Change you can believe in!

Yesterday I took the whole family to Southfork Ranch north of Dallas for "America's Tea Party." It was AWESOME!!!

I went with my friend Bill to the very first Dallas Tea Party back in February. It was organized in 48 hours via Twitter and Facebook. 300 people plus local news media showed up. For months Bill and I were in the photo masthead at www.dallasteaparty.org (they've since really developed that site further). I'm sure that means we're on the Homeland Security watch list as Right-Wing Extremists.

For the April 15th Tax Day Tea Party, I cast my lot with the good folks in my own city of Fort Worth. I had the good fortune to meet Stephanie Klick, the Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party via Twitter, who was one of the organizers of that Tea Party. I later got to visit with her and Patty Schade and others. The Tea party was incredible: 5,000 people gathered where the Fort Worth Cats play ball to listen to patriots sound the clarion call to stand up for Lady Liberty.

At that Fort Worth Tea Party I was even proud of Governor Rick Perry, who has not always met with my approval to be sure. But on that day I discovered that a free market with competition works well in the realm of politics, too. It seems to me that Gov. Perry has suddenly clarified many of his conservative principles now that Kay "Bailout" Hutchison has entered the Governor's race. Good. All politicians ought to see that there job is in jeopardy and act accordingly. Get it right, or get the pink slip.

During that Tea Party, my daughter was on the mend after an inch-from-death episode that found her sick and comatose. Thank God for the great medical system we currently have in America where anyone within driving distance of an ER can get the best care possible when life is on the line—REGARDLESS OF THEIR ABILITY TO PAY AT THAT MOMENT. Or whether they have insurance or not. They didn't even ask us if we had insurance until nearly two days of fighting to save my daughter's life. We have the best medical system in the world, and indeed much of the world benefits from our system's innovation. I blogged lots about Trinity's fight for life here.

My daughter would be dead under Obama-care or Hillary-care. One inch of red tape would have been enough to choke the last bit of life out of her. No, our medical system is not perfect (especially the insurance aspect of it), and there is much to improve. But giving it to the government is the LAST thing we need. It has never worked and never will because government cannot run anything well. This has become a platform issue for me, as you'll see if you follow this blog.

So because of all that and the fact that I am a small business owner who must work night and day to catch up, I've been out of the loop politically. I have not blogged. I have been ignoring Facebook and personal emails for weeks because I just have to catch up. Hopefully the tide will subside soon and I'll be able to blog more and get more involved with my new friends in the Tarrant County GOP and Fort Worth's 912 Project.

As busy as I've been, I just could not stay away from the July 4 Tea Party in Dallas. Ken Emanuelson had requested help from more volunteers late Friday night, so Bill Garlough and I headed to Southfork Ranch at midnight. We made signs, stuffed packets, and scored Media passes and Staff parking tags. VERY cool. This gave us access during the event to the Media room, the Cool Zone, and the V.I.P. section in front of the stage.

We heard some great patriots yesterday. Among them were funny conservative comedian Steven Crowder and the conservative blogger and Fox News Contributor Michelle Malkin, the daughter of Filipino immigrants who are proud to be just "Americans" and not "Hyphen-Americans".

The music and fireworks were a blast. (Har har.) Mickey from the Monkeys was there with his band. But best of all, my wife and children were there with me. And neighbors/friends were with us as well.

God bless America. God bless Texas. And, please, God bless me to finish all the work ahead of me and to be successful. I pray nearly every night with my kids that God will bless us with many resources so that we can bless others. And I work hard every day partnering with God by His grace to make it.

Folks, that is what it means to be a Christian and an American Conservative: Work hard; praise God; pass on values to your children; do your best to help others; defend the defenseless. The world is better and more like God intended when we all work together for Life and Liberty.

Photos and video will be posted to this blog when I have time to edit them. For now, here's the video feed recorded yesterday:

I went to the Fort Worth Tax Day Tea Party with some friends and my sons. My daughter was at Cook Children's but was on the mend by this point. The law enforcement officers there estimated the crowd to be at least 5000, though parking issues suggest it was higher than that.

