The Dearth (and Death) of Common Sense

Am I the only one who feels like he has been transported to an alternate universe?  Transported to a universe where the rules of logic have been suspended.  A place where black is white, hot is cold, and apparently right is wrong while wrong is right... and for fans of 20th century literature, I really should add the Orwellian references, "War is peace.  Freedom is slavery.  Ignorance is strength." (from the book, 1984)

Illogical?  Ironic?  Ridiculous?  Confusing?  Non-sensical?  "Yes", five times "yes", but sadly, that's where we now find ourselves as a nation in serious moral decline - if not all out ethical freefall.

In this same strange universe, a man is equally and completely free to self-identify himself as a woman, and by logical extension, a kumquat, a green bean, or perhaps even a pretty pink polka-dotted pony; and no longer even have his mental health or sanity challenged.  While it has been oft-repeated that ideas have consequences, now we are simultaneously learning that national elections have consequences, as well.  Obama and his merry band of 'Looney Leftists' are now in charge and they are demanding nothing less than full compliance with the latest politically correct pish posh.

And just in case you aren't quite sure where I am going with this, I am referring to the Obama Administration's Justice Department's announcement earlier this month that the Federal Government is now seizing extra-Constititutional powers under the guise of nebulous 'civil rights' law to dictate restroom, locker room, and shower policies at the state and local level and decreeing that every kind of practitioner of (what used to be called) perversion and deviance can now share your restroom - and you have no say-so in the matter.  This 'putsch' in the name of civil rights was followed a week later by Department of Education threats to withhold funds from those schools who don't jump on their nonsensical bandwagon, and turn the athletic programs, bathrooms, and locker rooms of your sons and daughters into gender dysphoric free-for-alls.

In a country where common sense is increasingly uncommon, it is not surprising that we are actually discussing that fact that the Federal government would tell us that it a violation of civil rights to prevent a man who decided to be a woman and share the public restroom with your wife or mother.  Or that it would be a grievous act of discrimination to deny a boy who insists he's a girl from just hanging out in your daughter's locker room.  The bearer of this kind of twisted logic is no radical lesbian women's studies professor, the ACLU, Child Molesters Anonymous, or a sexual predator advocacy group (although they all would wholeheartedly favor this mandate).  Indeed it carries the weight of nation's highest-ranking law enforcement official - Attorney General Loretta Lynch - who proclaimed that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people would be suing the state of North Carolina for attempting to protect it's citizens from such nonsensical behavior.  (She was, no doubt, taking a break, from the relentless prosecution of 'thoughtcrime' deniers of man-made global warming, cooling et al.)

Employing grandiose words invoking Brown v. Board of Education, the Three-Fifths Compromise, Jim Crow laws, and other such nasty things, Loretta 'Napolean' Lynch applied tortured legal logic, heavy-handed executive branch brown-shirtism/hooliganism, and the threat of Federal blackmail to advance one of the most strange and logically devoid legal arguments yet proposed from the increasingly power hungry Obama regime.

But what should we expect when from our elite institutions of higher learning down to our middle schools have been teaching postmodern thought and denying moral absolutes for at least two decades now.  Why would we even question this as the logical next step following the Supreme court's shameless redefining of the common understanding and plain meaning of the word "marriage" that was held for millenia.  In the unenlightened old days, one's sex was based on their appearance, a birth certificate, or more scientifically, based on the makeup of one's chromosomes.  Apparently in this brave, new - and politically correct - world, a simple feeling of 'identification' with a particular sex is all that's necessary.

We are living in a country where the ruling elites and a growing number of our institutions are completely out of control - and completely void of common sense.

We are told by the chief law enforcement official in the land that the Federal government will from this point forward be dictating local and state bathroom, locker room, and shower policies, without regard for privacy, modesty, personal safety, societal norms, or common sense.  In other words, if I decide tomorrow morning to self-identify as a woman, a unicorn, a  leprechaun, or perhaps Bigfoot - you have to accept me and play along with my little games, and grant me special privileges under the threat of financial and/or legal consequences.  You must accept and affirm me in my self-delusional choice or you will not only be accused of being a "bigot" and a "hater", but sooner or later, big brother government will be knocking on your door with a civil rights lawsuit or an arrest warrant in hand.  That said, I can't help but think of the definition of the term 'doublespeak', again from the book 1984:


"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies."  George Orwell.

