A New Year for Old Blessings

I made a pie recently, one that required chunks of dark chocolate. I had a bar of 90% cacao and just had to use it. I dug from the kitchen drawer a little grating tool, loaded the chunks of chocolate, and started grating. Some time later, I gave up on this method, only producing chocolate dust instead of chunks and fussing far too much with what should have been a simple tool. I made my pie and set about washing up. That's when I noticed it, the little hole in the middle bar of the grater, the hole where the pin was supposed to go. The pin would have held things in place better and would have changed my workflow completely.

We work so hard sometimes to merely function in this world we forget the little tools we've been given to make things easier. Fact is, things will only turn out the way we want them if we use those tools. We don't always take pride in the talents we have and we don't always think them valuable, but they are there for a reason. Days go by and we function, but not to the best of our ability. We either forget the armor and weapons we possess or spend all our time wishing we had those that belong to others.

Each of us have an assortment of talents, experiences, and knowledge that is unique to us. If you're a writer, don't despair because of the number of writers out there. None of them put words to a page the way you do. If you are in new media, the vast untamed world that it is, don't make notoriety your number one focus. Instead, make your focus the truth, put your weight behind integrity. Notoriety can follow and if it does, you'll be better equipped to handle it and use it properly. If you're like me, a creative of the visual nature, follow that little flame you have in your soul. It's there to guide you because it knows you. Don't worry about the other people in your field, what they're doing and whether or not they accept you. Their linchpin won't fit your life anyway.

And in politics, using your gifts becomes even more important. We're at a tenuous time in the history of our great nation. Politicians, like so many of us, have become obsessed by reputation and reward, forsaking character completely. What is character if not using the great gifts we've been given of talent and experience for good? That is what we need now, people with knowledge, real, tested practices that change things for the better. They're out there; folks not only with those gifts, but blessed with courage, something you must have to fight a battle like this.

A new year is a time for new beginnings, but it's also a time to learn from the past. Look ahead to 2013 with renewed faith of someone who is blessed to be alive. Not just that, but as someone who is blessed with so much to share. Remember, your gifts are unique to you. Use them and you will be very surprised how much easier things can be. And once you've learned to use what you have, teach others to use what they have. I know it would have been helpful for someone to dig that little pin out of the drawer and hand it me. Time saved indeed.

Fading Posters and Empty Chairs

The 2012 RNC was an eventful one. We heard a lot of stories, learned a lot about Mitt Romney the man, and came away with a number of powerful images. Thanks to Paul Ryan and Clint Eastwood, we have two images that paint a perfect picture of this administration. I sat down this afternoon and sketched what my mind sees when I think of fading posters and empty chairs.

This country needs a jump start. We need to dust off and let our exceptionalism show. It's time.

Be a Happy Warrior

 Happy Warrior

Original vector art tribute

to Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart was a brave man, there was no denying it. Andrew wrote in an amended conclusion to his book Righteous Indignation, "Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I’ve lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I’ve gained hundreds, thousands—who knows?—of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night." They key here is that he was true to himself, the hypocritical world be damned.

I'm not as brave as he was, not yet. As an artist and graphic designer, I face a lot of opposition to my political beliefs. I keep my thoughts to myself for fear of being ostracized, something that could literally kill my career. There have been times when I was really incensed about something, the words dangling burning my tongue. But I said nothing. The fear of what could happen to me if people knew was just too strong. I had this blog, railed like a maniac on Twitter, but kept these things as separate from my professional life as possible. In the wake of Andrew's death, I'm ashamed of my cowardice.

I want to scale the tallest building in my city and yell it to the masses; I'm a conservative artist! I want people to know there's nothing wrong with expecting others to have personal responsibility, believing in fiscal independence and the sanctity of all life, and respecting the sacrifice of the military. The constitution of this great nation states I can have my beliefs just as they can have theirs. What I feel doesn't make me stupid and it doesn't make me a monster. My conservatism doesn't mean I'm any less talented as an artist. I make an effort to be kind to those with whom I disagree, to not make snap judgements. I dream of the day when my convictions won't be a detriment to my professional credibility.

