Right Online, Vegas: Thoughts on the Conservative Movement

What a fine group of happy warriors! Right Online 2010 turned out over 1,000 like-minded activists from over 30 states. These passionate folks walked the over-100 degree streets of Las Vegas to educate voters that November Is Coming.

Should the Democrats be worried? No. They should be resigned. The real worry-warts should be Republicans consistently intent on selling out their principles. Be worried. People are mission-focused.

A couple highlights from the conference: Here's my favorite speaker from the group, Emery McClendon:

Emery McClendon at RightOnline 2010 from AFPhq on Vimeo.

Emery McClendon at RightOnline 2010 from AFPhq on Vimeo.

Did you watch that? Yep. A black (shhhhh) Tea Party organizer. Don't tell the mainstream media. Their brains will go tilt. Another great speech was given by Ann McElhinney of "Not Evil Just Wrong" fame. Didn't those folks turn out to be prescient about the Global Warming scam?

Ann McElhinney at RightOnline 2010 from AFPhq on Vimeo.

Ann McElhinney at RightOnline 2010 from AFPhq on Vimeo.

I also enjoyed watching my friend Stephen Kruiser do stand-up on Friday night. Righties get knocked for being humorless. Anyone who saw Stephen perform knew that wasn't true. He did a great job.

The best part, though, was what is always the best part: meeting fellow activists dedicated to returning America to the values, and the fiscal policies that will ensure its future success.

There were some interesting meetings. Tammy Bruce called a women's round table. Participants included Terri Christophe, founder of Smart Girl Politics, Tabitha Hale of Freedom Works, Christine O'Donnell the conservative Republican running for Joe Biden's open seat, Nansen Malin, the Republican Twitter activist from Washington state, Pamela Gorman running for U.S. Congress from Arizona and me. Tammy said that she felt that we were doing something historic at that meeting-that we would look back and remember this moment. It's certainly possible.

Women have been such a force in both the activism and the political runs this year. At risk of sounding Obama-ish, many observers feel that an historic shift is happening. The leftist feminists certainly see it and seem miserable that Republican and conservative women may be poised to claim the historic mantle this year.

Here's the audio from the round-table. Thanks to Tammy for including me with such an esteemed bunch of women.

The conference ran seamlessly. That's a huge credit to founder and director of the conference, Erik Telford. The break-out sessions were informative and helpful. This year, there were two tracks-one for novices and one for pros. This was very helpful. Of course, I always learn something new at these things no matter the track.

Overall impression:

Ever been swept away by a riptide? The best way to fight it is to not fight it, but go with it. In some respects, the current political climate feels that way. People are motivated. I thought they might be tired by now, tired by fighting. And, in fact, I still worry about fatigue-emotional and physical. So many people have been fighting non-stop for over a year now. And yet, people are still waking up, and joining. Reinforcements seem to be added daily.

I guess that's why it's starting to feel like it's bigger than any one person and it feels like "it" is happening despite us...and because of us. There's lots of talk about leaders, but there are no leaders. There are just people attending, learning, connecting, reconstituting, marching, calling, knocking, reconstituting, writing, sharing, running, reconstituting, tweeting, reading, watching...and eventually voting, and finally, governing.

It's the governing part that's going to test the movement. The Republicans, Trent Lott speaking the hushed subtext "co-opting", will fight until the bloody death to hold on to power, to continue to suckle at the big interest teat that have bought the government over the last few years. Remember when Democrat lefties thought the Democrats wouldn't operate this way? Well, yeah.

The war here isn't really against left or right, well, there is that ideological fight, but that's really a fight over solutions. The real fight is against established, entrenched power-brokers who believe they know what's better for the American people than the American people. President Barack Obama is the poster boy for this philosophy.

Anyway, the battles will be bloodier after November, I fear. And so these conferences are important to fortify the workers. There are some upcoming gatherings: Redstate meets in Austin in September (I'll be there), 9/12 will bring another march on DC (I'll be there), Smart Girls Summit in DC (I'll be there). Go to something and participate.

In the meantime, call your Congressman. Do not back down. Their latest screw-up is the Financial Regulation bill. Between the Financial regulations and the health care reform bills, DC pretty much owns you. Unless you like being at the mercy of soulless bureaucrats, fight!

Crossposted at Liberty Pundits