#41stVote
Shortly after the special election for US Senate in Massachusetts, I “came out” as the person responsible for creating, advocating and “driving” the #41stVote “hash tag” on Twitter.
I was part of the volunteer “Brown Brigade” and one of the many Scott Brown supporters who realized #41stVote was THE key national value proposition of the campaign. Why else would someone in PA (@AngelaRMLash) , Utah (@LadyLibertas93), Alabama (@Victoria_29) or California (friends of @ChuckDeVore) make calls from home, blog about the race, comment on news stories or click the “DONATE” button on a web site? After all, Scott Brown was a relatively obscure Republican State Senator in a presumed “safe haven” for Democrats. Clearly, and justifiably, people questioned the content, transparency and integrity of the health care bill. They saw that it was in their immediate interest–and the immediate national interest–to force Harry Reid “back to the drawing board” by ending his filibuster-proof “super majority” in the US Senate.
#41stVote organized, categorized and crystalized the message. It bonded individual bloggers, tweeters and patriots who wanted common sense conservatism and good government applied not just to health care and other “big bills”, but to all legislative initiatives. Together, these “regular people” became the media! Their clear, powerful and collective plea was: “Stop right there–we can do better!” The voters of Massachusetts agreed, and on 1/19/10, Scott Brown pulled off a political miracle by replacing liberal icon Ted Kennedy in the US Senate.
#Code41
I contend that Scott Brown’s unlikely and historic victory could be the beginning of what (the prominent and highly respected political analyst) Michael Barone once termed a “critical realignment” in American politics. Grassroots activism, (on and offline), did not simply disappear with Brown’s US Senate campaign. Energized by victories in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, proponents of common sense conservatism want to know: What’s next? My hope is that their enthusiasm endures and political momentum accelerates across the nation–that is why I’ve created the #Code41 hashtag on Twitter.
#Code41 is a call to action. It is an urgent beckoning to those “regular people” who helped Scott Brown with #41stVote to “keep that truck rolling” across America. If you reject the dubious premises, policies and tactics of Obama, Reid and Pelosi, I urge you to support your favorite candidates, share great content, meet new friends and promote “online democracy” via the #Code41 hashtag.
#Code41 is not sponsored or formally endorsed by any specific candidate, Party, organization, PAC or special interest group. It is simply a #41stVote “spin-off” created to move the “good government” discussion forward at this critical time in our nation’s history.
#41stVote “went viral” and helped save our country from the ill-conceived, pork-laden and potentially disastrous monstrosity called the health care bill. Let’s do it again with #Code41 and restore transparency, integrity and common sense to the political process!
What a great “spin off.” I just noted the #Code41 hashtag recently (have been preoccupied with life stuff since Brown’s election and not on Twitter as much), but the beauty of #Code41 is that I “got it” as soon as I saw it. But that’s part of your genius, John, your ideas tap into what we intuit and can get excited about. Keep up the great work! 😀
As of this moment, #Code41 is 4 days old, so you didn’t miss much tweet time while tending to life stuff, “Fuzzy”.
Thank you so much for the kind words!
(PS I encourage readers to check out http://fuzislippers.blogspot.com/ or follow her tweets @fuzzislippers )
Thank YOU! 😀
Awesome idea, I am currently supporting and blogging for @billjohnson2010. He is currently running in the highly heated Kentucky senate race, up against Libertarian Rand Paul and former Democrat Trey Grayson. He is a 1st Gulf war veteran that is decorated and has served with the coast guard to protect our shores from the drug cartels. He is a business man with a passion to serve his country based on his “Reagan Conservative” stance. He claims that Reagan enticed him into the military while Obama has got him interested in politics. He has an extensive background in energy and is very much like Scott Brown in that he is a grassroots candidate and shares his passion. I, too, have blogged about Brown and am glad to have been a part of our history. I will definitely be using the #code41 when tweeting about Bill Johnson. http://www.bill@kentuckybill.com
The great thing about #Code41 is that it’s open to anyone. I made it up, but “we the people” own it. It’s just a nice way to identify, categorize, search and promote common sense conservatives across the country. It’s also a convenient way to find, and connect with, new friends on Twitter.
[…] John is keeping the momentum going with a new hashtag #Code41 – Check out his blog post about #Code41 here! […]
excellent article! Very interesting way to see how campaigns are evolving.
Thank you, John!
We conservatives have A LOT of work to do. The future of the Republic may well depend upon a conservative majority in BOTH houses of Congress. May all of us be tireless in our efforts to mobilize ordinary American patriots to that end.
Count me in for #Code41 – The momentum that we have all worked so hard to build needs to continue!
We have shown in three elections that what we are all doing is making a difference – Democracy in Action!
Thanks, John for all that you do!
Thank you Victoria…spread the word!
I think this is awesome idea & will certainly respond to any #Code41 hashtag as I hope conservatives across the country will.