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Mark Caserta: President Trump really has divided America

15 Oct

But not in a bad way…

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

October 15, 2018

 

Yes, President Donald Trump has, indeed, divided America.  But not in a bad way.

The “Trump Factor”, which employs many successful attributes, is exacerbated by an unapologetic approach by the president to put “America first” in every decision he makes.  This lack of “political correctness” has exposed a growing dichotomy of ideology in our nation and driven people into their metaphorical corners.

In the first camp, we have patriots who love America and seek the continuation of our founding principles. These are God-fearing people who believe our nation is built on Biblical principles and our founding fathers sought direction from the Almighty in framing our U.S. Constitution.

In the second camp, we have dissenters who believe America is the problem and would fundamentally change society to align with their liberal passions.  They believe principles and morality are on a sliding scale and our Constitution is antiquated to our modern-day challenges.

Many of those who’ve lost hope in perpetuating their progressive agenda, suffer from “Trump Anxiety Disorder”, causing them to act and respond irresponsibly to even the simplest of issues.  While funny to watch, it’s disconcerting that many are so hopeless, they now advocate eliminating civility and conversation in lieu of intimidation tactics, up to and including violence.

Keep in mind, these morally depraved individuals are a minority and would be quietly whimpering in the corner in the fetal position, if it wasn’t for the liberal media giving them voice.  Trust me, when I tell you there isn’t anything progressives won’t say or do if it means convincing Americans to disavow the Trump presidency.

This so-called “fake news” is simply a reality of the world in which we live.  Understanding its existence is the first step to returning our country, state and city to greatness. But understanding its purpose, will help each of us circumvent it in our daily lives.

As a reminder, the definition of fake news is “reporting designed to disingenuously influence” rather than to genuinely inform.  The ethical principles of journalism, in stark contrast, have no place in progressive reporting.  Truth in reporting will never stand in the way of a manipulative story for liberals.

Remember, Hillary Clinton, while campaigning for president in 2008, told a story in a speech at George Washington University how she landed “under sniper fire” during a 1996 trip to Bosnia.

“There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport,” Clinton reminisced, “But instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

Too bad the Bosnia war ended in 1995.  The Washington Post debunked her claim with old news footage taken when Clinton landed.  It revealed the former first lady calmly walking away from the plane and greeting people on the tarmac, while an 8-year-old Muslim girl read her a poem.

One can see how this could easily have been mistaken for sniper fire.

How about the 2015 admission of Brian Williams, then a very popular news anchor on NBC, falsely claiming to have been on a helicopter shot down by enemy fire while on a news reporting trip to Iraq in 2003?  Williams told the story numerous times, of how his Chinook helicopter was forced down by rockets and small-arms fire.

But factually, per crew members aboard the craft, Williams and his crew landed prematurely due to an impending sandstorm about to erupt in the Iraqi desert.

Interesting how a seasoned field reporter mistook sand and wind for a ground to air attack.

In both instances, the purpose of these prevarications was to disingenuously inform and influence behaviors conducive to their success and the progressive movement.

An underlying lesson one might also extrapolate from these outright lies, is that liberals welcomed both Clinton and Williams back in their good graces.  Their assets in the progressive theater, obviously outweighed their liability as liars.

Liberals are very predictable in the use of fake news to mislead and influence marginally-informed people around us.  Frankly, without the liberal news media, far-left progressives would be virtually powerless in propagating their agenda.  The bully-pulpit lends itself to impacting the masses.

In a recent study conducted by such authors as Stephen Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, Miriam Juan-Torres, and Tim Dixon, entitled, “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape,” most Americans fit outside the camps of “hard-left” liberals and “hard-right” conservatives.

However, conservatives, in the general sense of the term, far outnumber radical or even moderate liberals.  Christian conservatives continue to be the most powerful voting demographic in the country, when we bind forces.

Based on the report, 25 percent of Americans are traditionally or devoted conservatives.  Of course, that metric varies greatly, depending on geography.  But only 8 percent of Americans consider themselves progressive activists, with views far less typical than either conservatives or moderates. If that 8 percent also varies with geography, the percentage must be miniscule here in Appalachia.

How did Huntington get so lucky to have most of them set up camp downtown?  And if these numbers are accurate, why does the liberal fringe seem to have the loudest voice in the room?

2 reasons: Among the 8 percent, fall the liberal media. They leverage their venue to the fullest. Secondly, Christians are way too lazy and complacent.  In many cases, we’ve simply allowed liberals to have their warped way with our city and our families while we sit on the sidelines waiting on Jesus to return.

I believe Jesus is going to have many hard questions to ask of those who didn’t join the battle.  Our savior took 12 men and shook the world! What have you accomplished with all you’ve been provided?

Consider this colossal attempt at molding history with fake news.

How many media outlets or journalistic pundits predicted Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election? None, but not only did they not predict his victory, they amused themselves before their audiences with the incredulity of the Donald even running for the office!

No doubt, this liberal faction was split among those to whom the possibility of a Trump presidency was so revolting, they couldn’t bring themselves to adequately assess reality, and those who truly believed the American people were so disengaged they couldn’t possibly understand how frustrated most Americans were with failing liberal policies.

Either way, the same liberal loons who assured us of a Clinton victory are the same ones promising us a “blue wave” during the November mid-terms.  Once again, liberal Democrats are attempting to leverage the progressively complicit media in convincing the American people to stay home.

Liberals know the game always must be rigged for them to achieve victory.  And trust me when I tell you, they are shameless in doing so.  All’s fair in love and politics to progressives.

Understand what’s at stake in this November election.

If liberal Democrats regain power in the House of Representatives or the Senate, the least that can happen is the Trump agenda will be slowed.  But the worst is not beyond speculation.

Liberals will work diligently to accomplish the following in a very short period of time:

  • Eliminate Trump’s tax reform and raise your taxes.
  • Seek total and lasting elimination of parameters on abortion.
  • Re-instate EPA powers of regulation over energy industries, including coal.
  • Implement Obamacare to the fullest degree, to include the individual mandate. Once this fails, expect a government orchestrated healthcare system trapping you in its socialist net.
  • Despite our thriving economy, they will work to eradicate all Trump has done to rebuild it.
  • Liberals will work hard to impeach President Trump and Justice Brett Kavanaugh – and anyone else in their way!
  • Return us to the dysfunctionality of the Obama era, to include a lack of respect for America on the global stage.

