Breitbart: the last sane man in an insane world

I only got to talk with Andrew once, at my first CPAC, when I was a star-struck new pundit who could still remember his far different workday life from just a few months before.  I have always wished I had the moxie to monopolize a bit more of his time… and that was before I learned that I would never have another chance.

The last sane man in an insane world is, by definition, eccentric.  I loved that vibe about Andrew; it has influenced every creative and analytic decision I’ve made, since I first became aware of him.  We are the counterculture now, and we should embrace that role with gusto.  That means highlighting the absurdity of the political and popular culture we are countering.  It’s part of the winning guerrilla strategy for influencing them, as yesteryear’s counter-culture understood, before they became the degenerate establishment we now oppose.   

Wouldn’t Andrew love the wave of comical derision we’ve directed against Obama’s sequestration drama-queen act?  A critical mass of the country is openly laughing at him, and it’s making Obama and his munchkins back away from their hyperventilating tactics.  It might just be giving the Republicans enough confidence to avoid going wobbly.  It’s a battle that is far from over… but it was supposed to be over last week, and its persistence is a victory.

My first Breitbart speech drove home the idea that he was really just doing what the previous generation of revolutionaries did, when they stormed the fortress of political culture.  He was only doing what the mainstream media does to its conservative targets.  (And, if I recall that speech correctly, Andrew did it while wearing roller skates.)  I called one of my first regular columns “Impertinent Questions” to honor what I learned from him.  You can accomplish a lot by asking that sort of question, and refusing to take “no comment,” “go away,” or now “you’ll regret this” for an answer.

I remain determined to challenge everything this culture tells me.  I doubt that America has fully degenerated into a field of mushrooms who want nothing more than to be kept in comforting darkness and fed other people’s mulched tax dollars.  I challenge the notion that we have to accept a disastrous program like ObamaCare forever because one guy won re-election.  I think the Left has come close to solving the doomsday equation of socialism, in which a critical mass of obedient dependents reliably vote to overwhelm liberty… but I’m eager to erase parts of the blackboard and watch them bust a blood vessel in frustration.  I remember that the American Constitution was written by revolutionaries, not tired old fuddy-duddies.  I believe the momentum of history is powerful, but not irresistible… and in that distinction lies a world full of possibilities.  I loved exploring that world with Andrew’s guidance.  I cherish the kind invitation to write here that allows me to explore it in his name.