Better late than …

I have come late to politics. Before my retirement, I pretty much accepted whatever the local network stated. I’d catch a live address if I wasn’t working, read some articles on lunch breaks. I’m not apologizing; I am what I am – a late bloomer.

I’m reminded of the Bible story about the vineyard owner who hired workers at the beginning of the day and then a few more at the near end of the day. When the workday was over, the men who worked the entire day were paid according to the agreement; so were the later ones paid the same amount. Without the religious meaning, this tells us that it may not matter how soon or how late you get there, the important thing is that you arrive.

I read Solzhenitsyn in high school. When I – and the rest of the world – discovered Jordan Peterson, I read several of the books he recommended, including The Whisperers. Horrifying reading but necessary and should be mandatory. I read Nick Adams’s “Retaking America” and “You Will be Made to Care” by Erickson and Blankshaen. I read Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option, which was almost as impactful as the other books. I found smart people in Ben Shapiro, an Englishman with a long, deep memory for politics and history, and an American of encyclopedic knowledge. I developed a deep and meaningful relationship with a bishop and have been able to reconcile my political thoughts with what I hope is the will of God. I’ve done some studying since the old local news.

When I make a choice, I feel that not only have I made an informed decision but also a right decision. I know why I voted a certain way and why I will vote a certain way. I’ve found how to research judges whose names come up on local ballots. I gather as much information as possible on Schoolboard elections and their candidates – the importance of this is equal to a presidential election; those ‘little’ elections have the weight of what your children will learn and how America will fail or succeed in the future.

It doesn’t matter if you’re 80 and voting for the first time; it doesn’t matter if you’re 18 and voting for the first time. Or, for that matter, any age in between. Today I would tell the working person, while you’re driving your car, making supper for the family, folding laundry, or mowing the lawn – cell phones go everywhere; you can get podcasts, videos, audiobooks all right there on the same instrument you use to take pictures and make phone calls. Use it for something enriching, informing, varied, and paradigm-shifting. The truth is out there; it’s not going to come running up to you and slap you in the face. You have to seek it out. You have to ‘work’ for it. But just like your mom and dad always told you; anything worth having is worth working for. Religion and politics are right at the top of that list.

 

Monday Thoughts

I’m not going to talk much about the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, may she find justice in the afterlife. I will say this, if the Democrats and their controlled terrorists think that a threat of riots will deter the President and Senate, I suspect they will have a surprise coming and another big one on November 3d. This is not a time when we can tolerate a bunch of 4-4 decisions on matters that so strongly affect the future of the United States. I’m reminded that two of those terrorists, BLM lawyers in New York, are looking at life sentences in federal prison for torching an NYPD squad car. Yes, there is a lesson there. Make of it what you will.

Along that line, Bruce L Hartman at American Thinker has taken to calling these people we see destroying our cities, and yes, their enablers in the left and the media, the E (for entitled) Generation. It’s an acute observation. They always have been, how many times have you seen a parent give in to a four-year-old’s tantrum in the grocery store, then seen that same kid get a wall full of participation trophies. Read his article, he’s not wrong, but he’s much kinder than I am, I simply call them “spoiled brats who need a good lesson in deportment”, and yes in many other things too. Until they get it, there going to ruin many peoples’ lives, including their own.

Clarice Feldman, also at American Thinker has a three-part article this week, and it’s outstanding. She quotes David Goldman saying this.

The President, defying the conventional wisdom of decades of big thinkers in foreign policy establishments here and in Europe, offered the Palestinians their last best hope for peace. Since peace was never their objective, they turned it down and now they are like the petunia in an  onion patch of the  children’s song — standing alone among its neighbors.

That’s spot on and again Clarice carries the ball admirably, as usual. But there’s something else lurking in the shadows here. I wonder how many jobs, American, and in other countries are dependant on peace not being brought to the middle east. Obviously, John Kerry amongst others has built his entire career from the day he threw his medals from the Vietnam War over the White House fence all those years ago to last Friday on it. I strongly doubt he’s the only one. That’s worth some thought on other issues facing us, as well.

