Becoming a Conservative

A convict’s shift in the right direction
Why would I, someone whose world once revolved around fast cars, fast money, fast women and fast drugs - not to mention that my addiction to the fast life put me in federal prison for the rest of my life - suddenly come to identify myself with the right-wing of the Republican Party? Am I insane? Stupid? Suffering from a fractured personality? Or have I finally found my long lost moral compass? Am I delusional? Possibly in total denial of having a Life sentence? Or has CNN with all of their liberal-leaning politically correct bullshit finally pushed me over the edge? Maybe. Or maybe not. Or maybe it's all of the• above - or none of the• at all. Whatever; it is what it is. And when people ask me when conservative politics first started to appeal to me, I just laugh and tell them the truth - when the media gave birth to Sara Palin and Joe the Plumber.
The year was 2004 and the place was the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. About a dozen of us convicts were all in the F Block TV room watching the Democratic National Convention when an African American guy with a funny name took the stage and gave one of the best political speeches that I'd ever heard. When he was finished, I turned to the others and said, " that guy will be the first black president of the United States'. The man that I was referring to, incase you missed the 2004 DNC, was Barrack Obama.
Until Barrack came along I never thought that we would have a black president in this country, and I mean EVER. I believed that by the time our nation was "ready", 15 or 20 years, Latino As would be the majority and I don't foresee them being beneficial voters for African-American candidates when they do. While the media tends to portray African American’s and Latino's as the "minority", essentially uniting them in one big solid group, nothing can be further from the truth. If you want to get a glimpse of the real racial problems that we face in this country in the near future, you need not look any further than most penitentiaries’ in the U.S. - black and brown violence is real, and as the Hispanic population continues to grow, it will only get worse. And eventually, I believe our two political parties will one day reflect this divide.
In 2007, when Barrack announced that he was running for president, I thought that he was at least 8 years early. At the time I was a Hillary supporter and there was no doubt in my mind that 2008 was hers to win. But I did like Obama. And like so many Americans, I started picturing the "Dream Ticket" - Hillary on top, Barrack on the bottom. Then in 8 years Obama could have jumped to the top of the ticket and picked a Latino for the number two seat. 2016 would have then been a lock for the Dems and that's something that I very much wanted to see.
But then came Iowa.
As shocked as I was when Barrack won the Democratic primaries in Iowa, I knew that it was allover for Hillary. I'm not going to sit here and say that there weren't times during the campaign when I was unsure, but my money was on Barrack from Iowa forward and I told everyone who would listen that he would win. I even started telling my family and friends that he was "the one". I was convinced that he would not only make a good president, but because he's black, and federal prison is full of low-level crack dealers that don't belong here, I figured Obama would do something to change the drug laws - ultimately making my Life Sentence parole-able at the least( currently I have no chance of parole). So yes, I wanted Obama to win for selfish reasons as well.
One of the first things that turned me off about Obama was the media coverage that he received - totally unfair and totally unbalanced. Then when the Rev. Wright fiasco broke, I -saw a side of Barrack Obama that really concerned me. How can a person who respects a radical and racist preacher like Jerimiah Wright not harbor some of those same feelings? More important, I wondered, how could a person who attended a church lead by a radical and racist preacher like Jerimiah Wright benefit our country by becoming the next president of the United States?
John McCain was not a person that I wanted to see become our next president and I never thought he had a chance in hell. Although I once admired George W. Bush and was glad that he won in 2000, the damage that he did to our country and the GOP by invading Iraq made me view McCain and all other Republican hopefuls as a complete waste of airtime. And when McCain announced that he picked some dame named Sara Palin to be his VP, it still made no difference to me.
That is, until I saw Sara rock the RNC.
"Lipstick on a pit-bull". "Drill baby drill". "The bridge to nowhere". "You betcha". While Mrs. Palin gave an excellent performance reciting her speech writer’s script, there was more going on inside of me than just blood pumping to my penis. I actually stopped and listened to what she had to say which made me think about what the Republican party really stood for (less government, less taxes, states right's, and so on). Until Sara Palin came along, I can honestly say that I never realized just how drastic the differences are between our two main political parties. And I not only became more conscious of those differences because of Sara Palin, but it made me question my Democratic root's and do some serious soul searching as well.
