It is good news when so much positive energy is being generated
on the right that there isn’t time or space to do justice to the
examples. Forgive, then, the brevity of each item of this
roundup, but don’t hesitate to jump in and help if any of these
endeavors impresses you.
First, consider the Contract
From America. Yes, from America, not
with America. That older Contract with
America served its purpose in 1994 and will not be duplicated.
Instead, the new Contract From
America takes advantage of new technology to create a
“collaborative grassroots effort to create a document that offers
real change in Washington D.C. and the state capitals.” This
isn’t just “viral marketing,” it’s viral policy creation. The
only thing imposed from above is the Preamble — and it’s a good
one. I love the part in the first sentence that says a new
contract is needed “in order to protect our country from
those who seek power and authoritarian control under the false
guise of compassion and altruism.” And yes, it certainly is a
false guise that today’s left is wearing. Anyway, the three short
parts of the Preamble pledge fealty to individual liberty,
limited government, and economic freedom. In a nutshell, that’s
what modern conservatism — otherwise known as classical
liberalism — is all about.
All of the programmatic details of the new Contract are to
be worked out by the thousands upon thousands (the organizers
hope) of participants across the nation.
Do take a look. It’s a great idea.
Second, consider the Franklin Center for Government
and Public Integrity. To quote liberally from its mission
statement, the Franklin Center sponsors “programs
that promote journalism and the education of the public about
corruption, incompetence, fraud, or taxpayer abuse by elected
officials at all levels of government. The Franklin Center will
accomplish these goals by networking and training independent
investigative reporters, as well as journalists from state based
news organizations, public-policy institutions & watchdog
groups.” The Center just went public about a month ago. It helps
put donors together with local investigative reporters and news
bureaus. The idea is, of course, to shine a light on government
corruption and waste — you know, the things that traditional
newspapers already are supposed to do, but somehow miss because
they get co-opted either by power elites or by their own
ideological blinders.
Of course, the Center’s grantees will break basic political
news too. For instance, in Nevada, the Franklin-backed Nevada
News Bureau
broke the story that a Republican former state senator named
Joe Heck, who had been running for governor, instead would switch
gears and run for Congress against incumbent Democrat Dina
Titus.
Eventually, if the Franklin grantees break the news, other
news organizations will be forced to report the news as well. But
they won’t be able to put the original liberal spin on the news
that heretofore has so often been the province of whatever
news-organization behemoth first airs or publishes the report.
The early bird defines the worm. In more and more places, the
Franklin Center will be that early bird — thank goodness.
Third, consider the plethora
— a growing plethora, if a plethora can grow — of conservative
websites and blogs that do a better and better job of spreading
truth and wisdom far and wide. There is no way, of course, to
list them all, and I hesitate to list any for fear of offending
some people by leaving them out. All I can do is to promise to
make amends later for sins by omission — but here are some ones
I’ve stumbled on recently that impress me. Robert Belvedere has
Camp
of the Saints. Jeff Perren and Michael Moeller have
Shaving
Leviathan. My friend Bob Jones IV has The Shrinking
Cleric. Jerry Kane has
The Millstone Diaries.
The Wanderer is anything but new, but I include it
because writer Dexter Duggan has been incredibly thoughtful and
merits a wider audience. James Kidd runs PublicSquare.net,
which features thought-provoking, extended debates. And while
Jewish World
Review has been around for years, I and many other
conservative writers owe a great debt of gratitude to its
proprietor, Binyamin L. Jolkovsky, who has been serving
constructive conservatism so well for so long.
Finally, for now, a little advertisement for some
colleagues at the Washington Times.
The Water Cooler and The
Conservatives.com are two blogs there that are
breaking news and doing great stuff.
There: That’s enough for now. I’ll try to update this list
in the future, many times. Obviously, a number of conservative
websites are already well established, and I shied away from most
of those here. But I just think it’s time to start acknowledging
new talent coming along, or to thank some who I haven’t
adequately thanked. Mutual support among conservatives is
essential for the movement, and the cause.
