An Informative Day

Had an informative day yesterday. I left home at 9:30 to meet a fellow Muskegon Blogger at the park and car pool place on Hile Rd. by 10:00am. We then drove to Lansing to attend a talk about merit pay for teachers based upon the progress of the students. The talk was from noon to 1:00. Within that one hour I ate lunch and learned a lot. The talk was put on by the Mackinac Center, a conservative think tank if you will that I have linked on my side bar under “Old Stand by Links”. These people are the best science based in depth resource I have found for facts and figures, (logical arguments) to back up common sense conservative solutions. I can not give them enough praise for their tireless efforts. They have seemingly unlimited studies on any conservative cause you want to find out about. No yelling or ranting there, “Just the facts mam”. A real gem of a resource tool. I will be relying on them in the future especially for ammunition in the education reform debate. The talk given was concise easy to understand, and to the point. When I can I will post a link to it if possible. If you go to the Mackinac Center link on the side bar you may find it also.

Another event was being held in Lansing that day and was perhaps the biggest reason we decided to go. Jack McHugh from the Mackinac Center was having a BBQ around 6:00 for the conservative bloggers in Michigan. I was dying to put a face to some of the bloggers that I have been linking and commenting on. I was reallylooking forward to it. But I digress.

After the noon meeting, my blogger buddy and I went on a tour of the capital building to kill sometime before the BBQ. I must admit to you all that this was the first time I actually set foot in the Capital building. Pretty impressive place. After that we went to the history Museum. Great place. Had a lot of retro 50’s style stuff. Resonated with me as that was my growing up period. The Museum of course covered the whole span of Michigan History. For killing time it was well worth it.

By then it was going on 6:00. We took off for McHugh’s blogger BBQ. The fellow who gave the noon talk was there. But so were some other bloggers. A LOT of bloggers. Easily 20 or so. For me the highlights were meeting Nick from Right Michigan, and Akindele Akinyemi from Akindele Unleashed. I wasn’t let down by meeting them. Nick was as knowledgeable about Mi Politics in person as he is in blog. Akindele was also as energetic and resourceful in person as in blog. Actually meeting Akindele reinforced my opinion that he is a man of action, a doer. Although he writes and talks well, it is only done to further his actions. I try to keep doers like him in mind to get me off my computer butt and actually venture into the community and talk with people then do something. I mention only those two because they are my favorites in relation to what I blog about. There were a lot others there. Everyone seems to have a special cause they are working on and it covers the whole spectrum of conservative causes. From Right to Work, to Education Reform, through the whole assortment of conservative ideas. All the heavy weights. I got a lot of web addresses. Did a lot of talking. For me the wallflower type that was impressive by itself. One person I’d like to highlight was William Freeland, a student a UofM and working as an intern at the Mackinac Center. Talking with him I found out he was originally from Montague. He has a webasite.
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http://thewanderingwolverine.blogspot.com
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This guy I hope is the face of the future Republican party. My blogger friend was pretty enthused about setting up some sort of Student debate with him on campus to help rally student support for the conservative cause. I wish them luck.

I must admit that there was an information overload for my poor brain. I am struggling to figure out what to do with all this new material. Reams of information about a single subject. All I can do is let it simmer in my head, keep looking at it and let it find it’s own place in my scheme of things. This type of information is most helpful in stiffening my resolve that the principles I believe in are right. Please don’t get me wrong. This information can be a great weapon. But using the military analogy, if some one gave me a stealth bomber as a war broke out. It wouldn’t do me much good, and if I spent my time learning to fly it, the war would be over before I left the ground. I will use what I can in the literature that fits my needs in my corner of the world. I’ll grab the rifle and ammunition, maybe an RPG, but I’ll let the Education Experts argue with the Education Experts. The pilots I’ll let fly the jets. As I’m defending myself with their smaller arms I’ll thank them and I’ll gladly give what cover I can.

Wow I forgot to mention that Jack Hoegendyk happened to show up. What a genuine treat that was. It was really great to be sitting eating hamburgers in the backyard with him. Being able to talk with him as just another guy. I mean, I’m a flea on the ass of the Donkey (annoying if even noticed) , while Jack is the Tusk of the Elephant that the Donkey is definitely getting worried about being gored by.

Hopefully I can use this information in my main task which is to get the Republicans locally elected, further the message when I can. A little ammunition to use as I talk with people in my neighborhood. For example, at the county fair for example that is coming up. There will be a Muskegon County Republican tent set up and I will try to volunteer for some of the time. Hand out flyers ect for the local candidates, maybe get a couple candidates to be there with me to meet the 4 H’ers.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative