I recently ran across a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci: “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” I’ve had a couple of exchanges on Twitter along these lines, and I’d like to paraphrase the Renaissance genius for contemporary conservatives:

Listening to talk shows is not enough; we must study.

You can learn a lot from listening to, watching, and reading Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, and other talk show hosts about current events and issues; I have. However, if you want to really understand issues and be able to support your views, you need to study history, philosophy, economics, and specific issues in depth. That probably means reading. (Horrors!)

Obviously, you should start with the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Federalist Papers.

After that, you can find books (and websites) on various issues on the Information on Issues for Conservatives wiki, and I plan to add to this wiki in the future. I would also recommend Penn Pfiffner’s Freedom Reading List on the Free People Free Markets Ning site. Glenn Beck has some history books listed on the 912 Project website, and last week he spoke to the authors of the following books on an episode of his show titled “Destined To Repeat(?)”:

• Robert Gellately, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe
• Ronald. J. Pestritto, Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism
• Amity Shlaes, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
• Johan Goldberg, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change

Complaining is not enough; we must teach.

Start with your family, especially children and college/university students, and friends.  Join the online conversation with a Twitter account or a blog.  (If you need help, I’m working on a series of lessons on Social Media for Conservatives.)  Explain to them what you’ve learned in your studies.  Discuss the issues in a reasoned and polite manner.

Protesting is not enough; we must lead.

Contact your elected representatives and let them know what you think about the issues they’re considering.  Volunteer for a conservative official or candidate.  Serve in your community on a city or county board or commission or with a non-profit organization.  Run for office.

Whatever you do, stick to your conservative principles.

Since you’ve been finding and reading blogs, you’ve probably come across some blog posts that you’ve wanted to comment on.  It’s not difficult, and if you haven’t figured out how to do it, just watch these videos to learn how to comment on Blogger and WordPress blogs.  Blogs hosted by other services work much the same way.

“Posting a Comment to Blogger“

“How to Post a Comment in Blogger“

“How to Post a Comment on Somebody Else’s Blog“

“WordPress Web Marketing Tutorial – How to Comment on a Blog“

“How to Post a Comment on WordPress“

Here are some written instructions and tips for commenting on blogs:

• “Good Comment – Advice For Writing a Great Blog Comment“
• “How to comment like a king (or queen!)“
• “How to comment on a blog – a beginners guide“
• “Geek to Live: Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments“
• “How to Comment Like a Professional“
• “How to Leave a Comment on a Blog“

If you’ve thought at all about starting your own blog, I’d recommend commenting on others’ first to see if you have enough to say and say it well enough to warrant doing so.

I will be also be publishing and updating this information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover reading blogs using RSS feeds and using other types of social media.

Earlier Lessons:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″
Lesson 2: Understanding Blogs
Lesson 3: Understanding Tags
Lesson 4: Finding Blogs

There is more than one way to find blogs to read about politics or other topics.  A good starting place is the list of prominent conservative blogs and bloggers I provided in Lesson 2.  Several search engines have been developed just for finding blogs:

• Addictomatic
• BlogPulse
• Blogged
• BlogScope
• Globe of Blogs
• Google Blog Search
• Icerocket
• surchur
• Technorati
• Trendpedia
• Twingly Blog Search
• Xanga.com

In addition, there is a list of Blog Search Engines at About.com.

Probably the two most popular blog search engines are Technorati and Google Blog Search.  I recommend using Technorati.  Here are some videos if you need help using these two blog search engines and surchur:

“Technorati“

“How To Find Blogs in Any Category“

“Using Google Blogsearch“

“surchur – The Web’s Ultimate Dashboard to ‘Now’“

I will be also be publishing and updating this information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover commenting on blogs and reading them using RSS feeds.

Earlier Lessons:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″
Lesson 2: Understanding Blogs
Lesson 3: Understanding Tags

A web log is essentially a journal or log kept on the web.  Eventually the two words were joined as weblog and then shortened to blog.  A blogger is a person who has a blog, and the blogosphere is entire community of bloggers.

This video by Common Craft explains “Blogs in Plain English”:

Blogs range from personal daily diaries to professional publications.  Each entry or post is dated, and they appear in the blog with the latest first.  In recent years, quite a few pundits and ordinary people have started using blogs to write about and comment on political events and issues.  For conservatives, blogs, like talk radio, can provide news that we don’t get from the mainstream (“old”) media.

Some of the more prominent conservative blogs and bloggers include

• Michelle Malkin
• Power Line
• Instapundit
• Glenn Beck
• Hugh Hewitt
• RedState

For Colorado, you can find some of the most prominent bloggers at

• Rocky Mountain Alliance
• Backbone America
• The Blog Wrangler at Face the State

This is the second in a series of lessons to help conservatives who are less comfortable with the internet learn what these services do and how they can be used.  I will be also be publishing and updating the information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover using tags,  finding more blogs to read, and commenting on them.

For more information, read these articles:

• “How Blogs Work“
• “Blogging Basics“
• “The History of Blogging“

Earlier Lesson:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″

I have some more questions for the RNC Chair candidates:

• Do you play any MMORPGs?  Do you have a Second Life avatar?  How much experience do you have with online multi-player role-playing games and/or virtual worlds?
• How can Second Life and other virtual worlds be used to advance our candidates and causes?
• If you have been a state party chairman, what was the percentage of elected offices in your state held by Republicans when you started and when you finished?  How will your experience in that office influence your decisions and actions as RNC Chair?
• If you have run for office or managed a campaign, what is your win-loss record?  How will your campaign experience influence your decisions and actions as RNC Chair?
• How long have you been using “social media” like Twitter and Facebook?
• Have you ever had a blog?  When did you start it?  How often do/did you post in it?