Tag Archives: progressivism

Mark Caserta: Here’s why liberal Democrats want to “defund” the police.

1 Aug

mark at mic

Mark Caserta is an opinion columnist and editor for Free State Patriot.

August 1, 2020

wake up

It’s positively, unequivocally, and in every other way – moronic.

It’s analogous to removing traffic lights and stop signs because some don’t work properly.

The idea of “defunding” the police by the liberal Democrats is simply the largest leap toward removing boundaries for progressives in our country’s history.  While it is, undoubtedly, ludicrous on the surface, it aligns perfectly with liberal ideology.

Progressivism is exactly what the moniker portrays.  Liberals “progressively” advance their agenda by vehemently pronouncing their presence and being the loudest voice in the room.  Even huge failures often result in small victories by moving the needle of morality ever so slightly to the left.

One must understand liberals view principle and morality on a sliding scale of standards.  It varies with every movement.  It’s consistency lies in the fact that it’s always, always contrary to God’s Word and conservatism and is tenacious in its onslaught.

A perfect example is Roe v Wade.

In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s liberty right (in this instance, whether to be pregnant or not) was stronger than the state’s interest in the life of the baby “up to a certain point” in the pregnancy.

Per the Court’s ruling, at the point of “viability” or the baby’s ability to survive outside the womb, the woman’s right to choose an abortion was outweighed by the potential life of the child. At that point, the Court ruled a state could prohibit women from having abortions. The only caveat was if the birth presented a health risk to the mother.

Just under 50 years later, liberals have challenged case after case and successfully moved the standard for protecting life far to the left.  In 2020, it’s seemingly as easy to have an abortion as it is to have a tooth pulled.  Sadly, it’s become murder of inconvenience.

That, my friend, is the progressive movement.  And that is exactly what is happening with the so-called “defund the police” movement by liberal activists.

Now, the police will not be eliminated.  Intelligent minds will prevail.  But we are seeing those with the ability to do so, reduce police funding and place citizens at risk. This is an impactful victory for liberals and the first step toward achieving a greater goal.

The left’s determination to subvert Democracy should be very disturbing for everyone and be the catalyst for staunch opposition from the right.

What law-abiding citizen in our country would want to eliminate or even reduce law enforcement? Most would support further funding for the safety of our families!  I submit, the majority of those supporting defunding would be only those constrained from committing lawless acts.  It’s extremely important for us to realize the many in the liberal media are complicit in making this happen.

Higher ratings? Perhaps.  But there are those, to include the media, who place the sovereignty of our nation and the safety of our people far below propagating their progressive agenda.

We’ve seen what happens when bad people are left unrestrained!  It results in chaos, destruction, and death – period.  That’s what is transpiring in city’s with liberal leadership!

It’s simply amazing what liberal Democrats are willing to compromise simply to rid themselves of the Trump presidency. They have proven they hate Donald Trump more than they love America – if they even love America at all!

What to do?  I’m glad you asked. It’s a question more people must begin asking.

The absolute only way you can make a difference is vote.  It is the universal language of politicians and the mainstream media.  I often ask how the same derelict representatives get elected year after year.

It’s because good people allow it to happen by not becoming informed, engaged, and voting to advance our Republic. 

Believe me when I tell you it isn’t going to get any easier.  We are at a point where conservatives must win elections by wide margins to reduce the opportunity for fraud.

President Ronald Reagan once said, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to.  This is the last stand on earth.”

Who is going to make that stand?  If conservative Christians don’t vote, we lose.  We lose our nation, our freedom, our right to worship and protect our family.

We lose it all.  Because, that’s what the liberal Democrats want from you.  They want it all.

Don’t give it to them.

 

 

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Mark Caserta: It’s time to “Drain the Swamp” in Huntington, WV.

17 Jan

huntington old - new

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Mark Caserta is an opinion columnist and editor at Free State Patriot

January 17, 2020

 

Don’t be mistaken. While the mainstream media focuses on what they call “the impeachment of Donald J. Trump,” it’s nothing of the sort.

This is an attempt by liberal Democrats to negate the 2016 presidential election and essentially void the representation our forefathers set in place, known as a Republic.

Understand, Democrats just didn’t envision the impeachment of President Trump over the past couple of years. It began when he descended the escalator in Trump Tower and announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

I’m not making too broad of a characterization when I submit that liberal Democrats have become vile and despicable purveyors of ignorance. Their willingness to return the U.S. to the days of failing presidential policies, acutely declining economy and appeasing our enemies, both foreign and domestic simply to defeat and disparage Donald Trump, is nothing less than treasonous.