Other than the fact that it sounds strikingly post-modern, I circle back around to Orwell only because the dissonance of holding contradictory views apparently goes unnoticed by card-carrying members of the revisionist 'Looney Left'.  On the one hand, they are telling us, "Don't you dare 'discriminate'." - or you will either persecuted or prosecuted - yet on the other hand, we are told that protected classes - including women - must be identified and given special consideration in the form of reverse discrimination.  We are legally mandated to treat differently - or legally discriminate, if you will - between women and men in federal hiring quotas, government contracts, and for collegiate sports teams purposes (e.g. Title IX), among other things.  At the same time, they pretend to not even notice (or perhaps lack the mental capacity to notice) the illogical contradictions of their views, all the while demanding - with the force of law backing them - that we must give assent to their self-contradictory views.




Addendum 1:  At the time I was researching this piece, I stumbled upon a great speech given by Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.  Piper is on the forefront of Evangelical Christian response to troubling cultural trends.  Check out Dr. Piper's take on this subject at: http://www.okwu.edu/blog/2016/05/13816/

Addendum 2:  Another blog citing evidence further illustrating the absurdity of the government position:  http://reformedbaptist.blogspot.com/2016/03/gender-ideology-harms-children-says.html

Addendum 3:  Reading Constitutional Lawyers Herb Titus and William Olson's legal opinion on the Obama Administration's actions is also insightful reading:    http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/herbert-w-titus/obamas-threat-defund-schools-over-trans-bathroom-issue-violates-federal

The Big Tent

Ever since the Haley Barbour days of the Republican Party of the 90’s, the conservative voters within the party have been told we needed to support a ‘Big Tent’ philosophy.  This Big Tent philosophy can be summarized as follows:  In order to grow the party, no one should be excluded, everyone welcomed, and that the Republican Party needs to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone.  Of course this all sounded nice in theory, but in practice the ‘Big Tent’ seemed mostly used as a ‘Big Stick’ to beat up on those who questioned the GOP’s commitment to it’s own conservative-leaning party platform and to attempt to keep them faithfully towing the establishment’s party line.


Such Big Tent Republicanism gave us a host of moderate, milquetoast – and I might add, losing – presidential candidates such as Bob Dole, John McCain, and most recently, Mit Romney.  Candidates all, who had trouble articulating and sometimes – in the case of McCain – barely containing their disdain for the conservative message.


After conservatism reached its ascendency in the Reagan years, it was quickly co-opted.  Every Republican (except perhaps those from New York and Maine) suddenly called him or herself a ‘conservative’... at least while they were campaigning for the conservative voter’s support.  But when they got into office, it was same old, same old.  The term "conservative" was soon rendered nearly meaningless.


More recently, when the Tea Party movement rose to prominence, the establishment for the most part once again gave the appearance of having jumped on the bandwagon.  They held their nose and tolerated the unpolished, but popular, Sarah Palin who breathed new life into the anemic McCain campaign.  Based on the pleas from Republican leadership, newly invigorated Tea Party voters gave Republicans majorities in both the House and Senate - rightfully expecting that great things were about to be accomplished.  But the Boehner-McConnell leadership team in Congress predictably sold us out, caving time and time and time again to the Democrats on budget issues that were of interest to the tea party electorate.  Instead of organizing a fight for conservative fiscal principles, they opted to undermine their new conservative delegations and negotiate secret deals behind the scenes with liberal Democrats – deals which gave away virtually everything Obama and the Democrats asked for  – and left conservatives feeling used and betrayed yet again. 


With that background, is it any wonder that we saw in this election the ascendency of the Republican anti-establishment candidates?  From the brain surgeon Dr. Ben Carson, 1st generation Indian-American Bobby Jindal, HP CEO Carly Fiorina, the maverick Senator Ted Cruz, and entrepreneur/entertainer Donald Trump; all offered disaffected Republicans and independents a breath of fresh air, as clear anti-establishment choices, albeit bringing different strengths to the table.  More importantly, all these candidates brought newly re-energized conservative and independent voters into the process.  In Trump’s case, he even brought disaffected Democrat voters to the table.


But where was the establishment now?  Where were their calls for a big tent?  Where was the effort to fold in the newcomers?  Instead, when this new form of ‘Big Tentism’ proved inconvenient to them, it was tossed aside like a dirty diaper.  The Establishment went into panic mode when their annointed and well-funded candidate, Jeb Bush, couldn’t rise beyond single digits in the polls.  To make matters worse for them, voters found their Plan B (Christie) Plan C (Rubio) and Plan D (Kasich) options equally uninspiring. 