Although the excitement that I once felt for Obama was no longer there, I still wanted him to win. I even asked my mom to send a small portion of the monthly money that she sends me for commissary to Obama's campaign fund: because as a federal prisoner I can't vote but still wanted to do my part as an American citizen. But that was before Joe the Plumber came along and exposed Barrack as the leftist socialist that I now fear he is. And honestly, after he made the comment about wanting to "spread the wealth around", I wanted my money back. I am not a fan of socialism.
What I remember best about Nov.4 2008 was not Barrack Obama's victory or the speech he gave that followed, it was the reaction of an 89 year-old African-American World War II veteran turned crack cocaine dealer named Mr. Curry. When CBS News announced that Barrack Obama would become the 44th President of The United States, I walked over to Mr. Curry, told him congratulations and gave him a hug. Sitting in his wheelchair, the old man looked up at me with tears streaming down his face and simply said "thank you". It is a moment that I will always cherish, and a time in history that I'm proud to have been apart of, incarcerated and all.
But as the weeks followed, nothing about the President's Democratic Party made sense to me anymore.
For years I have listened to conservative talk radio out of human interest, not as a reliable source of news or opinions that reflected my own. Post-Obama, I now listen to Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh as a means to balance out the left-wing mainstream media, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC. No matter which news channel that I watch or which talk show host I listen to, I always keep in mind that they are all pushing an agenda. But I will say that there is one person who preaches something on his show that makes complete sense to me. I'm talking about Michael savage and his belief in language, borders: and culture, three elements that define a nation and are essential to keep America from her destruction.
Let's talk about them for a minute.
Borders. Secure borders along with a strict immigration ~and travel policies means a more secure nation. Open or less restrictive borders encourages illegal immigration, allows illegal drugs to flow into this country more easily, can cause the spread of disease, and makes terror attacks on U.S. soil much more likely. The United States Government must put more resources into securing our borders and crack down on illegal immigration, people that come into this country illegally, use our health care system, pay no taxes, and most important, are criminals - they are here ILLEGALLY. It's just a matter of time before someone brings in a weapon of mass destruction across our relaxed borders; rather than illegal drugs, which come by the tons.
Language. In this multicultural nation in which we live, a single language that defines us as "Americans" is key to a united and successful nation. Until recent years immigrants from allover the globe came to this country and either made an effort to speak the American English language or at the very least, encouraged their children to do so. Now, the Spanish language threaten~ to divide' us and there are a bunch of politically correct morons that are too weak and cowardly to stop it - and in many cases, are Influencing it to happen. (Signs in Spanish litter our streets so there is no need for non-English speaking Latinos to learn the language of America; U.S. citizens are often denied employment opportunities unless they are bilingual so they can communicate with the mainly illegal Alien non-English speakers). Furthermore, "ganglish" has become an acceptable dialect of the English language and it's totally destroying our youth, especially African Americans. Unless you are a Rap star or a professional athlete, words and proper English are an important part of success. In fact ganglish, along with internet writing is making Americans far more ignorant than we've ever been. George Orwell, the prophet of 1984 wrote, "Political chaos is connected with the decay of language". Well, guess what? Our language is decaying and our political party's have never been so divided…
Culture. What is American culture? I've asked this question to many guys in prison and no two answers are the same. One guy said baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. Another told me American culture is Hip-Hop. Another said American culture is anything Hollywood wants it to be. I say our culture is constantly evolving and there's no real way for me to define it. However, America is a land of immigrants rooted in Judeo-Christian values and beliefs, the common desire to be free, and the opportunity to succeed. And once we as a nation lose sight of these three basic principles, I believe 
American culture as we know it will be lost.
And unless you're a dumbass, you've probably noticed that it's already starting to happen. That is why I believe America needs more conservatives.
In a book written by Thomas Tripp titled "First Principles" I learned what it means to be a conservative. A conservative is someone who believes in a number of interrelated elements: A basic set of moral values and historical truths - free-market economics; minimal government intervention in the lives of citizens; significant decentralized governments composed of separate parts that check and balance one another at all levels; the practical qualities of self-reliance and personal accountability; and a strong national defense.