Our country is experiencing a miraculous restoration that defies any conservative expectation! Unemployment is at an all-time low for every single demographic. The labor participation rate is the highest it’s been in years. The economy is thriving. Trade deficits with countries like China have been balanced. Our enemies fear us while our allies, once again, respect and trust us!

In just a little over 3 years, with incredible fortitude and leadership, President Trump has essentially negated the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama. And he’s doing it with conservative ideology and Biblically sound principles.

And liberals hate him for it! If Obama had experienced 1/10th the success in his 8 feckless years as president, He would have been hailed as the greatest president in history by Democrats! The hypocrisy is sickening!

Now, let’s bring this down to its smallest common denominator. Let’s bring it to Huntington, WV.

It’s been said, “all politics are local.” We have a city administration that aligns “unfavorably” with conservatism. Their inability to manage the city of Huntington has adversely impacted many people. And since they haven’t a clue as to how to bring in industry, create jobs or clean up our city, they are attempting to build an economic model on drug rehabilitation.

And trust me when I tell you, there are people profiting by attracting and at times, “delivering” addicts within our city limits for drug treatment. Our city, for all intents and purposes, has become a sanctuary for addiction.

Albeit at a different level, these policies couldn’t be more devastatingly liberal and perversely progressive.

If our city leaders worked as hard creating an environment conducive to industry and manufacturing as they do for becoming an addiction sanctuary, we’d be a very different city. The self-serving nature of our mayor and his minions is eroding the very foundation of this once great city.

Just as our nation needed a profoundly different type of leadership following the “fundamental change” of Barack Obama, the city of Huntington needs opposition leadership with the business acumen and intestinal fortitude to return our city to greatness.

Progressive ideology is destroying Huntington, just as it’s destroyed larger cities across the country. We don’t have to wait to see what it will do here. We’ve already witnessed the putrid, filthy lucre it establishes where it’s allowed to thrive. And once it’s allowed to “take root” it’s nearly impossible to expunge.

We need someone with a proven record of unwavering commitment to public servitude. Someone willing to make the unpopular decision, yet willing to always act in the best interest of the community. Someone willing to adhere to Godly values in decision-making.

And we need them now.

It’s very simple. We need to drain the swamp in Huntington, expose the deep state and begin replacing those politicians who couldn’t care less about a viable future for the citizens of Huntington and returning our city to wealth and prosperity.

We are tired of liberal politicians “peeing” down our leg and telling us it’s raining.

It’s time for us to give these people their walking papers.

 

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Mark Caserta: Don’t be fooled by policies of “inclusion” or “compassion”. It’s about power.

6 Jul

city of huntington

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Mark Caserta is an opinion columnist and editor for Free State Patriot

July 6, 2019

 

Let’s be very clear about the “newly discovered” progressive policies of empathy and benevolence toward mankind which Democrats have made such an integral portion of their platform.

Can someone please say, “hogwash”!

Additionally, I hate it when I hear people refer to Democrats as the “Democratic” Party. They’ve become the antithesis of Democracy or “government by the people”! They should simply be called the “Democrat” Party! But I digress.

Liberals bank on the fact that way too many Americans are only marginally engaged with the fact versus fiction of politics. If educators and the media did their jobs in educating and reporting the truth, the Democrat Party would be forced into working in the best interest of their constituents.

But, those with their finger on the pulse of the “myocardial infarction” known as “broken government”, know all too well that’s very unlikely to happen.

While I abhor using terms hollow commentators often bandy about in unison like a flock of cawing seagulls by the seashore, I believe I must in this case.

Democrats are very fond of “weaponizing” emotions.

Unlike knowledge, which some people clearly lack, everyone, no matter their level of engagement, has emotions.

And not unlike the scheming, manipulative person who will work harder at playing with a person’s emotions than establishing a relationship based on fact, liberals cling to controversies in which they can solicit and emotional response in influencing the masses.

Illegal immigration is a perfect example of Democrats engendering emotion while subjugating the facts.

If you recall, liberal Democrats, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, swore to the American public President Trump’s “crisis at the border” was manufactured for political interest. All it took was a few principled journalists and representatives to visit the border and inundate the airwaves with such overwhelming “fact”, Democrats were forced into telling the truth. And even then, they denied their lack of integrity and action had anything to do with the mess they’ve created.

After having to finally admit there is, indeed, a crisis, as the president and border experts were saying, they now employ the “benevolence argument” that enforcement of the law and protecting the sovereignty of the U.S. is not being “compassionate”.

Liberal journalists are complicit in searching for photos of overstaffed facilities and fatal anomalies simply to claim “migrants” (not illegals) are being mistreated by the Trump administration.

