An Admission of Guilt

       I am a firm believer that you shouldn’t tear the house down until you are prepared to build it up again.  Pretty straight forward approach, don’t pull your finger from the dam, unless you have something else to plug it with.  I don’t think many would argue me on this point, but I am guilty of not doing it this week, I complained without offering either constructive criticism or an alternative.  Right, from the beginning.  Nearly four years ago now, I got involved with the Royalist Party, USA (yep, I am one of ‘those’ people) and had high hopes that I might be represented in politics.  Alas, my hopes were dashed when, before the website really got off the ground, things just stopped.  And I did nothing to prevent it or to pick up the ball.

Earlier this week, I did something stupid, I went and checked out the old website, knowing that it hadn’t been updated since 2012.  I allowed myself to get all worked up about how things weren’t going the way we planned and I should have stopped there.  I began to complain to my roommate in search of commiseration but instead found disinterest which only fanned the flames.  This sense of distaste culminated today when I came to the realization that I was capable of alleviating my own complaints.  If no one was going to run on the ticket, I would.  If no one was going to take the lead on speaking out on issues close to our platform, I would.  And if no one else wanted to do the dirty work and get the strange looks, I would. All that being said, I don’t want to.  

I understand that I can’t really complain if I don’t actively seek to change that which I am complaining about, so I have decided that I am going to start doing those things, maybe not the whole running thing but I would seriously consider it when it gets a little closer.  But there are a lot of things I can do to push the party, the platform, and myself along the path to accomplishing something.  To that end, I am formally announcing my possible bid for the state house in a couple of years.  Is that non-committal enough?

So how does one become politically active?  I know some would say that you just get out there and do things, which I would point out is incredibly unhelpful.  More to the point, what things should I do.  I have decided to take the first step.  The Tuesday before the primary elections, I am planning to host a conversation for anyone interested to just discuss the issues that the candidates have been talking about.  Hopefully it is a civil conversation. From there everything is up in the air.  

I would love to have more conversations about particular issues and I will post here with some of those thoughts and ideas.  I would also love it if those of you reading this wanted to jump in and share.  To that end I leave you with a question:  What concerns you most about our country?