With Barack Obama as President and a growing Senate Democratic majority that seems to tick up with each passing day, it looks like the union bosses may get their disastrous and poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act after all. Here is the latest video offering (compliments of the Employee Freedom Action Committee) to remind everyone what we very well could be in store for: (more…)

In honor of Veterans Day being this week, I’d like to bring your attention to a worthwhile private program that benefits our troops and veterans, especially those affected by some of the invisible wounds of combat. Please consider if you are able to help Survivor Corps’ Operation Survivor:

Survivor Corps launched Operation Survivor in 2008 to help American service members returning home from war. This program enables these brave men and women to overcome the debilitating effects of trauma and to reintegrate into their families and communities.

You can read more about it here. God bless America!

Breaking: The annual center-right blogger poll of “Least Favorite People on the Right” – brought to you by John Hawkins at Right Wing News – has been released. Each of the 46 center-right bloggers who participated submitted an unranked list of 12 nominees. The top 25 names – from “McCain staffers” to John McCain – have been released as part of the poll.

For the first time I was a participant in the poll. Of the 12 names I suggested, 11 appear in the top 25. Personally, I don’t consider a few of the other names to be “on the Right” – a loose designation, to be sure, and of necessity. Anyway, thought you may find the results interesting.

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive.

I have the historian’s uncanny memory for dates. In an unusual role reversal, I was the one who pointed out to my wife the other day that today (November 13) is the 10th anniversary of when this poor schlep finally got the nerve to ask and our committed dating relationship began. Engagement and marriage followed a few years later, but a whole decade? Yes, I’m getting old enough. And no, I wouldn’t want to retread all the things I’ve learned since that have slowly hammered out some of my immaturity. (Mrs. Virtus recognizes more of the remaining immaturity than I care to admit – If you know me, you may know my wife or at least her name. But for the playful purposes of this blog, I call her the lovely Mrs. Virtus.)

Anyway, I would be a fool not to publicly acknowledge how truly blessed I am by the wife and lifelong best friend God has given me. In many ways we are eerily alike, including some of the same interests. We enjoy spending time together when we can, including the now very occasional piano-violin duets. But at the same time she has unique gifts and sensitivities that largely complement my own set of strengths and weaknesses. God arranged this blessed match in spite of ourselves.

Better to avoid an abundance of words for what can be said aptly by a few. My wife is an amazing help-meet, a needed part of my conscience, a valued prayer partner, a cause for greater spiritual growth in my life, thoughtful and thrifty, patient and tenderhearted, honest but not harsh, in all ways warm and genuine. She either laughs at my jokes or kindly tells me when they’re not funny. What more can a man ask for? I think by God’s grace we’ll stick together, and I’ll continue praising Him for giving us to each other.

From this morning’s Denver Post, the best case for keeping Dick Wadhams as the state GOP chairman:

For the first time since 2002, the Colorado Republican Party can say it’s debt-free.

Covering the party’s $580,000 in debts is a testament to Dick Wadhams’ hard work, commitment, and connections. In the absence of any more viable alternatives, a pledge from Wadhams to focus his energy on the 2010 statehouse races ought to make him the frontrunner to keep the job.

That being said, for all our sakes, I hope that Wadhams and the state GOP staff are attuned to the debate going on at The Next Right and prepared to plug into the growing coalition at Rebuild the Party. Not to mention the good advice of thoughtful folks like hard-working candidate/blogger Joshua Sharf.

Stay tuned.

Coming off the success of his own online weekly show, Joshua Sharf has taken the lead in setting up a Rocky Mountain Alliance show on Blog Talk Radio. The inaugural edition is set for next Tuesday, November 18, at 9 PM local Mountain time.

Hosts will include a handful of RMA members (not confirmed whether I will be among them for the first edition). Guest details also soon forthcoming. The show promises to feature lighthearted and penetrating discussion of the week’s events in national and Colorado politics. Hope you’ll join us!

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive.

As a fallen creature bent on sinning, I deserve to be punished. God has every just right in the universe to count my sins and failures against me. The psalmist of thousands of years ago understood this well:

Psalm 130:3-4 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”

I won’t delve into the theological depths of God’s forgiveness and mercy here. In many ways, I’m simply not capable of doing so. But as I understand the Bible’s clear teaching, these divine attributes don’t serve as license for presumptuous living. “There is forgiveness with [God], that [He] may be feared.” God’s forgiveness, insofar as we have tasted of it, should drive us to greater fear – i.e., awe and admiration – of our Creator. Even so, our lives on this earth are characterized by the ongoing need for this divine forgiveness.

I have meditated on this passage off and on for the past few weeks, and I haven’t yet been able to wrap my mind around it. However, I am truly grateful to God for the second chances (most of all, for the ultimate Second Chance) He has provided, and will continue to provide as He sees fit, in my life.

Lately I’ve struggled for the time and energy to put together some coherent thoughts about what the GOP needs to do to rebuild. Jim Manzi at The Corner said it almost perfectly for me. You need to read the whole post, but here is a key excerpt:

While it is always possible to imagine some arbitrary configuration of 51% of voters who have the label “conservative”, Rod’s point [ed: that "no conservative movement that hopes to be successful can do so without religious conservatives"] strikes me as correct as a practical matter. Further, more important than the question of electoral advantage, is the fact that tens of millions of citizens have deeply held beliefs that should be considered in making and enforcing the law.