As a former drug-dealing, dope-smoking, powder-sniffing, heroin-shooting, carefree individual who lacked any real morals or values, I believed that I had a right to sell drugs and live anyway that I pleased. I considered laws a nuisance, our constitution unimportant, and the Republican Party a threat to my total lack of responsibility. I believed in open boarders, could careless about Gay Marriage or American culture" was all for fast food style abortion clinics, loved all the drugs that Illegal-Aliens brought in, thought everyone should get free health care~ and felt war was an unnecessary drag. 
I was, for the lack of a better term, a Liberal.
As a 40 year-old father of three, grandfather of one, and son of two parents that weren't perfect but did teach me a basic set of morals and values, (not to mention that they sent me to catholic school), now that I've been sober for a little over two years and the fog is starting to clear, I view things in a totally different light. I believe that marriage is and always was intended to be between a man and a woman and should remain traditional. I believe that children should be conceived through natural intercourse and not brewed-up in a laboratory or a doctor’s office like some FrankinBaby freaks. I believe that every parent is responsible for their child until it turns 18, and I believe that it's up to parents to teach their children morals, values, manners, discipline and self-respect. I believe that nothing compares to a two parent household, and I'm talking about one [female] mother and one [male] father. I believe that states have made the divorce process way too easy. I believe that abortion is wrong and it amazes me that animals, fish, insects, and human parasites sitting on death row have more rights and better representation than unborn humans. However, I do believe in states rights and if the majority of voters in a particular state want to kill babies, so be it. I believe that big government is dangerous, intrusive, and that most people are so stupid that they don't even realize the more a government gives, the more personal freedoms it takes. I believe that many people in this country don't understand  what "freedom" means or that freedom comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility, including the responsibility to take care of yourself, your family, your community, to not be a burden on others, and to obey all local, state, and federal laws. I strongly support the Death Penalty. I believe that our constitution is what makes America the greatest; nation on Earth, and the further we drift away from our Founding Fathers intent, the more chaos and civil unrest we will endure. I believe that all men are created equal but I do not believe that all men are equal - those who are productive citizens and allow America to flourish deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labor without government taking from them and redistributing to our non-productive citizens, just as our capitalistic system was intended. I believe that decades of government welfare programs and current federal government take overs of private industries is moving us closer to socialism if not communism. When you think about it, we already live in a pseudo-socialist society with millions of people totally incapable of making it on their own without government help. And for communism to exist, the leaders of our country only need to intervene in private industry, create more government jobs, hand" out welfare, and most important, use ,the media to censor information, control public memory, and suppress dissenting views.
Does anybody out there not understand that this is already starting to happen?
My opinions and views about war and U.S. global dominance have been shaped by my experiences in federal prison. As a former leader of the Dirty White Boys (DWB's) prison gang at USP Lewisburg, I constantly had to make decisions in regards to gang-relations, especially white prison gangs. At the time, the DWB's had been the dominant white prison gang in the federal system for more than a decade but things were changing fast. More and more white gang members were starting to trickle into the federal prison system and we were having trouble with nearly all of them, not to mention the existing white federal prison gangs. But rather than deal with the steadily growing problem by stomping out our enemy's while our numbers were still strong and all of theirs weak, I chose peaceful negotiations, tolerance, and acceptance, believing that because we were all white would all get along just fine. As a result of non-realistic, distorted, LIBERAL thinking, the other white gangs grew which eventually caused many problems, problems that could have been avoided if I would have just took a firm position.
Out in the real world the United States has been the world Super Power since World War II. To enjoy the liberty's and freedom's that U.S. citizens do today, our leaders have had  to deceive, manipulate, take advantage of, and either overtly or covertly destroy many people ,governments, and nations and there is no turning back the clock. On the flip side of that, the United States has helped and done more good for people, governments, and nations around the world than any other nation in history. But still, we have done many wrongs and there are people out there despise us and want to destroy us - justifiably or otherwise. The question is what do we do about it now? Apologize? And if we do run around apologizing for all of our rights and wrongs, should we then believe that these apology's will resonate in the minds of all those who hate us and hope they will eventually forgive us and no longer want to harm or destroy us? Keep in mind that history tells us people aren't as forgiving as we would like to believe and one wrong is rarely ever forgotten, no matter how much a person or a nation try's to make up for it. I say there is only one answer to the question and it's very cut and dry: Always be realistic.