The last straw was calling in the establishment’s previous election choice and a failed candidate, Mit Romney, who took to promoting either Rubio or Kasich depending on which state he was asked to manipulate.  Rubio, seeming less and less relevant when it appeared he could not even win his home state of Florida, actually resorted to telling voters in Ohio to support Kasich rather than making the case for himself, presumably in hopes of gumming up the works for the others.  And tired, old John Kasich clung to the hope that winning his own state of Ohio might be enough to allow him to limp into the convention and trust that the power-brokers might foment some sort of convention-time coup on his behalf.   They seemed to be doing anything to keep either the wildcard Trump or the principled conservative Cruz from securing enough delegates to secure the nomination prior to the convention.  They literally spent more energy opposing Donald Trump than they did the Democratic candidates, seemingly oblivious to the fact that all this activity only added to the resolve of the anti-establishment voters.


I’m far from a committed Trump supporter.  Personally, I prefer Senator Cruz.  The prospect of Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton was not and is not my first choice.  Nonetheless, it is still preferable to yet another uninspiring and dishonest establishment candidate as our standard bearer in the fall.  


I recount all this, not to glory in the fact that we may now be left with Donald Trump as our nominee – or worse that the establishment powers-that-be manipulate the process and give us John Kasich as a ‘unity candidate’.  What they still don’t realize is that the Trump phenomenon is almost entirely a monster of their own creation.  It was born as a result of lying to and taking their own base for granted far too many times.  I completely find humorous that the voters are poking a stick in the eye of the Republican establishment - hopefully in preparation for a thorough house cleaning.


So this is what we are left with:  The far left still has it’s home in the Democrat party, whose current two presidential candidates are attempting to outdo each other in their race toward socialism.  To make the party (pun intended) complete, about the only ‘free’ – that is, government-provided – thing they haven’t yet proposed is beer and cigarettes for those who vote for them.  Squishy moderates, statists, and greedy corporatists have their own ‘tent’, in the Preibus-Rove-Boehner-McConnell-Romney led Republicans.  It’s just too bad that those of us who call ourselves conservatives don’t seem to have a tent these days.


Up and against this phony version of the big tent, Ronald Reagan showed the way to building a true Big Tent Republican party – by going around the establishment by inviting and uniting middle-class Republicans and Democrats and values-voting Republicans and Democrats around a common love for their country and traditional values - and doing so with a winsome and optimistic tone.  But doing the right thing risks taking some unpopular stands – something career politicians rarely have the stomach for.

 

 

Post Iowa/Pre New Hampshire primary thoughts...

On the eve of the New Hampshire Primaries, how do we analyze the field of Republican candidates?  Except for the fact that Christie doesn't much like Rubio, ABC's Saturday night debate certainly didn't clarify much - other than perhaps play into the public perception that media bias is alive and well.




The exclusion from the ABC debate of Carly Fiorina - one of the field's most lucid and refreshing Republican candidates - was only the most recent example of the liberal media's constructing and defending its negative stereotype of the Republican party.  Having an articulate and thoughtful woman standing next to a thoughtful and accomplished black man on the stage of a Republican debate blows up the whole false narrative they have worked so hard for decades now to perpetuate.  So ABC barred the only woman in the GOP race from the debate stage, despite the fact that there was an empty podium sitting unused backstage available for her.


Despite the urging of both Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, ABC was doggedly unwilling to accommodate a change in circumstances and continued to stick with their flawed qualification rules. Rand Paul, who dropped out of the race earlier in the week, had qualified to debate - Fiorina had failed to make the cut.  That made her the only candidate running who was denied an opportunity to debate.  To keep her out, they had to argue the ridiculous position that Paul, a candidate who was no longer running, could still participate if he wished, but Fiorina, who had gotten more delegates in Iowa than either Kasich and Christie, could not participate. * (see below)




Consider this:  Two Latinos - Cruz and Rubio - plus an African-America - Carson - garnered 60% of the GOP caucus-goer's votes in Iowa.  But wait... the entities that make up what is falsely called the 'mainstream media' continuously propagates the narrative that the Republican base is ignorant, lilly-white racist, and hopelessly out-of-touch with the nation's changing demographics and morals.  Meanwhile, the two Democratic candidates left in the race are senile, white, senior citizens pushing each other further to the left in an attempt to prove their relevancy and buy votes.  Doesn't that just blow up ABC's faulty wordview?




Can you imagine the stories if the situation was reversed?  Headlines and editorials saying: Republicans Aging Demographic Spells Trouble, GOP is Out of Touch with Gen-Xers, The Monochrome Coalition, GOP is WOP (White's Only Party), The Geriatric Generation, etc.  Go ahead and have fun with it - I'm sure you can come up with some of your own.