I also believe it to be true that a political movement that proposes to impose what is traditionally considered to be a socially conservative agenda (e.g., a near-absolute restriction on abortion, preventing gay marriage, and so forth) on the entire population of the United States any time soon through force of federal law faces a pretty bleak future.

Both sides of these debates, I believe, have to recognize that many people who share the same country disagree in good faith, and are unlikely to be persuaded within our lifetimes. As I have argued at length, I think that the only workable compromise is not to try to force the creation of uniform national law when no national consensus on the morality of these issues exists. Instead, I believe that we should have an agenda of devolving as many of these social issues, as a matter of law, to as local a level as possible.

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This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive.

This was the logical choice for a deep expression of gratitude on Veterans’ Day. It’s a good time to recognize the millions who have worn the uniform, who have served in peacetime or war to defend our nation. God has given us liberty, but it is the brave members of our military who have fought to preserve it.

The brave patriots at Valley Forge and Saratoga. The volunteers at the Battle of New Orleans and the Alamo. The men in Blue and Gray on the fields of Bull Run, Shiloh, and Gettysburg. The young Doughboys and G.I.’s who helped to liberate Europe not once but twice. The Marines at Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, and the Chosun Reservoir. Those who saw the worst at the Ia Drang Valley and withstood the Tet Offensive. The liberators of Iraq and Afghanistan. And many, many, many more.

Today I pause in thanks for all those who have served in our military – including any readers whom that may include – and especially for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation, and for their families, too. May we never forget. May we not take what they did for granted.

This story coming out of my home state of Michigan is more than a little disturbing:

A gay anarchist group infiltrated the Mt. Hope Church in Eaton County Sunday morning, disrupting a service by pulling a fire alarm, dropping leaflets and yelling at parishioners, a pastor said.

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When this morning I wrote “Any effort to rebuild Colorado’s Republican Party that’s done in a strictly top-down fashion is destined to failure”, I hadn’t yet seen Patrick Ruffini’s post “Change Won’t Come from the Top Down”. Great minds think alike? Remotely possible.

Anyway, if you share this point of view, and are a conservative interested in doing your part to help rebuild the GOP, may I recommend you sign up to join this site and get involved in the conversation.

It bears repeating: Any effort to rebuild Colorado’s Republican Party that’s done in a strictly top-down fashion is destined to failure. In that spirit, Joshua Sharf makes an excellent case (echoed at Rocky Mountain Right) for pursuing a 65-district statehouse strategy going into 2010. I can’t add anything more at this point than a simple and hearty, “Let’s do it.”

Other must-reads: John Andrews has some sobering reflections, and Night Twister offers some hard advice.

While there are many tasks before us, I believe all of them must be imbued with the mission of reclaiming the mantel of fiscal conservatism – or as Mark Hillman puts it, to once again become “the party of freedom”.

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive.

When you’re young and foolish – well, you’re young and foolish. The spiritual influence of my parents (the topic of a future thankfulness post) was real, but wouldn’t suffice by itself. I am thankful for the influence of non-family spiritual mentors during my teenage, college, and young adult years. I can think of about five men in particular – three of them pastors – who invested some time in me for good and God’s glory to help shape me.

For some, the impact was more clear and direct, and for others less tangible. But whether in how they spoke and lived, or how they counseled and admonished me directly, I am truly grateful for the positive influence they had in my life.

From the Independence Institute website:

Join Us For The 24th Annual Founders’ Night

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom
Denver Center for the Performing Arts

6:00 p.m. Patron Reception
(Table Sponsors & their guests & Patron Ticket Purchasers Only)

Individual Ticket purchasers may check-in at 6:45 p.m

7:00 p.m. Dinner

Click Here for a Map of the Area

Tickets: $150 Dinner;$250 Patron; $2,000 Bronze Table; $3,000 Silver Table; $5,000 Gold Table; $10,000 Platinum Table

Two weird, somewhat interesting, observations about voting patterns in the recent Presidential election that you may not have seen. First, from Rocky Mountain Right:

It’s not all doom and gloom in Colorado. Exit polling from the presidential race indicates that Colorado may be in for a generational swing back towards the Republicans over the next few years going against national trends.

Nationally, exit polls show that John McCain carried only 32% of the 18-29 age bracket. In Colorado, McCain won that age bracket with 53% of the vote….

Second, from Gay Patriot:

According to the CNN exit polls, 4% of the American electorate self-identified as gay or lesbian. That means about 4.8 million gays and lesbians voted on Tuesday. That seems rather low and pathetic to me from a community that is so self-politicized. Oh well.

And so McCain got 27% of the gay vote, or 1,310,893. Up nearly 20% over 2004….

Other interesting notes from Pew Research Center are Barack Obama’s growing shares of votes from Hispanics and key religious groups.

All these are among the facts that should be taken into consideration as the debate to rebuild the GOP moves forward over the next two and four years. More thoughts later, but I tend to agree with these conclusions. Wherever we go, there’s no doubt that fidelity to a coherent, principled, and attractively-packaged fiscally conservative message is sine qua non.