She also talks about that beautiful piece of legal jiu-jitsu that Betsy DeVos executed on Princeton’s  President Christopher Eisgruber asking him bluntly under threat of $75 million in Federal Aid in the last seven years whether “Do these admissions mean Princeton’s non-discrimination and equal opportunity assurances and representations to the Department and/or to students, parents, and consumers in the market for education… have been false and misleading? If not, why not?” Virtue signaling may have just gotten rather expensive. Better late than never.

She also talks intelligently about replacing Justice Ginsburg. I said all I care to about that above, but it’s worth reading as well.

A short take to wrap this up. There’s a fairly long article in The Tablet, that you need to read on how what the author calls America’s China class came to so dominate so much of American life. I think you will find it quite illuminating, so do read it. I’ll quote a couple sentences to whet your appetite.

American political and corporate elites didn’t choose decline. They chose to get rich.

Yep, and they sold out Americans, perhaps unknowingly but I doubt it, to do so. Now they are trying to destroy the President as they have for almost 5 years now.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

If you want to be truly humbled, watch naturalized citizens speak to President Trump. I love America. I’m proud of America. I’m proud to be an American. But I was born here, as were my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great, great grandparents. It’s the only country I know. We forget – oh my gosh – we forget how very fortunate we are.

On Sunday, President Trump met with ‘Latinos for Trump’ in Nevada. They stand and speak to him and male and female, they are so grateful to the President – and to America – for what he and the country have given them; the opportunities afforded them and their families, the successes they’ve been able to achieve that were impossible where they were born.

Most of them have lived under socialism; many of them have lived in oppressive societies in which they were emotionally and mentally straight-jacketed. They could never get ahead. They could never reach their goals. Sometimes just feeding their families was more than they could accomplish.

They speak to the President like he’s their special friend; they speak to him from their hearts and often get choked up and a tear or two falls but they so desperately want him to know how they feel, to tell him about the businesses they’ve started, to tell him how successful their children are. They want him to know. They need for him to know how he has affected their lives in the last four years. They’ve got one shot to tell him and they use it. One gentleman – this was priceless – said he didn’t have a question but his mom wanted him to tell the President ‘she loves you’. Moving, touching stories that are as much about America as it about the President.

And that’s the thing, isn’t it? The Flag, Lady Liberty, and the President – the right President – are the hope of the world and the things by which we Americans are known.

I’ll say it loud. I’M AMERICAN AND I’M PROUD.

 

 

 

Random Observations

Over the last couple of weeks, as I give a quick scan of the offerings on YouTube, I’ve noticed several new channels by young (and not so young) people of color about President Trump not being racist. Refreshing news; and heartening.

I was watching a live taping of the last Hurricane Laura update given by the powers that be in Louisiana the night of expected landfall. There was an open live chat that ran along the right side of what would become a video. There were more pro-Trump comments than about anything having to do with the hurricane! As a matter of fact, several people in the chat complained that it was a chat for sharing info on the hurricane and not a political site. It really was amazing.

But, oh – the faces. Just a short thought on the non-famous speakers especially but also applies to the political speakers as well. Did you notice their faces? There seemed, to me, at least, that there was a happy conviction in their faces, a look of shining hope that was difficult for me to miss. I hope you noticed it, too, because I believe it’s that look, and that conviction, that will get us Four More Years.

Rand Paul, his wife, and guests had an unpleasant surprise waiting for them when they left the last night of the Republican Convention. Antifa, BLM, and paid thugs simply won’t be happy until the Guard goes in and settles them down at the point of a fast-repeating weapon of some kind

The holier than thou press did not miss a beat in reporting that four people at the Convention tested positive for the you-know-what. I find myself yawning because it has become so hopelessly obvious what mainstream media is trying to accomplish. I’m not the brightest bulb in the shop, if I see it, everyone sees it. It has ceased to serve its purpose. We jumped when they shouted ‘boo!’ the first time. The scare doesn’t work anymore.

The Convention

Well, the conventions are over. By all reports, the Democratic one was dark and foreboding. I don’t know, I couldn’t convince myself to watch any part of it. The Democrats at this point sicken me thoroughly. I don’t like that they do, historically my family is Democratic, dad was, in fact, a New Dealer, but he was also a conservative, which was very common although seems inconceivable now. Well, the past is prologue, they say.

The Republicans, I did watch, and I was impressed. It was completely different from anything in my lifetime, and yet, I think it may have been by far the best convention of my lifetime. What made it so different?

