ACORN has been so tainted by its inexcusable behavior over the years that it has no other choice but to close up shop.  They were essentially a legalized, and government supported, mafia; bullying their way to power, crippling the very people they claim to work for.

Let me tell you something: If you know what is right, if you know what is pure, and if you can but for a second imagine attaining and sharing those things, then you must will all your power seek it out. If you do not, then the memory of that moment you imagined will forever itch inside your head and ache inside your heart until you are ruled by fear and tormented by regret.

That was the feeling I had carrying out the ACORN project, that’s what has kept me functionally sane during the aftermath of the video releases, and that is what drives me forward. You’ve seen the product of the actions taken by James O’Keefe and me  last summer. Its time more people with a hunger for righteousness began, as Robert Greene said, exploiting “the chaos of the world instead of succumbing to it.”

We live in a quick cruel world that demands we bolt out of dreamland and wipe nostalgia’s sweet kisses away. Principles and beliefs are ageless only so long as those who possess them see to it they are not forgotten.  Societies will always tend towards all things bad if the powers-at-be do not lead wisely and are not held accountable by the people.

The future is a blank canvas, a giant glowing question mark held in place by eternity. This is something that would send most people into a tailspin of wonder ,anxiety and fear. But to others, this makes life a bit simpler, an unknown future ought allow us to fully operate and thoroughly enjoy the present moment.

Challenge: take a step back and look at life on the Grand Scale. We are but specks of dust, here today gone tomorrow.  What kind of spec are you going to be: The kind that gets swept under the rug? Or the mote that flies into the eye of deceit, threatening to agitate it beyond repair and forcing it to submit to truths brutally thorough cleansings?

I guess attitude and environment really is everything because Max was clearly not ready to switch from confrontational mode to apologist in front of several cameras and dozens of on-fire conservatives in the middle of CPAC 2010.

My parents raised me with to have a “no fear” mindset and carefully select the environments I subject myself to. It has taken lots of trial and error in my life to perfect these skills, but nevertheless, its something worth understanding.

When I was 15 a lot of exciting things happened to me: I got into surfing, I got a car, I had an exciting job and I started home-schooling. (Quick note on the homeschooling thing: it was totally my choice and I had to beg my parents to allow it. Not hard to believe if you’ve done time in the Miami-Dade Public School system.)

These events created a combination of independence, responsibility, diligence, adventure and fun. Previously, I had longed for those things daily, within the confines of my middle and high school gates. This new part of my life was good and things were simple.

That is, until the summer before my freshman year of college when I ended up at a Young America’s Foundation conference in Washington, DC. There my little surf-bunny world was rocked–a part of me loved it and a part of me hated it. I have a competitive nature, and I found I had some catching up to do.

I was surrounded by hundreds of bright, passionate, young conservative adults from across the country who loved life and our nation. They had definite views on freedom and prosperity and were eager to share their knowledge and energy with their peers back home.

It was thoroughly inspiring and I was excited to be amongst such fine company. Prior to that I didn’t know any young conservatives. I did, however, know plenty of young avid “democratic candidate and policy supporters.” I refuse to call them young liberals because I don’t believe they understand what the term means, and thus I decline the opportunity to insult.

Young, truly devoted liberals, who can defend and properly communicate what they believe and formulate their own ideas to help their team are hard to come by. Very hard. Now, it is true, the Left in Washington has a giant stronghold in Hollywood. There are dozens of young actors/comedians/musicians/artists who side with the political left and promote their policies publicly, encouraging the average youth to behave and think as they do.

But what young warriors do the liberals have? I’m not asking about the automated liberal-spewing machines, or the professional foamers in the blogosphere.  Not the kind of public-school-educated robots who grew up obeying Hollywood and defying their parents. I’m talking about leaders, the thinking types.

Ponder this for a moment: currently, names like Aaron Schock, Jason Mattera, James O’Keefe, Evan Baehr, Brendan Steinhauser, Lila Rose and Ben Shapiro are popping up on the public radar. Besides being under 30, this crew is desperately fighting for America on the conservative policy/political side of things, and the scary/really cool thing about it is they have the smarts, creativity, guts, and resolve to do so.

The only young liberal that I would consider in their league is the 25 year-old Ezra Klein of Newsweek. He is extremely intellectual, creative and effective at communicating his ideas to mass audiences. That’s right, his ideas. He doesn’t just parrot what the leftist elites in Washington are saying. And that deserves credit; it is hard to formulate your own thoughts on issuesand devote yourself to ensuring they are communicated accurately and efficiently.

