Category Archives: Politics

Leaving a Legacy: The Power of History on the Hearts of Boys

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Until recently, boys grew up emulating real-life heroes who seemed larger than life. Coonskin caps and six-shooters were the uniforms of boyhood. Boys were enthralled with tales about Daniel Boone, John Glenn, and Davy Crockett. Flannelgraph images taught us about the courage of Noah, the faith of Moses, and the collapse of a giant at the hands of a young shepherd boy. We celebrated in the heroic deeds of George Washington, Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark. We reveled in stories about the Sons of Liberty, the Green Mountain Boys, the Rough Riders, and the Texas Rangers. At Thanksgiving, we heard the stories of Squanto and Massasoit, William Bradford and William Brewster, and we learned about the daring pilgrims who risked all for religious freedom.

Today, rather than exalting men for their significant contributions, our culture is dismissing the heroism of fathers and forefathers and choosing instead to emphasize their shortcomings. Statues of men are disappearing as history is rewritten to cater to sanitized non-toxic definitions of masculinity. In a world void of strong courageous heroes and sterilized of risk, boys are disappearing into fantasy. Superheroes replace real-life role-models and virtual video games become substitutes for real-life challenges.

Theodore Roosevelt understood the importance of history and identity. He wrote, “It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. . . Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been stored up effort in the past…Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers.”

Our concept of democracy is rooted in courage and character. It was nurtured through common vision, servant leadership, risk, and adventure. The Pilgrims were characterized by their determination to throw off shackles, secure religious freedom, and create a new way of life. Pioneering American families banded together to explore the new world. They lived on boats and survived in shelters until they could construct new homes, craft a new civilization, and cultivate a new government. As the nation grew, families crossed over the mountains, camped across prairies, and hewed communities out of the wilderness.

The words written into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights express the ideals and accomplishments of life as the founders themselves experienced it. These are not documents of intangible ideas, but the results of pragmatism and hard work put into words that express a revolutionary concept of democratic living.

Where do boys engage with these founding experiences that made our country great? Where can they encounter men who embody this courage, risk, and innovative thinking?

As leaders of boys, we should embrace the heroism that built this nation and be dedicated to encouraging godly young men full of character and leadership potential. If we erase our history in an attempt to get rid of the shortcomings of our forefathers, we invariably lose the legacy of their greatness. Part of what makes scripture so inspiring is that great heroes like David, Moses, Abraham, Elijah, Samson, Noah, Jonah, and Peter were both heroic and flawed. They failed, stood up, brushed themselves off and failed again—AND they achieved great things. The good news is that we have a history of men “filled with grace and power” who “through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength.”

These are the stories boys need to hear! Boys need risk and reward, and they languish where there is a lack of physical, mental, and spiritual challenge. As the country gathers to reflect during this holiday season, let us use this time of thankfulness to be grateful to those who dared to dream big, enact change, and build this great nation. Let us tell stories and honor our history for the boys of America so that they will learn from and adopt the positive defining attributes of our ancestors that made our nation great.

Mark Hancock, Townhall

The Real Domestic Terrorists are Merrick Garland and Joe Biden

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A letter from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland reveals the lawmakers have received documents from a whistleblower that state the FBI is using counterterrorism tactics to investigate parents considered to be potential “domestic terrorists” as they voice concerns about education in their local school districts.” [Breitbart]

Who ever thought that hapless, goofy Joe Biden would be the figurehead leader of a Nazi-like regime in America that treats dissenters as enemies of the state? We are in a totally unsustainable situation. If you are confident that courts and elections will be enough to stop these tyrants, then you fail to grasp that the real terrorists are in power. Like I keep saying, we are an occupied country.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

Winsome Sears, my New Hero

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“[Americans are] tired of the Black against White and the Asian against Latino. They’re tired of it, and they’re tired of politicians who won’t let the wounds of the past heal.” — Winsome Sears, new lieutenant governor of Virginia.

