This is my first post with TeaPartyPerspective.com, so I thought I would make this first post about me, something you will not see much about from this point on. Hopefully this will help to set your expectations of what to expect in my writing, provide some context, and tell you a little bit about the man behind the pen, or as the case is, iPad.

First off, my name is Todd Osborne. Yes, that is my real name, I don’t hide my beliefs or my life behind some fictitious version of myself that likes to play pretend online. Add @gmail.com to my name and you have my email address. Use that information like an adult and I will happily respond to your questions or challenges. Sling insults or act like a child and your emails will never be read, let alone answered. In short, I will treat you with as much respect as you show me. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my politics or views, but I absolutely expect you will be mature and respectful towards me, and I will be to you.

I am 43 years old, married, father of 3 beautiful daughters, and live in a small town in Dane County, Wisconsin very close to Madison. I am a senior software engineer for a major computer software vendor and have been doing this since the late 1980′s. I have written in the past, but am not a journalist and have not had any formal education in writing. I hope you will forgive the occasional English language slaughters I will certainly commit. I have great respect for the masters of the written word, people like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Payne, and Dr. Tim Nerenz. My skills are not even in their ballpark. I can’t even see their ballpark from my house, but I will endeavor to do my best to write about things I know, have heard, have researched, find interesting, insulting, obnoxious, stupid, humorous, and fascinating, in plain English that is easy to understand and follow. I will do my best, but I promise nothing beyond my best effort and truth.

As far as my political leanings and associations: I am a fiscal and constitutional conservative, more or less a Republican with strong libertarian ties, and left leaning views on many social issues. My liberal friends and family would probably describe me as far right, extreme right, maybe even crazy right. The Republican Party would call me a RINO. Neither would be correct. Somewhere between the left and right is where you will find me. There was a time when we called people like me “moderates”, but it appears that ship has sailed in our partisan world.

In our current political climate, most would say I am a Republican. That is fine with me, as there is not a Democrat on any ballot anywhere near me that I would vote for, but there are many good Republicans. I am a member of the Republican Party of Dane County and Reach Out Wisconsin, a group that exists to bring together political opposites to talk with each other on a monthly basis. No yelling, no fighting, no converting, no mocking. Well, okay, a little bit…

I sit on the Board of Directors of We the People of the Republic, a Dane County Tea Party group founded by Ross Brown, that has been described by pundits as “the most influential Tea Party group in America”. We are the ones that in 2012 did Verify The Recall, iVerifyTheRecall.com, and iSaveWithAct10.com. I mention this association not just to brag a bit, though I am very proud of our group and the work we do, but to disassociate this group from anything I may write in this blog. This blog is just me, Todd Osborne, an individual American citizen, not Todd Osborne speaking for We the People of the Republic. If I ever make a statement from our group here, it will be very clearly noted, otherwise you can assume whatever you are reading is just Todd spouting off at the mouth.

So that’s about it. You can expect honesty in pseudo-English from a strong Tea Party supporter, who sometimes has diarrhea of the mouth, but is speaking only for himself and not any of the organizations that he sometimes represents or is associated with. I’m not a lawyer, but I think that sums it up.

Lastly, I hope you enjoy what I write, even if you do not agree with me. Tell me what you think, especially if you disagree with me. Just do it in a friendly manner. I am a gun toting, right wing, tea party terrorist after all….