These are not migrants! These people are committing crimes against the U.S. and against humanity. Yet, Democrats personify it in terms of, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

I wish we could add the word, “legally” in the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. But Democrats would have a mental breakdown.

I’m not sure which is worse, the despicable nature of the Democrat lies intended to maintain power or the treasonous manner in which they are intentionally damaging our country.

Liberal loons, like Democrat Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, fabricate stories about illegals being forced to “drink from toilets” at holding stations, knowing these type stories can never be substantiated.

Canards of this nature are simply designed for an emotional response. Facts be damned.

It’s all about power.

Just as in the state of California, where uncontrolled illegal immigration has resulted in such a leftist political environment, no conservative could ever hope to win a major election or push a conservative agenda – it’s all about getting votes and staying in power.

Understand, progressives pave a way to the ballot box for these folks, knowing they’ll never vote against the “hand that feeds them”, all at the taxpayer’s expense.

California lawmakers have already passed legislation to give illegal aliens a driver’s license.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Please understand, this methodology isn’t proprietary to Washington. The desire for power at the expense of those who would deny it, is a ravenous emotion.

Liberal fanaticism is saturating our great nation, including right here in our own city of Huntington, WV.

Our mayor’s policy of “inclusion”, just as illegal immigration, isn’t complicated. It’s about inciting an emotional reaction from marginally engaged individuals by insinuating the inhabitants of our city are racist, homophobic, xenophobes incapable of loving people whose lifestyle we may not condone. We therefore must pry “open” the heretofore “closed” doors to members of the LGBT community and their promiscuous lifestyles. This includes allowing them to read to our children and begin desensitizing them to the LGBT lifestyle at an early age.

I know I’m strange, but it reminds me of the 1963 hit by “The Roof Top Singers”:

“Walk right in, sit right down: Daddy, let your mind roll on. Everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout a new way of walkin’. Do you want to lose your mind?”

Well, based on the liberal desire to welcome anyone with a pulse to cross into any city in our nation – they already have.

Just don’t forget to come to the courthouse and register to vote – Democrat!

Liberal Democrats know they cannot win in the theater of ideas and truth. In fact, they’re perpetually afraid of the truth making its way to the American people. It would be devastating to their platform, which is based on public ignorance and emotion.

It’s no different here in Huntington where I believe the local media searches desperately for “wins” by our city administration while clouding the truth that our city is dying a slow death.

Terms like “inclusion” and “compassion”, sadly, have become red flags in the political theater. They’re now, the hollowest words in the liberal thesaurus.

What used to be genuine compassion for others, has morphed into policies of “enablement” and “coercion” of those beholding to liberals to vote for the progressive, Democrat agenda.

One could say, we’re witnessing a Democrat, proposed form of “government organized crime.”

Protection and entitlements for those willing to be controlled and conforming.

Not for this patriot.

 

 

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Mark Caserta: WSAZ host bitter over response to promoting Drag Queens Slay Cancer Fundraiser

13 May

Version 2

WSAZ’s “First Look at Four” promotes Drag Queens Slay Cancer Fundraiser

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Mark Caserta is an opinion columnist and editor for Free State Patriot

May 13, 2019

 

The progressive movement is alive and well in Huntington, WV.

A few weeks back, WSAZ, a local television affiliate of NBC, deemed it appropriate to promote the “Drag Queens Slay Cancer Fundraiser”, which occurred on April 26th at the Marshall University Student Center.

Bad enough – right? Apparently not.

Reportedly, unsupervised children watching the early news were exposed to video clips of drag queens dancing on a stage promoting the event.  Not cool.

Needless to say, liberals wrongly anticipated viewer reaction.

Concerned citizens and the Family Policy Council of West Virginia immediately expressed concern over the event and WSAZ’s decision to publicly promote it. And most people would support the right to do so, without recompense.

But not WSAZ host, Tim Irr.

Following the Family Policy Council’s feedback, Irr took to social media bitterly criticizing the response, calling it “sad from a humanity standpoint”.

“There are plenty of people who believe they have a moral responsibility to stand up for their religious convictions, and how they would like to see those convictions applied to the rules of society,” Irr maintained on his Facebook page. “Conversely, there are plenty of people who see no redeeming value whatsoever in a society guided by what they perceive as religious intolerance.”

Liberalism 101: Progressives always equate moral convictions with religious intolerance.

It appears Tim Irr is comparing the intolerance of the citizens of Huntington to having gender confused men dress up like women parading down a runway in a public venue, to the intolerance of someone exercising their religious freedom and free speech as provided by the Constitution.

Irr went on to suggest how we feel about “the other side” may be best kept in our own thoughts, versus exercising freedom of speech.

