Gay and Lesbian community in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8. They are anxious to stomp on our rights in order to gain what they believe should be theirs. Is it possible for those with a more reasonable voice to step forward and take a more conciliatory tone and acknowledge the possibility that everyone’s problems could be solved with Civil Unions? Because I know one thing is for certain. Their right to engage in their relationships does not trump my rights as a husband and father and the rights of my family.

Our freedoms are in jeopardy, and it all begins with political correctness. We can get sent to jail for committing the crime of “hate speech.” As an outspoken advocate against gay marriage, my vocal opposition has been described by some to be hate speech.

We are corrected when we say define someone’s race as being Oriental rather than Asian. What’s the difference? Who all of a sudden decided that Oriental is an offensive term and should only be used to define the origins of rugs and not people? Won’t someone understand me if I refer to someone of African origin as a black, or colored, or negro person? Why does it matter, and why do people get worked up over such small things?

In a speech by Charlton Heston on first and second amendment rights, he related a story which illustrates the ridiculousness of this whole political correctness movement:

David Howard, head of the Washington D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word “niggardly” while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, “niggardly” means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign.

As columnist Tony Snow wrote: “David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn’t know the meaning of niggardly,’ (b) didn’t know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and (c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance. ”

What does all this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can’t be far behind.

We have forgotten that freedom and tolerance are twin sisters. We both have freedom if and when we can overlook and tolerate the fact that each other is human and will say and do things that are not always in agreement with our own personal principles. But as long as our rights are not infringed, it should be a simple thing to be tolerant of one another’s idiosyncrasies.

If you recognize the difference between and talk about race, it does not make you a racist.

If you see and point out distinctions between the genders, it does not make you sexist.

If you think critically about a religious denomination, it does not make you anti-religion.

If you view homosexuality as a perverse and sinful action and choose not to allow homosexuals to redefine the contract of marriage, it does not make you a homophobe.

We should allow others the freedom to speak their mind unfettered by our editorials about what we believe to be right or wrong so that hopefully they will extend to us that same consideration.

Conservaties, liberals, progressives, RINOs, etc. Those are just labels which allow us to dismiss the opinions and arguments of others whose viewpoints are different than our own. A constructive dialogue is healthy and even necessary to help us all find areas where we can agree. It is only by this kind of positive dialogue and acceptance of other’s right to speak freely that we can work past our differences and find consensus.

I owe all who have begun reading my blog an apology. My site crashed around noon today and I lost both posts and all comments associated with them. I don’t know what happened and I haven’t been able to find any files that will help me recover the information. If you happen to have the first blog entry in your cache, I’d appreciate if you could send that to me as well as any comments that were cached as well. Thanks and again, I’m sorry.