On New Hampshire's election eve, we are told that both Trump and Sanders have double digit leads.  Bernie Sander's lead only goes to prove that today's Democratic party is in serious trouble.  What do you do if you are a Democrat?  You get to choose between a 75 year old self-avowed socialist redistributionist  -or-  an 'about-to-be-indicted' chameleon who despite denying actually being a socialist, is unable to define what a socialist is.  And she may be right in her denials - with her multiple and close ties to crony capitalists - she does appear to be more a fascist than socialist in my mind.




Having reread that last paragraph, I think I portrayed a lot more confidence in the Obama Justice Department than I actually have.  Be it about her phenomenally profitable forays into cattle futures trading, her outright deception of the families of those killed in Benghazi, or lying about her felonious disregard for Classified documents and the security of our country, Hillary has proved remarkably resilient due, no doubt, to the sheer vastness of the web of corruption that has surrounded her since her Arkansas days. I have serious doubt that our current president and alleged "Constitutional Scholar" has enough respect for the law to actually allow his Justice Department to enforce it in an even-handed manner.  Hillary won't be exchanging her tan pantsuit for an orange jumpsuit any time soon.


Donald Trump's lead in the polls illustrate the level of frustration among Republican voters and will test whether those who indicate support in polls are actually willing to go out and vote for the guy.  Remember, the Des Moines Register poll taken a few days before the Iowa caucuses was not accurate.  Conventional wisdom said that Trump was the big loser for skipping the debate just prior to the Iowa precinct caucuses.  I doubt skipping helped him, but, as one who has actually participated in precinct caucuses in Iowa, consider how much work is involved.  Participants have to give up an entire evening, go out on a cold winter night, declare their party affiliation, show up for and spend a couple hours in a political meeting, and (literally) stand up in plain sight of your neighbors and friends for your candidate.  There is no anonymity, no Democrats allowed to vote, and few, if any, uncommitted participants.  Perhaps the format of a caucus doesn't well suit Trump's mixed and eclectic constituency - many of whom may not be registered Republicans.



In New Hampshire, Bush, Christie, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, and possibly Carson are all vying for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spots.  One or more of those who don't do so will likely go the way of Huckabee and Paul, and drop out.  I agree that Bush is in serious trouble.  The man doesn't seem to really be comfortable as a candidate, and Lindsey Graham's endorsement is a compelling reason NOT to vote for him. But with his campaign's deep pockets, don't look to Bush dropping out this soon, no matter how poorly he continues to show.  Cruz, Rubio, and hopefully Carson are in this for the long haul, hoping for more fertile ground in South Carolina.  Christie and Kasich are not both going to last.  Personally, I think a vote for Kasich is a vote for the status quo of the Republican party, but he is polling well among New Hampshire's more moderate Republican voters.  And keep in mind, this is an open primary - independents and Democrats can vote here.  There are still many undecided voters.


I'm sure I'll be up late on Tuesday night!


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* ABC: No Last Minute Invite for Fiorina to Debate


Addendum - New Hampshire final results per WMUR, an ABC News affiliate: 
http://www.wmur.com/politics/2016-full-new-hampshire-presidential-primary-election-results/37649066

President - GOP Primary

February 10, 2016 - 03:57PM ET

New Hampshire - 300 of 300 Precincts Reporting - 100%

Name Party Votes Vote % Trump, Donald GOP 100,406 35% Kasich, John GOP 44,909 16% Cruz, Ted GOP 33,189 12% Bush, Jeb GOP 31,310 11% Rubio, Marco GOP 30,032 11% Christie, Chris GOP 21,069 7% Fiorina, Carly GOP 11,706 4% Carson, Ben GOP 6,509 2% Paul, Rand GOP 1,900 1%

The Good News

We live in a world that seems to be dominated by bad news – terrorism, violence, disease, crime, oppression, injustice, perversion, cruelty, incivility, crassness, politics, etc..  It all can become overwhelming at times.  Or, to keep it from getting to us we sometimes just hunker down and tune it all out.

Some have gone so far as to say there is no hope for this world.

The Bible acknowledges the condition of this world without sugar-coating the effects of sin on the created order.  However, in contrast to those who say there is no hope, it provides us the way – a Savior – who is the Good News.  For us self-important moderns caught up in the busyness our own lives, pre-occupied with work, focused on getting ahead financially; it is a refreshingly simple – in fact many would argue that it is too simple.  Yet Christ Himself said we must humble ourselves as little children in order to come into His kingdom.

