BREAKING THE SILENCE

Why I'm taking a major risk - and why you should, too

I practice yoga, preferably immersed in nature. I adore animals and (generally) don’t eat meat.

My family will tell you I’m a crazy cat lady (I have two) AND a crazy plant lady (I have too many to count). I’m a wife and mom of three toddlers. We make picnics and flower crowns and dance in the sunshine. I aim to live mindfully, soaking in the world around me and living in the present.

I’m also politically conservative. Really! A free market capitalist in a flower crown. But why should that be shocking?

Unfortunately, there’s a pervasive narrative in our society that politically conservative Americans are morally corrupt and racist. It’s gotten so bad that for most right-leaning Americans, it’s easier to stay silent than risk being judged by their peers, fired from their jobs, or “cancelled”. I was one of them. Even after taking a break from my job as a TV reporter to raise our young children, I’d been hesitant to share my political beliefs with anyone, unless I knew I was in like-minded company. To be honest, it’s still a little scary.

I started the "Primrose Patriot" to be a voice for all the unheard Americans who also take pride in our star-spangled heritage and want to make our country a better place. I want to disrupt the assumption that good people have to be liberal. Let’s shatter stereotypes. Let’s change the culture in which we’re too hesitant to admit to our political beliefs. If we speak out, whether in an intimate conversation, on social media or on the national stage, the myth that one party is good and the other evil will inevitably disintegrate.  What we cannot do is remain silent. Because then, how will things ever change?