Some Rhymes for These Times

(Ed. note: the two fools mentioned in the first two entries are local lefties who fill the editorial page of the local fishwrap with their "wisdom"...LOL.)

Beware of Frito Zamboni;

His letters are full of baloney.

Wherever he goes,

It's hatred he sows,

An angry political phony!

His sidekick is always Ms. Willing;

Who believes the kool-ade she's swilling.

With lies and half truths,

Reality she spoofs,

But fantasy she finds quite fulfilling!

The elections over, you lost.

Our country chose a new boss.

You may think he's a chump,

But it's President Trump,

Learn how to deal with your loss!

The thing you feared the most,

The middle overcame the coast.

Another election,

Provides new direction

Liberal dreams are now toast!

Hopefully someone will fret

Over outrageous national debt

And provide some order

To our national border,

Something we haven't seen yet!

Hillary’s Brave New World

By William L. Garvin

"I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views…my treatment of the issues is often partial and incomplete."  Barack Obama

When Candidate Obama pursued the presidency, gullible voters and malleable media wistfully opted for a “post-racial” president.  Attention to his radical roots and strongest influences (Alinsky, Davis, Wright) was scant if at all.  Those who scrutinized his upbringing and writings (to the minimal extent they are available) were not at all surprised by Obamacare and the government seizure of one-sixth of the American economy.  They were not at all surprised by the many other socialist expansions via increasing governmental regulations and controls.  The utopian “hope and change” morphed into “radical transformation.”

It is patently obvious that race relations in this country has deteriorated significantly during his tenure and Obamacare is neither affordable nor does it improve health care.  Over half the exchanges have already collapsed and insurers are leaving in droves.  And lest we forget, before it was Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare!  Hillary and her socialist surrogates continue to trumpet the need for a “public option.”  Since government never needs to show a profit (don’t forget our $20 trillion national debt!), it will undercut the private sector rendering it even less profitable and soon they will have their single-payer government monopoly.  Think VA travesties on a national scale.  As for race relations, Hillary continues down the same divisive status quo track.  As does the president, she sees “systemic racism” throughout law enforcement and sees “Black Lives Matter” as an important voice in formulating public policy.  Will she glamorize and glorify common criminals with presidential representatives at their funerals?  She certainly hasn’t distanced herself from any current administration biases.

How can she possibly be a president of all the people when she sees her opposition as a “basket of deplorables” and “irredeemable?”  When queried by Anderson Cooper as to enemies she was most proud of, she immediately responded: “Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians; probably the Republicans.”  As to showing respect for the Constitution, she has already warned “I’m going to speak out, I’m going to do everything I can to rally people against this pernicious corrupting influence of the NRA.”  Her daughter, Chelsea, said that with Justice Scalia gone, her mother would nominate a justice that would uphold “common sense gun control” regulations.  This, as always, is lib-speak for “confiscation.”

The Second Amendment is not the only constitutional right under attack in Hillary’s brave new world.  “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” does not apply to the unborn.  She left unchallenged the charge that she would allow a baby to be aborted up to the day of delivery and has never repudiated partial birth abortions.  She reiterated her support of Planned Parenthood and their grisly practices even though PP officials and other abortion advocates have stated that a child surviving an abortion should not unconditionally receive appropriate medical treatment!  A baby’s right to life does not exist even after he or she is born!

Of course, in Hillary’s brave new world, taxpayer money from those who believe life begins at conception will still be funneled to PP.  Then again, she recently said: “All the laws we’ve passed don’t count for much if they’re not enforced.  Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will.”  (Naturally she wasn’t talking about handling confidential material, private servers, money from oppressive regimes and other conflicts of interest!)  So far so good but then she concluded: “And deep seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”  In other words, she not only knows what is best for you common folk -- she even knows what is best for God!  What incredible hubris!!!

So yes, conservative groups will continue to be terrorized by the IRS; the FBI and DOJ will decide to prosecute on the color of skin or political affiliation; the EPA will put coal mines and miners out of business; and millions of dollars will be funneled to bundlers and cronies via government contracts.  Irrational lessons in morality and behavior will be inculcated via endless repetition of platitudes through the educational system and the malicious, mendacious media.  Opponents will be vilified; their speech will be deemed “hateful” and therefore silenced.  Her new world order without borders will be one gigantic safe space.  It will tolerate anything but dissent….  Vote wisely.