The list goes on.

Additionally, understand, this liberal agenda will be supported 100% by our liberal leaders right here in Huntington, WV. who sadly, have their priorities for our city upside down.  All one need do is drive through our historic streets to witness first-hand the heartbreaking economic decay.

And as with Washington and the liberal media, our local print media is complicit with Huntington’s progressive agenda.  The leadership of The Herald Dispatch, have caused such degradation of the paper, it’s difficult to read.  And they’re surely no supporter of President Trump’s winning strategies.

Truly the only reason to vote Democrat is if you’re simply tired of winning.

Don’t listen to the media’s fake news.  We can own this election if we get out to vote.

Let’s shock the world and liberal media, once again, by keeping America great and making Huntington great again!

 

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Doug Smith: The Perfect Man

12 Oct

Modern progressive obsession or liberal mob oppression?

 

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Doug Smith is an historian and associate editor at Free State Patriot

10.12.2018

 

Brave soul, ’twere well if all the same would say,
And artists aim their patron’s wish t’obey.
What signifies a wart, or e’en a scar?
Leave both, skilled hand, and paint us as we are.
The crowfeet paint, the wrinkles on the brow,
The hollow cheek, the form inclined to bow,
The tear-dim’d eye, the hair well streaked with gray,
The hardened hand, begrim’d with soot and clay,
And if you use the seer’s revealing glass,
Remember this, ‘
All flesh is as the grass.’

Joseph Horatio Chant

 

Winston Churchill once got into an angry argument with his butler, and they exchanged some heated words. Later, they had this exchange:

WC: “You should apologize, you were rude to me.”

Butler: “You were rude to me first.”

WC: “Yes, but I am a great man.”

I think that nicely sums up the dichotomy that was Sir Winston Churchill. Students of history, whether they admire him, as I do, or detest him, can easily agree on two salient points.

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Winston Churchill

WC was a man of many parts, some of them shocking to the sensibilities of people who did not come to maturity during the reign of Queen Victoria, and begin a political career the very year of the start of the Edwardian era. He was a man of his times and his class, which is to say his attitudes on Empire may shock modern sensibilities. FDR said of Churchill, He is not a Victorian, he is The Victorian. He grated on peers of his own time as well. He was not, in short, a collegial gent with whom you might enjoy sharing his evening cognac and cigar. He was eccentric, opinionated, a man of the 19th Century British Empire making his way in the most turbulent part of the 20th.

He was also a brilliant man, courageous and astute, and the singular indispensable man of 1930s England. He once said, “History will treat us well, for I intend to write it. “ And so he did, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. As much as it is true that absent George Washington, it is doubtful that American in her current form would exist, it is utterly certain that, absent Winston Churchill, England would have been defeated by Hitler, and the face of the 20th century world would have been very different indeed.

So I find it curious that the modern progressive leftists insist on wart-less heroes. One wonders if they have a mirror. In their quest, like some out of place, frustrated Diogenes, for the “perfect man”, no doubt to people their “perfect Utopia”, they readily toss out the memory, or the actuality, of truly great men. They are, like the lefties, and me, and, forgive me, but you as well, alloyed and flawed. But it is sometimes the case that flawed men can do exemplary things.

Progressives, who are the latest iteration of the Utopians, whose sordid, foolish, and bloody history stretches back into antiquity with the Spartans, Plato, and perhaps even the Tower of Babel, are like warped versions of Diogenes, searching the world in a futile quest for an honest man. But instead, they waste their lives, much of their energy, and as always, much that is good in the world, seeking perfection. Their idea of a perfect society, is (of course!) one in which the “best and the brightest” (always beware that term), by which they mean (of course!) themselves, will make all the decisions for the less enlightened Plebes, ( the rest of us) and usher in the Age of Aquarius, or Enlightenment, in short, Utopia. (It is worth noting that the so called Age of Enlightenment in fact coincided with the French Revolution, the Jacobins, and the Terror: mob rule which murdered 16,000 people, and brought about not a Utopia, but Napoleon and decades of war.) Despite the noble sounding words, the Utopians/progressives always bring about the result of misery, starvation, terror, and oppression. They do it with the highest of “intentions”, the ends justifying the most brutal and horrible means, but their reality Is the means. There are never “ends”. The Soviet Utopians, under Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev, had control of the Russian empire for 70 years and ruled with brutality, causing some 100 million deaths, until they finally collapsed of their own weight. There was never the promised Utopia, nor was there ever going to be.

I reflected after the latest progressive mob spasm over an astronaut quoting from Winston Churchill, a truly great man, one of the greatest of the 20th century, (choke on that, snowflakes), because they disagree with some of his positions. In the progressives’ search for the perfect man, who they will never find (well, they could of course, but they would not want to look where He lived.), great achievement means nothing. Sharing their current sensibilities and beliefs is everything. This explains a great deal about the modern leftist, and why he inevitably fails. The Left celebrates correct thought (as did Stalin and Pol Pot) far above effective action. Thus Bill Clinton can say, with a hint of weeping in his voice, “I never worked so hard on anything in my life” about a failed attempt at legislation, and be celebrated. Jimmy Carter can drive the country into the doldrums that are the late 70s, and swing a hammer or give some speeches, and be thought of as a good man.

Thomas Jefferson penned the documents that began a new and unique nation and people in an 18th Century world; one that would forever change the face of the world moving forward, yet be sneered at by the Left for being a man of his times. George Washington, who is properly viewed as the Father of his country, without whom we would never have won the war, and would likely have established a new monarchy and began England all over again, is likewise reviled for being an 18th century aristocrat.

All of these men were men of their times and reflected the beliefs of the age in which they lived, but put their values and beliefs to good use and lead their nations into something better.

This is the distinction the leftist who finds his hair melting that one might quote a gem of wisdom from a man who held Victorian views, but led a successful fight against a brutal tyranny with ambitions to enslave the world. “Perfect” is always the enemy of “Better.”