During this season, take some time to observe a child’s wide-eyed wonder.  Try to enjoy Christmas from the perspective of a child.  And take a little time to read once again that ancient story of Good News that is as relevant as ever for this troubled modern world:

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2 (King James Version)

¹  And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

² (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

³ And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

⁵ To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

⁶ And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

¹⁵ And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

¹⁶ And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

¹⁷ And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

¹⁸ And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

²¹ And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Politically-incorrect Proverbs

The following is a list, albeit politically-incorrect, of common-sense guiding principles that I believe to be true.  If one was to state any of these inconvenient truths in public, he would most likely evoke howls of protest from or at least drive the lefties crazy.  I stand by them,  nonetheless, they are still presented with a full appreciation for the fallibility of man (myself not exempted).  Feel free to suggest your own below, comment on any of the ones I have proposed, or completely disagree with me.  We are not PC here - honest dialogue is still welcomed.


There is only one way to God – that way is through Jesus Christ.  All other attempts/means/religions are insufficient.  The Scripture is very clear about that.

All of us will stand before God one day to be judged, which is a scary thought.  Without Christ as our advocate, that is an incredibly scary thought.

Hell is a real place.

God created all that is.  He spoke everything into existence.  Random chance played no role whatsoever in that.

Our rights originate from God, not government.  We are self-governing citizens of our nation, not subjects of our government.

Any government which tries to take away our rights as self-governing citizens is illegitimate.

God had a direct hand in the founding of this nation.

Although we have strayed far from our founding principles, this nation was founded upon the Judeo-Christian ethic.

This nation has been blessed beyond all measure.  I’m not sure all the reasons for that, but at least part of the reason is that we have stood with God’s chosen people, the Jews.

No matter how many Republican or Democratic Presidents may claim it to be so, Islam will not be a ‘religion of peace’ until there are enough Muslims willing to stand up and make it be so.


ISIS is not a JV Team.  Iran cannot be trusted.  Denial is not a foreign policy strategy.

Fundamentalist Islamic terrorism is a much bigger threat than global warming.

There is a huge difference between an illegal alien and a legal immigrant.  The confusion around this has been deliberate.

No foreign national has a right to come here, be here, or stay here.  Although other factors can certainly be considered, the primary basis for accepting an immigrant into this country is how he or she will contribute to making this country better.  If we accept you, you need to completely forsake your country of origin, learn English, provide for yourself and your family, and wholeheartedly agree with our Constitution, obey our laws, and honor our way of life.  If your affiliations or beliefs prevent that, go somewhere else.  If you accept those conditions, may God bless you and welcome to the United States of America.

Voting against Obama or opposing his agenda does not make you a racist.

President Obama’s primary historical significance is not that he was the first ‘black’ President of the United States.  His historical significance is that he is the country’s first socialist President.

The modern left is a perfect example of confusing one’s worldview with reality.

A little sign posted at the entrance to a campus, church, movie theatre, or mall saying “No Guns Allowed on the Premises.” does not make you safer.  It makes you less safe.  Criminals know this - you should too.

What’s fair is fair:  If I have to have to beg for a permit to purchase a gun, a reporter should also have to beg for a permit to publish a story.  One right is not more important than another.

The vast majority of law enforcement/police officers are trustworthy, honest, and decent people (and are not racists).  They are human, they do make mistakes, but nearly every one of them to a fault are ready and willing to put their life on the line for you in times of dire need.

No one deserves mistreatment, but if you are belligerent with a police officer or resist arrest  - especially if you reach for his weapon - I’m not going to waste a lot of sympathy on what might happen to you as a result.

The so-called “Mainstream Media” is biased.  The primary evidence for that fact is their adamant denial of that fact.

The “Mainstream Media” is anything but mainstream.

The Obama Justice Department is anything but... okay you get the idea.

The Department of Education may not be unconstitutional, but it is certainly extra-constitutional (not to mention completely unnecessary).

The Supreme Court has no authority to make law.  The Supreme Court has no authority to rewrite the law.  Too many Supreme Court justices seem to forget this.

The U.S. Constitution is neither living, nor breathing.  It was intentionally designed to be difficult to change.

Unlike the Constitution, the Bible is absolutely unchanging.  The truths therein are timeless.

The Bible is absolutely clear.  Homosexual practice is a sin.  In that sense it is no different than adultery, fornication, or any other sexual sin.

Two lesbians are no substitute for a father and a mother.  Two gay men are no substitute for a father and a mother.

It is an absurdity to insist that the Boy Scouts should open up to homosexual scout leaders on the one hand, while decrying the abuse of boys by male scout leaders on the other.