Is Irr really suggesting Christians are intolerant because they choose to express their concern over the promotion of an event clearly established by individuals who are intentionally seeking a venue to surreptitiously promote their lifestyle?

I never cease to be amazed how liberals love exercising their freedom of speech to disenfranchise yours.

Irr’s position, as I interpret it from his post, is that if the “cause” is a noble one, such as raising money for cancer research, we should turn a blind eye and honor the event and it’s expressed intent, rather than express our views based upon our religious beliefs.

In other words, our morality should be on a sliding scale commensurate to accommodating the progressive movement’s warped ideology.

While Irr asserts the guests, who appeared on WSAZ’s “First Look at Four” were not there “promoting adherence to a certain lifestyle, anyone who believes the singular motivation behind this Drag Queen event was to raise money for The American Cancer Society is either shockingly naïve, intellectually dishonest, or just plain ignorant.

As with other events in our city spawned by our mayor’s policy of “inclusion”, such as Drag Queen Story Hour, this fundraiser, under the guise of compassion, is about validating a disturbing segment of society and contributing to society’s desensitization of an immoral lifestyle – period.

Under Irr’s “tenets of tolerance”, would WSAZ promote a Klu Klux Klan fundraiser for cancer research? How about NAMBLA, North American Man Boy Love Association? Is he truly suggesting there are situations where opinion should be silenced if liberals determine the end justifies the means?

This ideology totally disregards the impact on the most impressionable among us – our children. I’ve been keenly aware the promotion of these Drag Queen events has been consistent in verbalizing they’re openness to all ages – especially Drag Queen Story Hour, which encourages children to look beyond gender “stereotypes”.

Really?

And for Irr to chastise those expressing legitimate concern over the potential impact to our community and its total disregard for our religious beliefs is both arrogant and disingenuous.

As I’ve often noted, so-called “fake news” is news designed to influence rather than inform. Understand, the subtlety of this influencing can vary from “in your face” to “under the radar”. Simply providing a venue to these Drag Queens helps propagate their mission of influencing their lifestyle upon others.

As far as desiring our religious convictions to be applied to the rules of society, as Irr suggests is a Christian’s ultimate goal – of course we do! It’s called morality! It’s the defining attribute of a thriving society! And I don’t want my grandchildren raised in a world void of it!

I suppose our local media (including The Herald Dispatch, which also promoted the Drag Queen event) would better understand the principle of convictions, if they didn’t appear to lack them in much of their reporting.

Bottom line: Tim Irr, WSAZ, and The Herald Dispatch have the right to promote whatever they want.

Just understand, as citizens, we have the right to boycott their services and their advertisers if they continue to operate contrary to the best interests of our community.

 

 

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Doug Smith: Is “who we are” worth defending?

17 Jan

nancy and chuck

(House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer)

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Doug Smith is an opinion columnist, historian and Associate editor for Free State Patriot

January 17, 2019

 

As a student of history, I have been asking myself, was there ever an analogous time in history, when leaders of a nation or empire, for whatever reason, gave more effort and concern to foreigners, to defending cultures hostile to their own, as the modern Left in the United States is doing now? What can explain the apparent, willful, blindness to real threats to our sovereignty, and security? What can motivate people like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, let alone the radical new far leftists now infecting the People’s House to advocate for ideas that have failed horribly, again and again, and if fact are doing so at this moment in Venezuela, Iran, North Korea? What can motivate them to invert good and evil, to support dangerous people hostile to their own county, and ultimately, as anyone with logical reasoning ability can see, to them, once they have won?

The Romans permitted other, usually conquered, people to become Roman citizens. But they did not permit them to make Rome become Gaul, or Germania, or Britannia. Until, of course, they stopped being able to defend themselves and fell to the Vandals and Visigoths. The Chinese built a wall to defend against warring tribes to the South, with good effect. They neglected to deal with the Mongols, to the North, and before you could say Kublai Khan, the Yuan Dynasty had the Mongols ruling China. Historically, I can find no instance in which a people failed to defend their borders and their prevailing culture and had a happy outcome.

So, what motivates these people?

It is easy to say it is hatred of Trump. But that, perhaps, begs the question.  Democrat Ted Kennedy approached the USSR asking them to ease up on any military provocations to help him beat Ronald Reagan, the implication being that he would deal with them much more favorably once he won.  Coming at the height of the Cold War, when thousands of Nuclear Warheads were pointed toward both nations, and guys like me were stalking Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarines, ready at a moment’s notice to kill them before they could launch at our cities, it is difficult to see how this was anything but treason. The Special Prosecutor concluded, oh that’s right. There was no special prosecutor to investigate Ted Kennedy and the Russians. Or Mary Jo Kopechne. But I digress.