Winston Churchill was not a perfect man. But he left his world a better place. He is one of my heroes. He may have believed the British Empire ought to continue to rule India, but he ensured that Hitler did not rule everything. He was not the perfect man whom the left seeks, but never finds. But he was a man of accomplishments who stands in stark contrast to the leftist who uses the “correct” terms and expresses the “right” beliefs, but oppresses speech and freedom, and ultimately, builds the Gulags. (If you are too young to know that term, read The Gulag Archipelago.) We have much to learn from imperfect men who accomplished good and thus left their mark on their world.

Unless we waste our lives vainly ignoring them while searching for the elusive “perfect man.”

For the leftist who is serious about finding the perfect man whom they may follow, don’t waste your time reading my words. Instead, try the Gospel of John.

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Heart Warmer! 3-Year-Old Patriot pledges his allegiance to our Flag!

8 Oct

This will warm your heart and make you forget about the mess our politicians are making this country – at least temporarily.   Can’t wait for this generation to rise and take the lead!  Let’s do our best to make it ready for them, shall we?

 

Elias Caserta – 3 years old recites Pledge of Allegiance

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Mark Caserta: Make Huntington, WV. Great Again!

7 Oct

 

make huntington great again hat

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

10.7.2018

 

A portion of the first paragraph in Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities’ aptly describes the current political environment in America.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

And yes, of course, I equate the “best of times” with the advances of the conservative movement over the past year and a half, versus the “season of darkness” in which we are living, as liberals tenaciously continue to propagate their progressive belief system upon Americans.

But as President Trump challenged the American people recently in his trips to support conservative candidates in the upcoming November election, the only possible reason for voting for a Democrat in November is “if you’re tired of winning”!  How true!

All any intellectually honest individual needs to do is review the “Make America Great Again” list of accomplishments!  In fact, many are doing just that with the president’s approval rating at 51 percent in several major polls last week.

First look at Trump’s accomplishments for government:

President Trump has successfully nominated and placed two conservatives on the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS).  Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh will aid in giving Americans a top judicial system that will interpret the constitution in a scholarly, principled manner, versus legislating liberal ideology from the bench.

Beyond SCOTUS, the president has appointed a record number of lifetime seats to conservative judges in courts across the nation.

Trump has reduced the number of government jobs by 16,000 since elected.

The president has cut millions of dollars in aid to countries that don’t like America very much, such as Pakistan and Syria.  He’s also working to balance trade with all nations, using his negotiating prowess.

President Trump is the first president to live up to his promise of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there.  He also brought home American prisoners from North Korea without paying a “ransom” as did his predecessor.

The president passed sweeping tax reform for all Americans boosting the economy and business, while negating a critical portion of Obama’s signature healthcare bill, the individual mandate.  This was an absolute huge win for Americans!  Business investment is up 39 percent, since Trump took office.

President Trump signed a $700 billion defense bill, giving our brave troops the largest pay increase they’ve had in 7 years.

Trump decertified the horrible Iran nuclear bill and reconstructed the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), both in alignment with his “America first” policies.

And when was the last time you saw an ISIS beheading on the news???  We saw them every week under Obama!  ISIS has been decimated – period.  All it took was leadership and integrity.

Let’s look at what Trump’s done for the economy:

Manufacturing and consumer confidence are at an all-time high!  The coal industry is returning to our area and people are going back to work, once again able to support their families!  Mining is up 28.6 percent! Remember, Obama and Hillary wanted to put the coal industry out of business!

Food Stamp recipients have declined for 8 straight months!

Believe it or not, America is now the “world’s largest oil producer!”  America’s dependence on foreign oil is being reduced.

Unemployment is the lowest since 1969, with black, Hispanic, women’s, and youth unemployment all at record lows!!  And the labor participation rate is also at a record high at 63 percent!

For the first time in over 50 years, Trump has reduced our debt to GDP ratio! All it took was a leader who understood business!

And look at what Trump has done in his promise to reduce illegal immigration and protect U.S. sovereignty:

He has empowered the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do their job!  Deportations are up 40 percent with historic low illegal border crossings.

The “Trump Wall” is being constructed with 30-foot concrete prototypes being erected along the border.

ICE has been conducting massive raids on sanctuary cities arresting illegals. Trump is working on eliminating government aid to all sanctuary states, cities or communities which fail to enforce immigration laws or support ICE in doing so.  He has also rescinded DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, while taking a humanitarian approach to those born in the U.S.

All it took was leadership and loving America.

Yet, as part of the “worst of times” we still have many individuals whose disdain for President Trump far outweighs their love for America.

Sadly, some of those individuals have leadership roles in our area.

One need only look at the “circus in the Senate” where the liberal left Senators were willing to ignore the most prominent assertion of “Due Process” under the law as provided by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution simply to block a Trump appointee which would, no doubt, render them less able to perpetuate their progressive ideology.

Additionally, as part of the “worst of times”, I’ve never seen cities under progressive leadership failing at the rates they are currently failing.

Talk about “chickens coming home to roost!”

San Francisco, New York, Detroit, and Huntington, WV. are feeling the pain from the stabbing wounds of liberal policies.

These liberal leaders, both in our city and throughout our nation, would love to return us to the failing policies of Barack Hussein Obama.  They support killing the coal industry. They support raising your taxes.  They support forcing government healthcare on your family, usually at higher premiums.  They support being a sanctuary for anyone willing to take refuge within their dark fortress of solitude and support them in their liberal reign.

And, in my opinion, they support the idea of creating a need for rehab facilities, needles and various medical aids because the so-called war on drugs is a viable business.  I predict it won’t be long until many cities, including Huntington, offer “safe injection” sites under the guise of reducing health epidemics.

The problem is folks are dying, families are suffering and no one seems to understand the feckless way “leaders” are addressing the issue isn’t working.

And how many of you see this liberal leadership’s business “acumen” deciding marijuana, in addition to gambling, would be a salvation to our city’s demise?

It’s this simple.  We have seen the template for the “best of times” and we’ve seen the template for the “worst of times”.  We know what works.  We just need to duplicate what Donald Trump has done for America, right here in Huntington, WV.

I submit we choose the best of times at the polls in November and beyond.  Let’s “Make Huntington Great Again!”

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Doug Smith: Is Huntington, WV. headed down the same path as San Francisco?

