Tag Archives: progressivism

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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Mark Caserta: America’s families are under attack

15 Sep

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

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Any mason knows if the cornerstone is not laid properly, the structure can eventually falter and collapse. With the deepest of convictions, I believe there is a liberal assault on the family unit, or God’s cornerstone to our society, with the intention of re-branding it as non-essential for the progressive era.

In 2014, I wrote a column entitled, “America should refocus on the family.” In the column, I dealt with the importance God placed on the family structure. The very concept of God’s creation of man gives us reason to believe He understands the need for relationships and the importance of family.

In Genesis 2:18, God instituted the family when He said, “It is not good that man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him.” He then formed Eve from Adam’s rib, declaring, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

My Christian walk has taught me the attacks from the enemy (whom Christians believe to be Satan) are more heavily directed toward threats to the devil’s plan to steal, kill and destroy in the Kingdom of God. I believe this is the reason the family unit is under attack by liberals who would openly redefine its nature, by whittling away at its foundation.

And despite how often portrayed, the husband is an integral part of the family.

Ephesians reminds husbands to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church.” The profoundness of this statement is illuminated in that Christ willingly gave his life for the church. In this capacity, the husband is called to be the “priest” of his household, spending time in prayer and attending to his family’s spiritual needs.

Unfortunately, today’s television programs often cast the head of the household as a bumbling fool and lackadaisical in his role as the priest of the home. Don’t think for a moment this is unintentional. It’s a progressive attempt to alter the significance of traditional family structure.

Simply look at the targeted audience of many of today’s television sitcoms or cartoons – our impressionable youth! I believe it’s a deliberate form of indoctrination to a progressive lifestyle.

Look at the channel “Freeform.” The Freeform channel was originally The Christian Broadcasting Network “Family Channel.” The network was eventually sold to Disney in 2001 and renamed ABC “Family,” which propagated the moniker “A new kind of family.” It eventually morphed into Freeform, which incessantly portrays “Becomers,” or viewers between the ages of 14 and 34, as sexually active and engaging in promiscuous lifestyles.

Folks, this is a methodical approach to fundamentally reconstruct the family unit in the likeness of liberalism.

So, what to do? As Christians, we must seek first the Kingdom of God. We must also learn to recognize these liberal attacks in their infancy, before they establish their own sort of “cornerstone” from which they can build on the progressive movement.

Expect to be criticized, even hated, for your faith. But let not your heart be troubled – Jesus understands.

He was crucified for it.

The Bible tells us when we’ve done all we know to do – stand.  Remember, every step conservatives take backward, is a step forward for liberals.

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Mark Caserta: Are liberals pursuing Ahab’s great white whale?

8 Sep

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

Sep 8, 2017 

 

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The enormous amount of venomous enmity toward Donald J. Trump, by liberals, is unlike anything we’ve seen in modern-day politics. Their passion to destroy a U.S. president, frankly, makes taking them seriously difficult.

In fact, the magnitude of liberal fury toward President Trump reminds me of the obsessive behavior of Captain Ahab in his pursuit aboard the Pequod to destroy the great white whale known as Moby Dick.

A bizarre comparison, you say? Perhaps, but stay with me.

In Herman Melville’s epic novel, Ahab was a whaling captain enslaved by a maniacal passion for revenge against a white whale that had destroyed one of his legs. This theme aligns perfectly with the current progressive addiction to destroying Donald Trump in that Ahab sought not only to avenge his loss against a mere whale, but over a ruling authority which Ahab refuses to accept, the nature of which is left to the reader.

Nonetheless, the captain’s compulsion was clearly not “normal,” as illuminated in one of Ahab’s final lines in the story that reveals his warped determination to destroy his foe, the great white beast.

“To the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart, I stab at thee; for hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”

No, that wasn’t Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) speaking of Trump, but it isn’t far off the scandalous remarks she and other liberals have made about our president.

Let me be clear. Liberals have absolutely nothing to leverage against our president than their disdain for the fact Hillary lost the election in an electoral landslide.

They’ve even tried blaming Moscow.

But to date, there’s still no evidence Donald Trump ever colluded with Vladimir Putin to defeat Hillary Clinton. Why would Putin want Trump as president when he profited so well under a liberal administration? And the liberal hypocrisy by not addressing legitimate Russian collusion by the Obama administration is very telling.