My new hero. Mainly, because she’s dead-on right and has the courage to speak truth in a highly visible forum, as the Lt. Governor of Virginia. Secondly, because she will disturb the smug pseudo-serenity of racist woke Communist supremicists; and they deserve to have their smug pseudo-serenity disturbed.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

People Have Forgotten the Cost of Freedom

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A recent speech given in the parliament of the European Union was widely circulated online, with a German MEP condemning oppressive COVID restrictions and vaccine mandates that have spread across the western world.

That powerful message was delivered by Alternative for Germany Party MEP Christine Anderson.

Speaking about how little westerners appreciate their hard-won freedoms, Christine said:

People, especially in the western democracies, they no longer consider freedom, civil liberties and the rule of law as something special, as something that you need to fight for and defend every day. They see it as something God-given that just fell out of the blue sky one sunny day and oops, there it was. And people seem to have simply forgotten.

No, [freedoms] had to be fought for — and a lot of people shed blood in obtaining the society we now can enjoy to live in. [snip]

Christine Anderson of The European Parliament on vaccines and the intention of governments – YouTube

Transcript MEP Christine Anderson’s Statement Opposing the Vaccine Mandate Agenda – The Thinking Conservative Cristian Terheș MEP (Romania): I would like my colleague, Christine Anderson, to have the opening.

Christine Anderson MEP ( Germany): Yes, hello. First of all, thank you very much for all of you that went to great length to express your support to us in an overwhelmingly huge amount of emails. Thank you so much, we’re doing this for you.

All through Europe, governments have gone to great length to get people vaccinated. We were promised the vaccinations will be a game-changer and it will restore our freedom. Turns out none of that was true. It does not render you immune, you can still contract the virus and you can still be infectious. The only thing this vaccine did for sure was to spill billions and billions of dollars in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies. I voted against the Digital Green Certificate back in April. Unfortunately it was adopted, none the less. And this just goes to show there’s only a minority of MEP’s who truly stand for European values. The majority of MEPs, for whatever reasons unbeknown to me, obviously support oppression of the people, while claiming shamelessly to do it for the people’s own good. But it is not the goal that renders a system oppressive, it is always the methods by which the goal is pursuit.

Whenever a government claims to have the people’s interest at heart, you need to think again. In the entire history of mankind there has never been a political elite sincerely concerned about the well-being of regular people. What makes any of us think that it is different now? If the Age of Enlightenment has brought forth anything, then certainly this, never take anything any government tells you at face value. Always question everything any government does or does not do. Always look for ulterior motives and always asked Cui bono? who benefits? Whenever a political elites pushes an agenda this hard, and resort to extortion and manipulation to get their way, you can almost always be sure your benefit is definitely not what they had at heart.

As far as I’m concerned I will not be vaccinated with anything that has not been properly vetted and tested and is shown no sound scientific evidence that the benefits outweigh the disease itself and possible long-term side effects, which to this day we don’t know anything about. I will not be reduced to a mere Guinea pig by getting vaccinated with an experimental drug, and I will most assuredly not get vaccinated because my government tells me to and promises, in return, I will be granted freedom. Let’s be clear about one thing, no one grants me freedom, for I am a free person. So I dare the European Commission and the German government, throw me in jail. Lock me up and throw away the key, for all I care. But you will never be able to coerce me into being vaccinated if I, the free citizen that I am, choose not to be vaccinated.

Lastly, I would like you to think about this one. The compulsory use of the Digital Green Certificate undermines everything that Europeans stand for. It violates constitutional guaranteed, fundamental rights, and it constitutes the first step towards the insufferable Chinese Social Credit System. I will never stand for this. I will never put up with this.

Thank you.

MEP Christine Anderson’s Statement Opposing the Vaccine Mandate Agenda – The Thinking Conservative https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/mep-christine-andersons-statement-opposing-the-vaccine-mandate-agenda/

The Purpose of Memory

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People think that the purpose of memory is to remember the past. That’s not the purpose of memory.

The purpose of memory is to extract out, from the past, lessons to structure the future. That’s the purpose of personal memory. So, you’re done with a memory when you’ve extracted the information that you can use to guide yourself properly in the future.

If you have a traumatic memory, for example, that’s obsessing you, if you analyze that memory to the point where you figured out how you put yourself at risk. You can determine how you might avoid that in the future, and then the emotion associated with that goes away.

