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: