May You Live In Interesting Times? Yawn.

Is it just me?  There's a health care debate raging simmering.  There's two fronts in the War on Terror currently underway - Iraq and Afghanistan.  There's some Cap and Trade foolishness still going on while the chill is literally in the air all over the place.  There's talk of yet another Stinkulus package to come from the Democrats.  There's an economy that's supposedly recovering but facing a very real threat of stagflation in the coming year. 

There's earnings per share results driving a Wall Street recovery that seems to be focused on the bottom line despite the fact that when there's nearly a 10% unemployment rate.  That means the biggest single company cost - typically labor - has been substantially reduced across the board, probably driving those earning in large part, and therefore creating a potentially unsustainable profit margin.  After all, lower employment means lower demand, and there's no room to cut more expense in a lot of cases if sales don't pick up.

There's still activism on the part of certain Supreme Court  Justices Justice.  There's still an interminable national debt and runaway deficit spending.  There's a burden of an ever-encroaching Big Brother state.  There are RINOs aplenty.  there's Mainstream Media subterfuge and blatant bias still misinforming the uninformed as they cheerlead President Obama.

What else?  Oh yes, there are New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races that potentially could signify a swing back to conservatism or at least away from the radical progressivism socialism that's dominated the political landscape for the last year.  Almost as if there were a thaw in the winter (summer really) of America's discontent.  It portends what could happen in 2010 and they are important indicators that need to be driven to conservative success.

We could not live in a much more precarious or interesting time.  Yawn.

On a personal level, I've been blogging for almost a year. By now I should be honing my skills and be really engaged about the next couple of months because they are likely to be just as interesting if not more so.  But you know what?  I'm not.  Not that I intend to give up blogging or think that the socialist threat to America has diminished at all.  It hasn't, it's gotten worse.

But there may be a broader lesson to learn from my own recent ennui (boredom).  A while back I blogged that the smart thing for the President and the Democrats to do on health care was to scale back operations and move things at a slow crawl rather than the insane, reckless breakneck pace of the Obama administration.  It would move things back to the slow creep towards socialism and lull the sleeping giant of the silent majority back to sleep.  I offered the advice thinking that it wouldn't be what the Democrats decided to do.  And while they haven't exactly taken their foot off the pedal, they've seemingly throttled back a little.  And what impact has it had?

On a personal level, I've never been as engaged in American politics as the last year, except perhaps when Reagan was President.  I was just as eager to know what was going on back then as now.  But now, I'm taking time out of most every day to write about what is transpiring.  It's as much venting as anything else.  But here's the thing - you can only rant for so long before you start to run out of energy.  After being so angry or worried for so long, you start to burn out. It's inevitable.

And perhaps that's what the Democrats are counting on - the anger to run it's course.  Sure there are still articles about all these issues.  Sure people are still angry. Sure, 2010 will see Republican gains and Democratic losses.  But meanwhile, things can slow to a crawl and by the time these bills get ready for final passage it could be December or January.  You aren't going to see protests in freezing cold post-global-warming months.  The conservative energy will have dissipated to the point that any protests will be sporadic at best, and the weather will help ensure that.  Further, it will help minimize media coverage too.

It's really quite sinister.  It's as if they view the protesters as spoiled teenagers.  We've had our rant and now they (the parents) are going to do what they planned anyway.  They've been waiting for the anger and frustration to die out of it's own accord.  And if you look at the polling data from Rasmussen and Gallup today, there even sems to be a stall in the trending of Obama's falling support. Gallup does still seem to be in catch-up mode though.

Another way of looking at the flagging resistance is the 5 stages of grief, co-opted to 5 stages of resistance;

-denial; they aren't really socialists, that right wing nut jobs saying that.

-anger; Tea Party protests, 9/12 protests

-bargaining; okay, how do we keep a lid on the amount of impact this has?

-depression; actually this one kind of runs through the entire set of stages for conservatives. Obama's agenda is inherently depressing

-acceptance; I'm not sure anyone on the right will get there.  Not this year, not in 5 years.  But the when the horse is out of the barn, closing the door does nothing. In 15 years the new health care plan would be ingrained in too many people.  By that time America will be pretty unrecognizable compared to today.  It will be Europe.  It will have choked out what's made it great.

Pep talk

Yep, that's pretty depressing.  No conservative wants to see that.  As a conservative, it's my responsiblity to keep plugging away despite my current lack of excitement, knowing it will return again fairly soon.  It always does.  But in the broader picture it's everyone's responsiblity to not ease up on the pressure just because it seems like there's a lull in the 'action'.  Keep on top of your elected representatives.  Keep attending Town Halls and keep looking for Tea Parties to attend.  Everybody has their part to do - your country depends on it. If you are unhappy with representatives of either party, or both, complaining to yourself or friends accomplishes nothing.  You have to do something visible, in the sense that you need to make a statement others will notice; all the way up to the White House.  It's easier to do that by collaborating with others.  It's more visible and less taxing individually.  So use the tactics of the socialists against them.  Organize.  Protest.  Make yourself heard.  The protests don't need to be forgotten.  They need to be turned into a snowball that rolls down hill, gathering strength and speed.  If nobody lets up, that's exactly what will happen.

Remember it took a non-stop drumbeat from the left to turn much of the country against George Bush's War on Terror.

Meanwhile we can all hope that Murdoch buys NBC and fires Matthews and Olbermann.  Hopefully that helps keep your eyes on the prize.  For myself at least, I think I've managed to strengthen my resolve.