My Conservative friends,

never, not even during enduring Jimmy Carter or Bubba Clinton’s reign of terror have we been so frustrated and searching for leadership.  Looking ahead at the 2008 election cycle, we face decisions that are hard and between bad and worse.  I can sense the angst and share it with all of you. 

Our supposed candidate, John McCain has now spoken that he will sign Kyoto and has orgasms over Global Warming Green initiatives.  Just like when the Non Partisan League overtook the Republican Party in 1912,  I feel the same sickness has overtaken our Party again.  There is little difference between our Republican leadership and the socialist Democrat Party.  Looking at this 2008 election if you are a socialist, you own every horse in this race and can not loose.  Conservatives loose, no matter what horse bet upon.  I have always said that the Presidential race is of little consequence if we do not control our own backyards and it is more apparent then ever this election cycle. 

We need to really do our homework and get behind good conservatives in your state House and Senate as well as the House and Senate in Washington, DC.  Remember as Grizzly Groundswell Authors, Mayors and Governors you are encouraged to endorse your local conservative candidates here and link up their online sites.  I only wish I would of started this Grizzly Groundswell 3 years ago so that we would have these networks up and ready to take on such a challenging election year.  However, we can only do what we can. 

I really liked what Lew Waters our Washington Grizzly Groundswell Governor had said in an earlier post here on the Grizzly Groundswell.  He laid out a great argument that really was a call to action to work hard for our State House and Senate conservative candidates. 

In uniting the conservative voice across the nation, I hope you see through the diversity of our authors here that there is a rich diversity and understanding of issues upon all our core beliefs.  Believe it or not, all conservative do not agree on what our core beliefs should be.  I tend to be really excited at this revelation.  This way I know our conservative voice is not the Bah of sheep that we find in our enemy.  No, us conservatives actually think for ourselves and are not afraid to differ in thought and action.  I love that about us.  however, no matter how diverse we are, there are certain things that tie us all together.  You can expound upon what you think our core values and issues are below in the comment section.  I encourage you to get your voice out there here on the Grizzly Groundswell.  Join us and become an author getting out your voice and perceptions.  See the “Join Us” page and get Grizzly! 

In enduring and waging this war against socialism within our own parties and against our socialist DNC enemy, let’s remember to “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life.” 

When I was a young child, while riding with my grandfather through his pasture in that old pickup truck.  I asked him what was the secret of getting through life.  He shot me a grin, and quizzical look.  He was always smiling, always trying to get your attention with a joke or prank.  He was what I understood my God and father should be.  He was E. W. Everson’s son, father of my father, Ralph his 13th of 14 children, and my ideal when it came to a successful Christian and man.

He always wore a suit or dress shirt even when he was knee deep in animal manure or elbow deep in oil working on his farm machinery.  His cotton hair and smile always made everyone wonder what he was going to come up with next.  He opened his home and farm up to anyone who needed a sanctuary from life.  He always took time to play cards or carry on a conversation.  He always had horses his whole life and made sure we all knew how to take care and ride them.  He always kept my father on his toes, and my mother in line.  His conservative views and thought were always listened too, even if others hearts were hardened to listen and apply them to their lives.  He commanded an audience from the powers that be, but always served as a servant.  I remember his funeral, it was as if the whole state turned out to mourn their loss. 

Always charitable, always there for others.  I remember hearing of a time when he traveled through a storm to a far neighbor’s house to sit with a widow and children as they sat vigil over their husband and fathers corpse.  He did not have to go, he just did.  It made all the difference in the world to that family. 

He was known as the gum Grandpa all across North Dakota.  He always had a pack or two of Juicy Fruit gum in his suit or shirt pocket.  Every child at any gathering knew to ask the gum grandpa for a stick of gum.  They would have to battle his wit and humor to get it, but they always walked away more then once with a stick of gum.  Generations grew up watching their children and children’s children seeking out the gum grandpa’s favor and blessings. 

He was the man livestock owners would seek out when their animals fell ill, he had a couple concoctions that cured the ills of sickly livestock, and headed off infections.  This was my grandfather Edwin, who taught me how to drive that pickup as we collected square bales.  My father was on the top of the stack I dumped as the clutch slipped off my young foot.  Oh, my father yelled and swore, and yet, my grandfather laughed.  He laughed and everything was wonderful.  My father was fine, and laughing even though he did not need to be thrown off the straw bale stack.  He did not have to be out there helping his father bring in the straw, but he was.  He laughed and I tried again.  I got better quickly.  I was afforded the chance to fail, with laughter. 

Edwin, my grandfather, told me that the key to life is to always carry a tune with you.  He did, all the time.  He would hum and sometimes sing if he did not know I was in the barn or chicken coop.  He sang or hummed though the many tasks on his family farm.  Usually a hymn or a old song would be the tune that day.  I remember the song that day he shared with me.  It was Keep on the Sunny Side.  Those old songs hang with me to this day.  I can hear him and my uncles sing around the bonfires we would have at night as we finished clearing up the brush around the homestead. 

My conservative friends and colleagues, we are only here for a wink of an eye.  I think we need to remember to Keep on the Sunny Side, and know this too shall pass.  We have a lot of work to do between now and then.  We need to construct networks that will enable us to create a stronger conservative presence in our local governments that will enable us greater representation in our national government.  We need to chase out the socialist squirrels from our local government and our beloved institutions.  We can do all this work.  We can do it even faster and better if we remember to carry a tune with us and pitch in to assist each other. 

It is not just a matter of time until we enjoy victory over this enemy.  It is an attainable goal especially if we are not all reinventing the wheel and working in different directions.  The greatest metaphor I have heard is the oxen yoke.  you take two oxen wild and full of raw power, yoke them and teach them to pull together and you have an awesome amount of leverage and power to pull even the most stubborn stump out of the ground, plow the hardest ground.  That, my friends is what we have to do with our networking.  We need to harness our raw and wild conservative passion yoked together to pull the heavy mass and move that mountain. 

Below I included one of my favorite musicians, singing “Keep on the Sunny Side”.  June Carter and her husband, Johnny Cash came to Jamestown, North Dakota when I was a child and my Uncle Jim and my parents brought me there.  It was the greatest concert I ever attended.  Jenn Sierra sent me a message after I forwarded this on facebook and said she had a chance to see them as well and agreed it was a great event.  I hope you enjoy. 

I pray you get reinvigorated.  You grab this simple tune and join me shoulder to shoulder as we yoke ourselves to bring about political change in our backyards.  We have awakened, we stood up and we have been in grassroots action.  However now, comes the heavy lifting.  Hard decisions are coming up.  Our Republican Party has been taken over by the socialist.  The DNC socialists are over reaching on a perceived false mandate.  We my friends, have a lot of heavy lifting to do between now and victory. 

Lyrics~

Artist: The Whites
Song: Keep on the Sunny Side

There’s a dark & a troubled side of life
There’s a bright, there’s a sunny side, too
Tho’ we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us ev’ry day, it will brighten all the way
If we’ll keep on the sunny side of life

The storm and its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear;
Clouds and storms will, in time, pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.
Let us greet with the song of hope each day
Tho’ the moment be cloudy or fair
Let us trust in our Saviour away
Who keepeth everyone in His care

Run the Good Race, Fight the Good Fight!

~Teddy Bear

Tags: Edwin Everson, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Keep on the Sunny Side

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