Dumbing Down in the Name of Equity

Education.  It used to be a place where students would not only gain instruction in both general and specific topics.  It was also most importantly where students learned to question and to reason – to do the critical thinking that is necessary not only to expand one’s own mind and reach one’s own potential but is also necessary to understand others in society and to work together with those others to move society and mankind forward.

That is not education today.  Today we only allow students to learn that which meets the approval of a woke culture under its false promise of “equity”.  Questioning what is taught is frowned upon if not overtly disallowed.  No room for new or independent thoughts.  No tolerance for diverse views.

Consider the following examples (just a few of many available): 

·        A Virginia school district has cancelled Dr. Seuss for “racial undertones.”

·        Boston Public Schools are suspending Advanced classes because too many students in them are White or Asian (no evidence that the student makeup is based on any sort of discrimination).

·        English teachers across the country have cancelled Shakespeare as well as Greek classics because of “racism, homophobia, classism.”

·        Tom Sawyer has been cancelled due to racism.

·        Schools regularly condemn, punish, expel students for expressing un-approved views such as anti-abortion beliefs, Christian beliefs, conservative beliefs.  Students are sent home for wearing patriotic clothing displaying such things as the American flag.  A student who called conservative Black spokesperson Candace Owens a “Black trailblazer” was subjected to a schoolwide email condemning the student as racist.

·        The names “Abraham Lincoln” and “George Washington” have been removed from schools in California.

·        Schools are replacing traditional American history with the 1619 Project curriculum.  Written not by history scholars but by biased journalists, the 1619 curriculum “aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States' national narrative.”  It teaches that our entire country is based on a hatred of Whites toward Blacks.  It denounces the actual proven and factual history of our country as false and racist.  The premises of the 1619 Project have been shown to be erroneous.

·        More generally history instruction has taken a turn whereby America is seen to be an evil creation of White supremacists.  Students learn they should have no pride in their country.  White students are told they should be ashamed of their whiteness and feel guilt simply because they are White.

·        Critical Race Theory training, something that is notably both racist and inaccurate, is also a central part of public-school curriculums.  It focuses on instilling the belief that Whites are racist and that White supremacy is a continuing and systemic problem that cause a power imbalance and a subjugation of Blacks.  Basically, it teaches people of color to hate whites and teaches Whites to feel guilty and ashamed of who they are.

·        Teachers and professors who speak about differing perspectives or encourage students to discuss varying views on a topic are often censured or fired.

·        The hard sciences are not excused from the wokeness of the cancel culture.  Math has recently been accused of promoting White supremacy; demanding showing of work (thinking) or demanding correct answers is by some educators considered to be racist. 

·        Similarly, there are proper viewpoints that students are instructed to take about a variety of scientific theories.  Consider global warming:  while there are many theories about causes, effects, solutions, etc., many students are taught only the perspective of the Left-Green New Deal advocates while being told that questioning it or considering other perspectives is just plain wrong.  Science does not progress when it cannot be questioned just as the human mind does not grow when it cannot question.

·        Beyond the academics, the cancel culture reaches into extracurricular and other activities associated with education.  Students are taught that biological sex is subservient to gender identity.  Students are taught sexual concepts that are not scientifically accurate as young as kindergarten and are encouraged to choose and change their gender at will and without parental consent or even parental knowledge.

·        Women’s and girls sports currently are being eviscerated by the mandate that biological males are allowed to compete as women.  This essentially destroys the fair playing field and places women in a very real no-win situation – a situation that is both demeaning and destructive to their motivation.

These are just a few of the things that are going on in our educational institutions today.  This is happening at the behest of the Left and the woke and with the full blessing and assistance of the Biden Administration. 

This is a travesty, a tragedy, and simply unfair to the minds and souls of our young.  By not teaching students to think and reason, and by denying to those who can the opportunity to excel, we are dumbing down our educational system, our students, and in the end our entire country.

Education is supposed to be “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general or particular knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.”  This definition includes what I believe is the most important thing that any educational system or process can teach: the powers of reasoning and judgment, better known as critical thinking.  It is in that area that I believe the majority of educational systems in this country are utter failures. 

Today’s educational model does not teach critical thinking; moreover, it does not allow it.   Too often students are discouraged from questioning.  They are fed subject matter material, told to accept it, learn it, prove they heard what they were told by regurgitating in on tests.  Any aspect of critical thinking has been replaced by instilling a specific Leftist agenda and value system into the minds of our young. 

Students need to be exposed to more than one viewpoint, to alternate ideas, diverse authors, differing theories.  They need to be taught to solve problems, not just accept answers lectured to them.  They need to be taught how to analyze and assimilate facts and theories and viewpoints in order to discover and support their own conclusions. 

