In the everyday life of a Conservative there is much to be angry, annoyed and even depressed about. It is right to feel angry when Muslim terrorists commit yet another atrocity and our national "leaders" talk about a "religion of peace". It is right to be annoyed when we are told our Traditions must be put aside so as not to offend others. It is depressing to hear people support some Liberal idea or talking point when it is obvious they know 9/10th's of nothing on the subject but still need to say something so they'll still be a member of the club.
Non of these things are right but it's not enough to be angry, annoyed or depressed. It's normal human nature to feel these emotions, I know I do and so should you at times. But it's not enough for it to end there, it's not enough to let the idea that we are always losing take hold. The truth is we haven't begun to fight.
I have always been a Conservative but I left the fight to others and I supported from afar, sometimes thats all you can do. But I always wanted to do more but where should I go? How could I get involved? What could I do? But I encountered a problem, there wasn't any Conservative organisation to join. I could have joined a political party, I thought about it but I realised that just because something is called Conservative doesn't make it so. I could have joined other non-political organisations but they tend to focus on only one issue when in reality these things are all connected. I got no where but frustrated.
One day at work I was so annoyed at everything, so I seriously started looking for some Australian Conservatives on the web and I found Oz Conservative. Here was someone who wasn't a radical or a ratbag, who wasn't a Right Liberal calling themselves (and believing themselves) to be a Conservative. I got in contact with Mr. Mark Richardson and soon we met up, we had different ways of looking at things but we agreed to keep meeting and we have for two years now.
You might ask but what have you achieved? In short not much, we haven't changed the world, not even one policy. But whats different is now I am not passive, I am still a victim of Liberalism , as are you, but I am not simply a victim. I have moved on to trying to organise and think. That brings it's own problems as you see that the old ideas you had aren't as good as you thought but the new ideas haven't always turned up yet, not to worry (although I do) as chances are they'll be here after you've had a chance to really allow them to percolate for awhile.
Well that tells you about me, why should you be optimistic?
For three reasons:
1) Conservatives are starting to understand the difference between Right Liberalism and Conservatism, that we keep losing because we keep expecting the wrong people to fight for us.
2) The Internet really allows us a means of communication that cuts out the media, we can speak directly to each other. It doesn't matter where you are you can find out what others think and gain comfort and ideas.
3) Liberalism is failing, society and the economy are both failing and people can see it if they wish to see it. Also Liberalism believes it can just keep pushing and pushing but we are becoming immune to their tactics, we no longer take seriously their insults of bigot or racist. Remember the sign that said " It doesn't matter what this sign says you'll call it racist anyway." We are finally learning.
But it isn't enough to simply complain, or be angry or be annoyed or to be depressed. So many times, too many times, Liberalism has stumbled and Conservatism should have given it a push. But instead there existed no real Conservative organisation or movement to do it. That needs to change.
The future will not always be bright, in fact many of the policies and ideas of Liberalism will hurt us personally. But instead of taking us out of the fight we need to use it to rejuvenate our commitment to fighting Liberalism. Because what happens to me will be visited upon you and vice versa. Thats how Liberalism works and we need to help end that. Not by looking for supermen or some ethnic minority leader to do our job for us but by doing the job ourselves. The fight is not hopeless, Liberalism is weak, it appeals to emotions not logic which means it is full of illogical ideas. Ideas full of holes that we can pull apart. Many people like emotions more than logic, but very few can live in a word without logic. We need to take advantage of that, not just to point out that the Emperor has no clothes but that we, Conservatives, know how to dress him. Something that Liberalism has failed at.
I will leave you with something I saw written down:
The pessimist complains about the wind
The optimist expects the wind to change
The leader adjusts the sails
I was inspired by this article "It won't do" at Oz Conservative and I really liked the first comment by Laura Elizabeth
Upon Hope Blog - A Traditional Conservative Future
Mark, your three reasons for optimism are very good.
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