I am somewhat at a loss to understand the reasoning of a certain genre of Americans who find it chic and enlightened to enjoy the benefits of this society and culture, while simultaneously decrying it as unjust, immoral, and evil. Every time a Republican runs for President, there are a group of pampered elitists, actors, singers, talentless hacks whose wealth derives from marriage or pictures of their derrieres who loudly proclaim if X is elected, I’m leaving! But they stay. Or, as in the case of George Clooney, they buy a villa in the south of France with wealth they could not possibly have earned anywhere else in the world, and retreat there; safe in their wealth from the effects of French socialism and stupidity and criticize the very culture that enabled them to do so.

What a contrast between the patriots of WW1 and WW2 who lined up to put their lives on the line to defend what they believed was the greatest country in the world. Or, for that matter, between immigrants who escaped to the US from Cuba or Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, who listen to chic liberal rhapsodize about the merits of socialism and say Are you people crazy? It occurs to me the ideal candidate for Congress is one who was in the Gulags of the Soviet Union and managed to come here after that evil empire collapsed.

So what is it that makes these foolish people continue to whittle at the deck of the lifeboat in a sea of misery in which they ride safe and secure, all the while criticizing how the crew handles the oars?

Here are a few things that I observe as a part of it.

Ignorance of history.

Much of the ain’t it awful crew has either no, or a badly skewed knowledge of the history of the world or their own nation. For instance, it is easy to criticize the ancient Hebrews of Abraham’s time because of the status of women; essentially the property of a husband or a father, and very firmly relegated to the traditional roles of child bearer and household mistress. Compared to their roles in society in 2018, that was rather outdated. Until, of course, one really understands the history and the time and contrasts the Hebrews with other tribes. They did not sacrifice children to stone statues by tossing them alive into fires to burn to death. They relegated women to traditional roles as mother and homemaker, but they did not make them temple prostitutes to encourage fertility. Judged by 2018, people living in 2500 BC were primitive, but in the context of the world in which they lived, it is a different thing.

It is very chic to condemn the US for the institution of slavery. But once again, consider the context. In the 1400s to the 1700s, capturing and selling slaves was big business in African nations. It was common throughout the history of the world, and endemic in the Arab world. England, and later the US, went through great turmoil and even war in order to wipe out slavery as an institution. In the Arab world, and much of the socialist paradise our chic leftist critics admire, slavery is going on today. Right now. Iran and North Korea have among the largest populations of slaves in the world. Yet somehow there are those who find it appropriate to condemn the practice which was abolished 150 years ago in America but give a pass to those doing it right now.

Denying the excellent by demanding the perfect.

I am an unabashed American Patriot. By this I mean that I believe, with all my heart and intellect, that the United States of America is, hands down, the greatest, most prosperous, most free and desirable nation ever to exist in the history of the world. I challenge anyone, a challenge you will fail, to find another nation, or time in history, where it would have been preferable to live. The Tudor Kings of Medieval England never ate, or perched their behinds on a toilet, or dressed, or slept, in anything approaching the standards of living of a poor laborer in present day America. Unique among all times and nations of the world, America has gone to war and not conquered and occupied land and spoils but has liberated oppressed people and left them to determine their own fates. The Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Romans, the French, the British, the Prussian, the Russian Empires all together cannot make that claim. We have the luxury to criticize the failings in our country because we are so safe and prosperous.  Empirical evidence: we do not debate who may leave this country. We do not witness Americans shot down or drowning seeking to flee oppression and reach Germany, Vietnam, Cuba, or Russia. Or even, except for George Clooney, who found the lifestyle of a multimillionaire so oppressive that he had to flee: to France. And no one tried to stop him or keep him from taking his millions with him. There is a reason why millions have sought to feel TO America since her founding. We used to teach that reality in our schools, and around our dinner tables. Now it is often chic to complain about America with the same arguments as our bitterest enemies use, and the same distractions. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was happy to defend America, and contrast the early conquest of the continent, and the failures in our society against the 100s of millions starved, murdered, or imprisoned by Soviet Russia. There was and is simply no comparison. Only fools and useful idiots would advocate that the lowest and worst of in American ought to feel to the free air of Russia.

Left leaning teachers, and college professors, and parents have engaged in a dangerous, and potentially fatal game of finding the best to be bad because it is not perfect, while failing to place it in the proper context: the worst place to live, except for all other places.

So what is it we are, and wish to defend?