By not teaching or allowing students to question the information they are given, schools today deny the students the raw materials from which they could discover the joy of critical thinking and use it to realize their own full potential.  Not only does this not raise their thinking beyond a very basic level, it also creates the perfect environment for instilling minds with propaganda rather than knowledge.

The ability to question is necessary to preserve the freedoms of democracy.  Without questioning, when questions and diverse ideas are denied, democracy itself is being denied.

Don’t Trust the Snippets

History is important because it can guide and instruct us, not because it has all the answers.  Just like with the Bible, people can take snippets out of context and use them to support almost any premise.  Yet, when read in full context and with full understanding, that snippet may mean and support something quite different. 

I am not a Biblical scholar but I have read and studied a fair amount of history and I think that these days there is much misunderstanding and misuse of snippets from history.  There especially seems to be short-sighted and biased uses of the terms Nationalism, and Socialism/Communism. 

 Let’s consider the core themes underlying these terms.  First, Nationalism.  Its basic ideology is that one puts one’s country first.  How that plays out can exist on a spectrum.  On one end is Nazism or things like what we currently see in China as, for example, Muslims being placed in “reeducation camps.”

If you step off the other end of the spectrum there is no nation at all to be nationalist about.  Close to that end is the point that is reached when a country’s borders are so open and porous that there is actually no border at all.   Most forms of Nationalism are far closer to the middle of the spectrum than either of these extremes.

The underlying ideology of Socialism is to make better humans and in so doing make a better society.  (Note that it does not define "better" but leaves that to whomever is in power.)  Whatever form Socialism takes, it advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.  Classic Marxism sees Socialism as a transitional state on the way to the realization of Communism which envisions the creation of totally communal humans and with that a totally communal (Communist) society. 

Socialism falls less as a spectrum and more as a movement.  It starts with an existing society and through various methods of control works to re-make the humans therein so that they become, or at least behave like, the ideal that the leaders are seeking.  (As an aside, let’s not forget that part of Hitler’s nationalism was a desire to create a master race; nationalism and socialism are not mutually exclusive).   At the end of the socialist movement the individual and any individual freedom is completely lost to the preconceived socialist society.

Let’s take a particular snippet: “America First.”  There is no question that this phrase was associated with Nazi Germany in the 1930s and has a negative connotation as used there.  But we are not living in 1930 and when that phrase was used by Donald Trump it had a very different meaning as well as connotation.  While Hitler sought his master race via elimination of Jews and others, Trump sought to protect the borders of America by empowering its people while strengthening its immigration laws (not eliminating legal immigration nor diversity).  To say that simply because the same phrase was used in connection with two men that those two men were and their agenda was the same is a disingenuous use of a snippet to support an anti-Trump agenda.

There have been many promises throughout history of the beauty and glory of a socialist society.  These snippets are often shared without the context of what happened to the people who believed those dreams.   On the other hand, some aspects of socialism can have a beneficial effect if carefully implemented and controlled. 

Those who advocate socialism often ignore human nature in their socialist propaganda.  Even with his power from things like the Great Terror and the absolute fear of dissent instilled in the people, Stalin had to pull back and re-grant some aspects of individual freedom and even capitalism to his people:  he realized he could not simply remake mankind into a totally communal animal.

From the dawn of mankind, people have been territorial and selfish.  They also can be humanitarian and idealistic.  They can be all of these things and many more to a greater or lesser degree, and all with individual differences.  It is unrealistic to think that any political philosophy can remake all of mankind.

Nations, which are just the family or tribal unit on a grander scale are made of these same humans.  All nations are nationalist to some degree just as they are all socialist/communist to some degree.  To perceive either of these terms as entirely good or entirely evil is inaccurate.  And to take one snippet or phrase and use it to characterize a person or action in an entirely different context is not helpful to anyone.

A nation requires boundaries.  It usually has certain values and customs that define it.  It also usually welcomes diversity to some extent.   To be a nation, the people within it must want to protect and sustain it and that is nationalism and usually involves some aspect of “Nation First.”  That nationalism can become totalitarianist or evil does not make it in and of itself evil.  It can and more often does just as easily become a positive environment for the nation’s inhabitants.

All groups of people to a certain extent have an aspect of communalism (i.e. socialism).  Programs such as Social Security in which the community as a whole (in our case our elected representatives) has decided not only that a benefit will be available but what the amount and parameters of that benefit will be.  In other, non-representative forms of government other power structures will make the decisions, but in any socialist program the individual loses some individual freedom.

In a democracy the individuals make the choice of when and how much freedom they are willing to relinquish and for what purpose.  But socialism can, and usually does, easily become totalitarian in which the people no longer have the choice but are forced to give up their individualism to the collective.