  

Political Potpourri

By William L. Garvin

This year’s presidential campaign bears out a couple of aphorisms.  The first is “politics is acting for unattractive people.”  The second is: “Never get into a mud fight with a pig because you lose a lot of ground; everyone gets dirty; and the pig likes it!”  As Trump is finding out, the Clintons are experts in mud wrestling and the Democrats have raised the politics of personal destruction to an art form.

During the party conventions, much ado was made about Melania Trump’s speech containing words and phrases previously used by Michelle Obama.  One should note that Michelle’s speech was not her original thought but a carefully crafted text written by a speech writer to be read from a teleprompter. Likewise, Melania’s presentation also was a carefully crafted text written by a speech writer which she too read from a teleprompter.  Let’s ignore the fact that the wording in question in both cases was a time honored cliché about a man’s word being his bond and one should always do what you say you are going to do.  The main point is that the conventions were carefully managed Hollywood stage productions scripted and directed for entertainment rather than political edification.

Of course, the mud wrestling comes in when the final contest is between a political outsider with no political record and a lifelong politician with no political accomplishments of note.  It is far better for Hillary to attack Donald’s character and temperament than to defend her own failures and the continuation of failed Obama administration policies.  To quickly recap, economic growth is anemic, wages are stagnant, labor participation and home ownership are falling, illegal immigration is rampant, terror and crime are up, and Obamacare is collapsing.  Over half of the state exchanges have failed, premiums are up, deductibles are up, and choice is down.  The fiscal year 2016 deficit was $588 billion which boosted the national debt to an astounding $19.7 TRILLION!  So Hillary wants to raise taxes and spend more on a “stimulus package” which will have REAL “shovel ready jobs” this time around.  Right!

She doesn’t want to talk about Russia’s increasing bellicosity following her laughable reset button nor her numerous mid-East disasters.  Why even Yemen feels emboldened to fire missiles at U.S. warships and send “spotter craft” to direct the targeting with no concern of significant retaliation.  Naturally she doesn’t want to talk about her own infamous temper tantrums and vulgar language documented in the many books about her time in the White House.  It’s far more important to focus on Donald’s mean words that according to Michelle Obama “have shaken me to my core” since she never heard that language before.  Apparently Michelle missed the performances in the Obama White House by Beyonce and the cop-hating rappers with their vulgar and hateful lyrics.  The Democrat party in general, which dismissed all the impropriety of the Clinton presidency as “just sex,” now seems obsessed with moral outrage.  What should we think of the millions of women who fawned, fondled, fantasized and flaunted their fascination with FIFTY SHADES OF GREY?  Are they likewise “shaken to the core”?  Doubtful.

Her mudslinging innuendoes about Trump tax returns are also interesting.  Ignore the fact that all of her charitable contributions go to the Clinton Foundation.  When she talks about Trump losing nearly a billion dollars one year, she “forgets” that she lost $6 billion of taxpayer money while Secretary of State.  Trump recouped his losses; she won’t.  And when it comes to taking deductions, many will remember the famous Mike Royko column where he mockingly noted that the Clintons would donate Bill’s old skivvies to Goodwill or the Salvation Army and deduct four dollars per pair and twelve dollars per pair of long johns!  He also noted that used underwear in thrift shops in Arkansas usually went for about fifty cents!  And whatever we do, let’s not talk about how twenty percent of our uranium was sold to Russia.  Let’s continue to talk about her lifelong fight for children but not the donations to her foundation from countries that denigrate and destroy women and children in deed as opposed to words.

Donald is losing the mud fight to the experts, losing to the media tag teams of Clinton supporters, losing to the Washington elite, and losing to the debate moderators.  It is likely that this time the entire White House, not just the Lincoln Bedroom, will be up for sale.  If the allegations about Trump are ever proven to be true, then win or lose, a sexual predator will be stalking the halls of power.  Interns beware!

