Helplessness: The Root Of Victory.

Helplessness: The Root Of Victory.

It never ceases to amaze me what is available out in the real world. There is so much that I miss.

Being an Internet junkie I think I have my fingers on everything. I admit to being naieve as hell. Not doing my homework.

Who is Aaron Schock? I probably heard his name as he has made the headlines recently but today was the first time I actually listened. I was in my normal browsing of the news when I read a Newsmax article that said you should look at the videos YAF has put together.

That’s it - no link, nothing. In my state of Helplessness I thought, how dare they not link me to it. Well, after the frustration and anger wore off some I did go back a little later and google it.

Then while waiting on a link, I sat back and remembered that 25 years ago I would have had to go to the library to find out anything at all about the group and - well videos from them - forget about it. Maybe if I had $50 and was willing to wait a month and YAF provided the service, I might have been able to order them. The internet has given a new definition to helplessness at least in my case.

Out of helplessness came frustration then anger then this time action taken, to fight my helplessness. This time it was easy. I mean how hard is it to google?

YAF stands for Young America’s Foundation. They are a national group of young Republicans with a conservative bent. The two videos that I watched were obviously from their convention, which I know nothing about (YET). Be forewarned these two videos or talks are long; about an hour each. There are others too. The first was a speech by Jona Goldberg, and this guy I know. His speech was good and at points funny etc. but it lacked the how to, or the hands on, in the trenches type of information I was after. Goldberg’s conservative credentials are impeccable and his speech was great but it was too academic for my mindset at the time. I listened to about 40 min.

The next one I was captivated by. The speaker was a 20 something speaker who is currently a member of the US Congress, he is an unabashed conservative.
His name is Representative Aaron Schock. He is the textbook example of the old fashioned concept of; if you want something done you have to do something.

I will not recap the hour long speech here, and I will not force you to google it lol. I will put the link below at the bottom of the article. I will ask of you however to set aside an hour to watch it. Be warned again, this is more like a how to workshop and inspirational talk, about how to; not an indepth philosophical piece or a cynical Anne Coulter type of thing. I also ask you to imagine yourself in his position as he worked his way up the ladder then ask yourself what would you have done. I frankly wasn't happy with my answer. But I NEVER forget, today is a new day. We need to ask ourselves what can I do today.

The story Aaron Schock tells is a journey of success after success bourne out of helplessness, frustration and anger; success after success after sucess.

At 19 no one on the schoolboard would listen to him. They were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. He felt helpless, frustrated then angry. He asked the clerk what the qualifications were to run for school board. She told him he had to be 18 and collect 200 signatures. He turned his anger into work, and collected 230 some signatures. Two weeks before the election enough of his signatures were turned down because people had used ditto marks which the board defined as two straight lines thus meaning nothing thus invalidating the signatures. By the way, the members of the board that made that judgement were those he wanted to run against.

Again the same process of helplessness frustration anger then action; but he was learning; he probably only cried over one beer(oops milkshake-21 to drink you know), he was getting quicker at the process. He mounted and won a write in campaign. He won. He was later voted vice chair then chair by the same people that tried to bar him from running.

His comment was to remind the audience which was mostly College students that as in high school if you just show up, do your homework and ask intelligent questions; most of the battle is won. Aaron said he learned the issues, fought to do the hard work and was rewarded by those that didn’t.

Later the same type of process happened in his state house district. My ears perked up as I found out he ran in the 92 district in Illinois. I live in the 92nd in Michigan. But I digress. He decided to try to run in the district. When running the idea of running past the state Party officials they told him he was too young, that there had never ever been a Republican that won the 92nd district. The district was 60% Democrat, 25% African American, of the 40, 000 voters 20,000 were on food stamps and therefore they couldn’t afford to help him unless he could show by poll numbers that he had a chance to win. BTW same in my 92nd, but I digress.

Click -- there went that (by now) almost automatic process. Helplessness, frustration, anger then hard work. I mean knocking on tons of doors, speaking at union halls and everywhere else any right minded Republican knew better than to enter. Did he pander to the left? Did he become Democrat lite? NO This kid translated Core Conservative principles into the issues and solutions for those issuse; into the language the people in his district could relate to. He won by a 200 something vote margin. A really close thing. Does Aaron think volunteers stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors help?

One principle I know he would believe in is that America and our freedom still allows one person to rise if they ae wiling to show up, do their homework and ask intelligent questions. His main thing hanging over all that he suggests is that honesty and integrity in doing all of the above in mandatory.

Aaron Schock then won re-election by 59% of the vote because he proved his honesty and integrity by following through on his promises of showing up, doing his homework and asking intelligent questions of his constituents.

Whenever we get bogged down in helplessness we have a long list of Americans that show us that if we are breathing we are not helpless. From Washington at Valley Forge to Aaron Schock. That chain need not be broken. Time for all of us old foggies to pick up the books and do OUR homework.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

No I didn’t forget, here is the link.

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http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1250955
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