1 Oct

Reflections and so much more from historian and Free State Patriot associate editor, Doug Smith.

 

DOUG FOR FSP

Doug Smith: Historian and Free State Patriot associate editor

October 1, 2018

 

Although I spent many years away from her, the River City of Huntington, WV is my home town. I spent parts of my boyhood there, but my Father’s moves pulled me far afield and I also grew up in Ohio, Virginia, and California. After High School, I became a Navy sailor, and, as one would expect, saw even more of the world and country. These travels give me a somewhat different perspective on my hometown than those who spend their entire lives hanging their hats on a hook in Huntington.

As a boy, there came the point when I was deemed able to take a bus to downtown on a Saturday to walk around and explore. I can remember (Always!) getting a bag of nuts from the Planter s store, sometimes a BLT from Whites, or a Milkshake at the lunch counter at Kresge Department Store, exploring the stores for Christmas gifts, even enjoying a Disney movie and a box of popcorn.  I loved the smell of the bus fumes (a matter of contention: some did, others despised it. To me, it smelled like Huntington) I remember going with my Dad to watch the Thundering Herd, (or the Blundering Bird, as we called them when they blew it started to lose) play Bowling Green.  There were trees to climb, dirt to dig, pop bottles to collect and sell for pocket money. All in all, it was not such a bad place to be a young boy in the late 50s and early 60s.

In 1977, the US Navy sent me off as a 21-year-old young sailor to Mare Island, California, on the North side of the San Francisco Bay, for a 2-month school. I left my young wife and 18-month-old daughter (who imperfectly understood Daddy’s travels: for her I was on the airplane to California for 9 weeks) in WV and went off to further my education as a Submariner. While I was there, I took advantage of my travels to visit Sacramento, Vallejo, and San Francisco. San Francisco was quite the experience.

I had fresh seafood on Fisherman’s Wharf, saw the Ripley s Believe it or Not Museum, went aboard a replica of The Golden Hind; Sir Frances Drake’s ship, had lunch in Chinatown, and took a cab down Lombard Street, one of the curviest in America. I heard street musicians playing bagpipes, string quartets, jazz Saxophone, you name it. I bought an Aran sweater from an Irish import shop. It was quite a place to visit.

I also saw, somewhat to my surprise, a young man with a long raincoat, with many pockets, strolling along and singing, like street vendors his wares: heroin, cocaine, marijuana. Say What?  I had an inkling then that something was not quite right about San Francisco.

Looking at San Francisco today, they are a city which just committed $ 750,000 a year to cleaning up human feces from the streets from their homeless population. They put out maps of where the poo builds up, so you won’t step in it. A medical convention that had been hosted for years cancelled.

San Francisco is far down the path of decades of extreme progressive rule. They have the sort of mind set that rewards failure, undergirds bad mistakes, and punishes hard work and achievement. And they are a living, or perhaps, dying ongoing experiment proving the premise that what you pay for and encourage, you get more of. So, San Francisco becomes a scofflaw city, welcoming illegal aliens with criminal records, rejecting law enforcement, and achieves notoriety when one of their aliens murders a tourist, and is then acquitted by a jury of San Franciscans.

If you were considering visiting and spending your money in San Francisco after hearing of my adventures in 1977, think again.  San Francisco has chosen to be warm and welcoming to IV drug addicts with free clean needles, violent citizens of other countries, homeless street dwellers, while driving off hard working citizens and businesses with high taxes, over regulation, and the highest cost of a place to live in the country. At the same time, they have looked down their elitist noses at the military, which has a long history in the San Francisco Bay area, cops, and business and condemned them and made them feel unwelcome.

Rudy Giuliani took the approach that what you accept, you get more of and proceeded to instruct the NYPD not to tolerate low level crime such as the “squeegee “guys or broken windows. The result? NY under Rudy became one of the safest big cities in the world, as crime overall took a nose dive.  

And San Francisco? Well, ask Kate Steinle. Wait, you can’t, she was murdered in broad daylight on a busy street in San Francisco. In 2017, SF lost more population (moving, not murdered,) than any other city in the US. 46% of current residents plan to move away. Companies have been bailing in droves. Even the Raiders (from Oakland, just across the Bay Bridge,) are moving the franchise to Las Vegas after this season. (Aside: The Las Vegas Raiders? That conjures all sorts of images.)

Pardon the puny allusion to the Poo Problem, but San Fran is circling the drain.

And as for my erstwhile hometown? If you work there, you get to pay an extra fee each week to the City. If you shoot up there, the City will provide you a nice clean needle, since they are all about the safety of IV drug use. Heaven forbid we let it be dangerous or spread disease. Business does not seem high on the list of Huntington priorities. Huntington manages to lose long time businesses to other locales when the choice in Huntington or virtually anywhere else. Once we could beam with pride seeming a bottle from Owens Illinois, or (if one is a Submariner) seeing a Main Sea Water valve stamped DeLavel, Huntington, WV. Not anymore.  

Can you imagine a parent today letting their 10-year-old repeat my adventures on the bus? No peanut shop for them. Nor would they feel safe to wander the streets of Huntington. Nor do businesses feel safe or welcome, in their revenues or hiring employees nor in the safety of their facilities.

Now, how much of this is a result of the liberal, grasping policies of Huntington political leadership?  I’ll leave that as a thought exercise for the residents of Huntington. Walk down pothole filled streets, past boarded up buildings with desperate “For Sale” signs, consider the ¾ million-dollar poop patrol out scooping up what so far, we still deposit in porcelain and send to a treatment plant in Westmoreland, and pause to wonder: Are we doing the same things? And if we are, how far are we from the “poop patrol” and half the population, the working half, fleeing the old town?

Huntington used to be a heck of a town, not the Big Apple, but not so much wrong with it. Not so much anymore. Maybe it is time to alter course.

 

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Mark Caserta: Kavanaugh Hearings Become Circus in the Senate

1 Oct

The U.S. system of confirming Supreme Court justices has forever been tarnished.

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Day 1 of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process in the Senate.

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

October 1, 2018

 

 

“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!”  The military order “Havoc”, was a signal given to the English military forces in the Middle Ages directing the troops (in Shakespeare’s colloquialism “the dogs of war”) to pillage and create chaos.

