Here’s what you’ve been looking for.

IN THE DAYS following the Tax Day Tea Party, a disturbing depression festered within me.  I felt, at times, quite literally sick to my stomach as a result of what I saw on that glorious day–and make no mistake about it, that moment will prove to be a turning point in WORLD history.  What made me so ill was not the result of the protests, because I believe they succeeded better than anyone dared imagine they would.  It wasn’t that the mainstream news media ignored at best, or poo-pooed at worst the event.  It certainly wasn’t that so many people who believe as I do came together, linked by our common threads.  No, what bothered me was that for all that the Tea Parties were, there was one glaring thing they were not.

I attended the Pittsburgh, PA Tea Party event at noon on tax day.  I heard a local talk show host who has drawn national attention (Jim Quinn) and other fine speakers including a feisty college professor who, quite frankly, deserves a place on the national stage herself.  These folks–especially the professor–stirred the crowd into a suitable frenzy, and had us all feeling quite good about what the future might hold if only…

…if only…

…if only…

WHAT?

And that was the rub.  The thing I did not hear was a plan of action.  I did not hear exactly what we, or anyone else who was attending these events, was actually going to do about any of this.  That’s when it dawned on me that what was most likely to come from all of this was a giant mailing list that opportunistic political hacks would start tapping for cash.  We might see some attempt to continue swelling the ranks, but a crowd gathered for the sake of gathering a crowd is, to me, a colossal waste of time.  It’s true we need numbers, it’s true we need visibility, it’s true we need these rallying points, but what we need more than any other thing is action.  The absence of any coherent plan of action quite possibly dooms this momentous movement from the start.  This is what had me so sick to the stomach.  The Tea Party proved to me that the problems I’ve been railing about really do exist; that others besides me know about it and are equally disturbed; and that those folks will mobilize at a moment’s notice to express their frustration and disgust.  But I was left with an overbearing feeling of what next? and this is simply something that should never have been allowed to happen.

Now in fairness I’ve got to say that these things came together very quickly, and the audience was disparate enough to ensure that any real attempt to organize us into an active, mobile force would probably have been impossible (and likely wasted).  I don’t fault the organizers for having thrown such a great party but forgetting to provide a designated driver program.   There’s only so much that can be expected of a true grass-roots movement that materializes out of nowhere such as this one did.  I hadn’t heard of Tea Parties until the Easter holiday, three days prior.  Besides, being the good Conservative that I am, I cannot and should not expect others to do for me what I can do for myself.

And neither can you.

This realization proved to be the best Pepto-Bismol I could ever have asked for as regards the stomach upset I had been feeling since leaving our event.  It dawns on me now that what has to happen is that intelligent, thoughtful, aggravated people like me have got to do the real legwork.  It isn’t up to them to tell us what’s next, it’s up to us to become what’s next.

I’ve spent the better part of this day examining exactly what that means for me, and trying to figure out a reasonable approach to coalescing these thoughts into a meaningful plan of action.  This blog is the very first salvo in that guns-a-blazin’ effort.

I will spend the next few days outlining my agenda and detailing exactly what I’m proposing, but here it is in a nutshell–I want to organize an army…an army…of mad-as-Hell-and-not-gonna-take-it-anymore folks just like me.  I want to set up an ACTION AGENDA, top to bottom and with every effort explored and detailed, and then set them (us) loose on the American landscape.  I want us to be uniformed (that’s where the Red Hat comes in), because I want us to be visible.  I want us to be informed, because you can’t fight any of these battles if you have no weapons.  I want us to be prepared at all times because there are millions just like us out there, who are looking for a way to get behind a new American Revolution but who have no earthly idea how to do it.  Mostly, though, I want us to be in the face of everything and everyone who is enabling these folks to destroy this great nation.

Understand something now–and I’ll repeat this often, because I’ll have to; when I say “in the face”, I don’t necessarily mean that in a literal way (although I’m sure there will be times when that is wholely appropriate).  I do not and will not advocate violence, toward people or property.  I do not and will not advocate meaningless “civil disobedience” ala the “Code Pink” movement (which amounts to nothing more than childish attention-whoring to gain some twelve year old his/her 15 seconds of fame).  I do not and will not advocate outright criminal behavior.  That is not what this movement will be all about.  If you’re looking for a group that you hope will start some kind of shooting war with the Infidels, you’re in the wrong place.  This is for people who actually want to get something done, not just get someone killed.  This isn’t a militia movement, it isn’t an insurgency, and while it will no doubt land us all on some DHS watchlist, we will nevertheless be everything the true extremists are not…among other things, effective.

No, violence will not be our means.  A bullet can kill someone only once, but a properly organized campaign of words and protests can have that same effect over and over and over again.  Dying for your country is a noble, noble thing–but living for your country so that you might truly, personally effect change–now that’s something worth not dying for.

The Red Hat Resistance is born.  If any of this sounds like you, please bookmark us…link us…set one of those dooflinkies that tell you when a new post has been made…do something to both keep abreast of what we’re up to, and to make others aware as well.

But mostly, JOIN US.  I’ll provide details for exactly how you can do that in the coming days.  Don’t wait that long to set your mind to it, though.  The Tax Day Tea Parties did a wonderful job of showing all of us that we’re not alone…but we’re certainly not together, either.  The Red Hat Resistance is how we’re going to get there.