Absolutes are rare in the daily world.  Realizing that would allow people to discuss just how strong we want our nationalism to be and just how much of our individual freedoms are we willing to give up for communal certainties designed by someone else.  But that requires education about these concepts and their histories; that is something which pulling snippets out of context does not provide.  Snippets are used to support hate and division.  Understanding requires more.

The problem here is that already we have those who advocate for Socialism taking full control of our educational tools.  As such, education becomes little more than state-sponsored propaganda.  So, if we are actually going to have a real conversation about these things, if we are going to choose for ourselves where we are headed, we need to do it now or it will be too late.  

The Silence of the Sheep: A Tragedy

I keep wondering why there is so much silence from the previously vocal and seemingly politically interested folks.  You know, the people who loved to quote the Left’s mistruths about Trump and his supporters.  The folks who voted for niceness and unity. 

I realize that they have in essence been instructed to go silent if they disagree with Biden or the Left agenda.  I realize they may believe such silence is a form of unity (which in the Biden-Left world means silence of all differing views).  But really, how could they be so vocal about even the slightest piece of nothing if it involved Donald Trump and yet remain so silent on even the most outrageous words or actions of Joe Biden?

Not a peep when Biden makes the most sexist and demeaning remarks or when he makes clearly erroneous statements about important issues about which the facts are undeniably clear.  Little more than a tut-tut when we learn that Cuomo is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of seniors.  No notice when Biden’s AG nominee will not condemn the idea of having a head of the civil rights division who has blatantly declared that one racial group is superior to another, or  that he will distinguish as less important/not domestic terrorism recent attacks on government courthouses and other buildings if they happened at night.  Nary a flutter at the volume of racially motivated actions and appointments coming out of this White House. 

OK, maybe those were not big enough to notice.  How about the full out attack on women’s sports?  How about a Coronavirus package that will add significantly to the national debt, but has very little to do with Coronavirus but instead seems to bankroll extreme Leftist policies?  How about the on-going and ever more aggressive acts of cancel-culture?  How about an immigration “policy” that simply opens the doors without really any significant criteria, no consideration of criminal history or purpose for entering this county, not to mention a total disregard of possible Covid transmission – a consideration that at the same time is denying our children a real education and destroying small businesses everyday due to safety precautions – precautions that apparently do not apply to immigrants, legal or illegal?  How about Biden’s “Equality Act” which the Catholic League has labeled the “most comprehensive assault on Christianity ever written into law”?  Or the indoctrination programs in schools and government offices that are not only filled with misinformation but that teach hatred towards specific identity groups and hence work to divide and destroy our country?

Indeed, every action coming out of this administration since January 20^th (and there are many more than those listed above) seems to be designed to turn America on its head if not destroy it altogether.  And yet there is silence.  Silence on the drastic effect on taxes and employment and simply on the American dream. 

Where are all those people who just last year had such loud voices?  Do they really approve of all that is going on?  Do they know what is going on?  Or are they just sheep, doing as told with no thought of their own?  When told to bleat loudly and angrily they did so.  Now have they been told to quietly and contently baa?  It would seem so.  And like silent sheep, they are being led to slaughter; the tragedy is that they are taking the entire country with them.

Dear Texas, Stop Whining and Blaming

This note is addressed to Texas, not the individual Texans who are clearly suffering from the storm, cold, lack of energy, etc.   I do not live in Texas but I do have friends there, including one who had no heat for over 30 hours.

Yes, being without power and heat for 30 or more hours is horrendous.  The lack of running water adds insult to injury.  But this is Texas, the state that regularly tells us Texans can deal with anything, that they are strong, independent, self-reliant, and capable.  So, Texas, step up and deal with this.  Show us that strength that you are always bragging about.

That may seem a little harsh, but what I am tired of is all the whining and laying of blame.  This is a storm.  An unlikely storm for Texas, but simply a winter storm nonetheless.  It was a storm that Texas, like the rest of the nation, knew was coming.

Texas, you knew what your energy sources and their capabilities were or were not.  Yet your leaders, especially those who make your state’s energy decisions, seem to have had no realistic plan whatsoever to deal with the storm.

The Right wants to blame this crisis entirely on the renewable energy turbines that froze when needed most.   In true form, the Left claims the problems was the result of not enough renewables.  In reality, neither is to blame.   Yes, the frozen turbines show us that we are not yet ready to switch to 100% renewables, but I believe every power plan whether in one’s own home or state or country needs to be a mix of a variety of energy sources both renewable and non-renewable. 

While I am no fan of wind turbines (they murder hordes of birds, aren’t that efficient, and use enormous amounts of non-renewable energy to build), these Texas windmills provide only around 25% or less of the Texas power grid.   And, more importantly, it was Texas (specifically its energy decisionmakers) that made the decision to install them.  The frozen turbines lowered the energy available to Texas during this storm, but informed Texas energy managers should have known this would happen and have made plans to deal with it that went beyond 30-hour blackouts. 

