The end of the year is the perfect time to reflect upon the brilliant prose offered by the political commentariat's bravest voices. A good columnist will offer trenchant observations, cutting satire or unique policy proposals. But only the truly great will combine all three in a seemingly effortless manner. Better still is the writer who inexplicably remains humble despite his manifest literary gifts, winsome attitude, and raw, animal appeal to the opposite gender.

Keeping these lofty principles in mind, and with all the votes tallied and re-tallied, I am honored to unveil The ExJon.com Complete Best Conservative Columnist List of 2014!

When I visited my last remaining grandparent this summer, she asked if I knew she turned 100. “Yes,” I said, speaking loudly so she could hear, “that’s so great!” “No, not really,” she replied quietly. “I’m tired, Jon. I’m ready.”

​A sad moment, but I understood. Elma Aliina Teppo was born a month after Charlie Chaplin’s film debut. Three months before Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. She survived both world wars and a cold war, the Great Depression and several not-so-great ones. Two spouses, five kids and countless grandkids. A life well lived. But her friends and siblings had been gone for several years. It had been a century of goodbyes, and she was ready.