Remember when President Obama got caught in a private conversation on a hot microphone in Seoul, Korea, telling outgoing Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that Vladimir Putin should give him more “space” and that “after my election I have more flexibility”?

Russian collusion supported by fact.

While ignored by the major liberal media, from 2009 to 2013, Russia began acquiring shares of Uranium One, a Canadian uranium company with holdings in the United States. Under the Obama administration, Russia gained control of nearly 20 percent of the uranium production capacity in the U.S.

Following the transaction, donations totaling $2.35 million dubiously made their way to the Clinton Foundation. Bill Clinton also received a “gratuitous” fee of $500,000 for a speech he made to the Kremlin.

Russian collusion supported by fact.

Is the progressive movement so paramount to the left they’re willing to follow this conservative “white whale” into treacherous waters, wildly seeking to annihilate this threat to their liberal passions?

Liberals would be wise to heed the moral of the story of Captain Ahab and the crew of the Pequod. The passion of their pursuit could eventually precipitate their demise.

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

 

 

 

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Mark Caserta: President is blocking the progressive movement

11 Aug

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

8.10.2017

 

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Much to the chagrin of liberal Democrats, President Trump’s visit on Thursday of last week was a banner day for the city of Huntington and the state of West Virginia. The turnout and enthusiasm of Trump supporters everywhere clearly illuminates the disconnect between the president’s reported approval ratings and reality.

Remember, the same people trying to convince you Trump’s approval ratings are low are the same folks who tried to persuade you Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide.

Sadly, the American people seem to have increasingly fewer mainstream media outlets which can be trusted to adhere to the gravity of free speech afforded them by the Constitution, a condition I’m concerned will be memorialized as a discordant turning point in our country’s history.

But, it’s quite fascinating that even with the support of the media, the liberal voice is becoming increasingly irrelevant on nearly every front, by virtue of liberals’ expanding progressive ideology moving them further to the left of most Americans.

For posterity, I’d like to pose a few questions to readers.

Do you feel like liberals hate President Trump more than they love our country?

Is there anything Trump will ever do which liberals will support, regardless of the benefit to our nation?

And where does this pathological hatred of the president place liberal leaders in terms of acting on behalf of the American people?

One observation I’ve made is that President Trump has forced many progressives out of their “moderate” closets into the dimly lit darkness of hard-core liberalism, both locally and nationally. Meanwhile, and possibly even more appreciably, conservatives who were heretofore complacently on the sidelines have enthusiastically engaged in the fight.

It’s mind-boggling that progressives continue to propose their liberal policies as a “better deal” for America. The eight-year liberal Obama experiment certainly rendered that argument mute.

The progressive movement involves tenaciously advancing an ideology free of tethering principles and boundaries of morality. And frankly, their methodology for improving America is quite nonsensical.

Liberals believe removing God and His Word from all public venues will make America a better place.

Liberals believe more government intrusion into our lives is a good thing.

Liberals believe government deserves to have more of your hard-earned tax dollars because they will spend it more wisely.

Liberals believe in open borders and anyone who disagrees is a bigot.

Liberals believe abortion-on-demand is the right of every woman and supersedes the life of an innocent baby.

Liberals want to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.

Liberals want to “progressively” redefine the family structure beyond the traditional union of a man and a woman.

And liberals don’t want to place any restrictions on gender identification, regardless of anatomy.

Is this the America you desire?

I believe liberalism is about fundamentally changing society to accommodate a new, universally accepting social order. And the fact that we have a president who is successfully blocking their movement is driving liberals crazy.

Conservatives have the momentum, so let’s keep working. Tell your representatives to support the president.

Let’s return America to greatness. And continue to make the liberal voice irrelevant in our society.

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

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Mark Caserta: Readers respond to columnist’s question

5 Aug

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot editor

Aug 4, 2017

 

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Last week’s column, “Did West Virginians elect Trump out of ignorance?,” was centered on the facetious question as to whether voters in our state are qualified to make an educated choice for president of the United States.

Of course they are.

But some of the cynical responses were very telling. Some even had me questioning the reader’s ability to comprehend the text, as portrayed in this response from one reader.

“Mark. Oh no, buddy. It has finally hit you right between the eyes. YOU are seeing Trump for what he is. You’re asking YOURSELF this question: Did I help elect Trump out of ignorance? Looks like you’ve been mulling that over.”

