An awakening

I've always been a conservative.  Well, since college at least.  You can say that I had an awakening at that point in time in my life.  I was spoon-fed the liberal news on a daily basis until then and I gobbled it all up and wiped my mouth with an eco-friendly napkin.  I truly thought that hairspray was going to destroy the earth, the oil wells would run dry by the year 2000 and that Ronald Regan was a bumbling idiot.

Then something happened.  I decided to open my mind to alternative sources of information.  At that point in time it meant Rush Limbaugh and the National Review, because that was really the only source of  conservative viewpoints.  Initially I found myself just sitting there with my mouth hanging open, wondering, "How can this guy get away with saying this stuff?"  Eventually, thankfully, I came to accept the truths of the conservative point of view. 

Then came the Bush administration.   I would be lying to you if I told you that I wasn't an enthusiastic supporter of President Bush.  I was caught up in the whole "Republican vs. Democrat" thing.  I chose to turn a blind eye towards the fact that he was a "moderate" conservative at best.  I voted for him twice. During Bush's second term, I had an awakening of sorts.  I came to realize that his policies were not much different than those of the Democrats on the other side of the isle.  I saw the line of ideology between Republican and Democrat blurred.  It was at that point in time that the term "moderate" because very stylish.  My party decided that it would be in their best interest to choose the most "moderate" candidate possible (an extreme oxymoron).  I had to vote for McCain that year just because I didn't want to have an advocate for Socialism as my president.  That didn't work out too well.

This brings us to present day.  I would call myself a proud Tea Party member.  I am a conservative... still.  I am uninterested in party based politics, so if you want to discuss the merits of the Republican Party vs. the Democratic Party, I'm not your man.  Both parties have been equally corrupted by political power. 

I have found myself listening to Glenn Beck over the past few years.  I'm not going to prop Glenn up as a savior to this country or say that he is the next George Washington, but I will say that he has been very instrumental in helping me to solidify my resolve.  As each of his predictions come true, I find myself shaking my head and saying, "I hope he's wrong... I PRAY that he is wrong."  He says the same thing.  Glenn is also uninterested in party affiliation.    He is no fan of Bush, McCain, or any of the Republican establishment.

I've come to embrace Mr. Beck's "E4" initiative:  Enlightenment, Education, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship.  I've been searching for a way to inject these four principles into my life, and that has led me to the purpose of this blog.  I feel that this blog will Empower me to Enlighten others while I am Educated along with my readers.  More than that, I also feel that this is a way of preserving history since I fear that our ability to gather accurate information is going to be severely compromised in the very near future.  I will use the resources that Glenn has created in helping with the preservation, but I plan to incorporate a lot of my own research and opinion as well.  Call it a time capsule if you will.  I do this for the future of my country, for my family, and for my God.

Read if you choose, ignore it if you want.  If you want to discuss civilly, I'm all ears.  All I ask is that you keep an open mind and allow yourself to break free from the shackles of party politics.