We are not, Leftist media aside, a nation of immigrants. We are a nation of ideas and laws. We welcome those who embrace our ideals and wish to obey our laws and work and contribute. Our open secret is that American is a place where hard work and thrift pays huge dividends. We are not stronger because we had an influx of Irish, Scot, German, or Japanese immigrants. We are stronger because we got immigrants from those shores who came already loving America and embracing her laws and her promise. Work hard and be rewarded. You can make it here.  We are not a nation of government handouts. We did not become great, conquer the continent, become the breadbasket of the planet, and set our feet on another one, by the promise of other people feeding you. We did it by embracing and encouraging work. As a people, we are more generous and helpful than the rest of the world combined. No desperate please go out to the Chinese or Russians when a Tsunami destroys homes and lives. It is American Carriers which show up and help.

We are a generous people who will gladly give a hand up to a struggling neighbor. We will always resent those whose charitable impulses consist of reaching in our pockets in order to bestow their largess on ungrateful recipients, who then go on strike demanding more. Americans will help you get back on your feet, they will bridle at helping you stay on your donkey. (You know the word I mean, but this is a family friendly article.) Isn’t it odd that the symbol of a certain political party is that same animal which spoke to Balaam and told him he was headed for destruction?

And we are a people, and a sovereign nation who have the right, and privilege, of defending our nation, our borders, and our identity. In case you have not heard it, we won or bought the land area we inhabit, and no one in the Southwest wishes to become part of Mexico. Nor do the citizens of Mexico want to be part of that failing state and culture. You have never seen, and will never see, a mass of people rushing Mexican border guards to get in. And we have every right and responsibility to take pride in our culture, though we recognize it as imperfect, because it is superior to all others you may stack it against. Our citizens do not stream to other countries or cultures for work, or education, great orchestras do not play the classical masterpieces of 3rd world countries which struggle for subsistence. We can work to adjust the edges, correct mistakes, and right wrongs, but for the Lefty elite who seek to wholesale reject our nation and culture, they are just as wrong as it is possible to be. They seek to destroy what we have in favor of some coffee shop dreams of their idea of a perfect society which does not, and never has, existed.

We need to take pride in America. There is a reason why so many wish to come here, and why so many volunteer to defend her. I make no apology for being proudly American. I take pride in my Irish heritage, but I AM an American. To the Elitist chic dandies who want to tear it down and find their Utopian society, a dream which has cause endless misery and death throughout history, I consign you to the other side of Chesterton’s Fence.

G.K. Chesterton used an analogy of a fence in the middle of a field. When you propose to me to remove a cultural barrier, or part of our way of life, like that fence, first you must tell me why it was built. If you do not know, you cannot remove it. Once you find out why it is there, then we can discuss whether to remove it. Who knows? Perhaps it is to keep wolves away from the sheep, even though standing next to it, you can see neither the sheep nor the wolves. Still, its purpose still exists, and so, therefore should it. If we permit you to destroy fences willy nilly and build without knowing the purpose of what you destroy, or what you build, the result we get will be anarchy and barbarism.

So, to answer my premise, yes. It is worth defending American, and the American ideals and principles. And that begins with our founding documents, not the fad of the day. If you are an American, chances are you have never, or not for a long time, read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Federalist Papers. I challenge you to make that a project for this year. They are readily available. They form the basis for the nation and the freedoms you have enjoyed. They also contain a number of fences. Understand why they are there, and how they protect and defend you.

 

 

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Mark Caserta: It’s time for Huntington, WV to stop losing to the Deep State.

16 Dec

deep state

(The Deep State in America is real and poisoning communities with progressive policies)

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Mark Caserta is an opinion columnist and editor for Free State Patriot.

December 16, 2018

 

A call to action for our readers:

There is a segment of our nation’s community, mostly liberals, who hate Donald Trump more than they love their country. Ironically, this more accurately resembles the definition of “deplorable”, despite the declaration of their progressive queen, Hillary Clinton.

Their defeat is paramount to the continued success of our nation.

Progressives have but one goal – destroy the presidency of Donald J. Trump and the conservative movement. Sadly, they’re willing to sacrifice everything – including our country’s most foundational principles.

Understand, this mindset is closer to home than you may think, right here in Huntington, WV.

In my lifetime, I can’t recall a more destructive, manipulative media than we currently have in the United States. Fake news is a very real dilemma in our lives. In fact, the scales may finally have tipped to the left when weighing news, genuinely designed to inform, versus news pre-meditatively fashioned to influence, in support of one’s agenda.

In this writer’s opinion, most of our media resources, including our local newspaper, The Herald Dispatch, (for which I was the “token” conservative opinion contributor for 14 years), intentionally slant the news away from President Trump’s successes and toward anything they can spin as a loss.

And frankly, it takes a lot of effort to avoid reporting Trump’s successes. They’re everywhere!