Other folks, as in this reader, surmised West Virginians simply chose the “lesser of two evils.”

“As West Virginians only had, as a viable alternative vote in 2016 the corporatist, republican-lite option of voting for Hillary Clinton, it is very understandable that most Democratic voters stayed home and some even voted for what was perceived as a wild-card, anti-DC candidate like Trump rather than falling in line behind the empty establishment pants suit.”

Of the responses from individuals typically aligning themselves with progressives, it’s worth noting the lack of regard they apparently have for the intellect of West Virginians.

“They had other options, they can write in any person they want, or not vote at all. Only stupid people believe there is some magical civic- duty to vote. They never/don’t realize the door of obligation swings both ways. Ignorant conservatives, you know I love-em!”

“Well, considering Arch Moore was convicted for corruption and jailed, then RE-ELECTED in West Virginia as governor and THEN his daughter enters politics and SHE gets elected? I don’t know, but? Does that speak to an abundance of smarts in this state?”

“A majority of West Virginians are too busy trying to make a living to give much time to considering political candidates. After all, they’ve sent some real losers (not this one) to the statehouse.”

“Did West Virginians elect Trump out of ignorance? Yes. Like there was any other option. How else could/would clueless conservative hillbillies vote?”

Then there were responses like this one, interjecting reasoned perspective into the discussion.

“This is all pretty funny. And it confirms something I’ve known to be true for a long time. Liberals can’t read. Mark concludes that ‘And just perhaps, it isn’t the 68 percent of West Virginians who elected Donald Trump who are the ignorant ones, after all.’ And liberals read that as Mark concluding that West Virginians who voted for Trump did so out of ignorance. Pretty funny, and shows their total lack of logic and reasoning ability.”

So, according to liberals, ignorance, indeed, played a role in electing Trump in West Virginia. I can only assume they believe similarly for the other 30 states he won.

This progressive rationale prompts me to ask liberals another clarifying question.

Do you accept any of the blame for Donald Trump being elected president, or was it simply the ignorance of others?

Future voters eagerly await your response.

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

 

 

 

 

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Doug Smith: A “Better Deal” with whom?

26 Jul

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Doug Smith:  Free State Patriot history and society editor

July 26, 2017

 

 

So, the Democrats, party of the New Deal, The Great Society, All this and World War, too, have decided to solve their problem (nobody votes for them anymore) with a “Better Deal”.

Hmm. Really?

Well, I have not written a book about deals, nor have a stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently, but I have made and observed a few deals in the past 60 years and offer some observations and lessons learned.

  1. Who you make a deal with matters. I have made business deals with people I had reason to mistrust, but a desire to trust; an alcoholic, a thief, a chronic liar. (not all the same person!) Those deals have, predictably, gone south.
  2. Examine your motivation. I made those bad deals because they promised a lot that I wanted. I wanted those things badly, for reasons of my own, but they were a little too good to be true. In perfect hindsight, I should have passed.
  3. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. Trust your gut.
  4. Deals offered by Democrats have a poor track record. (The 7 years of broken promises by my own party, the GOP, is a subject for another time.)Wilson ran on a strong anti-war platform: “Too Proud to Fight. “, “He Kept us out of the War” (WW1, if you were wondering.)  He was inaugurated Jan, 100 years ago, for his second term. And in April, he went to Congress to launch the US into WW1.

    Reagan made a deal with the Democrats in 1983 for $ 1 of tax increases for every $ 3 in spending reductions. So, the Dems promised, and sent him a budget including the tax increases, which he signed. Reagan noted in his memoirs, and I note now, 34 years later, that we are still waiting for any Democrats, anywhere, at any time, to ever reduce spending on anything.

    Bush 41 made a deal with Ted Kennedy that he, Bush, would break his “Read my Lips, No New Taxes” pledge, in exchange for which Democrats would lower spending a commensurate amount. (Note that at that time, they still had not come through on those promised to Reagan, Bush’s predecessor.)  As noted, we are still waiting on those spending decreases.

    Since I have written at length about it, I won’t belabor the point too much, but Barack Obama s shovel ready jobs, which he laughed off, are still not done or filled, the 2500 a year savings never happened, we cannot keep our Doctors or plans, and whatever else it may have done, the “Affordable Care Act did not make Health Care either more affordable, or more available. Indeed, it had nothing whatsoever to do with “Care” but a great deal to do with “Insurance. “(Also, worth noting that the Insurance companies heartily signed on to a deal with a Dem that promised to assure them that 350 million people, under force of law, would be customers. And how did that work out for them?)