Andrew Breitbart's passing has hit me harder than I expected. I share this today as a step on my way to true bravery. My name is Rachael and I'm a conservative. I will fight how I can. I will try to be a happy warrior.

Peace, Love, Selfishness

This is the time of hipster discontent. They've gone to college, gotten an obscure degree, accrued a mountain of debt, can't find their dream job, and they're happiness is your responsibility. Didn't you know, if you are a responsible person, you're on the line to make everyone else happy? Occupy Wall Street seems to have no coherent message, but the one thing they all seem to believe is their failures in life are the fault of someone else. They have a hate-on for those who have made something of themselves. Plain and simple, they're jealous.

This movement is less about 'fairness' in business and more about the bruised feelings of generations of Americans who feel the world revolves around them. It must be quite a shock to wake up and realize the sun rises and sets on lots of people, not just yourself. OWS can be blamed on decades of selfishness and thinly veiled egotism hidden behind equality jargon. The caring, hard-working attitude that made America so exceptional is now pushed behind a tidal wave of "me, me, me!"

Being successful isn't easy. One of the keys to being a self-obsessed jerk is believing hard work is for suckers. Why run the race yourself when you can ride on someone's back? This is why systems like socialism fail, the workhorses get tired of working for everyone but themselves. No amount of sitting in a urine-stained park, spewing anti-capitalist hate, and using 'twinkle' fingers can change the fact that to get rewarded you have to first put fourth an effort. That's how the world works.

The other reason their effort will fail is when you place all your hopes on the backs of legislation and regulation, you give up any kind of control over your own life. To regulate business the way they want, to force companies to abide by their demands, would be to relinquish any promise of future successes. Capitalism is a vital link in the chain of our culture and economy. If that link is weakened or compromised, the rest of the chain is compromised. This is something the protesters don't seem to understand. It's tough to see the implications of your decisions when you believe all your ideas are perfect and you're above fault.

Our country needs to be healed, but not with a vegan smoothie and a drum circle. We need the solace of hard work and great achievement. We need the strength of knowing we've done something epic with our lives. As I've written before, we need to return to the exceptionalism that made us great. Whimpering on the street, being violently selfish; that's not exceptional. Exceptionalism isn't a costume you can wear, it isn't the size of your bank account (no matter how the riches are gained), exceptionalism is the strength of your spirit and the integrity of your soul. OWS needs to understand their future is in their own hands. If they want to be successful, it's up to them. They need to put down the signs and start at the start. That's the only sure-fire way of running a winning race.

The Gravitation of Atlas

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others." -Ayn Rand

With the advent of the Tea Party, there's been a lot of talk about Ayn Rand's work and Atlas Shrugged in particular. The first in a presumed three-part film series opens in theaters, appropriately on April 15th. With all the conservative and Tea Party buzz around Atlas and Rand, it stands to reason that some would be defensive of what they see as a co-opting of ideas they believe aren't rooted in conservatism. They site Rand's atheist beliefs and her focus on objectivism. Some call her a Libertarian, some say she was simply an individual. Others will readily tell you she had more in common with Margaret Sanger than she did with Sarah Palin. These people aren't wrong, they just fail to see the truth behind the conservative connection to individuality and works like Atlas.

The tax day opening of the film is an allusion to the theme that so many equate with the Tea Party; the belief that one should be able to keep their reward for hard work. So many Americans who see more and more of their tax dollars going to fund the comfort of those who simply refuse to work find solace in this theme. Many see it as glorification of selfishness, which taken on it's own, could certainly cause one to negate the importance of others. But this, like other sub-themes of Atlas, should not be the main focus. Respect for self and desire to be rewarded are outcomes of respect for the individual and must be kept in check.