It is not a violation of one’s civil rights to be asked to prove you are a qualified voter before you are allowed to vote.  It is simply common sense.

An illegal vote cast is just as egregious as the denial of a legal vote.

Registering new voters is not necessarily a good thing.  Just saying… someone has no business voting in  a presidential election that can’t identify by name (and party affiliation) all of the following five persons:  the current President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of the House, the previous President, and the first President of the United States.

It is nearly impossible to name a centrist Democrat who has been elected to serve in the U.S. House or Senate in recent memory.  Even if he campaigned as a centrist, that changed as soon as they left their home district and arrived in Washington.

It is nearly impossible to name a conservative Republican who has held a top leadership post in the U.S. House or Senate in recent memory.  Even if he started out as a conservative, the desire for popularity or the love of power sucked all their core principles out of them.

Greed is non-partisan.  Just as many Democrats as Republicans go to Washington without great wealth and leave as multi-millionaires.  In either case, it’s most assuredly not a coincidence.

So-called “hate crimes” laws are absolutely ridiculous.  Is "love" ever the motivation for assault or murder?  One’s motivations are secondary to one’s innocence or guilt and should be left for the sentencing phase.

“Global Warming” is just the latest attempt by the advocates of big government to expand its power, control our lives, and diminish our freedoms.  And the science – if you can call it that – is by no means "settled".


Not everyone is a victim.  There are some people that are just simply stupid.

Life is not fair.  It never will be.  There is not any number of laws that will not change that basic fact, nor is there is any government immense enough to negate that fact.

Face the facts:  There are a lot of people out there smarter than you, better than you, richer than you, and luckier than you.  That’s life.  Deal with it.

Being poor does not make one righteous.  Being rich does not make one corrupt.

Poverty does not cause crime.  If it did, the nation’s greatest crime spree would have occurred during the Great Depression.

Immense wealth has no correlation to one’s intelligence, as Al Gore has proved time and time again.

Age does not necessarily equate to wisdom, as Jimmy Carter continues to prove.

Being ‘intelligent’ is way different than being ‘smart’.

An advanced degree does not make one smart.

There is no right to a ‘living wage’.  If you want more money, make yourself more valuable to employers.   Either work harder, work longer hours, or get some training and/or experience.

Not every worker deserves a raise.

...and no.  Not every kid deserves a trophy, either.

Lack of self-esteem is a very rare problem in human beings.

You do not have a right to not have your feelings hurt.

Politically correct speech codes are purposefully designed by the political left to shame their opposition into silence.  As such, one’s political incorrectness should be worn as a badge of honor.
 

Obama's Foreign Policy Alternate Universe

Denial - a psychological defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality.  (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denial)
 
In the context of world events and the wake of the Paris terror attacks, it seems self-evident to an objective observer that until President Obama comes to a place where he is actually willing to utter the words “Radical Islamic extremism”, he doesn't completely understand the problem.  And until Obama is willing to name the problem, we won’t as a nation come up with an effective a solution.  If our Commander-in-Chief is unwilling to identify the enemy (and by that I mean someone other than George W. Bush, the NRA, or the Congressional Republicans), how will we possibly be able to confront and defeat them?
 
But therein lies the problem: His worldview is demonstrably in conflict with reality and he is pitifully unwilling to abandon his faulty worldview.
 
It is increasingly obvious that our president is ill-equipped to deal with the ever-more-complex international situations that we are facing as a country.  He seemingly cannot force himself to admit the fact that – whether we like it or not - we have had war declared on us.  Sadly, it appears he is too proud, he has too much invested, he is simply too much of an ideologue to admit when he is wrong.  And thus we have the current chaos.
 
Known to be thin-skinned and defensive, he has chosen to surround himself with people who agree with him to avoid being challenged.  Throughout his life - at law school, as a community organizer, as a Senator, and as Commander in Chief  his mentors and advisors have consistently been radical ideological leftists (Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Jeremiah Wright, David Axelrod, Eric Holder, etc.) holding a consistently Marxist outlook on life that says that the United States is the foci of most of the evil in this world.
 
No doubt this explains at least in part, why he reserves his harshest critiques not for Vladimir Putin, but for Congressional Republicans.  This explains why he will negotiate with the radical leadership of Iran, but refuses to talk with the House Budget Committee.  This accounts for why he condemns the NRA louder than he does Islamic terrorists.
 
