It’s on Drudge, Red State, the Chicago Tribune and pretty much everywhere on the conservative blog-o-sphere, but Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was taken into custody and charged on issues stemming from Federal corruption statutes. Basically, the easiest way to be a politician in Illinois is to grease some palms… allegedly.
Fortunately there aren’t any influential politicians from Illinois who have even a hint of suspicion about their legitimacy.
Now, I’m not saying Barry bought his way into the Illinois state senate. I’m saying that Illinois politics are notoriously shady and suspect at best. There’s a well established culture of crony-ism and good ol’ boy networking going on. The Governor cum millionaire got popped , but he’s not the first suspicious guy to hold office there.
The reason this is significant to me is because I firmly believe, and will hotly contend that the real change we need is going to come from the right, and it’s going to come in the form of a grass-roots revival of conservatism. I already believe the values are there, I just believe we on the right are less inclined to make a fuss and more inclined to live our lives. It’s what we do, it’s why this country is great.
However, it’s time to do both. We must not stop being the party of action. By that I mean that we can’t stop being the responsible citizens and purveyors of strong American culture. We must still do all the things that we’ve done to make America great. Now, we have to take the next step.
We’ll never control the main stream media. We’ll never get equal time on CNN or MSNBC. Being heard on Hannity or Rush won’t do much to convince those in the middle because I think those guys are largely charicatures to the undecideds and moderate leftists.
You and I, however, aren’t charicatures. We’re the ones that sit next to them at the office and on the bus. We’re the ones who sit next to them on the bleachers at Little League games. It’s time that we start engaging in the conversations at that level. This is just the kind of stuff to start the conversations. Here are a few tips:
- Talk values – a great thing to establish is that the ends don’t always justify the means. Corruption is corruption, and the corrupt need to be punished. Whether the person is Republican or Democrat, accountability matters. That means that we need to be as ruthleess with Ted Stevens from Alaska as we do with Gov. Blagojevich. Build on the idea that the people don’t exist to serve the governnment, but government exists to serve the people… not babysit the people, but serve them. That can lead naturally into a conversation on the great conservative principle of Limited Government.
- Talk about the issues that matter – by that, I mean talk to them about why they vote for the candidates they do. At this point, just listen. Learn what compels the people in your circle. You may find that the person you’re talking to believes like you do and they just don’t know where the candidates stand. Stay off of the defensive and look for an opportunity. Find out what matters to the people that matter to you (especially those across the aisle) and find out what conservative values speak to those issues.
- Write your elected officials - The Governor of Illinois is going to choose the Senator that will replace Barack Obama. There are enough questions surrounding the whole mess right now. The choice is still an Illinois state matter (as it should be) but it’s always good to let your Senators & Representatives know that your paying attention. Let them know that it matters to you!
I believe there’s no wrong way to be involved. If something occurs to you, post it here. If you have another suggestion about how to engage, let it fly. Let’s get the momentum going!
RNC Chair candidate Katon Dawson’s call for transparency here.
