A year has passed since former President George Bush 43, former treasury czar Hank Paulson, and their band of plunderers in Congress foisted the unConstitutional bank bail-out on an unwilling American public. And it has been the most encouraging year I can remember since Ronald Reagan restored economic prosperity, brought Soviet tyranny to its knees, and renewed American optimism. Despite our wanna-be overlords’ naked pandering to consumerism, the American people vehemently and vociferously opposed the effort to reward irresponsible banks and borrowers on the backs of hard-working tax-payers. But that was only the beginning. We booted many of the bums out of Congress. We’ve held tea parties across the country, and the astonishingly large 9/12 rally at the Capitol, and we’ve fought Big Brother at town hall meetings. And the tide is turning: Six months ago, Obama-“care” looked like an inevitability, but now opposition is high and getting higher, and the Keystone Kourtiers in the White House (reeling from the greatest Olympic humiliation since 1980) don’t know what hit them.
In this hopeful environment, about 2,000 free-market activists gathered here in Virginia at Americans for Prosperity‘s annual Defending the American Dream Summit, hard-working tax-payers who gave up a weekend to come from around the country at their own expense to protest federal molly-coddling, learn new strategies for defeating it, and simply encourage one another in the long and glorious battle for economic freedom.
One special highlight for me was seeing my SamSphere friend Bob Weeks receive AFP’s Blogger of the Year award; he follows Maggie Thurber, also of SamSphere, who won the award last year. SamSphere also came through for me personally, yet again, when Steve Eggleston suggested that Ed Morrissey interview me about Slaying Leviathan for Hot Air. And of course, it was great just to catch up with so many other SamSphere friends, including Emily Zanotti, Virginia’s own Krystle Weeks, Bill Smith (and his charming wife Lois), and AFP’s Erik Telford. Y’all are good friends and great patriots, and it’s a privilege to fight this battle with you.
For two decades, I worked at political jobs. Then my parents got sick, and I went home to help care for them, and they died, fourteen weeks apart, in their late 60s. And I decided that life is too dear, and too uncertain, to fritter away in political offices. I fought back the sorrow with travel, and started this blog. I believe that passions are more fun when you share them with others, and my hope is to share my passions for travel and culture with you. Welcome! Read more …