This phrase seems to define the new political methodology of the progressive Democrat Party.  Truly, these “representatives of the people” have pillaged the Senate confirmation process and instigated nothing less than fruitless, feckless havoc in the Senate chambers.

This “circus in the Senate,” masquerading as Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings has forever compromised the integrity and efficiency our judicial system, most assuredly for Republicans and Democrats, but more tragically, for Americans.

Understand, we’re talking about the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, where we need our brightest, most dexterous constitutional scholars weighing in on matters of the U.S. Constitution, on behalf of the American people!

But who the “H-E – “double-toothpicks” is going to want to throw their name in the hat to become a Supreme Court Justice?  Can you imagine anyone more qualified than Brett Kavanaugh seeking to join the highest court in the land? Yet, at the peril of losing a distinctive mechanism of our Republic, progressives have methodically orchestrated his failure, even before they knew anything about the man, much less the adjudicator!

Realistically, in the future, what sort of servant will be willing to place his or her livelihood and reputation on the altar of these politically ravenous, self-centered politicians?

Imagine, for a moment, that any individual, lacking any sort of verifiable proof, could presume any number of wild accusations against you, ignoring even the most noble of causes. Subsequently, they would force you into proving, beyond reasonable doubt, that you were innocent, or be subject to the unjust consequences of a guilty person.

Really?  We now have a “presumption of guilt” rather than a “presumption of innocence!

My friends, can you imagine the world in which we would live? Anyone wishing to cause any degree of harm, to anyone, for any reason, would be empowered to create havoc in their lives given the proper venue.

In fact, this is so upside down in its concept, any sane person would deem it laughable to even make the argument.  But not so, for liberal Democrats, who couldn’t give a rat’s hairy backside for your well-being.

Do we really pay these people to be this utterly negligent in their sworn duties to the United States?  Why do we keep hiring them year after year!

While the phrase, “presumption of innocence” isn’t articulated in the Constitution of the United States, as precedent, it’s been a basic component of a fair trial, or the fundamental liberty of Due Process as secured by the Fourteenth Amendment.

It is, in fact, the legal burden of the prosecution, to collect and present compelling evidence necessary to convict any individual of a crime.  If reasonable doubt remains, the accused must be acquitted.

The antics of liberal Democrats represent the antithesis of this constitutional premise.

But, in fairness, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh has never been about guilt or innocence.  It’s about blocking a legitimate conservative nominee of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, a man duly elected in 2016 by the American people who knew the balance of the Supreme Court, presumably for the next generation, would be decided by the next president.

As many are aware, an appointment to the U.S Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.  Through the years, the court has been integral in giving us Roe v. Wade, the Affordable Care Act, and many other rulings heavily impacting our lives.

My fault, your fault, nobody’s fault, ownership of the ideological balance of the court has become a politically, weaponized tool for which many politicians would sell their soul, as it represents the “supreme” decision-making power in our country when argument meets impasse.

Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump made it clear he would appoint conservative judges who would interpret the law, versus legislating political ideology from the bench.  He even provided a list from which he would choose his nominees.

How can one be more transparent?

But trust me when I tell you President Trump could have nominated the honorable, Chief Justice John Marshall and liberal Democrats would have done everything possible to discredit him for the court.

It’s really quite sad the crippling concessions liberals are willing to make for Americans and our country simply to propagate their progressive ideology.

At what point does this “betraying of one’s country” become treasonous in nature?

I submit it already has.

Are these the people we want representing us in Washington?  Is this the ideology we want infesting our state? Our city?

I believe this is a problem that must be addressed on a national and local level, simultaneously.  As patriots, we have a responsibility to leverage our vote to return our country, our state and our city to greatness.

It’s crucial we begin examining politicians “records and actions” versus “politically expedient rhetoric.” Not only are they doing our people a disservice, they are now becoming enemies of the state, seeking to enhance their power and influence.

Liberals cannot be allowed to pillage and create havoc any longer.  And it’s up to you to stop them.

Get mad if you want, but anything less, frankly, makes one complicit in the offense.

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Sarah Thacker: Bill Cosby’s Verdict: Racist, Cruel or Just?

26 Sep

bill cosby

sarah thacker

Sarah Thacker is a professional, free-lance writer and staff contributor to Free State Patriot.

September 8, 2018

 

Nearly everyone knows comedian Bill Cosby. He entered our homes through our TV screens, through parental advice books and standup specials. But, although he was a loving, charming man on TV, rape allegations have been circling him for decades. Throughout his trial, evidence was presented to prove these allegations well and truly founded, and that these women did actually experience date rape and sexual assault. And, although the memes on the internet make it commonplace to joke about Bill’s drugging the Kool-Aid or giving someone a pudding pop, what these women endured was no laughing matter.

What’s most shocking to me are the remarks made after the trial. Bill’s wife, Camille, and Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt. They say that the prosecutor used “falsified evidence” against him, and Camille later said that Cosby was doing fine because he knew these were lies perpetrated against him. “You know what this country has done to black men for centuries,” she said.

His spokesperson had even more to say on the subject than she did, surprisingly. He said that this was “the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States,”. That’s a pretty ignorant statement considering all of the trials that happened during the Civil Rights movement, and even the Salem witch trials, where women were hung simply for being able to read and do math proficiently. But, the man went on, remarkably, and said that the three psychologists that testified against Cosby in court were “white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators.” He even accused the prosecutors of tampering with a recording of a phone call between one of the victims’ mothers and Cosby.

One of his victims, Janice Dickinson said this in her testimony: “The harrowing memory of the rape continues to this day. I have recurring nightmares, I wake up in fear, I fear the dark. I struggle to discuss this even with my beloved husband of 6 years.” She went on to describe how being raped by an actor in the entertainment business affected her confidence, her career goals, and her job performance as an actress and model. She even moved to Italy to get away from Cosby, so she’d never have to see him again. “But the rape is etched into my soul. Therapy has helped some but it has not helped to restore my innocence. I was never the same. I will never be the same.”

With that in mind, I don’t believe that the verdict was racist. He did not go to prison because he was black. He went to prison because he is a rapist, and he’s a danger to the community. He has affected these women’s lives so deeply that the damage may never be undone, and for that he needed to be punished.

