Blogivists, Activists and Airplanes!
One year ago today…
That’s when I officially moved to my own domain via ActivistsandAirplanes.com. The reason I had to move is that at the time our software was virtually refusing to allow us to use custom domains for sub-domain blogs.
The good news is that we’re pretty close to having this situation resolved with the new software upgrade, meaning I’ll finally be able to move my blog back into Blogivists and continue using it as a full ActivistsandAirplanes.com domain.
Soon… very soon.
-Eric Odom
This post is going to be a bit off centered compared to most of what you hear from me. The reason for my writing it is that I believe there is effort underway to completely discredit and tear down the RNC.
What’s worse is that the same people/companies/interests behind the effort to tarnish the RNC are the same that are currently trying to damage the tea party movement.
This begs the question… why are they doing it?
It’s simple. If the tea party movement is damaged, Democrats win. If the RNC is damaged, Democrats win. If the tea party movement goes third party, Democrats win. If the RNC works against the tea party, Democrats win.
A friend of mine once said that when a situation arrives and demands tough decisions, you have to ask yourself “who does the decision benefit in the end?”
Yes, the RNC has made some bad decisions. But much of the recent media ignores any possibility of similar activity within the DNC or other parties. It would be ignorant for us to assume that ONLY the RNC has problems, and unfortunately, many of us are taking that bait hook, line and sinker.
The reality is that we need the RNC and the RNC needs us. I’m tired of playing the game of pretending that isn’t the case. I’m tired of hearing tea partiers try and claim purity while quietly working with the GOP in the background.
Let’s say it for what it is. Our movement needs to work via the Republican Party. It’s our vessel and our only hope.
The mainstream media, Democrats and liberal special interests are currently working overtime to try and damage our vessel, the RNC. I say we not let that happen.
My two…
For Liberty,
-Eric Odom
P.S. This post is in response to the fact that I’ve now been taken out of context and misquoted on several national media publications about the RNC. Like I said, the RNC has probably made some poor management decisions, but who hasn’t? Mistakes happen.
Do I believe the RNC should be thrown overboard? Absolutely not! In fact, I think we should jump into the mix and help fix it.
Instead of tearing down the vessel through which we have to carry our candidates, I believe we need to be smarter than our opponents and work to strengthen it.
And so it begins. Last week my fiance and I began our journey out to Nevada. Our hope is that we can both play a fairly significant role in the defeat of both Harry Reid from the U.S. Senate and Dina Titus from Congress.
This is an interesting turn of events for me, because a few years ago when I moved to Chicago from Nevada, I thought it would be permanent. Here I am, the Ford Escape loaded to the brim, trekking my way back to the silver state for the 2010 election cycle.
We spent a few days in southern Illinois with friends and family, and this morning we drove from Effingham, IL to Salina, KS. We’re now bunked up in a Holiday Inn Express geeking out over the latest news of the political scene in Nevada.
Tomorrow we’ll drive from Salina to Grand Junction, CO. From there, we’ll finish off the drive to Las Vegas, spending the rest of 2010 in full scale election mode.
I’m also excited to be joined by good friend and fellow blogger Steve Foley. Steve will be moving in with us in Las Vegas, and he’ll be running the new media side of Liberty First PAC and our online efforts to help defeat Harry Reid.
We’re also strongly considering some heavy involvement in three congressional races in Arizona, so watch this blog for updates as I’m going to begin posting here again now that I’m back in campaign mode.
2010 is going to be a wild ride!
-Eric
Yesterday morning while in Detroit for a rally against General Motors at the Auto Show, I got a call and was informed that I had made “The most influential US conservatives” list, which is Telegraph.co.uk’s list of the conservatives who most influence American politics.
The list of 100 names has been a source of great controversy in the past, and anyone who’s name appears on the list is generally viewed as someone with significant influence in the political process. The Telegraph included a good column that explains their process of deciding who makes the list.
The first lists, produced exactly a year before the 2008 election, sent then unprecedented traffic to the website and generated controversy that resonated on American cable television and talk radio for weeks.
Since then, more than one political figure has approached us to inquire gently about what position they might occupy second time around. Some have cited their 2007 positions in publicity and biographical materials.
The difference between our new lists and the ones published last time reflect the unprecedented political and economic upheaval that has happened since then – as well as, we confess, some cloudiness in the Crystal Ball we used in November 2007.
Selecting just 200 key political figures in such a diverse, ideologically divided and profoundly dissatisfied country in a time of recession and two wars was not an easy task. We sought counsel from sources and contacts across the political spectrum and became embroiled in vigorous internal debates before finalising our choices.
I never in my wildest dreams expected my name to appear on the list. But much to my surprise, I came in at #87, and to be there is nothing short of one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had.
To be honest, I feel there are a plethora of “conservatives” that should probably be there ahead of me. I’ve worked on some tremendously successful projects in the past two years, several of which have no doubt been very influential. But I credit that to a group of people involved, not just myself.
Either way, it is what it is. This is a great honor and I hope to do what I can to continue furthering the movement for liberty in America.
-Eric Odom
This past Saturday I was invited to be a guest on Fox News with Brian Wilson to discuss tea party efforts as it relates to the 2010 election cycle. The interview was brief, but I was able to get a view points in. Continue Reading
I put up a generic poll that now shows overwhelming support for the movement to move in on the GOP as its vessel for 2010 and 2012. There were a lot of logic based arguments against the idea, but some of them are completely off the mark. In fact, some of them expose the misconception that currently plagues the Continue Reading
There was a heavy email conversation that took place last Monday between 15 or so social media junkies within the liberty movement. The debate circled around the need to reach more activists within the liberty movement and equip them with the tools and knowledge needed to become more influential in 2010, 2012 and beyond.
There are certainly some mainstream liberty minded organizations doing a good job of training candidates and helping others in an offline environment, but there is a major void in web based training programs available to the movement in general. Continue Reading
The tea party movement has been a tremendous boost to the cause of liberty this year. As many have pointed out, there would be several major pieces of dangerous legislation passed through Congress had it not been for the movement.
There is no question that this movement has accomplished great things.
But, unfortunately, there are certain fractions of the effort that are damaging to the movement and dangerous for the potential successes ahead of us. Some of these individuals have stooped to ego driven power grabs and personal attacks against others. Continue Reading
