Whitney

I am a proud American.

At the end of the day, conservative or liberal, young or old, male or female, whatever race, religion, ethnicity, or background you come from, most of you reading this post are Americans. This is our strongest connection - we are part of a beautiful experiment carefully and painstakingly crafted by our Founding Fathers to protect the most basic of rights endowed to us by our Creator.These, and the ability to stand AS an American, are a gift. This gift is accompanied by the DUTY and RESPONSIBILITY of knowing and protecting these rights. Of educating others on the importance of them. It is one to be valued, taken seriously, and examined on a regular basis.

We should identify those who seek to use these gifts with an ulterior motive - to further a cause inherently not American. On any given day, I would tell you that the media (and the left) take advantage of Free Speech and Free Press and use assumption and manipulation as "fact." I have unabashedly signed on for The Vetting - and will vet this President AND the media that support/protect him wholeheartedly. I will push for media and government transparency - for the WHOLE picture, not just conveniently crafted pieces. Because THAT is what I believe the conservative movement is fighting for and what is necessary for the successful future of this country. I fight for every American, not just those who fight with me, because in the end thats what our Founders did.

What I am sad to say is that lately, I have come to see that those I thought I was fighting with are too busy falling into traps of distraction and manipulation, using the very tactics we abhor in the left in defense of perceived attacks from them. Conservatives are quick to get irate when Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Gloria Allred, or any of the leftist media ambulance chasers jump at the opportunity for camera time and proclaim their latest victim of who knows what war the right is in with them. Apparently, the right is at war with everyone. We tell the left to wait for the facts, to stop the spin, and call for them to quit the rumor mill, race baiting, and hate mongering.

And yet, a portion of the right is guilty of the same thing. I have not blogged about the specifics of the Trayvon Martin case because I am waiting for the facts. I have my own thoughts and opinions but none would do ANY of the parties involved in this case a stitch of justice. But what I WILL say is that I am so embarrassed by the way so-called conservatives are handling it. Rather than accepting that it IS a tragedy - on many fronts - I see post after post on Twitter and Facebook trying to prove that Trayvon was a "thug" by stealing a few photos from his Facebook page showing him in various poses. Absolutely sick. So, rather than hit back at the media and left with facts, you steal a few pictures and try to make your case that because of those photos this kid was a no good thug out trying to cause trouble that night? Wow. Talk about a stretch. No wonder we are struggling to push the conservative movement deeper into society. I teach beautiful, bright, intelligent students that I am confident will do amazing things with their lives. These students are still YOUNG - they make mistakes. Many, if not most, have inappropriate pictures on their pages that in NO WAY represent the person they are. I would hate for one of them, or someone you know, to be judged that way - or, to have those photos manipulated into a representation of the whole person to suit a personal vendetta. See, we get mad at the left for twisting things to fit their agenda yet are sure quick to employ the same tactic for our own.

And, those same conservatives don't like to be called out for their actions. Today, I posted a status on Facebook denouncing these photos. Almost immediately I received support - AND derision. On Twitter, the same response. Many conservatives are saying its our "job" to "expose" Trayvon for "who he really was" and to show how the media isn't doing their job. So, to expose the media you use their own tactic of selecting a"piece" that is unsubstantiated and splash it everywhere as a factual representation of his character? Disgusting. Embarrassing. Just as embarrassing as Geraldo saying that Trayvon's hoodie killed him. I don't know the facts of this case. I don't claim to. What I do know is that I am going to pray for all involved - for the families of both the victim and the shooter. For Mr. Zimmerman himself, because his life will forever be clouded by this incident. For the judicial system to do their job - JUSTICE - for all involved. And for Americans to stop playing the blame game and to have an open and real conversation about situations like these - tragedies - and our perceptions of one another in the aftermath.

What else do I know? That this entire situation is endemic of a very DEEP problem in the conservative movement. A problem that will keep us from having a candidatewe are happy with, a House and Senate that will pass fiscally conservative budgets, and from the nation as a whole for seeing us as anything beyond right-wing extremists: falling into traps set by the left and the liberal media. Time and time again we ALLOW ourselves to be baited. We ALLOW ourselves to be manipulated, for the conversation to be shifted from our CORE ISSUES to ones that will give the media plenty of fodder for weeks of attacks on the right. Instead of talking about the budget, jobs, the economy, our unsustainable national debt, activist judges, energy, etc. we recently allowed ourselves to be thrust into a deep discussion on.... birth control and Sandra Fluke, circa the 1950s. Now, the media has created a fictional war on women complete with a poster child - none other than Rush Limbaugh. We won't win the birth control battle, especially this way.

Stand ABOVE the fray. Stand up AGAINST those that use liberal tactics to push a conservative agenda. Keep the conversation on point. Pray for those involved in tragedies that are just that - tragedies. Don't take the bait and play into the left vs. right game. Point out the medias flaws without using tactics of manipulation, assumption, and destruction. Use FACTS - they are our greatest ally and they ARE on our side. We have all the facts we need to fight our battles - but we will lose the war if we play it on their terms.

I'm in it to win the war - not be a casualty of battle. I am a proud American.