Some people say that because he’s an octogenarian (He’s 81 years old), blind and walks with a cane that he’s no longer a threat to the community and that putting him in prison for 3-10 years is not justice, it’s cruel. But, I say that God works in mysterious ways. “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” Sometimes God does not do things as quickly as we would like him to, but if you’re truly evil, he will eventually take his vengeance.

“The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” ~ Psalm 33:5

 

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Mark Caserta: Huntington, West Virginia: Is it dying a slow death?

23 Sep

Drug syringe and cooked heroin

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huntington, wv

me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

September 23, 2018

 

An opioid drug crisis, a decaying city infrastructure, fomenting liberal policies, a withering level of pride for the city of Huntington, and a “less than prominent” presence on the national stage for its inadequacies – Welcome to Huntington, WV.

Is this a city in which a family would want to raise their children?  If not, what are we doing to correct it?

I’ve lived in, or around Huntington, WV. for nearly 60 years.   I remember when Huntington was a city admired and envied by others desiring to achieve the wholesome radiance and charming gravitas we once possessed.

Of course, we’ve always had our problems.  Every city has them, the larger, the more of them.

But in the past, we’ve always found a way to overcome them.  We’ve always risen to the occasion and come together as a community for the common good of our people.

In November, 1970, Huntington showed the world we could rise from the ashes in solidarity.  I remember, just like it was yesterday.  Every school, every business, every single person was united as we grieved over the loss of 75 innocent lives.  I remember gathering in the gymnasium of Davis Creek Elementary, holding hands and honoring players, coaches, boosters and members of the press lost on the hillside of Tri-State Airport, as Southern Airways Flight 932 made its final approach.

The field of tears are forever etched into my memory, but, also, the resilience of the citizens of Huntington and their determination to not fade quietly into the night.  This resolve laid a foundation on which our grand city would flourish over the next 40 years.

Yes, some “ups” and “downs”, but always forward.  But now, Huntington, WV. is in a crisis. For many who have spent their lives living in this city by the great Ohio River, it feels like Huntington, WV. is dying a slow, painful, agonizing death.

We’ve conceived a generation, void of hope, and dying of drug overdoses.  And how do we address it?  We provide them needles.  And as larger, progressive cities, such as San Francisco, contemplate “safe injection sites” for intravenous drug users, per The San Francisco Chronicle, one must wonder how far behind Huntington city leaders are in proposing similar “enablement” facilities in our area.

We even have a news media, both print and television, that appear to be adopting leftist’s policies and filtering information to our citizens, in other words, “fake news” or news designed to disingenuously influence people.

Who are they trying to protect?

A July 2018 story by Monique Laborde, of WV Public Broadcasting, entitled, “Huntington Mayor Champions LGBT Inclusion”, describes our city’s mayor, Stephen Williams’ endeavors to improve conditions in Huntington for the LGBT community.  This year, Huntington recognized the month of LGBT awareness by hosting its second annual Pride Picnic.

Of course, the event was family-friendly, per the report, while kids played in a sprinkler nearby.

How sweet.  Our city could sure use some new folks.

Per the most recent information from Data USA, Huntington, WV. has a population of around 48, 735 people with a median age of 34.6 and a median household income of $29, 834.  Between 2015 and 2016, the population of Huntington declined nearly half a percent, while the median household income declined .13%.

I’m confident, given the apparent, continued decline, these numbers have gotten worse.

But as people continue to vacate our city for greener, safer pastures, what sort of people are we attracting?  Entrepreneurs? Business? Purpose-driven individuals seeking an environment fertile for growth?

Not a chance. Huntington is being avoided like the plague by anyone hopeful for the future!

Consider the foundation on which we are building our city’s future?   Our city leadership appear determined to follow the same progressive path that’s brought ruin to larger, more successful cities.  These are the exact same liberal, socialist policies embraced by Barack Hussein Obama, which sent our nation on a downhill spiral unparalleled in my lifetime.

Oh, and the exact same liberal policies that helped elect Donald J. Trump, much to the chagrin of liberals like we have at Huntington’s helm.

Just who are these people?  Of course, we see the elected officials, those running point for the elite, but who makes up the deep state in Huntington?  Who are these progressive “puppeteers” who never seem to make print or video, but are in the shadows, weaving their webs of deceit and tilting our city to the far left?

In this humble columnist’s opinion, our city’s priorities are completely upside down, as are most progressive policies.  Our city leaders have no sustainable vision for the advancement of our community or the protection of our people.

Their intent?  Just follow the money.

At the current rate of decline, what will the condition of our city be in 5 years, 10 years?  It’s not a welcome proposition.

It’s time for the citizens of Huntington to take back their city. It’s time to elect leaders with the ability to attract business and make our city safe for its occupants.  It’s time to hire city leaders who have a vision and the aptitude to get us back on the right track, before it’s too late!

It’s time to make Huntington great again!

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Mark Caserta: Liberals are stealing the hope of tomorrow

16 Sep

Where are the Christians?

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me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

September 16, 2018

 

Would you like to know what liberals have over many Christian conservatives?

I’ll tell you.

Commitment and a willingness to sacrifice for a cause.  Get mad if you want, it’s true.  And sadly, we continue to retreat against their advance and give ground to progressives, who every day, conjure up a new way to displease God and destroy His perfect creation.  The anti-Christian acts they employ continue to become more abominable in God’s eyes, yet where are the so-called “warriors for Christ”?

When will we say, enough is enough?  It better be soon, because they’re killing the soul of our nation, our states and our communities, by destroying our hope of tomorrow.

Progressives simply don’t subscribe to the fact that at some point in life, everyone will acknowledge God as the author and finisher of our faith. The Bible says in Philippians 2:10-11, “that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”.

Please believe Hell is a very real place – and it will be the home of way too many people, for eternity; not a year, a hundred years or even a thousand years, but forever.

It’s important to remember the enemy has but one purpose here on earth: To steal, kill and destroy.  The progressive movement is the quintessential tool by which the enemy deploys many of his weapons.  Many liberals don’t recognize an eternity in which they will answer for their iniquities.  All they see is today; and today is all they desire.  And they accomplish that by removing our tomorrow.

Allow me to explain.