  5. Which brings us to a lesson learned by observations: if you make a deal with someone who does not keep their word with others, don’t expect them to keep their deal with you.
  6. Deals made with other people’s money are easy for the deal maker, (the Dems), enticing for the beneficiaries (their voters), brutal for the people whose money they spend (Me. You, if you pay taxes.) and once again, too good to be true. (See 3, above. See also Detroit, Illinois, black youth unemployment, minimum wage workers in Seattle.
  7. There is no real wealth, other than the fruits of labor. That is what we work and do. We assign an arbitrary value to gold and diamonds, yet if I were to lock you in a room with all the gold and diamonds you wanted, and nothing else, you would starve. You could not build a car with it, except if you used it to build a factory, buy raw materials, and hire workers. The Gross Domestic Product, the yardstick of the wealth of a nation, is not about the number of zeros at the Federal Reserve, (on the ledger, not the people. Yea, I know, cheap shot.) It is about the goods and services we produce, and the value that potential buyers assign to them, and are willing to pay, in their own valuta, time, or work to obtain them.Only in the Garden of Eden was all that a man and woman needed available to reach out and take. Only in the Garden of Eden was sex available, commanded, and totally without consequence, all the time. Only in the Garden of Eden was there no need to work, and produce.

There, and in the yearning for that which was lost, which comes to be expressed in the Utopian fantasies from Plato to Marx to Wilson to Obama.  And time and again, throughout history, there have been those who try to overturn the natural order, and operate on Eden Standard Time, the way we wish things were, instead of the way they are.  Every attempt has been met with failure, and disaster, and misery.

So, the Democrats’ promises are based on the Utopian ideal: we can replant the abundance of Eden and make it grow, we can go back to how it was, and make it happen again, just put us in charge.

And they reject the promises attached to the Eden story, because they contain unpleasant realities they wish to reject: By the sweat of your brow will you eat bread, until you return to the dust, for of dust you were made, and to dust you shall return.

To accept that means to accept that men will not be perfect, that we are subject to a higher power, and that we must obey certain rules.  Progressives, notably Democrats, do not want any rules but their own, and certainly not those rules.

But that pronouncement is not all bad. You Shall eat bread, by the sweat of your brow.  Not such a terrible thing. You no longer get the Eden deal, because you broke that one. But you do get this one: You won’t go hungry, but you must work for it now. But the Democrats keep trying to establish the Eden Deal, and, failing the power to do so, find it to fail over and over.

Tragically, the lesson they learn is not that it won’t work, which is has not for millennia. No, they come away saying, if we do the same thing over and over, we will eventually get a different result.

Einstein called that insanity.  So, it is. And so, is making a deal with the Democrats, whether you are a President or a voter.

 

 

 

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Mark Caserta: Liberal hypocrisy over Russia is telling

9 Jun

me

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

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Jun 9, 2017

 

Liberal activism has been taken to an entirely new level in 2017 in terms of what progressives are willing to compromise to protect their movement. And it’s quite disturbing to observe where our nation and its citizens fall on their list of priorities.

Liberal hypocrisy, for example, leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to U.S. relations with Russia. But for perspective, let’s look at a couple of examples.

In March 2012, when Barack Obama was running for re-election, a live microphone picked up his private conversation with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a gathering in Seoul, South Korea.

President Obama: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.”

President Medvedev: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ”

President Obama: “This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”

President Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir, and I stand with you.”

Can you imagine how liberals and the major news outlets would have lambasted President Trump if he had been covertly recorded making such a remark? We would likely have millions of liberals marching in Washington calling for the president’s immediate impeachment for obvious and shameless Russian collusion.

In March 2009, during a trip to Geneva, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov a small red button meant to represent a “Russian reset” of sorts between the U.S. and the Kremlin. While visiting Moscow in March 2010, Hillary explained the “reset’s” purpose: “Our goal is to help strengthen Russia,” as reported in an April 7 column by Deroy Murdock in National Review.

While the reset was a total failure for the U.S., many believe the ultimate Clinton/Russia relationship became profitable for the Clintons. In a deal known as “Uranium One,” Bill and Hillary may have sown some of their “entrepreneurial” oats for personal gain.

