Still in mourning, BUT

I Am Andrew Breitbart

 

           Andrew Breitbart has inspired many deserving tributes in the past week, and the video I Am Andrew Breitbart is no exception.  It offers not only a true reflection of the man, but also what it truly means to be driven, to have a vision, to be able to articulate that vision, and to have that vision be sufficiently compelling enough to cause others to willingly follow.  That is the true definition of leadership.

           Too many among us assume that a leadership role automatically anoints a person in said role with the ability to lead, but nothing is further from the truth.  People are simply not ordained with leadership.  It must be demonstrated, cultivated, and earned – otherwise, it’s merely an anointed title.  True leaders understand that their role is to not only set a vision, but to lead by example and literally become the servant of those they lead – to simultaneously enable people to realize their individual potential while remaining focused on the common vision – guided by shared values and principles.

           As conservatives in today’s world, we look around ourselves all too often asking the question, “Where is the leadership that’s going to help deliver us from this political and ideological morass in which we are engulfed?”    Breitbart would tell us to look in the mirror.   The truth of the matter is that each of you who have actively engaged this phenomenon currently known as the Tea Party movement, 912 groups, etc., have exercised more leadership by firmly telling our elected officials that ‘enough is enough’ than most of those same elected officials have ever exhibited.  They are so deeply mired in the insanity in which they have played willing, uninspired roles, that they lack the motivation and ability to see beyond their own creation.

           Breitbart would have been the first to tell us that what drives us is not Andrew Breitbart.  He was simply a gifted, inspiring leader who would have expected us to use our common values and principles in order to continue to aspire to the type of vision that we share.  He’d emphasize the importance of actively exercising our right and responsibility for self-determination in order to perpetuate our freedoms.  Scholars may quibble over the exact quote offered by Edmund Burke, but the essence of his quote that should serve as a reminder to each and every one of us is this – “All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”

           Andrew Breitbart was not willing to settle for less nor would he allow himself or others like him to do nothing.  Let him be our reminder of what we already believe and an inspiration to stand firm for what we value.  For as another famous saying goes, “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

          Our time and our calling is now.

Rick Newton

For more on Andrew see SOSMass Breitbart Breitbart Breitbart, but most importantly BECOME ANDREW BREITBART!                               

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