The media wants you to believe this was organized by Fox News and evil rich people. Well, this is my second tea party, and while I didn't organize either, I know some of the people who did. This is real. And unlike liberal wacko protesters, even though we were in HUNDREDS of cities with HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of participants (new estimates are upwards of 1 million), there was NO violence and NO spewed hatred. We were real Americans who gathered to vent our frustration and to laugh together and to get fired up.

And we're not going away. Watch out, much more is coming...

I met with two GOP leaders for our county today, and am so glad I did. I am finally seeing that, even though many of the top elected GOP leaders are making a bunch of dumb decisions (e.g. "Kay Bailout Hutch."), our local leaders are working hard to hold their feet to the fire.

I encourage you to get involved in your local party associations and make a difference. I'm trying to do that now myself. Sign up for mailing lists. Connect on Twitter and Facebook. Read their blogs. Make a difference!

Click the thumbnail to see some of my photos...

I've heard many drones who believe the CNNBC media who say the Tea Parties were concocted by Fox News. I know they want you to believe that because Fox News trashes these journalistically bankrupt networks combined on a daily basis. They have resorted to spin for the sake of trying to stay alive, not just act as press secretaries for Chairman Obama.

These Tea Parties were not a stunt. They were not primarily about trashing Obama—we conservatives are mad at both parties. They were not whining parties to mourn our loss of the last election—we lost it when McCain became our nominee. And they were not in anyway organized by Fox News or corporate lobbyists or whatever they try to tell you on CNNBC.

In fact, this first Tea Party was back on February 27, and I don't think Fox News even knew until after the fact. I went to the Dallas Tea Party that day. I found out from my good friend, neighbor, and business partner, Bill Garlough, who found out on Twitter. It was organized on Twitter and Facebook in 48 hours, and around 300 people showed up that quickly. It was outside the American Airlines Center.

What were we protesting? That day we protested passing the porkulous bill that was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages in length, and that NOBODY read. We dipped the pages in a big fish tank of tea. One guy blew his nose on his page. We had some good speakers and some good times.

Most of the people there—including me—had never been a part of a political protest of any kind. And as that poll was taken by show of hands, the speaker acknowledged that it's because all of us are too busy working for a living! Most people had to take a vacation day to get off work in the middle of that Friday. I retorted, "When you own your own business, you don't GET a vacation day!" And I got a lot of "amens."

I had JUST gotten on Twitter before this event, and since tweating about it, I'm up to 283 followers. I've been amazed at the people who follow me. I have a former U.S. Congressman who I know follow, too. Also, Thom Rainer, a favorite Christian non-fiction writer of mine. And also, Stephanie Klick, Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party. And many, many more.

Obama got elected by people who know how to use new technologies effectively, even to fleece people who tweat more than they think. We are never going to get our conservative message of foundational American principles and elect true conservatives to all levels of public office if we don't master it. Communication is everything. We know our message is better because it's right. It's what made this the greatest nation in the history of the world. Let's get the word out!

The tea parties are great and were organized through technology. But now what? Mrs. Glick today reminded me that we have got to move beyond these rallies and into action. I'm starting to think very seriously about how.

The picture thumbnail leads to a gallery of photos I took there on my iPhone.

I decided weeks ago that the right time to bring my blog back was during the nationwide tax day tea parties today. I am going to the Fort Worth Tea Party at LaGrave Field here in a few moments. I'm taking my sons and some friends. We have our signs, and we're ready to protest with hundreds of thousands of others around the country today, standing against out-of-control government, soaring taxes, and creeping socialism.

But a huge kink got thrown into my plans, as often happens. My daughter, Trinity, got sick and was microns away from death. We've spent the last 11 days in Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth. I'm thankful to report that my daughter is just about back to normal. You can catch up on it here.

Since she is so much better, I have elected to go forward with the Tea Party. Here are some of the slogans on our signs:

SOCIALISM:
CHANGE YOU CAN GRIEVE IN
 

DON'T TAX ME, BRO!
 

THE AUDACITY OF
N∅PE
 

THE $PEND STOPS HERE!
We're all out of change.

This blog will be about way more than politics. It will be about faith, culture, and how we make our way in this world while helping others along the way.

Stay tuned!

[Sorry, comments are disabled at this time.]