AN "ABCD" SPEAKS

By William L. Garvin

I am an “ABCD—Anybody But Clinton Deplorable.”  This presidential election is regarded by myself and many others as a choice between “Horrible Hillary” and “Terrible Trump.”  Be that as it may, I think Horrible Hillary won the first presidential debate but to use her own words, “At this point in time, what difference does it make?”  Of course I am only referring to a relatively inconsequential exchange of words but she was heartlessly referring to the murder of four Americans in Benghazi.  Naturally, in typical mainstream media fashion, that travesty was not discussed.

While I say Hillary may have won, that can only be said in the context of suspending the reality of history and ignoring her hypocrisy and the strident irony of her many pronouncements, all accepted at face value by the “moderator,” Lester Holt.  For instance, too much time was spent on whether or not Trump supported the Iraq invasion based on a minuscule quote Trump made during a Howard Stern radio show.  There was no mention made of the consistent opposition he made in writing and on videotape shortly thereafter.  NOTHING was noted about Senator Clinton actually voting FOR the invasion and also supporting the “premature evacuation” of American troops that made possible the genesis of ISIS!

It was almost impossible to listen to her speak about “cybersecurity” and how important it was given her absolute ignorance in fact and behavior about safeguarding intellectual property and state secrets.  Tangentially, she made many innuendoes about Trump’s need to “hide” his tax returns because of many possibly nefarious motives.  This is similar to Harry Reid lying on the Senate floor about Mitt Romney’s tax returns.  As usual, the sequel is even worse than the prequel.  You see, every possible motive she attributed to Trump could be applied to the Clinton Foundation and to her deliberately setting up several private servers (which no Secretary of State has ever done!) thereby compromising our country’s most sensitive communications.  This was not a “mistake” for which she has accepted responsibility; this was an egregious error in judgment for which others who are not above the law would be and have been imprisoned!  Lost in the bureaucratic shuffle and the incomprehensible refusal of the FBI to recommend prosecution, is the fact that she let many of her personal lawyers have access to, review, and delete many of the public records even though none of them had a security clearance of even the lowest level.  Despite her extensive “experience” in government at both state and federal levels, she obviously has failed to master even the fundamentals of document security or safeguarding secret government information!  She has however mastered the fundamentals of wiping her numerous servers clean with BleachBit (not with a cloth) and smashing some of her many cellphones with a hammer!!  Now let me ask you, who has something to hide?  It is public record that the Clinton Foundation had to “revise” years of tax returns to include donations from foreign entities that they “forgot” to previously list.  Naturally none of her deleted emails from her “personal” server would include communication with those foreign entities that contributed to her personal foundation, would they?  And just as an aside, why would any foreign entity or person contribute to a foundation that only spends about six percent in actual charitable donations?  But let’s not worry about that…let’s argue about who started the ”birther” controversy, Trump or Hillary’s campaign when she was running against Barack.  Maybe that’s why Barack aired a campaign ad in retaliation that said Hillary would “say anything and change nothing.”

In the debate, with typical glib responses and no regard to truth, she denied support for NAFTA and the TPP trade agreements (because she desperately needs union votes).  As Bill Clinton’s First Lady (sic) she vigorously supported NAFTA on her whistle stops and CNN clearly documents her support for the TPP:  "This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field.”  But again, the Clintons have never been in favor of a level playing field in word or deed!

As a Yale educated lawyer (who flunked the Washington D.C. bar exam!) with a lifetime of experience in political double-speak and a plethora of experience in presidential and primary debates, she should have wiped the floor with Donald, the political ingénue.  She didn’t.  She won a split decision in style according to political pundits who similarly have no regard for substance but prefer syntactically correct albeit meaningless phraseology.  However, her mean spirited personal attacks and smug arrogance changed neither hearts nor minds.  It did reinforce however that Barack was right: “She’ll say anything and change nothing”….just like Benghazi.

Cheap Shots Often Misfire

By William L. Garvin

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker.  It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”  President Ronald Reagan

Rahm Emmanuel, the current Democrat mayor of Chicago and prior Senior Advisor to Bill Clinton and White House Chief of Staff to Barack Obama, once opined that “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”  Accordingly, politicos and their sycophantic surrogates immediately rushed to make political hay out of the Orlando atrocity.  Their primary goal was to obscure the truth that ISIS has not been contained and that radical Islamic terrorism once again slashed deeply into our American psyche.