Jordan Peterson

Federal Reserve Failure

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What do the Federal Reserve and neoconservatives have in common? They both refuse to admit that their policies — the neocons’ promotion of perpetual war and the Fed’s manipulation of the money supply — are complete failures, having produced the opposite of the promised results.

The latest example of the Federal Reserve engaging in Bill Kristol-like levels of denial is the Fed’s continued insistence that the return of 70s-style inflation is a “transitory” phenomenon resulting from the end of the lockdowns. The Fed has acknowledged the “transitory” inflation will last until at least 2022, yet it is still determined to keep interest rates at or near zero until the “jobs situation” improves.

To be fair, the Fed has finally announced plans to cut back on its money-pumping activities by reducing by 15 billion dollars a month its monthly purchase of 80 billion dollars of Treasury bonds and 40 billion dollars of mortgage-backed assets.

It is unlikely that the Fed will stick to its plans to “taper” its purchase of Treasury bonds. The Fed’s Treasury bond purchases enable the federal government to run up the debt without increasing taxes or paying punishingly high interest on the debt.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that by 2030 the federal debt interest cost will more than double to 829 billion dollars. That is more than the government spent on the military in 2020!

Despite the looming fiscal crisis, Congress is unlikely to cut spending anytime soon. Instead, Congress members are debating a 1.75 trillion dollars “social spending” plan, having just passed a 1.2 trillion dollars infrastructure bill. Contrary to the claims of President Biden and his allies, this new spending will not reduce inflation. What it will do is hasten and deepen the inevitable economic crisis caused by government overspending.

Of course, most Republicans will continue opposing big increases in spending and debt … as long as a Democrat sits in the Oval Office. A Republican who becomes president will likely believe, as Dick Cheney has said, that President Reagan taught us that deficits don’t matter. The difference between the parties is Republicans are less likely to raise taxes. So, no matter who controls Congress and the presidency, spending and debt can keep increasing.

The Fed may also take dramatic action to keep interest rates low if other purchasers of federal debt demand higher interest rates in anticipation of future inflation. Such a situation would be a sign of what Ludwig von Mises called a crack-up boom. A crack-up boom occurs when the public anticipates continuing devaluation of the currency, causing them to factor future price increases into their economic plans.

Crack-up booms are preceded or accompanied by economic crises that can lead to the rise of authoritarianism. However, this is not inevitable. Important steps can be taken including cutting spending on militarism and corporate welfare, phasing out the entitlement and welfare programs, and auditing and ending the Fed. Those of us who know the truth should seek to convince our fellow citizens of the importance of restoring a limited, constitutional government that does not try to run the economy, run the world, or run our lives.(Republished from The Ron Paul Institute by permission of author or representative)

The Creepy Mass Psychology of Vaccine-Crazed America

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“Sixty percent of vaccinated individuals say they are banning unvaccinated family members from seasonal festivities, according to study released Saturday by One Poll.

A slightly higher number, 63%, said they are not comfortable having unvaccinated relatives at their parties.” [reported by Newsmax]

I find this astonishing. If you feel compelled to get a vaccination because you believe it keeps you safe, then why do you suddenly feel UNSAFE the moment you learn another in your presence is not vaccinated? If the vaccine does not help you enough to protect you from an unvaccinated person, THEN HOW IS FORCING THAT PERSON TO GET VACCINATED GOING TO HELP YOU?

It’s mass hysteria of the first order. I would be appalled if 25 percent, or even 10 percent, of people felt this way. But when you consider that two-thirds of the population are this irrational and brainwashed beyond all redemption, it makes me tremble for the future. Actually, it makes me tremble for the present.

Otherwise sane, often highly capable and sometimes even very likable individuals buy into this brazen “1 plus 1 equals 3” kind of mentality. THAT’S the most disturbing part.

The issue is deeper than politics. We’re talking about the core sanity and intellectual honesty of the population. No civilization can carry on with this level of Nazi Germany-like mass delusion. I always knew America had issues; but I didn’t realize two-thirds of us were this far gone. It’s incredibly sad.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason