Over the past 4 years many of us have awoken to the lies, deceit, corruption, and misinformation being propagated by both political parties. One, with its flat-out ignoring of the Constitutional policies that gave birth to this nation in historically dangerous ways; from Obamcare, energy mandates, continuing massive bail-outs, scandals with green energy, refusal to convict voter intimidators, and lately incompetence in defending Americans abroad.
The other party’s leadership insists on playing political games by going soft on defending American values, refusing to call corruption, terrorism or unconstitutional acts by their name, flat out ignoring the protesting voices at the GOP convention, and now going soft in fiscal cliff solutions. Mind you, there are many who are doing the heavy lifting in the Republican Party, like King, Issa, Chafets, and Rubio to name a few. However, this party’s leadership does them no justice, and some of us with voices are clearly paying attention.
Photo by Dr. Bulldog & Ronin of the first St.Louis Tea Party rally on February 27, 2009, beneath the Arch on the shore of the Mississippi River.
Four years ago I was a confused and frustrated American who witnessed a group of souls who braved the cold and ridicule to stand in protest on the shores of the Mississippi River. These people took a stand for the Constitutional values that used to mean something to this country’s leadership. When I saw even the local FOX affiliate blow them off and misrepresent them and what they were protesting, that was my moment of awakening. Bill Henessey, one of the co-founders of the St.Louis Tea Party, said in a blog entry that we could no longer rely on the Media to tell the truth, that was my personal Call-of-Duty.
By education and self-taught experience I am a web designer & photographer, so I attended the next St.Louis Tea Party protest, which took place downtown at Keiner Plaza, to at least SEE for myself. Despite the rumors and insults I read about this group of "racists," I find none of it. In fact, I spent the following 2 years shooting many of these events, so there is a clear documentation of an endless amount of signs. I invite anyone to look through the hundreds of photos I have personally shot and placed on my Flickr page to see if you find racist signs of any kind.
Photo by Mark Polege at Kiener Plaza in downtown St.Louis, MO. on April 15th, 2009
In June of 2009, after beginning to do alot of ‘my own homework’ as sparked by people like Glen Beck, Rush, and others, I began to learn alot about the Obama Administration, his unappointed/unvetted Czars, and some of the Congressional bills he and his Democratic House & Senate were pushing through. To anyone who has even a rough understanding of the Constitution and the freedoms it provides, it was a frightening discovery after discovery, some of which did begin under Bush. However, at this stage of things, Bush was no longer the problem. With this information I launched a conservative blog at KeyboardMilitia.com. Despite some misconceptions, the name came less from any particular affiliation with a militia, whose rights I strongly defend, but it was more from the concept of ordinary citizens standing up in the digital age to make their voices heard.
2009 to 2010 witnessed a huge explosion in citizen journalism, and because the major media has done little to earn back the American people’s trust, that growth continues. Countless stories have either been broke or kept alive because of ‘alternative media,’ as it is sometimes called. In my opinion there is not nearly enough of it. The journalistic integrity that may have once existed in major media has openly and blatantly been replaced with bias, commentary, and flat-out misinformation or misrepresentation. To a citizenry that has a Constitutional Right to be properly informed about the actions their government makes on their behalf, THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
The explosion of citizen journalism helped inform the general population of actions and attitudes being conveyed, and sometimes even recorded, of their elected officials. Like "former" IL Representative Phil Hare who was caught on video stating "I don’t worry about the Constitution," by Sharp Elbows. This capturing of honesty can be a real game-changer, as Phil soon learned. These many game-changing moments were capture by citizens across the country who attended townhalls, rallies, and protests and shared them on their own websites or sent them to those who had websites. This, along with the visible energy of the Tea Party rallies and their great ground game, in my opinion is what resulted in historic numbers turning out for candidates who DO ‘worry about the Constitution."
Photo by Mark Polege in Collinsville, IL. on April 10th, 2010
Like many of us, I was extremely disappointed by the results of the 2012 Presidential election, however I am not angry but emboldened. Over the past 30+ years we have allowed media and the government to define "Conservatism," either for convenience or lack of interest. We have also been all to happy to just let the government and media teach our children ‘what is Conservatism’ and that America isn’t all that exceptional. We paid that price with this latest election. America & Conservatism actually are less about ‘getting stuff’ and more about ‘earning stuff,’ like honor and self-respect…things you can’t buy in a box or download off the net.
In 2009 & 2010 many Tea Party & 9-12 groups began holding Constitution classes. This was such a fantastic idea. It was during this time when I attended a "Bloggers Class" held by the St.Louis Tea Party and the Missouri’s ShowMe Institute. This was a class where I learned alot about researching on the net (beyond what I already knew), along with social networking, and many other things. I don’t know if this class was ever held again but I think there should be much more of this kind of education as well.
Education, as 2010 has shown us, is our way through the challenges we face as citizens and as a nation. That being said, the Bell News is a joint project starting with 4 citizen journalists, including myself, who share the value and the goals that honest education in the founding principles of America, as well as honest reporting regardless of party, will guide us through. We are all stronger together, and by combining our forces as citizens, as Americans, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. Over the past couple months we have gathered some of our most important information on the current administration and American history, as well as some of our most researched articles. We invite you to get to know us, check our sources, and trust no one completely or outright. Trust is earned and we hope to earn yours.
The Bell News aims to not only be a source for news, but also American History, a resource on Progressives & Organizations, and as we proceed info on becoming a ‘citizen journalist.’ Each of us here have done nothing that cannot be accomplished by anyone else who has the desire to know the truth, and the motivation to tell others. To remain the free nation we are it will require many more of us to fill the void where honest journalism has failed. There are excellent alternative sources for news out there already, but this last election has shown us that there is still much more work to do. Let Honesty be our Gold Standard, and Truth light our way. Today, the Bell rings.
To help in celebrating our new website and our exceptional history as Americans, we’ve designed a desktop wallpaper constructed from selected quotes from our Founder Fathers as seen during our Facebook campaign. Thank-you for your support & Happy New Year!
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