Patrick Dorinson has seen politics from both sides of the aisle and from the aisle itself. As a communications professional he has worked for Republicans and Democrats in both politics and government.
He likes to say that “wisdom comes from experience, most of it bad” and like others before him his political and life philosophy has evolved over the years. But he has never wavered from his core beliefs or the code of conduct instilled in him by his parents.
He believes in rugged individualism and self-reliance. He believes that if your neighbor’s barn burns down you help him rebuild it just as he would help you rebuild yours. He believes that encroaching intrusive government is the most dangerous threat to our freedom. And he believes that the simple truth that right is right and wrong is wrong still has meaning today even in this age of moral relativism and an “anything goes” culture.
Today these truths are slowly disappearing. Children cheat on tests and think it is okay. Adults cheat on Wall Street and are rewarded. Everything is for sale including one’s honor. And bad behavior in public life will more likely land you a book deal than the consternation of society.
Through it all he has come to consider himself a Western Goldwater Conservative who believes that being a true conservative means Iimited government in all things and the basic right of all Americans to live their lives as they see fit as long as they abide by the laws of the land. Or put another way, government should keep their hands off the public’s wallet and their nose out of folk’s private lives.
He founded The Cowboy Libertarian because he feels that these ideals are being scoffed at and discarded by the elitists among us as artifacts of another place and time. He believes that they need to be preserved at all costs before they are lost forever.
In his life’s journey of the last few years he has found that they are alive and well particularly in the hearts and minds of those who work the land in the vast part of America called The West-- the American cowboy.
The modern East Coast based media doesn’t pay much attention to the West or Western issues unless they are controversial or there is a disaster. And when they do pay attention they look at issues from their narrow perspective not the perspective of Westerners who live it every day.
The Cowboy Libertarian intends to offer that perspective.
This website will have Patrick’s blog on a wide range of Western issues from ranching and land use to the preservation of the Western spirit and the Western lifestyle as well as a little politics thrown in for good measure. Along the trail there will be personal stories about Westerners who are making a difference as well as a healthy dose of common sense and cowboy wisdom.
His stated goal is to do what Buffalo Bill did with his Wild West Show.
In his autobiography Buffalo Bill said…
“In my later years I have brought the west to the east—under a tent. Now I hope to bring to the people of the east and the New West the Old West and possibly here and there to supply new material to history.
I shall try to vary the journey for frequent changes of scenery are grateful to travelers. I shall show you some of the humors as well as the excitement of the frontier. And our last halting place will be at sunrise—the sunrise of the New West.”
The Cowboy Libertarian will attempt to do what Buffalo Bill did only not under a tent but in the vast universe of the internet---where millions can read and hear the message.
Because whether you live in New York or Nevada, Montana or Maine, California or the Carolinas there is a little cowboy in everyone, and what better image, ethics and values to hang on to during these difficult times than those of the American cowboy.
Dorinson is a prodigious writer on many websites. He is a contributor on the website of California business and politics, Fox and Hounds Daily and is a columnist for the FOX Forum on the FOX News website. In addition he is a contributor to “The Arena” on POLITICO the #1 political website in the nation. He is a regular political commentator and has acted as guest host for The Drive on KSRO radio in Santa Rosa, California and is also the resident political analyst for KFBK radio in Sacramento, California. Dorinson has had columns published in the San Francisco Chronicle and has been a guest columnist for Sacramento’s political journal, the Capitol Weekly. He also appears regularly as a commentator on local television.
Dorinson is an avid student of the West and a fair horseman. And he knows that when learning how to ride, the ground is the best teacher, having the broken bones to prove it.
But after all he has seen and accomplished, if he had his druthers and he could find an outfit that would take him on he would make his living from the back of the horse.
THE COWBOY LIBERTARIAN’S CODE
- Live by the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- There are only two things you can count on in this world. The sun coming up in the morning and setting at night. Everything else is a crapshoot.
- Citizenship is not a passive activity. Get informed and stay informed. And if you don’t vote, don’t complain.
- Don’t go looking for trouble. You’ll get your share in life.
- Right is right and wrong is wrong there are no shades of gray.
- Never interfere with something that ain’t bothering you none.
- Never drop your gun to hug a grizzly bear.
- Never forget a kindness and repay it in kind.
- If you don’t believe in something you will fall for anything.
- Face your problems head-on. They won’t look half as bad if you do.
- Wisdom comes from experience, most of it bad.
- Help the less fortunate and defend those who can’t defend themselves. It is not an option but an obligation.
- If you looking for a helping hand, start by looking at the end of your own arm.
- Play the hand you were dealt. In life there is no second draw of the cards.
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- Life is not fair and it is not the responsibility of the government to make it so.
- We will all fall down at some point in our lives. It’s how you pick yourself up that counts.
- Hollywood should be just as concerned about the “mental pollution” of our children as they are about the environmental pollution of the planet.
- Parents are parents and kids are kids not friends and buddies.
- Any government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you got.
- When you’re wrong admit it and when you’re right stand by it.
- Courts are not casinos or the lottery.
- Life has risk. We can’t litigate, legislate or regulate our way out of every problem.
- Not every problem is a crisis. But if you watch television you would think so.
- We all have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.
- You can disagree with someone without being disagreeable.
- Nothing is free. Somebody always pays.
- If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is.
- Keep a safe distance from skunks, lawyers and politicians.
- The Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions.
- Sorry looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up.