Guest Commentary: Brian Donegan of Can-Do Conservatives of America

My name is Brian Donegan and I am a nearly-27 year old conservative from Lawrenceville, GA (Just northeast of Atlanta).  I am legally blind and am affected by other disabilities that I was born with (the technical term for these are “defects” I call them “blessings”).  While I have a lot of challenges in my own life I am striving to make this country a better place.  I consider myself very blessed and one of my favorite things to do is to “pay it forward” by giving back to my community.  For example, I am an active volunteer for a local private school for special needs children.

I have always been interested in the political process.  At an early age I realized that some day I would be old enough to vote and I wanted to be able to perform my civic duty responsibly by being an educated citizen.  Ever since 2000 I have voted in each election (even the local elections) but prior to 2008 I never got involved with the process.  That definitely changed when I was an extremely active volunteer for Governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign.  I have been heavily involved in politics ever since and my activity level increases with each month that goes by.          

I paid a lot of attention to the race for RNC Chair at the beginning of this year.  There were many excellent candidates for that post, including the elected Chair, Michael Steele.  However I left the process discouraged.  Each candidate came forth with a plan.  These plans called for reaching out to various population groups.  (African Americans, Hispanics, Women, young voters, etc).  While this is definitely necessary to get the Republican Party back on track, these plans left one important group out, the disabled. 

For many years,the disabled has been “championed” by the Democrats with their promised entitlements.  More importantly they reach out to the disabled and at least pretend to care about us.  Therefore we tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats by default. 

I believe that my future, the future of the disabled, and all Americans will be better under freedom and liberty, and not socialism.  This is why I feel it is important to change the story and give the disabled a voice in the Conservative movement.  To further this goal I have founded an organization called the Can-Do Conservatives.  Our mission is as follows: 

We are looking for a hand up, not a hand out. We are in favor of liberty and freedom to pursue the American dream like anyone else.

We resolve that we cannot have the freedom to pursue the “American Dream” under socialism.

We are in favor of less but competent government that allows us to retain our dignity while getting the help and assistance we need.

We are in favor of an economic system that allows us the freedom to move up the economic ladder through hard work and determination, most especially enacting the FairTax.

We are in favor of reforming health care by focusing on preventative care that will lower the cost and burden on the individual.

We are in favor of passing a Veteran’s bill of rights. They are our heroes and deserve all the thanks and help we can give them after serving and fighting to protect our freedom.

We are in favor of reforming education to allow the freedom to choose how our children our educated and to increase competition in order to improve the system so everyone wins.

We believe in the sanctity and value of human life, from conception until death.

It is my hope that in the coming months and years that this organization will grow to having an active website and a chapter in each state of the country. In time we aim to join the ranks of the Christian Coalition, The Young Republicans, the College Republicans, and the Federation of Republican Women as a major conservative group. 

Please visit our website for more info and become a supporter on Facebook,  I wish to thank the Iowa Defense Alliance for their support of the movement thus far and I look forward to making my first out-of-state trip for the organization to Iowa this September.