Recall that it wasn’t all that long ago that Obama called ISIS  Al Qaeda’s “JV team” and that just the day before the Paris massacres he was hailing ISIS as “contained”.  He was clearly wrong on both counts.  This refusal to accept facts that contradict the White House’s crumbling narrative was profoundly illustrated by his noticeably testy responses to Journalist’s queries questioning the effectiveness of his strategy (if it can be called that) at the G20 conference on Monday.
 
He was impassionate in his statements.  What the French President called "an Act of War”, Obama referred to as a “setback”.  He was defensive.  And predictably, he reserved the brunt of his wrath, not for the terrorists, but for Republican critics who have suggested a halt to importing into our country 10,000 Syrian refugees that Arab states won’t touch – despite the fact that at least one of the Paris terrorists held a Syrian passport.
 
Our President is in utter denial. The world as it is and the world as he wishes it to be are diametrically opposed.  His worldview and the reality this country finds itself in are in direct conflict.  And sadly, he has chosen to stick with the faulty worldview.
 
Of course this makes him look extremely silly, but it also makes this country look weak – and more dangerously, emboldens our adversaries and enemies such as China, Putin, and ISIS.  Evil does exist in this world, and if not called out and resisted, it tends to move quickly to fill the vacuum of power.
 
Because our President is unwilling to face this reality, we have no coherent Middle East foreign policy; and his successor - and our children – face a much more dangerous world.




11/18/15 Addendum - Perhaps some of you caught Bill O'Reillys interview with Gov. Chris Christie last night on The O'Reilly Factor.  Christie said of the President's policies, "This is a guy who lives in a fantasy world... He sees the world as he likes to see it, as fantasy."


11/23/15 Addendum - A CBS News poll released today reports the following:  "Just over a week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, only 23 percent of Americans think President Barack Obama has a clear plan for dealing with the militant group ISIS, the lowest number yet recorded in the CBS News Poll.  Sixty-six percent do not think he has a clear plan - a new high."  While Republicans and Democrats differ sharply on whether they should be allowed in at this time, "there is widespread agreement on a stricter screening process for Syrian refugees.  Nearly eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) - including majorities of all partisan stripes - say it is necessary for Syrian refugees to go through a stricter security process than they do now."(http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-do-americans-think-of-isis-syrian-refugees-terrorism/)

The FOX Business Debate

Some quotes I picked up from tonight's presidential debate, hosted by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal.

"If you put more money in people's pockets they will in fact be more generous, not less generous." Dr. Ben Carson

"Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the tax code than there are in the Bible - and not a one of them is as good." Sen. Ted Cruz

"We can't have an economy if we're not safe... I know that the world is a safer and better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world." Sen. Marco Rubio

"We have to make our military, bigger, better, stronger, so that nobody messes with us." Donald Trump

On Islamic extremism "...our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us." Dr. Ben Carson

"It is not compassionate to say 'we will not enforce the law' and drive down the wages of millions of hard-working Americans." Sen. Ted Cruz

"If the family breaks down, the nation breaks down." Sen. Marco Rubio

"A Clinton Presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the 'Clinton way': Say whatever you have to, Lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton." Carly Fiorina

  

For those of you who were watching tonight's debate, some questions.  Feel free to weigh in with your comments:

• Who did you think were the 'winners' and who were the 'losers'?
• Did you like the questions and moderators style better than the previous MSNBC debate?
• What quotes from tonight's debate resonated the most with you?

Bulletproof

We live in a skeptical, if not cynical age – an age largely without heroes.
 
That is too bad, because while most postmodern academics scoff at the idea of anything regarding ultimate meaning, ridiculing those things that are larger-than-life, it seems culturally we are set to drift aimlessly in search for that which we know not.  Our young people are left to look amongst the coarseness of the locker room or to sort through the rubbish left in the wake of a voyeuristic entertainment industry for someone to look up to; in seeking someone to emulate.  Each one offered up to us by our culture seemingly worse than the ones who came before.  We all seem to sense the need.  We are losing our way.  And we are all so much the worse off in the absence of a hero.

This malaise seems to have kicked into high gear sometime in the mid to late 60's, and the disease has been spreading unabated since that time.  It impacts almost every realm:  historical, political, religious, the news media.  To use an analogy from my favorite movie genre, the American Western, it seems everywhere we turn, the well-meaning, if rough around the edges, hero of John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn in True Grit has been replaced with Clint Eastwood's openly sadistic, immoral anti-hero, the Stranger, from High Plains Drifter.