He has earned himself the title, in certain circles, the youngest expert on health-care. It typically takes ages in a university library and a PhD, or ten-plus years of real-world experience with an issue to be considered an expert. Yet Klein has blasted through that stereotype gaining the same respect and admiration that his elders do, if not more, due to his age.

Us young guns have an enthusiastic energy unmatched by other age groups. So when something pumps us up and taps into that passion, it sticks and produces action.

Klein is a highly motivated individual who has definitely turned heads in Washington, and is well on his way to taking over. And he isn’t some malicious power hungry conspirator, working from the bad-guys version of the bat cave. He’s just a dude with a vision, and has the creative diligence to go out and make it real.

Not to mention, he made it on Jezebel’s Top ten sexiest everyday men of 2008 list, and is an avid health-food chef. Mix drive, intelligence, a national platform, looks and cooking skills and the nation has itself a new young liberal leader.

As much as I don’t agree with his political views, I do get where he is coming from. I dig his new media expertise, and actually, I could learn a lot from him since I’m new to the internet news/political world.  Also, once-upon-a-time I wanted be a nutritionist, so the cooking scores extra points with me.

So here’s my challenge to Mr. Klein: how about it, Ezra?  Will you make me dinner one evening?  Let’s put our ideas to the test and see who wins.

The thing is, my generation has some problems with the torch we are about to take off with, and we aren’t shy about letting the uppers know.

Boldness, zeal, angst, creativity, action and openness are characteristics of youth. Life is a mystery and the brevity of our lives prevents us from accessing many of its clues. We want meaning, purpose, acknowledgement and the ability to prove to the older generation that we are indeed serious about our roles in life, even if we don’t know what that is.  And so we take actions, we unite behind leaders and explore the depths of our persona.

It is when we act, and act effectively, that the big dogs get frustrated. By acting, and establishing our generational brand, we force the established thoughts, groups and figures to not only question their life’s work and purpose, but to recognize the inevitable passing of the torch.

This is where conflict arises. Rather than gracefully welcoming us to the world stage, offering a wink and a tip of the hat, the dominant forces try their hardest to break us down and shoo us out of town. They will even accuse upcoming whippersnappers of things outside of our realm of experience in order to discredit us within their own circles.

Which, I might add, is a great Saul Alinsky tactic:

Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

Take last week for example, when Max Blumenthal launched an attack on James O’Keefe claiming racism. Yes racism, a concept and word my generation has been taught to reject, and an experience we have never actually endured.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say my generation is colorblind. We modern-day American kids were born into a free and equal society, and our familiarity with institutional racism begins and ends with our textbooks. Our parents, schools and culture have conditioned us to not judge natural characteristics of our fellow man. Lessons from the past have shown that doing so results in a second-rate society that holds itself back from operating at optimum levels.

Take a look at my age group:

1. Our schools have never been segregated. Those days are long gone in relation to our time on earth and the development of our society.

2. We are more likely to throw a fit about someone’s eating habits, clothing, athletic affiliation, political stance, religious views and preferred music genre, than the skin color of our peers.

3. We played a major role in electing President Obama, who is not only the first black president of the U.S. but also the first man to be a minority in the nation he was elected to lead.

Since race has never been an issue for those of and around my age, we are able to conduct higher levels of human bonding. We group ourselves according to ideologies, coming together and uniting around self-determined topics, attractions and goals.  Don’t get me wrong. We are not the flower children full only of peace and love. Cultural conflicts still exist, and will continue to exist so long as man has a mind he can call his own.

It is human nature for us to want our thoughts and ways of life to prevail over things that threaten their very existence. Also, those of us who are truly devoted to our cause will wish to inform others of our beliefs and act on our convictions, in hopes of encouraging others to stand up and do the same. As the famous poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

The liberal media generation, and the current progressive establishment, have been repeatedly reminded, by O’Keefe, that their torch-holding time is up. And in their last efforts to discredit one of their successors has dared launch horrific accusations based on false premises. Not only are they discrediting themselves, but they are also being immature about the natural progression of society.

Nope, evidently the characters I played in the ACORN videos, Kenya and Eden, had Beckel a little confused.  After he called me a ho, the panel informed him I wasn’t a real hooker, only pretending to be one for the sake of the story. He defends himself by saying I was a very “convincing hooker.”

All I can say is, Beckel would know.

This isn’t the first time he has been befuddled by a young woman’s actions.  In the summer of 2002 Beckel came to know 20-year old “Tiffany,” a professional hooker who, after establishing a business relationship with him, attempted to extort $50,000 in exchange for her not exposing their relationship to his ex-wife and employers.

