I attended my first RedState Gathering in 2013. It was in New Orleans that year. At that point, I think I’d had a handful of diaries published on the Front Page. Every now and then, I’d get an email from Streiff telling me one of my diary posts was promoted, and it was a solid feeling.
The following year, the Gathering was in Ft. Worth, Texas. It was during that Gathering that I was officially picked up as a Front Page Contributor, joining the ranks of several folks I still consider friends, even though they aren’t here anymore – folks like Erick Erickson, Moe Lane, Dan McLaughlin, Neil Stevens, and Caleb Howe. Since becoming a Front Page Contributor, I’ve worked with some amazing people. Streiff, who is still here, has been an excellent guiding voice for the site. Jennifer Van Laar is an amazing reporter and a great leader. Susie Moore oversees our pool of writers and guides the copy-editing team.
I never really talked about it much, because it wasn’t a notable time period, but I very briefly led the site as it transitioned from one leadership structure to another. I was working full-time as a teacher, so I couldn’t really do both jobs. Streiff took up the reins, then Van Laar came after him. During this time, the site grew and changed, but the underlying mission hasn’t.
In 2005, George W. Bush was set to nominate Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. RedState was one of the earliest conservative outlets to oppose the nomination. Because of the site’s involvement, the nomination was scuttled. We, instead, got Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
In 2007, the rise of the cults of personality in politics really came to the fore. So much so that a bunch of liberals-turned-libertarians started registering as new members at RedState and flooded the comments sections of various posts with the most obnoxious fandom possible. RedState banned new members who were Ron Paul supporters, an action that even mainstream media outlets took notice of.
Throughout the rise of Barack Obama and his eight years in office, RedState stood opposed to his brand of progressivism. We routinely went after his policies and the Democrats championing him. But we also held our own side’s feet to the fire. We found and endorsed conservatives to challenge the GOP establishment. The rise of great conservatives before, during, and after the rise of the Tea Party movement was due in significant part to RedState.
We criticized the McCain campaign in the wake of its loss to Obama. We were critical of Mitt Romney’s campaign, and pointed out all the GOP strategists between both McCain and Romney who cost the GOP winnable races. Tools of Washington D.C., they were part of the party’s rot.
Of course, the most controversial of times for us was the rise of Donald Trump. RedState, a website that has never and will never enforce uniformity of thought, had a lot of opinions about the real estate mogul and reality TV star. In the end, Trump won. In the end, conservatism prevailed in several ways during his administration. Roe v. Wade was overturned. The economy roared. The Middle East was at peace. Russia didn’t dare march on Ukraine.
We’ve gotten a Congresswoman to step down because she abused her office and introduced us all to the word “throuple.” We’ve made headlines. We’ve enraged the liberals and aggravated the establishment. All in a day’s work.
We were true to our mission. We defended Trump when he needed to be defended, and we criticized him when we thought he needed to be criticized. We had differing opinions here among our own staff of writers. That was nothing new for RedState, but it was at a time of heightened tension between forces within the GOP.
Even now, we have several writers who have differing opinions. It’s what makes RedState strong. A lack of diversity of thought is what makes other websites weak.
Truth be told, we’re not afraid of pissing off people on either side. A number of those who have come before and those who are here now have heard from folks in Washington D.C. when we make them mad – including (and especially) Republicans. Frankly, we like that kind of pushback. It means they’re listening.
Who knows what the future holds? I don’t. I’m sometimes amazed I’m still here after a decade. But what I do know is that, so long as they are watching what we say and what we do, we’re going to be here to hold truth to power. On both sides of the aisle, as God intended (we believe, anyway).
Two decades isn’t enough. We intend to keep going and keep being a thorn in all the right (and left) sides. We have a proud history of it, after all, and breaking tradition wouldn’t be much fun. So, happy birthday, RedState. It’s been one hell of a ride so far, and here’s to another 20 years.