Just a little over a week ago, Legacy Christian Academy had the privilege of hosting David Barton, Christian historian.  Reflecting on Barton’s visit that Monday evening triggered memories I had of a story he had written probably 20 years ago, which I think merits retelling here. As I understand it, versions of this story were included in most textbooks in generations past, but sadly, that is no longer the case.  Due to the influence of liberal historical revisionism, great stories such as this, have largely faded from the public's memory.

Twenty years prior to the Revolutionary War, a youthful George Washington, found himself an officer serving under British General Braddock and his veteran forces.  At the time, Washington was the 23 year old commander of the 100 man Virginia Regiment, joined with British forces against the French and their Indian allies in a territorial dispute between the two nations.

I will let Barton tell the story as he discovered it from an 1856 Maryland textbook (taken from his book America’s Godly Heritage):

The British troops arrived in Virginia, where George Washington (colonel of the Virginia militia) and 100 Virginia buckskins joined General Braddock. They divided their force; and General Braddock, George Washington, and 1300 troops marched north to expel the French from Fort Duquesne — now the city of Pittsburgh. On July 9, 1755 — only seven miles from the fort — while marching through a wooded ravine, they walked right into an ambush; the French and Indians opened fire on them from both sides.

But these were British veterans; they knew exactly what to do. The problem was, they were veterans of European wars. European warfare was all in the open. One army lined up at one end of an open field, the other army lined up at the other end, they looked at each other, took aim, and fired. No running, no hiding, But here they were in the Pennsylvania woods with the French and Indians firing at them from the tops of trees, from behind rocks, and from under logs.

When they came under fire, the British troops did exactly what they had been taught; they lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in the bottom of that ravine — and were slaughtered. At the end of two hours, 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down; only 30 of the French and Indians had been shot. There were 86 British and American officers involved in that battle; at the end of the battle, George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot down off his horse — he was the only officer left on horseback.

Although various accounts differ on exactly how many total casualties there were that day - one account I found said 63 of 86 officers were killed or wounded with a total of 878 casualties - it was a crippling loss for the British-American side.  Yet, despite having lost two horses, and with four bullet holes in his coat, Washington emerged from the melee untouched.  Most of the other officers were killed or wounded.  In the ensuing retreat, General Braddock himself died of injuries suffered in the ill-fated battle.

The young George Washington, who wasn't technically even in Braddock's chain of command, organized some semblance of order amid the slaughter, and managed to engage in an orderly retreat until the remaining survivors could rejoin the main force.  From that point onward, he would be known by many as "Hero of the Monongahela".

If that was the end of the story, as told by most early textbooks, we could on that basis alone be disappointed that our children are being denied an inspiring story illustrating the heroism of a founding father and a retelling the Providential protection afforded the one who would go on to become one of our greatest Presidents.  Yet, when you continue reading, note how the 1856 text book recounts Washington’s interpretation of the events that day and yet again how it appeared from the perspective of one of his opponents that day, a chief fighting with the French:


The next day, Washington wrote a letter to his family explaining that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and had found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him; several horses had been shot from under him, but he had not been harmed. He told them:

"By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."

Washington openly acknowledged that God’s hand was upon him, that God had protected him and kept him through that battle.

However, the story does not stop here. Fifteen years later, in 1770 — now a time of peace — George Washington and a close personal friend, Dr. James Craik, returned to those same Pennsylvania woods. An old Indian chief from far away, having heard that Washington had come back to those woods, traveled a long way just to meet with him.

He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington that he had been a leader in that battle fifteen years earlier, and that he had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. Washington had been singled out, and the chief explained that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen different times, but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him. He then told Washington:

"I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle…. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle."

Is the account of the meeting with the Indian Chief accurate?  From what I could tell, the sole source of the story of the meeting with the chief comes from Washington's step-grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, who claimed he was told the story by Dr. Craik after his grandfather's death.  However, even if we dismiss that particular portion of the story as murky legend, it is still pretty clear from what we know to be true about the battle of Monongahela and what Washington himself acknowledges, that he miraculously survived the catastrophic battle - a battle in which almost every other officer was killed or wounded.  God had still greater plans for young George Washington.  This is the kind of story that needs to be told.

George Washington's complete story can be found in the short history Bulletproof George Washington by David Barton.  Another great book I recently became aware of for a culture desperately in need of a hero, is 7 Men and the Secret of their Greatness by Eric Metaxas.  I haven't got to this one yet, so feel free to leave a comment below about that book or other stories about worthy heroes.

We are a culture greatly in need of heroes.

10/16/15 Addendum:  My wife informed me that her 4th grade A Beka history curriculum includes the above story.  However, as primarily a Christian curriculum, the vast majority of students will likely not profit from A Beka's inclusion of the story.