Don’t believe it, don’t remember it, want to get the facts? Check the police report for the gory details:

And this is where my dilemma begins. There are just so many ways to approach Beckel’s thoughts about me.

If I do want to become an actress one day, or work undercover for the FBI, do I ask Beckel to be a reference? He could tell them my acting skills are so advanced that even seasoned “lady of the night” experts were impressed. He is a semi-powerful man, whose opinion has been sought out by heavy-hitting Democrats, going back to Robert Kennedy.  He is also very familiar with the complexities and pitfalls of the prostitution world. Potential valuable resource? Perhaps.

Then again, so is former New York State governor Eliot Spitzer, aka “Love Client No. 9,” currently hiking the MSNBC rehabilitation trail:

Journalism is more my focus right now and watching Beckel’s behavior, I couldn’t help but wonder how he escaped his hooker problems relatively unsullied. A Republican, socially conservative or not, would never survive such drama. The irresistible tale of a greedy hooker and her Muslim pimp would forever resurface anytime the man entered the spotlight or made a major decision. The media would call into question his judgment, based on past events, and relentlessly attempt to taint his public image.

But off Beckel goes, free as a bird. Now he may be over that whole “get involved with an hooker/extortionist” phase. But, based on Monday night’s performance, he is in the “hyper-analyze a twenty-year-old’s clothing and stilettos” phase. If he had said I was a convincing hooker based on the fact that ACORN offices felt comfortable enough with me that they thought I could run a good underage brothel in their local communities, then things would be a little different. We find instead that he is creeping on my body, rather than condemning a corrupt organization.

My goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions…

Target: Mary Landrieu. Why: she’s been taking legal “bribes” in the form of the “Louisiana Purchase” in exchange for her vote on Sen. Harry Reid’s healthcare bill, and ignoring phone calls from her outraged constituents.  Bold, dirty, rude politics at its finest.

Putting his head down, and plowing ahead, James was off to New Orleans working on a new project.  A project that would hopefully raise questions, demand answers, and spur people to action.

The complication:  James and three of his colleagues were arrested in the process. (Although now the U.S. Attorney in charge of the case has recused himself, a sure sign that the case is rapidly crumbling.)

For 48 hours, rampant rumors of phone taps, possible felonies, rash behavior and the phrase “Watergate Jr.” spread like wildfire. No one knew the reality of the situation. Even I was very concerned by the initial reports. I had no inkling of this project and once again found myself a victim of the MSM’s filthy, desperate and fact-free drive-by reporting.  As Galileo famously said:

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

The truth eventually began trickling out and it appears Mary Landrieu’s office vastly exaggerated the situation, and yet the MSM ran with it.  Rachel Maddow of MSNBC could barely contain her glee:

Note to everyone: throwing out words like “wiretapping” in regards to a federal phone system is the equivalent to screaming “bomb” on an airplane….Don’t say it unless you mean it. Or else, all the attention will zero in on you and things will quickly get complicated.

In fact, Landrieu’s overreaction to O’Keefe’s video project ought make the public wonder what the heck is actually going on in the office that her constituents are permitting her to occupy for at least a little while longer. But instead we had ACORN’s CEO, Bertha Lewis, using the incident as an opportunity to, once again, excuse her employees’s behavior in our “ACORN Housing helps underage sex slave” videos. We saw inappropriate and vicious attacks from the MSM, and watched some members of a movement turn its back on a man they considered a hero less than a week ago.

What I’ve learned is this: the MSM is the primary force of the Democratic Party. If the MSM is lying to you, guess who else is? Someone has to feed them stories. Time and time again the MSM has been caught in a self-created web of lies, and the vast majority of these reports do one thing, and that is mask the true, ugly face of liberalism.

Listen, the MSM is officially beyond biased and slanted reporting. Right now, it is on the “bold dishonesty” level. They are essentially pelting the public with hot, stinky manure, and it is completely insulting.

Fortunately, there are ways around the MSM’s nonsense. Andrew Breitbart has made the new media trendy, and after the ACORN videos everyone and his conservative dog was aboard the new-media campaign bandwagon. Yet, the moment an unsubstantiated report on James was leaked, the rank and file of our movement exposed themselves as vulnerable to the MSM as anyone

For instance, Michelle Malkin, a once avid supporter/defender of James and all his work, called for an example to be made out of him, and instructing other young journalists to not follow in his footsteps.  Again, this was before she knew his side of the story.