It is abundantly clear that Islamophilia (the morbid fondness for rationalizing, excusing, and denying the existence of Muslim extremists) is much more prevalent than Islamophobia.  Simply look at all the rationalizations offered up for Omar Mateen’s slaughter of 49 American citizens.  ACLU lawyers called out Christians and conservatives; a Florida bishop called out the “Catholic contempt for homosexuality”; Black Planned Parenthood activists singled out “toxic masculinity”; the Obama administration said it was a problem of “underfunding”; the Unitarian Universalist Association proclaimed the cause to be “demonization of other faiths”; and the proverbial “easy access to weapons of war.”  Simultaneously, the President and assorted minions sounded their usual clarion call for “gun control.” And let’s not forget to blame Republicans, Trump supporters and the NRA, perpetual liberal whipping boys.  Adding Orlando to Little Rock, Fort Hood, Boston, Moore, Oklahoma, Garland, Texas, San Bernardino and Chattanooga will still not allow an Islamophiliac to reach the conclusion that Mateen was a radical Muslim.  On top of that, our top cop, Attorney General Loretta Lynch initially doctored the 911 transcripts to remove the jihadist’s pledge of allegiance to ISIS!

The Islamophiliac of the liberal left prefers to focus on the trigger rather than the person who pulled the trigger hence their full throat baying for more gun control.  Understand that when liberals say gun control, they really mean gun confiscation.  Dylan Matthews, a writer for the liberal VOX said: “This is not a Dems’ sales pitch but I’m totally down with letting the prez unilaterally ban people (hopefully everyone!) from buying guns.”  Joe Manchin, the Democrat senator from West Virginia ominously said: “Due process is what’s killing us right now.”  Bernie Sanders called for a ban on automatic weapons, apparently unaware that machine guns and other automatic weapons have been banned for decades.  Democratic Representative Keith Ellison posted a picture of an AR-15 and an M-16 and asked if you could tell the difference—another case of weapons profiling.  First of all, the AR does not stand for “assault rifle” or “automatic rifle.”  It stands for “ArmaLite Rifle,” the original developer and manufacturer.  Secondly, it was not used as a weapon of choice in Orlando; the terrorist used a Sig Sauer MCX rifle. ( Previous weapons of choice by terrorists have been box cutters, airplanes, pressure cookers, shoe and underwear bombs, fertilizer, knives and handguns.)  Thirdly, semi-automatic means you must pull the trigger for each round to be fired.  It is physically impossible to fire “700 rounds per minute” as Florida Rep. Alan Grayson foolishly claimed.  And for Rep. Ellison’s edification, an M-16 can toggle between single shot, bursts, and fully automatic; an AR-15 cannot.  Fourthly, the AR-15 is not a “high powered rifle.”  It is of intermediate strength using .223 cartridges rather than the .30-30 or .308 rounds used for hunting large game.  It has light recoil and does not “bruise shoulders,” “feel like a bazooka,” “sound like a cannon,” or cause “temporary PTSD” as New York Daily News’ Gersh Kuntzman foolishly wrote.

It is an anathema as to why liberals think that taking weapons away from law abiding citizens will increase their security.  If gun control actually worked, we would not have had the terrorist atrocities in Paris and Brussels which are gun free countries.  The FBI says they have over 1,000 active terrorist investigations in all fifty states.  The CIA says ISIS attacks will intensify and they will infiltrate via refugee and smuggling routes.  From 2009-2014, this administration issued 832,014 green cards to people from majority Muslim countries. Since 2015, the administration has processed 11,086 Muslim and 433 Christian refugees from Iraq and 5,435 Muslims and 28 Christians from Syria.  The administration claims that background checks of Americans are inadequate but somehow background checks and vetting for people with no documentation who come from countries with no available records is reliable.  In addition, the federal government has just released 86,000 criminals from prison who should have been deported.  Buy a gun and learn how to use it.   When the prey is armed, predators have second thoughts. 