Our tolerance to abortion is killing our tomorrow. When Roe v. Wade was ruled upon by the Supreme Court in 1973, even then it was a highly sensitive, polarizing decision. Yet, at the time it was encumbered with several common-sense limitations that took into consideration the mother’s health and the viability of the fetus.  Over the years, liberals have attacked the parameters relentlessly.  Now, 45 years later, we now have abortion, for all intents and purposes, on-demand.  And frankly, if liberals had their way, partial-birth abortion and even “live birth” abortions would be common-place.

If you aren’t familiar with those terms, shame on you.  These are two of the most horrific ways imaginable for a civilized country to murder innocent children, and fall nothing short of Herod’s attack on Jerusalem’s first born or Pharaoh’s decision to do the same during Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt.

Jesus loved children.  He knew their importance in the Kingdom of God.  He even told his disciples in the New Testament, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”.

Jesus knew children would be our tomorrow.

I personally believe there will be a designated, unimaginably horrible place in Hell for those who have intentionally murdered the most innocent among us.  I do not envy those choosing to end the life of one of God’s children simply out of inconvenience resulting from a poor decision.

The opioid crisis is killing our tomorrow by literally taking the lives of a generation without hope.

By removing the addict’s hope for tomorrow, they continue down the path of destruction, narrowly dodging calamity, until one day, it catches up to them.  They tighten the tourniquet, insert the needle and in a few moments, take their last breath on earth. Perhaps their next cognizant moment will be in a dark, foreboding forever, where forgiveness and hope have vanquished in the fiery pits.

Too theatrical for you?  Too dramatic?  I assure you, words could never describe the despair of hell or the evil, contriving hearts of men.  It doesn’t matter if you believe, it’s real.

Within our own city of Huntington, WV. we have a “deep state” willing to compromise the soul of our city for power and wealth. In the end, only death will result.

Bishop Desmond Tutu is quoted as saying, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

Darkness is all around us.  Occasionally, there are rays of light that peak through the dense clouds, but the darkness is very real and tenacious.  It won’t falter, it won’t grow weary, and it won’t grow faint in its mission to destroy each of our tomorrows.

There is only one way to firmly dismiss the darkness and that’s by the entrance of light, a Holy Light.

I know of only one group of people from which that light will shine – Christians.  Where are they?  Are they afraid?  Are we so selfish, we won’t commit to a fight which may ultimately be fought by our children and grandchildren?

We must take a stand now.  We must take back our nation and our city. Together, we can be a mighty force for good.  But “together” consists of “individuals” engaged and working toward a common goal.

Can we get started?  We have some committed people in the trenches already.  I’m pleased to join them in the fight: Tom Roten, host of The Tom Roten Morning Show on News Radio 800 WVHU; Norm Miller, founder of Huntington City Watch, with over 17,000 followers; Steven Davis, founder of League of Principled Citizens and Scott Caserta, 2020 Huntington Mayoral candidate.

These are great people to get behind.  I fully support their efforts.

Don’t let liberals steal the hope of tomorrow.  Let’s be the shining light we were intended to be.  God will never place us in a battle in which He won’t fully armor us for victory.

But we must take up the sword.

Together, we can’t lose. But if we choose to sit on the sidelines, we surely will.

 

 

 

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Doug Smith: Some Advice to Progressives and the Younger Generations

16 Sep

doug 2

Doug Smith is an historian and Free State Patriot associate editor

September 9, 2018

 

 

As a Conservative, I adhere to the principle that nothing is free:  TANSTAAFL (There aint no such thing as a free lunch). But I am aware that everybody loves a bargain, and lots of people want free stuff.  Having stated my principle regarding “free stuff” in advance by way of fair warning, here is some “free advice and wisdom. Do with it as you will. May it serve you better than your degree in Pre-Columbian-Art from Columbia and your $ 150,000 student loan debt.