Consider this for a moment. If the liberal media or the deep state had evidence of even the slightest crime committed by this president, don’t you think it would be plastered all over the news?

Liberal assailants have nothing, but continue to seek vindication while wasting millions of your tax dollars conducting one witch hunt after another looking to bring down the man who embarrassed liberal Democrats in the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s election, over liberal prognosticator’s odds, exposed them for the feckless, progressive minions they’d become.

Additionally, in this humble columnist’s opinion, it is an act explicitly void of patriotism to fight against the success of America simply to foster the failure of Donald Trump. He is working diligently to honor his commitment to Americans who hired him to deliver our country from the bonds of impending socialism and ruin, manufactured by his predecessor.

And the fact that Trump is having unprecedented success, drives liberals absolutely, out of their minds.

For the first time in my lifetime, the U.S. energy system is largely independent. One portion, that runs on renewables, such as nuclear, coal and natural gas is energy independent. While the U.S. continues to import a fair amount of its oil supply, even that is on the decline and will eventually shift toward a greater amount exported than imported.

President Trump accomplished this energy independence without a single Democrat, a handful of Republicans and little to no media support.

The nation’s unemployment rate is at an all-time low, for every single demographic. Jobs are on the increase along with the labor participation rate.

The Obamacare individual mandate, which forced you to purchase health coverage, even if you didn’t want it, so it could bolster coverage for others, is gone. This has been a huge boost to our economy, and jobs.

When was the last time you heard a news story about an ISIS beheading or attack? They’ve been decimated through President Trump’s leadership.

The most devastatingly compromising deal in our nation’s history, the Iran Nuclear deal, has been terminated, aligning with Trump’s “America first” policy.

The Paris Climate Accord, which placed the U.S. in an unfair position fighting the myth of man-made climate change has been eradicated.

Jerusalem has been officially recognized by this administration as the capital of Israel and the U.S. embassy has been relocated accordingly. Despite other president’s promising this action, it was only important enough to Donald Trump to do so.

Based on President Trump’s decisiveness, business savvy, and negotiation prowess, the United States is once again, respected and revered by other nations. And the only thing that changed was the man in the oval office, and the favor of Almighty God.

Yes, Donald Trump is certainly not a politician. Thank God.

In fact, he’s possibly the most politically incorrect person ever to hold political office, especially the presidency. But, I believe Trump has changed politics forever. Americans now know they have other options in leadership.

Trump has effectively negated the Obama presidency in just two years. Now, that’s worth cheering about! If Barack Hussein Obama had accomplished even a portion of Trump’s wins, He would be anointed by the media as the greatest president in U.S. history.

Sadly, in addition to his poor policy choices, Obama missed a unique opportunity to unify our nation as the first African-American president in history. He chose, rather, to divide us with his progressive, socialist belief system. I believe his legacy will be one of failure. It could have been much worse if his failures weren’t aptly corrected by his successor – Donald Trump.

Thanks God America was spared long term devastation.

We must understand, as citizens of Huntington, we face similar devastation at the hands of progressives determined to ride our fair city all the way to the highest level of power possible. And, it appears, our city’s leaders are also willing to sacrifice everything, simply to fundamentally change our city to align with their liberal aspirations of power.

May God continue to bless our nation as we head into the new year. I predict, that while President Trump will, no doubt face continued challenges from progressives and the complicit, liberal media, 2019 will be a banner year for our nation. Despite liberals working against the president, America is great again. And the best is yet to come.

May God also intervene on our city’s behalf and send someone to return Huntington to greatness. As citizens of Huntington, we face issues, on a local level, that are being fostered by the same, liberal policies which were incorporated on a national level during the Obama administration.

This is unacceptable.

May our state and local leaders adopt “Huntington first” policies so we, also, may also be spared long-term devastation from liberal, deep state progressives.

The call to action? Get informed and engaged. It’s time to stop losing to the Deep State.

 

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Mark Caserta: Make Huntington, WV. Great Again!

7 Oct

 

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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: Some Advice to Progressives and the Younger Generations

16 Sep

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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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Mark Caserta: Progressives attack God’s Word so many ways

8 Jun

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

June 8, 2018

 

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Ever wonder why progressives incessantly attack God’s Word?

Well, if it weren’t for the Holy Bible, God’s incarnate Word to His children, by what standard would we live our lives?  From what premise would we measure the principles of “good” and “evil”?

Now, I understand the question is inconsequential for those who theorize mankind evolved from a “big bang” in the universe.  But, which requires more faith – the belief that man evolved from a cosmic explosion or that man was created by an Almighty God?

The Bible tells us in John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This scripture, while too profound for a man to rightly discern, explains not only the origin of mankind, but the principles by which God planned for His children to live their lives.