Start Your Engines

By William L. Garvin

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”  James Madison

The major political parties have now determined their respective “presumptive nominees” for the presidency of the United States.  Two of the most unpopular candidates ever nominated will vie for the coveted office.  If history is our guide, both will be subjected to scrutiny but one will be scrutinized more closely and with more vigor than the other.  One will have faults and foibles magnified and the other’s will be minimized.  That’s why she can wear a $12,000 Armani jacket with nary a care while Ann Romney was pilloried for a $900 blouse.  One will have his change in positions characterized as “flip-flopping” while her change in position will be seen as “evolving.”  She will characterize him as a “loose cannon” and “dangerous.”  He will point out her lifetime record of lies, scandals and that when that 3 a.m. phone call came, she was nowhere to be found.

P.J. O’Rourke noted: "Every person in America has done or said something that would keep him or her from being president. Maybe a nation that consumes as much booze and dope as we do and has our kind of divorce statistics should pipe down about 'character issues.”  "... in our brief national history we have shot four of our presidents, worried five of them to death, impeached one and hounded another out of office. And when all else fails, we hold an election and assassinate their character."   It is surprising that anyone would still want the job but let the games begin anyway.

If you believe the polls, two-thirds of the country thinks we are on the wrong course.  That’s why a 74-year old socialist with no record of significant accomplishment and who was never even a Democrat won so many states over Hillary.  Bernie argued that the system was corrupt and Donald echoed the same tune from the opposing party.  Nonetheless, Democrats chose Hillary to continue the same policies and agenda of the Obama administration.  This is the administration that has increased the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $19.3 trillion and counting.  This is the administration that has seen food stamp recipients soar to record numbers as wages decline and the labor participation rate plummets.  The first quarter GDP was a miserable 0.8 and last month the country produced only 38,000 jobs of which 10,000 were in government!  Thanks to 500,000 people giving up and dropping out of the work force, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%.  Income inequality has worsened under this administration while health care premiums continue to escalate to unaffordable heights accompanied by huge deductibles despite solemn promises to the contrary.  Over 25 million remain uninsured.

We have Russian nuclear bombers and fighter planes increasing their flights around Alaska and “buzzing” American ships in the Black Sea.  Chinese fighter planes make dangerous passes at U.S. recon planes and China builds an artificial island to extend their “ownership” of international waters.  Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan are all ensnared in the ISIS tentacles and we have no coherent military strategy let alone an exit strategy.  “Leading from behind,” “strategic patience,” and “smart diplomacy” are nothing but euphemisms for failure!  Where are the victories from this great assemblage of “coalition forces”?  Empty words and unfulfilled promises.

Meanwhile, domestic race relations continue to deteriorate under the guidance of a “post racial president” who seems more interested in which bathroom should be used than the murder rates in inner cities.  He ignores mayors who tell the police to stand down to give rioters room to burn and loot.  He ignores sanctuary cities and police forces that stand idly by while watching innocent people being assaulted and beaten by groups of thugs at political rallies.  He insists on releasing prisoners from Guantanamo that end up on the battlefield killing American soldiers.  He allows ICE to release 86,000 criminals between 2013 and 2015 and refuses to say who they are and where they are.  According to a Boston Globe study, thirty percent reoffend including rape and attempted murder.  He continues to expand immigration from war torn countries even if we don’t know who they are and where they are from.  Of course, if you disagree with any of his policies, you are a racist and a bigot!

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” noted Abraham Lincoln.  This administration has egregiously abused its power and two-thirds of America say we don’t need more of the same!  How many will still vote the same?      

Requiem for a Republic-Part 3

By William L. Garvin

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”  Abraham Lincoln

When you look at the leading contenders for the presidency, it is difficult not to ask: “Is this the best that we can do?”  Did the devolution start when candidates started playing sax on television talk shows and answering questions about whether they wore boxers or briefs?  Did it start when being cool took precedence over being competent?  Did it start when charisma replaced character?  Was it because we became involved in nation building in countries that prefer Neanderthal social policies?  Did it bottom with a president engaging in sordid sexual relations in the oval office and then blatantly lying about it on national television?  Or was it when emotions became paramount to reason and rhetoric superseded rationale?  Was it all of the above or none of the above?  Maybe it’s not them; maybe it’s us….