The bottom line is, conservative elites are afraid of the MSM. They are constantly two-steppin’ to stay in their good graces while secretly cursing them beneath their breath. It is no wonder they’ve had their rear ends handed to them so badly in past elections. I’m telling you, if conservatives don’t put on their game faces and strap on their big-boy boots, our nation’s demise is imminent.

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”  – Winston Churchill

Why do I think the MSM and the Liberals were so perversely obsessed with the possibility of James being a wannabe “Watergate Jr.?” They lie, because despite all their money and power, they are scared. Not of the Republicans or Conservative movement, but of citizen journalists who hold truth in the highest regard. These people are at large, and on the rise. Which means some major power players have a lot to be afraid of.

Yep, September 10, 2009 hit me like a freight train; that day marked only my second trip to NYC. The first trip was a 6-hour visit a few weeks earlier that consisted of my dashing around the city in stilettos and trashy clothes gathering footage of ACORN workers acting shady.

Wake up, America

Needless to say, this go-around was a little different. Now, producers were interrogating me over at the Fox New Headquarters and I was having my hair and makeup done by professionals. All while watching myself in leather top and giant hoop earrings on multiple television screens, and begging God  that I could keep  my cool on national television with Glenn Beck.

That was the beginning of a raucous adventure, a whirlwind of a week between Sept 10-16 that’d make any type-A curl up in a ball and beg for mercy, and might’ve led to my insanity had I allowed myself to get caught up in the chaos it caused. But I was so absorbed in the moment and focused on getting the ACORN videos, and the truth of our story, out to the public that nothing fazed me. Plus, all the new experiences and people were extremely intriguing and I wanted to be sure and soak it all in.

A part of me realized how monumental and life-changing the whole thing was. I mean not just any 20-year old girl runs in and out of FOX studios on a week long media blitz; has the New York Post showing up at her hotel for exclusive front page interviews; can’t sleep because of the adrenaline rush that comes with  being part of a breaking story that she once-upon-a-time dreamed up on a jog; or hardly communicates to her parents that she’s doing all right because of the 24/7 flood of phone calls blowing up her phone. Also, not many young adults have had CNN or Joe Conason come after them, wishing their demise.

I didn’t read or really even see press coverage of myself during that time, which was a blessing.  I knew it was going on because of what Andrew, James and my dad, Doug Giles, were telling me, but I stayed away from positive and negative coverage because I didn’t want to become either fearful or arrogant.

But it wasn’t until the day our Brooklyn footage was released that I actually felt the weight of what was going on, and that all this craziness was one hundred per cent real. It was a combination of two distinct moments. The first was in the middle of Grand Central Station and the second was late that night looking out a restaurant window.

I’m rushing into Grand Central  with Andrew Breitbart 20 minutes late to an appointment. Hundreds and hundreds of people milling  around us and we had no idea where we were supposed to go. When I get a text saying “Senate votes 83-7 to defund ACORN,” I was  gob-smacked by the news, told Breitbart and we immediately started fact checking. It was true.

Breitbart pulls his laptop out of his bag and as we are wandering around the station, lost and late to our appointment, updates his websites, being among the very first to report the vote. It was a fascinating experience, knowing that I was a key player in the action that caused such an overwhelming bipartisan reaction in Washington and doing so unconventionally every step of the way.

Later that night, after my interview on Hannity, I ate dinner at a restaurant on Sixth Avenue.  It was pretty late; I was exhausted and terribly hungry. While waiting for my meal to arrive I stepped away from the table to take a phone call from a friend. Walking over to the empty portion of the restaurant, I was faced with a giant glass-paned wall, and on the other side of it was the oversized ticker tape on the outside of the Fox building blasting the shake-up our ACORN story had caused. It was now a full-blown scandal.

Something about those big bright letters in the night scrolling around and around, telling the city our story, resonated in me more than anything up to that point. I was like a child startled in the night, creeping through a big, cold scary house only to find the disruption was Santa Claus sliding down the chimney. Leaning against the glass wall, I felt that every sense in my body was alive and telling me “Oh man oh man, this is real.”

At that moment, it didn’t matter that the mainstream media had been ignoring the story and reporting falsehoods about James O’Keefe and me. Because if we cared about them and how they did things we would’ve gone to them, and wished upon a star that they would give our footage 15 seconds of airtime, or a minor  editorial.

The truth was, we were the new kids on the block, boldly challenging the old school. We overloaded their senses with vivid illustrations of what the new media is all about. We had just launched a no-holds-barred declaration of war on political corruption and the MSM, as well as a revolutionary new form of communication and expression.

Of course they would try and suppress our story. But all that meant was:  game  on.

And now it really is.