My surreal life as a "good Republican"

I decided a while back to try to become a Republican delegate for Ron Paul. After all, it isn't the general public that ultimately nominates the party candidates, it is delegates at a national convention. In order to become a delegate, I need to get involved with the local Republican party so that people get to know me, and see that I am a "good Republican," and then vote for me. Don't ask me the specifics on how this all really works. I still don't know.

Tonight, I decided to attend a meeting of the Republican Women's Club to start getting to know people. I think it may be one of the weirdest things I've ever done. First, I should say that these ladies were all very nice and welcoming and were very happy I was there.

I walked into the meeting room and saw a large table of about 20 older ladies, dressed in blazers and decorative scarves. I thought to myself "Wow, I really don't fit in here." They looked at me as if they thought I must be lost. But I told them I was looking for the Republican Women's Club and they were thrilled to have me.

Many items were on the agenda, which began with a prayer for the troops and the Pledge of Allegiance. Most notable were the Lynn Cheney book signing and the Lincoln-Reagan Republican fund raising dinner. I signed up to help stuff envelopes for the dinner.

In related news, independent of this particular meeting, I have also volunteered to help with a Republican Congressional debate, and am now a "Precinct Chairman." I'm not entirely sure what that entails, but I know I get to attend some big monthly meeting.

In case anyone out there ever placed a bet that I would never be an active member of the Republican party - it's time to pay up.

Handwritten letters to Iowa

Every day, I receive multiple credit card offers, a catalog or two, and maybe a bill. Actual letters are so rare they are like gold. When I first moved into my house in July, I got a little card with perfect handwriting from the church down the street. I don't expect that I'll ever find Jesus (but you never know) but I was so excited to see real mail that I read it twice, marveled at the perfect penmanship, and displayed it on my mantle for a week.

When a Ron Paul meetup group in California had the idea to send handwritten letters to 700,000 "no party" Iowa voters before their presidential caucus on January 3rd, I immediately recognized the potential impact. Imagine, that while every voter in the state is being inundated with campaign fliers and commercials, these Iowa residents will receive that long lost relic from the past - the handwritten letter. I signed up to help.

Like many people, I've now spent more of my life communicating via computer than with a pen and paper. Not only had my handwriting become atrocious, but my arm would hurt if I hand wrote more than a paragraph. But for Ron Paul, I was willing to suffer a little. And apparently, so were many other people, because nearly 500,000 letters have been sent to Iowa.

48 letters later, I can now write a couple of pages before I have to take a break. I think my penmanship is improving a little too. Just 12 more to go and I'll consider my job done for now.

Freezing my butt off for Ron Paul

Hundreds of volunteers from all over the country will descend upon New Hampshire in the days and weeks before their January 8th primary to make sure that all NH voters know about Ron Paul. Many are already there. I'm going to join them on December 31st! Freezing my butt off and talking to strangers about anything, even Ron Paul, is not terribly appealing to me. But if Vijay was willing to quit his cushy job at Google to organize this thing, I figure I can endure a week of mental and physical discomfort and do my part.

I'm actually very excited. For one thing, I've never been to New Hampshire and I hear it's beautiful. I love to travel to new places. I'll also be surrounded by hundreds of people with which I have at least one thing in common.

Rumor has it that the Ron Paul Blimp will be making appearances in New Hampshire throughout the week.

The beautiful picture above was taken a few days ago by one of the Ron Paul volunteers.

Everyone needs to stop talking

I've spent the last few months watching political "experts" predicting the future, and trying to explain to us, the simple-minded masses, the meaning of every move a candidate makes. They repeat the same phrases, such as "It remains to be seen whether Ron Paul can translate [fill in the blank] into votes at the polls." Common phrases that have been inserted into that sentence are "popularity on the internet" and "$4.3 million dollars raised in one day." They seem to enjoy taking every opportunity to insist that Ron Paul, while kooky and fun in his Constitution-loving ways, has no chance of winning. And they know this how? What secret information do they have access to that the rest of us are too stupid to grasp? Call me an optimist, but I think he can win. At the very least, there is no way these political fortune tellers can possibly know that he can't win.

I spent a few days with family over Thanksgiving. That always means watching CNBC, which is a financial news channel, with my Dad. He can watch that stuff all day long. I realized that it's really no different from the political news. All these people talk and talk and talk all day about where the dollar is going, what are the shoppers doing this year, what's really happening with our economy. "More consumers went shopping today but they spent less on average." They talked about that all damn day. There's one "expert" who yells a lot about which stocks are going up, and a group of "experts" who talk about the economy while interjecting lame jokes. This goes on day after day for 24 hours straight.

Maybe the days of the newspaper were better - before TV, before the internet. Sure, there wasn't as much information available, but at least when we were done reading the morning paper, we were done for the day. Nothing left to do but live life.

The real kicker for me came yesterday, when I took my cat, Simon, to the vet. He was peeing blood again after having been supposedly cured of a urinary tract infection less than two weeks ago. The vet took an x-ray and tested his urine. She showed me the x-ray while she talked and talked and talked. So many words flew out of her mouth that I had to sum up the results to make sure I was understanding her. "So, you're saying there's nothing wrong with him?" Wow, us common folk really do understand things. That was indeed what she was saying. But, maybe to justify the $300 I was about to pay her for her services, she suggested I buy him special food. "Isn't that food designed to change his pH? And didn't you say his pH is normal?" All that talking, for so little information.

We should have a national day of silence. Everyone, including me (maybe especially me), needs to shut up. No, seriously, just stop. 250 million egos are rattling on at once. It's no wonder our country is so hopelessly confused.

I'm a registered Republican

If you are very very quiet and listen very very closely, you will hear the sound of my Aunt Kathie's heart breaking at this shocking news. But yes, this tree-hugging, raw food vegan, hippie girl did just register as a Republican in order to vote for Ron Paul in the presidential primary.

I hate politics. I am so tired of the string of lies and bullshit that comes from Washington on a daily basis. I don't even watch or read the news anymore, but all their garbage still manages to reach me somehow.

Then along comes Ron Paul. He's remarkably honest and principled. His platform is simple - follow the constitution and keep the federal government out of the people's business and out of the world's business. Even more remarkable is that his 20 year congressional voting record actually supports his positions 100%. He voted against the war and against the Patriot Act.

This country doesn't just need to leave Iraq, or fix the health care system. This country needs a MAJOR overhaul. To be honest, I'm uncomfortable with some of Ron Paul's positions, such as on abortion and global warming. But he truly stands up for the freedom that we are supposed to enjoy, and I believe that is what this country needs right now more than anything else.

Please, Aunt Kathie, you know that in my heart, I will never be a Republican. I just want my constitution back.

Raw food dish of the week - Cinnamon Rolls

This was so much fun to make! And not nearly as complicated as you might expect. You can find the full recipe here. They were said to be "awesome!" and "f***ing delicious!".



Dough: Almond meal, ground flax seeds, olive oil, dates, water, Celtic sea salt, and cayenne pepper

Filling: Dates, apricots, cinnamon, water, walnuts

Frosting: Cashews, water, agave nectar, orange, and vanilla bean