Thomas Jefferson noted that “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”  Apparently, fewer and fewer people should be trusted in contemporary times.  If you think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court, you can’t be trusted.  If you don’t know who the vice-president is, you can’t be trusted.  If you don’t know how legislation becomes law, you can’t be trusted.  If you think a president increasing the national debt by $4 trillion is “unpatriotic” but think it’s okay if “your president” runs it up by $9 trillion, you can’t be trusted.  If somebody chalks “Trump 2016” on a sidewalk on your campus and you are “traumatized” or “terrorized” and have to run to your “safe space’ where you demand prosecution of the “aggressors,” you can’t be trusted.  If you think it’s “okay” for a president to release thousands of felons who have been convicted and imprisoned by a jury of their peers, you can’t be trusted.  If you think it’s “okay” for a governor to give 206,000 felons voting rights solely by executive order, you can’t be trusted.  Seriously, prisoners who have committed crimes against society are now being given the right to elect the people who define the crimes against society?  If you think it’s okay for attorney generals to investigate “global warming deniers” then you must think it was okay for Lois Lerner and her IRS cabal to target conservative political groups and you can’t be trusted.  At least the attorneys will be happy since the 31,487 scientists (which includes 9,029 PHDs) who have challenged anthropomorphic global warming will now have to hire legal representation for defense of their right to think and disagree.

One should always remember the words of John F. Kennedy: “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs.  Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”  One should also remember Dwight David Eisenhower: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”  And what about when Ronald Reagan noted that “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives” and “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many people are added.”  With record numbers of people receiving food stamps and in poverty, with record numbers of people leaving the work force, fewer and fewer are in the position of having to support more and more and their ever-increasing entitlements. Thomas Jefferson also noted that “Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.” 

Why is this happening?  As George Washington said: “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”  Politicians of all stripes have concocted a system of political convenience to secure their own survival and the public be damned!  That’s why Trump and Sanders both resonate in their condemnation of the “corrupt” and “rigged” systems and the ability of rich entities such as labor unions, the Chamber of Commerce, George Soros and the Koch brothers to wield disproportionate influence.  Trump has always bought access and Hillary has always sold it.  Two-thirds of America thinks Hillary is a liar, dishonest, and untrustworthy but Democrats will vote for her anyway.  The only candidate with higher unfavorability ratings than Hillary is Donald.  So the question remains, is this the best that we can do?  If so, it’s goodbye freedom, goodbye America!

Requiem for a Republic-Part 2

By William L. Garvin

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Last week the American left clearly showed that they are willing to allow transgender men into women’s bathrooms thereby subjecting women and girls to potential risk.  If you think this is hypothetical or nonsensical speculation, the University of Toronto has already experienced abuse. The left also now portrays the corporate support for their position as “brave” and “heroic.”  Weren’t these same companies greedy, evil, exploitive one-percenters just a week ago?  All of a sudden, the enemy of my enemy is my friend!

This hypocrisy is typical of far too many on the left.  As has been frequently noted, they will tolerate anything but dissent.  Kirsten Powers, a liberal Democrat, has an entire chapter (“Intolerance 201: Free Speech for Me but not for Thee”) in her book THE SILENCING: How the Left is Killing Free Speech devoted to this subject.  Professors and small groups of leftist university students have successfully shut down and eliminated conservative speakers and conservative ideas from many campuses.  Powers quotes Michael Bloomberg as remarking that “…conservative faculty members are at risk of becoming an endangered species.” The concept of “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is as passé in academia as “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

This censorship, intolerance and intellectual schizophrenia can be seen in full force at Donald Trump’s campaign events.  Like him or loathe him, there is no doubt Trump is a modern political phenomenon and draws huge crowds that want to hear what he has to say.  In Chicago and elsewhere, he also draws large numbers of protestors.  True to the form of the Occupy “movement”, Black Lives Matter, and other anarchic gatherings, they are not peacefully assembling but deliberately stifling the rights of others to participate in our political process, to avail themselves of freedom of their political speech and to petition for redress of grievances against the current administration.  Many of the anti-Trump forces complained that his rhetoric “incites violence.”  However, where are the Trump storm troopers goose stepping all over the Bernie, Hillary, and Ted rallies?  It doesn’t happen.  The violence and confrontations come from protestors and outside agitators at the Trump rallies.  Trump’s supporters are threatened, cursed, given the finger and have their signs grabbed and ripped apart by rabid forces.  Protestors shout that “their voices are being heard” but seem incredibly oblivious to the fact that they are silencing others and denying them their God-given and Constitutional rights.