In April 2015, a story by Jo Becker and Mike McIntire in The New York Times detailed tens of millions of dollars in donations made to the Clinton Foundation following the approval by then-Secretary of State Clinton of the Russian acquisition of a company holding 20 percent of America’s uranium.

And Bill Clinton reportedly received a $500,000 speaking fee from a Russian government-connected bank during this time, as written by Jerome Hudson of Breitbart in March 2017.

Can anyone say liberal Russian collusion? Imagine, for a moment, the field day progressives would have if someone had even suggested Donald Trump or any one of his surrogates were involved in such deals!

Yet, progressive “snowflakes,” as they’ve been called, run around crying “election foul” when they don’t have a single shred of evidence, all the while ignoring fact-laden events of potential collusion that don’t support their ideology.

Frankly, this liberal hypocrisy and selective focus is very telling. One could surmise that progressives are only concerned with winning for their cause, regardless of the impact on our country.

Is there anything less patriotic?

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

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Doug Smith: The Crazy Years: And the “antidote” for progressivism.

9 Jun

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Doug Smith:  Free State Patriot history and society editor

6.9.2017

The Crazy Years

“No question now what has happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm

“The Crazy Years: “Considerable technical advance during this period, accompanied by a gradual deterioration of mores, orientation, and social institutions, terminating in mass psychoses in the sixth decade, and the interregnum.”

Robert Heinlein, The Past Through Tomorrow

Madness. Widespread, endemic, institutional madness is upon us. Privileged black students at college in Washington State, with an irony that is lost on them, but not, perhaps, on Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, or George Wallace, are in hysterics because a white liberal professor objected to a day of forced segregation from campus. Perhaps, they could even relabel the toilets and drinking fountains “Black Only” and “White Only”, just for the day.

Madness.

People, (I will refrain from the snowflake or nutso progressive label, that is too easy. Instead, I will note actions and thoughts that are divorced from reality and critical, rational thinking.) are reduced to sobbing hysterics that the climate is not precisely the same as it was…. when? Perhaps we want the climate of 1816, the year without a summer, during the little Ice Age of the 1800s.  Or perhaps not. Still, it is a source of great concern, to people who react to the latest act of Muslim Jihadist terror and murder with nonchalance, except to worry that people less tolerant will react badly to the act.

Madness.

Many things that were once not tolerated by social mores are now supposed to be tolerated, nay embraced!  Rational people exercise discretion, and can judge that one should tolerate the Sikh sitting next to you on the train, whereas one ought not to tolerate, for example, the idiot who insists on smoking a cigarette at the gas pump while you are filling up your car. Rational people do not tolerate everything, or they will die. Neither do they refuse to tolerate someone who simply disagrees with them or have a different skin color. (Note to the students at Evergreen College, an institution that in any rational society will close its doors as parents refuse to send their children there, read the speech of MLK for insight on content of character vs color of skin). We can tolerate much that is good and fine. We must not tolerate evil or danger.

Madness

Cultural norms that worked effectively to build an evolving, nurturing, and ever better civilization for over millennia are being cast aside in a whim of malignant tolerance. Western civilizations have eliminated slavery as a cultural norm. Eastern and middle eastern have not. The West: progress in science, economic advancement, and individual freedom and standards of living. The Near and Far East: not so much. Yet the family is under assault, middle aged blokes in dresses should not be kept out of the lady’s room, so called feminists embrace a Muslim culture which relegates women back to the “property “of some man, and enforces cruel punishments and maiming on them, while physically assaulting American women who simply wish to speak with an opposing point of view.

Madness. Pure Madness.

In one of the Batman movies, a chemical attack causes mass psychosis in Gotham City. Batman saves the day by destroying the evil men trying to tear Gotham apart, and distributes the antidote to save everyone and go back to the imperfect, but striving for improvement, Gotham.

The antidote to this madness is rational, common sense, critical thinking. The antidote is accepting fact, separated from emotion. The antidote is a deep breath and a large dose of reality: life as it is, not as progressive fantasies wish it to be.

The question, then, is who will be Batman?

We invent superheroes to take the place of ordinary men, doing great things in difficult circumstances, and give us hope.

Who will be Batman? On this D Day, the 6th of June, we are all Batman. Just ordinary guys, but plowing ahead through the fear and danger to face the enemy and defeat a crazed and wrong-headed ideology.

I am Batman.

 

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