A Web 2.0 Conservative
Obama’s November victory has been credited (possibly correctly) to his campaign’s extremely effective use of Web 2.0 social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. His campaign was able to connect in a way that other politicians at the time were not. Many politicans are now embracing the social/Web 2.0 world as a campaign resource and a way to connect to constituents.
Conservatives have also embraced social media and are yielding results. On April 15th there were Tea Parties across the country to protest higher taxes and increased government intervention in the private sector. Let me just put out there that these events were certainly not organized by the GOP. These events were publicized on popular conservative blogs, facebook, and twitter. A true grassroots effort that I think conservatives have not seen in quite some time.
Charleston, WV Tea Party
And these grassroots efforts are working. There were close to 1000 people at the Tea Party I attended (Charleston, WV). There were no mass mailings, robocalls, or door-to-door campaigns. Information was spread primarily through the web and word of mouth. It’s great to see the resurgence of these grassroots conservative movements. The future of the conservative movement in the US no longer depends on a single political party’s support, but depends upon real people. Real people making a difference by organizing and spreading their message.
Here’s a few links if you’d like to get involved:
Top Conservatives on Twitter
WV Conservatives
Rebuild the Party
Galt’s List
I found it funny driving home Friday to hear Fox News running a report blasting Nancy Pelosi over knowing about alleged torture tactics going on at Guantanamo. They argued that she was told about the interrogation methods in 2002, yet she denied having knowledge of it when asked at a later time.
Never did they touch on the fact that it was the Bush White House authorizing the methods in the first place. It cracked me up – Fair, Balanced, and unaware of irony apparently.