  1. You are not always right. Neither are you always wrong. No one gets it right every time, nor do they get it wrong every time.  Will Rogers perhaps said it best: “There was never a horse that couldn’t be rode, and never a rider that couldn’t be throwed.”  A mature, adult human will make peace with these facts and learn a truth from them. Check your assumptions.
  2. Know why you believe what you believe. Be able to defend your articles of faith. Apologetics, from the Greek Apologia, means to make a defense. Arguing your beliefs based on “Mom said so” stops working when you are about 10. Basing it on, “Well you’re mean and ugly and your Mommy dresses you funny” stops at about 5. Challenge your beliefs. If they are true, if they are valid, when you question them, when you question the reasons that you believe them, you will finally come to rock solid evidence of a few basic things you can unshakable believe. This practice will serve you well.  If you can challenge and then defend your own beliefs, you need never fear when they are challenged by others. If you cannot, then you may have built a system of belief with no solid foundation. Truth is not the same as opinion. If someone tells you the truth, be it an author, boss, professor, preacher and you challenge it, dig back to its roots and discover why it is true, it will still be true. This is what we used to call “Education.”
  3. People will disagree with you. That is ok. Hearing ideas you don’t know or believe will hardly kill you, or even hurt you. It may stretch your mind. But (See 1, and 2, above) people who disagree with you are not always wrong, and they are not always right. Know why you believe what you believe and disagree. Debate your position. You may learn something. They may learn something. The moment you refuse to hear any position or opinion other than your own it the moment when you stop learning. Ignorance is curable. Stupidity is not. Bullheadedness is very resistant to treatment. If you try to be protected from hearing speech with which you disagree, you lose the chance to apply principles 1 and 2 and challenge not only yourself, but the one with whom you disagree, to defend their position. If you disagree, and they are wrong, 2 will prove it. If they are right, or a little bit right, 1 will help you learn.
  4. There ARE NO safe spaces. That is an absurd concept. As a growing child, you wanted to get away from Mom and Dad, who wanted to keep you in a safe space, so you could live a more dangerous life. We try to keep children safe enough not to die, but they will climb trees, fall out of them, break bones, skin knees, and live a dangerous life. Life IS dangerous. It WILL eventually kill you. But you are going to have to experience things that might hurt you and learn to survive them, ideas you don’t like and learn to deal with them, or debate them, or reject them, relationships that are challenging, all the parts of being a functional adult. I don’t like snakes. So, I could have stayed in a bubble where I was never around one, protected by my parents. Except: my mother is dead. My Father is 82. I am old enough for Social Security. And there are snakes in the world. I learned to deal with snakes. Don’t reach under a wood pile without lifting it from a distance. Watch where you step in the woods. I did not sit in a safe space from the age of 8 till now to avoid snakes. I learned to deal with a danger in the world in which I lived. So, when it comes to snakes, I am a safe Person, not a person who lives in a safe space. I am also a dangerous person. I ll blow that snake in half and not blink an eye. But I won’t kick a dog or a kid. Be an adult. Be safe when safety is called for, dangerous when danger is called for. Safe spaces? No one lives there. You live in the world. Grow up. Deal with it.
  5. I don’t give a fig about your self-esteem. Neither does anyone else, despite what they told you in schools. I don’t want you to feel good about yourself just for existing. If you are my child, I love you because of who you are, and you are unique and important to me. But to feel good about yourself, DO something. You all have someone who loves you and to whom you are important. I ran track in Jr High School. I sucked. I was not built to be a runner. I got no trophies for participating. My self-esteem was not tied to that. I was a fair musician, and a decent writer, and a great sailor. I feel good about those things. I esteem myself for those accomplishments. You want to feel good about yourself? DO SOMETHING. Get a job. Pay your bills, feel good about doing what you can with your abilities.  If you have high self-esteem and do nothing, you are going to portray a self-importance that will irritate people. DO something.
  6. Let us explore a bit the concept of TANSTAAFL. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Bars used to advertise “Free Lunch.” It was, of course, a lie. Yes, you could come in and drink their beer, and eat a sandwich they had thoughtfully provided. And in doing so, pay more for your beer than you would in a place with no “free” lunch. Guess who bought your lunch? You did. TANSTAAFL.  Some hotel chains provide a (bad) “free” breakfast. Can you figure it out? For the feeble breakfast, or in fairness, sometimes a good breakfast, you are paying more for the room than you would otherwise, or than you would in another hotel down the road. Because? There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Painted across a broader canvass, when your employer provides you with “free” healthcare and gym memberships, they are doing so by paying you less than they would otherwise. And when government offers free stuff, like healthcare, housing, food, needles, education, the list goes on and on endlessly, the principle still applies. And even more so, because government has no money. That bears repeating. Government has no money. How can that be you say, since they have a trillion-dollar budget? Government, has no money, so the money they spend, or promise to spend, must come from somewhere else. Anyone? Bueller? If you have a job, like I do, look at your pay stub. See how much you grossed? See how much was taken out before you got to touch it?  And that, children, is how the government gives free stuff. Not free, because somebody had to work and produce the money to buy that sumptuous lunch. There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has a cost.
  7. The way to get more is to become worth more. Don’t expect to get more for what you do just by continuing to breathe. If you are worth minimum wage when you are hired, (often a questionable premise) you will become worth more if you learn to do more, if you show you are reliable to show up, if you become better at your job, if you learn to do more and other jobs.  Sorry to shake up what you have undoubtedly heard from politicians and other people who don’t have to pay you, but you are not entitled to a certain wage. If you can’t afford what you want to make what you make, buckle down, work harder, learn more, don’t make obligations you can’t afford (spouse, children, car payment, 1000-dollar cell phone), and improve your lot. No one owes you a good living. No one owes you a Living, period. The compact under which we live is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So, you get to live, and are free to earn your living as you see fit. You are not entitled to eat my food.
  8. Most people don’t care that you can quote French poetry or determine which period in Chinese history produced a vase, of if you have read Das Capital, the Little Red Book, or Upton Sinclair. They care if you smell bad. Take a shower. They care if you keep your word. Don’t make promises you cannot or will not keep. They care if you pay your bills. Pay what you owe. Earn what you expect to receive and expect to receive what you earn. Giving, or receiving charity is a choice. Forced generosity, however grand sounding we make it, is simply theft. Be a good neighbor, whether on a tree lined street, in a tall building, or in a barracks. Be kind, speak gently, be ready to help when you can. It is far easier to deal with the results of living this way.
  9. Despite the social chic that has tried to show otherwise, it is a good thing to love your country and your people, and to defend them. Patriotism is not reflected by despising and finding constant fault with your country. It is in defending and supporting it.  If you are an American, you live in a nation that is wealthier, freer, and more desirable than any nation in the history of the world. She has grown and become steadily better, correcting inequities, and learning from failures, in a way few others have done. If you focus on the 10% that needs improvement, you miss the 90% that is laudable. Note that for all the bluster of the wealthy chic every 4 years, few leave this country. None who lack the resources to live in luxury, insulated from the realities of other countries do so. Many, on the contrary, desperately seek to come here. Reflect on those truths. And find a sense of gratitude. You will find that the vast majority of people who have worked to build the country, who have fought and sacrificed to keep it secure, or who have buried those who did, will honor that sense of gratitude far better than the child throwing a tantrum because his cake is not big enough.
  10. Equality means the game is the same and the rules are the same for everyone. It does not mean we will all get the same.  There is no shame in the guy who pushes a broom down the halls of a hospital, but I expect that the Surgeon who says good morning to him will make more money. A lot more. If you expect otherwise, then hand the scalpel to the janitor and have him remove your appendix. There is no equality of outcome, because people are created equal, and there the similarities cease. We could mandate that Thom Edison will make exactly the same as the push broom operator. But the push broom operator will give us clean floors. Thom gave us light bulbs, recording equipment, movie cameras, electricity in our homes, microphones, fluoroscopic X Ray systems, well, I could go on. I’m ok that Edison made more than the guy who swept out his lab. If we are all to have equal outcomes, then they must, necessarily, be those of the least capable among us. Paying the guy on the broom a million bucks won’t make him produce a light bulb, paying Edison 10 bucks pretty much ensures that he won’t, either.

These are a few truths based on life and observation of the human condition. Life exists in places other than student centers on campuses and coffee shops. Those of us who live out here in the world learn these things by trial and error, often more error. But learn them we do. Come, join us in the adult world. It is not the rainbows and unicorns you may be expecting, but it is not such a bad world. We mange. Grow up and join us.

 

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