A Reader

Last year, before the election, a friend convinced me to start a blog. It's been fun. I think that part of me was hoping for the "starlet discovered at the soda fountain" story ... someone would read what I wrote and proclaim "GENIUS!"

I am perhaps, and however, primarily a reader and I suspect my writing, while occasionally clever, will never be profitable or acclaimed. In the meantime, I'll continue to read, and occasionally, steal ideas from the good writers I find.

I read Mark Levin's book, "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto" and was expecting the typical conservative talk show host rant/memoir. Instead I got a cogent, concise, concrete (Mr. Nooncaster would be proud) and well reasoned dissertation on the conservative perspective. Critics might say that his picture of "the statist" is overstated, but then, they'd be wrong. Read this book, and you will understand that conservativism is not a club of knuckle-dragging old white guys. Conservatism has intellectual, and logical, heft and that the left is not nearly as smart as they present themselves to be. They are on the wrong side of most arguments if you consider experience, history and logic trustworthy guides.

Anyway. Read the book.

I liked the book so much, I bought 5 extra copies from Amazon and sent them to friends. I get that Chris Matthews 'tingle-up-my-leg' just thinking about a book espousing conservative principles being at the top of the best seller list for weeks. I'd like to see it up there for the rest of the year.

I sent one to my friend Tom, with the following gift note:

To: Buddy Tom
From: Texas Redneck
because you'll never buy this yourself & because it sums up conservativism nicely & I hope you pass it on to your kids

Of course, some of the people I sent a copy to are not as interested in knowledge as Tom, so as a personal touch to get their attention, I customized the gift note ...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

To: Speaker Pelosi
From: Charlie Tuna, American Samoa

Levin's book on your shelf ... is it more like a caterpillar? or Celine Dion?

Enjoy!




Representative Barney Frank
2252 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515

To: Representative Frank
From: Moses Gobie

"These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis"

Thanks a bunch, Barney!





Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510

To: Senator Harry Reid
From: J. Brown-Whittemore

will fares on your train from L.A. to L.V. be subsidized so we can gamble our tax cuts?

You love Levin? Enjoy!





President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1414

To: President Obama
From: Tony Ayers

I hear you are a reader. Hope you enjoy the nice gesture.
Levin's a big fan ... of that Constitution you swore to protect.

It cost me $17.74 to buy each book and have it shipped from Amazon. I figure these people will never read my blog ... and even if they did, they probably wouldn't understand it. They do, however, understand and acknowledge gifts. And Levin says what they need to hear much more better than I do. Ideologues aren't much for reasoned discussion, but perhaps a bright shiny object will get their attention.

I hope every conservative who can afford it sends a few extra copies to their DC favorites. They ignore the elected Republicans. They ignore and deny TEA parties. They insult us at every opportunity by denigrating our ideas and describing us a "bitter clingers" and "right wing extremists". Perhaps instead of throwing shoes, we need to throw the book at them.