Trump is also accused of being “vulgar” in his speech.  Trump is Emily Post in comparison to the language being used by the protestors.  By the way, the epithets scribbled on your signs in Spanish makes them no less obscene.  What is actually obscene is the inability of protestors to articulate exactly what and why is the motivation for their antics.  Kierkegaard noted that “People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.”  This should probably be combined with Plato’s observation that “An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”

Our national debt is over $19 trillion and well on its way to twenty despite record tax revenues; Russia is buzzing our ships with fighter planes; Iran still chants “death to America-death to Israel”; North Korea continues testing long range missiles; terrorist activity is increasing around the globe; the Middle East is a disaster; we have record numbers of people on food stamps and out of the work force; and our immigration policies and border security is ineffective.  It’s time for problem solving not giveaways.  It’s time for free and open discussion of ideas.  It’s time for character not personality.  It’s time for competence not charisma.  It’s time to carefully evaluate all the alternatives before it’s too late!  Stand up or bow down!

“America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln

    

Requiem for a Republic

By William L. Garvin

Abraham Lincoln presciently noted that “America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”  If we carefully survey our political scene, both macro and micro, our republic may be ending, “…not with a bang but a whimper.”

The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….”  Let’s fast forward to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Much abuse and hypocrisy surrounds these simple statements in our current culture.  If you are two Muslim truck drivers and refuse to drive a truck carrying alcohol because of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” the Federal Equal Employment Commission will jump in with both feet, with full force and fury and extract a $240,000 award from their employer.  However, if you’re a baker and don’t want to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding because of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” then you will find the government jumping all over you, tying you up in court for years at an exorbitant cost and eventually fining you $135,000!  You are free to argue the legal distinctions but the bottom line is the same.

Georgia passed a state law to protect religious officials from having to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies because of “sincerely held religious beliefs.”  It would also permit faith based organizations to deny service or employment to those who violate their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”  Disney immediately retaliated by promising never to do business in that state again.  So much for states’ rights, the Constitution and the First Amendment!  That should have been a harbinger of things to come for North Carolina.

North Carolina had the unmitigated gall to pass a law that requires a person to use the same bathroom as their biological sex.  It’s simply science and biology.  If you have a penis, you use the men’s bathroom.  If you have a vagina, you use the women’s bathroom.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to put common sense into common practice in contemporary culture.  PayPal immediately pulled the plug on a $3.6 million expansion into North Carolina.  Being sensitive to the needs of the “transgender community,” The PayPal CEO said the new law “perpetuates discrimination.”  He had nothing to say about the fact that PayPal does business in twenty-five countries where homosexuality is a crime!  He also did not elaborate on why he thought it was a good idea to allow men into a bathroom with women and girls.  Lt. Governor of North Carolina did elaborate however: “If our action in keeping men out of women's bathrooms and showers protected the life of just one child or one woman from being molested or assaulted, then it was worth it. North Carolina will never put a price tag on the value of our children.  They are precious and priceless. If a corporation wanting to do business in North Carolina does not see the worth of our children in the same light, then I wish them well as they do business somewhere else."

Bryan Adams jumped on the celebrity bandwagon and immediately canceled his concert in Mississippi where there is also a “religious liberty” law.  Apparently his conscience has “evolved” since he never canceled his concerts in Egypt and Qatar where homosexuals are arrested and imprisoned simply for being!  Then again, he was only following Bruce Springsteen who also had a fit of conscience and canceled his North Carolina concert a few days earlier.  Apparently, the “Boss” has “sincerely held personal beliefs” against providing services in a state that holds views contrary to his own.  Good thing he’s not a baker, a florist, or a photographer!