No, individuality and flourishing potential is the true balm for the conservative heart, not the much maligned self-centered haughtiness, or the hand-over-fist monetary gain, or even the defiance of fat-cat government foes. Conservatives are drawn to and support the individual because they believe in exceptional innovation and drive. This is the fuel of the trail-blazing American spirit. These things lead to personal success, an idea that strikes terror into the liberal 'everyone is equal' mind. But what liberals fail to see is that personal success naturally leads to broad, culture-wide success. Without personal success and innovation, we wouldn't have any of the things that make us comfortable, happy, and safe today.

I don't believe Ayn Rand was anything other than what people say she was. I don't see her as a conservative and I don't see her work and beliefs as infallible. To do so would be to acknowledge her as some sort of deity, which would be foolish and illogical. Every story and every self-developed belief system is colored and poisoned by that person's life experiences. No one will ever have a life like Rand's, therefor her beliefs can never truly be shared fully by anyone else, not in a healthy way at least. Rand's abilities to paint success seem to have stopped at domination, selfish power grabs, and amassing of fortunes. This is unfortunate as it causes some to be instantly turned off from her work. But when approached with a level, objective mind, this can be put aside as a product of the writer's emotion.

A story, no matter how epic and sprawling, must be used only as a supplement to an ideal, not the complete framework for it. To believe everything someone writes or says to the letter is to completely negate one's individuality. Somehow, I don't think Ayn Rand would have liked that to happen. I don't know how she would feel to know her work is a rallying cry for the Tea Party and that being said, no one else can know for sure either. But as we individuals set our eyes on the horizon, we see the light of potential; knowing that in each of us is the power to make America exceptional once more. Denying the individual is what has quelled our pioneering fire. Imagine what we can do when we are allowed to flourish and do so together.

Return to Exceptionalism

The new frontier, that's what we were. At a time in history, we were known as the New World, a strange and wonderful place of untold beauty and treasure. America used to be exceptional. We used to explore possibilities. We used to give credit where it was due. We used to create and innovate. We used to be an exceptional place; can we be exceptional again?

It appears we have agreed to be mediocre at best. We allow our skin color, social standing, and possessions to speak for us. We have a split-second attention span that only allows for split-second fulfillment. We work for the wrong reasons, we compete for the wrong reasons, we vote for the wrong reasons. The only possibilities we are ready to explore are the ones that lead us to a quick buck or an easy way out. We don't seem to tilt our bright faces to the indigo heavens quite as much anymore. We don't ask how something works, only if it will work faster and cheaper than it should. We believe in fairy tales, expect something for nothing, and never take the road less traveled.

Credit and praise aren't given for talent or hard work, they're given to the loudest voice of complaint. We have decided that entitlement can be justified by something as detached as the plight of ones ancestors. Those who truly deserve reward and praise are oftentimes overlooked because they don't fill a politically correct quota. Our stone-strong defiance of British oppressors has given way to quicksand resolve. The harder we fight the decline of civility and logic, the quicker we sink in the mire because no one offers a rope of sanity to pull us to safety. It is no longer the singularity of ones talents, mind, or content of character that brings acclaim. Who you know is now far more important than what you know.

Innovation is a slave to regulation. Our creativity is sanctioned by higher powers; powers who, many times, know nothing of that which they manage. Those who still strive to create and innovate are kept securely under the thumb of bureaucracy in order to secure the future of the entitled culture. Those willing to work have become a slave to those who live with their hands out. Meanwhile, our 'anything you can do, I can do better' mentality has clipped the wings of real exceptionalism. Good intentions of telling children they can do and be anything they wish has paved the road to a purgatory where everything is merely adequate. We no longer carefully cultivate the individual greatness we all possess. Instead, we strive to selfishly be we think we want to be, eschewing our genuine talents, because we're entitled to our every desire, no matter how narrow-minded.

Being exceptional isn't about who gets there first or who does so with the most flash or cash. Being exceptional is about the race, carefully plotted and traveled. Hard work, our backs to the wind of political correctness, will set us right again. In the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, a single innovator set out to derail the country's suicidal run to failure. Art imitates life, or perhaps the other way around. Those of us who have the strength of character to say enough is enough, we must speak up. We must stop the engine of the world and start it again on our return to exceptionalism.