What's realistic is that Iran poses a serious threat to the United States, our citizens, our allies, and the International community~ What's realistic is that the Iranian government is supplying our enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq with weapons that are killing U.S. soldiers. What's realistic is that if we or Israel were to conduct air-strikes on Iran's so-called "peaceful" nuclear facilities, the United States and our allies would be much safer. What's realistic is that North Korea will soon have nuclear weapons that can reach U.S. soil. What's realistic is that North Korea has been known to supply our enemy's with weapons and we could do a lot more to stop them, such stopping and searching all Korean vessels until they let international weapons inspectors back into their country. What's realistic is that there is an arms race going on in South America that we never hear about. What's realistic is that Venezuela and Russia have teamed up and conducted joint military exercises in South American waters. What's realistic is that a Missile Defense Shield in Poland would have made the United States less vulnerable from a nuclear attack and Russia less powerful. What's realistic is that Afghanistan is a clusterfuck and if we pullout without smashing the Taliban, building permanent military bases, and forming American and multinational colonies filled with civilians that will help rebuild, educate, or otherwise start the process of westernizing Afghanistan, a primitive country full of tribal and civil unrest, more super-rich, radical Islamic-Extremist with endless oil and opium money will take over, treat women like second class citizens, and plan future attacks on the west.
What's unrealistic is to believe that apologizing for our ~any successes and past and present mistakes will somehow make the United States safer. What's unrealistic is to believe that long-term "diplomacy" does anything other than give our enemy's the chance to get stronger and more dangerous. What's unrealistic is to believe that decreasing our nuclear weapons will deter nuclear proliferation. And what's totally unrealistic is to believe that the United States will be a better and safer place if we give up or lose our super power status, just like many foolish, detached from reality, bleeding heart liberals in this country would like to see.
And then there's China.
I remember when most Americans use to fear communism. Communist regimes were viewed as oppressors, human rights violators, and evil people who were a threat to democracy. Nowadays we have an American Communist party that receives recognition and air-time on CNN, people embrace basic communist ideologies such as universal health care, government dole and government take overs of private industry, our current President has close associates that are known communist sympathizers, and the biggest most powerful communist country in the world not only owns the majority of our debt, they have taken away tens of millions of Americans jobs and are in the process of destroying the u.s. Dollar.
Once considered a military threat to the United States, China now has a much bigger agenda: Global economic control. While people all around the world (including in the U.S.) are busy blaming the United States for all of the world’s problems, China has quietly emerged as the worlds leading manufacturer and financial power house. Meanwhile, we American idiots are supporting the Chinese global take over by purchasing their cheap-quality, inexpensive products, which, in effect, contributes to the death of small businesses in America, reduces American jobs, and brings us closer to losing our true freedom. And incase you're confused, true freedom comes from free-market economics, also known as capitalism.
In these tough economic times it's easy to view capitalism as a corrupt system that breeds greed, dominance, inequality, and ultimately, failure. But don't be fooled. While many struggling middle-class Americans are turning to the government for help and solutions and even finding the idea of welfarism more and more attractive (Why bust your ass for a living when you can live in free public housing, collect a free check, receive food stamps, get free health care, and have all of your utility bills paid for?), you should never forget that capitalism is hot to blame for our current economic state, bad government is - under President Bill Clinton congress created the Community Redevelopment Act which forced banks to lend money to unqualified homebuyers. It was only after that that the financial industry - which was unchecked and under-regulated (again our governments fault) was able to design security schemes that eventually lead to the housing bubble bust and financial collapse.
Although the growth of government might seem like a good solution for job creation, it does bring us closer to the trap of socialism. For the poor, habitually unemployed, unmotivated, or for those who just want all Americans to be "equal" in every sense of the word, socialism and communism is the perfect solution for you. But for those who want more out of life, such as the freedom to create, produce, and live in a country were any things possible, free- market economics combine with an effective government that creates limited regulations is the only way (the nature of human greed must be kept in check and can be with proper government regulations - not regulations that are designed to take from producers and "spread the wealth around"). This gives us the opportunity to make our own choices and live out the American dream.
Capitalism is what makes the American dream possible.
I have come to realize that life isn’t fair but we must learn how to play the cards we are dealt. I've also come to realize that the Democratic Party encourages people to rely on government, make up excuses for personal failures, and avoid acceptance of responsibility. And I've also come to realize that conservative political beliefs, and even better, a conservative government, is what's best for this country.
Vote for Sara Palin in 2012.