First, it dispensed with many of the politicians, sure we saw some important ones, and some of the administration’s leadership and the President’s staff, often, in this case, his family. But other than that, we mostly had four days of pretty average Americans, pretty much all of whom we could easily relate to. probably the closest I can come, it felt like a family reunion, where we catch up on each other, and of course, in a sense, it was, because Ameria has always been kind of an overgrown family.

Other things, Opening prayers, from Timothy Cardinal Dolan to the Rev Franklin Graham, heartfelt, on point, and meaningful.

I was surprised how hard the convention pushed our pro-life message. Yes, it’s there as it has been for years, but President Trump has emphasized it far more than anyone before, and it resonates with many of us. Abby Johnson did a wonderful job of making us see how planned Parenthood operates, “Did you know abortion has a smell?” will long linger in my thoughts. So did Colonel Sister Deidre Byrne, MD of the little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

And to watch disabled;ed veterans come to attention along with the President and Vice-President, at Fort McHenry, where the gallantry of American Arms stood off the most powerful empire in the word, while Trace Adkins sang the National Anthem,  based on that action, so long ago, moved me

You could call this the best reality TV ever, and in a sense, it was. But it was so much more. You could feel so much of America, yesterday Audre told us we can go home again, and that was indeed what it felt like. When I was young, God and Country were givens, for many of us they still are, and the genius of the convention was to give us back a national and perhaps international voice.

And there are many of us out here, the Normies, the Deplorables, whatever sobriquet the Elect choose to try to denigrate us with this week, we shrug them off and go on clinging to our guns that made us free on earth, our Bibles that will make us free in Heaven, and our determination that America shall not perish, but continue to keep the beacon fire roaring in the City on the Hill.

And you know, I think we will, at least for another four years.

MAGA

You Can’t Go Home Again

That’s what Thomas Wolf told us. I get it; ‘home’ doesn’t change but we do. Home, which was big and comfortable and familiar becomes small, less conducive to comfort, and shabby around the edges because we’ve been places since home, seen a thing or two, changed within ourselves.

I was going to wait until after the Republican National Convention concluded but I can’t wait. I am so enthused, so excited, so humbled and joyful I just have to share.

Brilliant idea behind this convention. Talk to the ‘little people’, talk to the Americans who never have a microphone in front of their faces. Talk to those folks who have lived an American life, whether it is rural or urban, big business or small family farms, and factories, whether they are Ph. Ds or high school diploma’d. Talk to the Americans across the country, whether they were born here or are naturalized. But talk to real Americans if you want to know what America is like. They’ll tell you. They’ll stop what they’re doing to tell you. And that’s exactly what this convention has done – and is doing the rest of the convention (tonight and tomorrow night, in case you forgot).

But here’s the thing and this is what’s going to kill the Biden/Harris ticket – throughout this convention, we have seen (and will continue to see), the America I grew up in. Folks who are proud of America and of being American. Folks who are grateful for the life America has afforded them. Folks who have never had a silver spoon in their mouths and never had a platform from which to share their thoughts on the America they know and love. Proud people, humble people, the workaday American Joe Public on the street. They love this country and they love the way President Trump has completely changed the trajectory of this country. They appreciate – deeply – that he’s managed against staggering odds against him, he’s managed to right the ship. The course has been corrected and the winds are in our favor – no matter what the Left would have us believe!

Tears ran down my face when I watched those five people from five different countries take their oath of naturalization. The pride that shone on their faces is something now emblazoned on my heart. Can you imagine having the President of the United States of America present at that most extraordinary time of your life? What stories they have to tell their families both near and far.

I love Mr. Maximo Alvarez. Dignity. Assurance. And a deep, deep love for this country. He knows first hand what the Left is peddling; he’s ‘been there, done that’. He carries in his heart the words his father told him, “If freedom isn’t in America, where is there to go?” His birth family and his own family found the freedom here that they sought. He’s proud to be American. So am I.

Say what you will about President Trump, brash, braggart, coarse – he’s all us. He’s all in. He remembers the America we grew up in and he’s bringing it back.

Turns out Thomas Wolf was wrong – we can go home again. And we can thank President Trump for that.