So, at this point in our earthly journey, what if those “words” were either removed or left to question moving forward?

The effect would be the same as uprooting a tree in a mighty wind.  Without it’s securing roots, the tree would be blown any direction the wind would take it.  It would seek sustenance and fulfillment wherever it may land.

My friends, this describes the modern-day, progressive movement and the need for discounting God’s Word in our lives.

Have you ever seen a liberal attack the Quran, the religious text of Islam, the Vedas, the writings of Hinduism, or even Tao Te Ching, the ancient text of Taoism?  What makes the Bible so threatening as to draw relentless fire from liberals?

Through the years, I’ve observed numerous ways liberals attack the Bible.  While some audaciously declare it to be nonsense, others are subtler, simply bringing to question certain portions of text. Understand, it doesn’t take a “theologian” to prey upon someone with little faith and convince them to question the story of “Jonah and the whale” or Jesus feeding 5000 followers with five loaves of bread and two small fish.

Of course, these events cannot be comprehended by man.  They’re miracles!

I submit, if even one scripture from the Bible can be brought to question, we could never believe the others are the infallible, inerrant Word of God?  And progressives know that.

Additionally, modern-day liberals seek to rebut certain principles of God’s Word by equating them to bias or prejudice.  They often decry Christians as discriminatory or xenophobic when their religious beliefs aren’t inclusive of liberal passions.  But Christians are the intolerant ones!

The entire premise of the progressive movement is standards should “adapt” with changing times.  They present the Bible as antiquated and methodically challenge it, usually before a younger, less Biblically-rooted audience.

Liberals also use “desensitization” in their pursuit of change.  They tenaciously test the “accepted norm”, gradually de-programming the population into a subliminal acceptance. If they can eventually gain an “inch,” that’s a win for a progressive.  They understand inches equate to feet, to yards, and eventually miles.

God knew we would face these challenges. That’s why we must not allow God’s Word to be discounted. Knowledge of scripture and the provisions God’s made for us in our lives is essential to protecting our future.

So be steadfast and unafraid to stand firm, even in the face of ridicule.  We are told in Romans, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

As for the progressive movement, we already know they lose in the end.  They just don’t know it yet.

But, we will all have the answers, soon enough.  Just from different venues.  So, keep the faith.

 

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Mark Caserta: Progressivism a challenge for future generations

12 Jan

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

Jan 12, 2018

 

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Anyone who understands liberal ideology is aware the hatred of President Trump, exhibited daily, goes much deeper than the simple disdain for an individual, much deeper.

Donald Trump and the conservative policies he’s employed as president represent the literal antithesis of progressivism. In many respects, we’ve seen the advancement of liberal principles degraded to a degree unprecedented in my lifetime.

And frankly, it’s driving liberals out of their minds!

Additionally, those who’ve followed the progressive movement over the years understand their methodical approach to removing the principled boundaries around us has often involved an evolution of the environment around our children and the subsequent indoctrination of liberal ideals into their lives.

For example, today’s millennials probably never experienced prayer in school and weren’t privy to even the smallest portion of faith-based tenets in the classroom. Many individuals, now of voting age, are likely unaware of the progressive evolution of Roe v. Wade and how the law morphed from protecting the life of the mother to an “abortion-on-demand” system. I dare say many millennials are uninformed of “G-ratings” for movies, and would probably be disinclined to see a film void of the accepted level of violence, vulgar language and sex currently found in films.

Now, the liberal position is “this is simply progress. Get over it.”

The conservative position is “this represents the decay of a principled society.”

Unfortunately, our society has become saturated with individuals so weary of the politicization of nearly every aspect of our lives they’ve taken refuge on the sidelines and will remain there until issues begin directly impacting their lives or those around them.

And that’s where liberals win! They’re resolved to taking advantage of the fatigued among us. And don’t be fooled, their astuteness to weakness is akin to a shark sensing blood in the water. They won’t grow weary and they do not faint. They keep fighting until they advance their ideology.

I firmly believe that’s why the Bible tells us in Galatians, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” God knew what Christians would face and He was preparing us with these encouraging words from Paul the Apostle.

So, what to do? Friends, I suggest employing a similar strategy in our battle against progressivism. And I believe we must begin with our children. Proverbs tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Winning any battle requires a thorough understanding of the enemy and its capabilities. While the progressive movement may be stalled, our children will certainly deal with greater challenges in the future.

I suggest we begin by ensuring a Godly foundation on which our children may live their lives. Without this solid foundation, as with any structure, it will eventually fall.

Pray about how you can have the greatest impact on those around you. “None of us” is as strong as “all of us.”

Our country needs you in the fight.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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