Others want to blame the various energy lobbies or subsidies and other incentives for causing Texas to install an energy plan that is not right for Texas.  What?  Texas, the state that is always proclaiming its strength of individual responsibility and ability to think for itself suddenly wants to throw blame elsewhere for its own bad decisions?  Maybe Texas isn’t really that different from the rest of the nation.

Instead of whining, why not take this as an opportunity to learn.  Homeowners, make sure you have diverse energy sources in your home:  gas, electric, and a wood burning fireplace or stove.  Have some basic contingency plans and emergency items on hand. 

Energy providers, get your energy from diverse sources in a mix that works for the region that you serve.  And have contingency plans.  And, when you have a week or so notice of a severe weather event as you did here, don’t ignore that warning.  Do what is necessary to make good and realistic emergency plans considering what your energy situation is.

The problems in Texas are the result of Texas decisions and are not the fault of anyone else or of the operational behavior of any particular energy source.  It’s simple.  Texas made bad decisions about its grid and bad decisions about how to deal with that grid’s shortcomings in the face of a weather emergency.

When this is all over you can look at that energy situation and improve what needs to be improved.  But don’t blame your failure to have a plan on what is perhaps a bigger but definitely separate failing of not developing the proper plan and/or not maintaining the sources that you have.

Most importantly, stop whining.  Stop blaming.  Man up.  Be the Texas you always claim you are.  And Texans, once you warm up show us that you are the independent and individually responsible folks that your state brags you to be.  You can educate yourselves about your state’s energy plans as well as your energy decision makers and then vote for those who will stand up, take responsibility, and do what is right for you, their constituents, and for your state of Texas.

Year of the Ox

Isn’t it appropriate that on the first day of the Lunar Year of the Ox, a year that brings us hard work and most importantly honesty, the lies and hoaxes of the Democrats are being exposed? 

The year of the Metal Ox, following the tumultuous and rambunctious year that is the mark of the Metal Rat, follows up on what the Rat hath wrought.  We now have a lunar year of yin – a calmness unlike the energy of the Rat’s yang.   The likeliness of upheaval and catastrophic events, often characteristics of a Metal Rat year, are far less likely in an Ox year.  The year of the Ox is a time to be thoughtful and to work out what the Rat hath wrought.

The year of the Ox represents hard work, positivity, and honesty.  It rewards hard work and effort, especially by those not demanding attention.  It rewards reliability and honesty.  It is the year when one works to finish or solve the things that were begun in the Year of the Rat.  The Ox year has the ability to transform negative challenges of the Rat that preceded it.

In the Year of the Ox, persuasion via pathos has little effectiveness.  Rather, logical and analytical thinking take a prime position.  Along with this, honesty comes to the forefront and is rewarded.

And so, it is appropriate that today in the Senate the impeachment trial turns to an exposing of the many lies put forth from the Democrats, not only in the previous days of this impeachment, but throughout the past 4 years. 

Today the Defense lawyers are playing full videos or other recordings of presentations that were previously edited and hence distorted by the Democrats in order to paint a false picture of Trump’s words and actions.  Not just the videos of Jan 6, but of things as old as the distortive editing of Trump’s words following Charlottesville – a distortive lie that has been repeated by Democrats since 2017.

The Defense is showing the words and actions of Democrats that are at least as, if not more, “inciteful” than those that the Democrats claim justify impeachment.  The Defense is proving the Democrat hypocrisy by proving that a large number of Democrats are guilty of what they accuse the former president of.

Today may be the first time that many networks have actually played (and hence that many people have actually seen) the full recordings that have previously been shown in their manipulated state.  The lies are all together being presented today, on the first day of this year in which honesty is honored. 

Of course, I doubt that the Democrats who have spent the last four years in hypocrisy and lying will have any inclination to honor, let alone actually be honest- with themselves or the American people. 

Nonetheless, I can hope that this Lunar Year of the Ox has some actual effect on the people who will perhaps turn to logical thought.  I can hope they will no longer rush to judgment based on pathos and emotion.  And, I can hope that in the process they will begin to reward honesty and no longer tolerate the duplicity and dishonesty that has become the trademark of the Democrats.

Why I’m Not Watching the Impeachment

I have better things to do with my time than to watch political theater when I’ve already seen the show before and fully understand its underlying themes. 

In this political theater version of The Impeachment Sequel, the Democrats continue to act out their very real mental disturbances caused by Trump Derangement Syndrome.  That, and they try to expel their insecurity-caused fear that Donald Trump may run for office again and so they must forever disqualify him.

In addition to being some sort of attempt at Trump hate catharsis, this Impeachment does serve other purposes such as distracting the populace from the many things that President Biden is doing that are potentially dangerous and harmful to this country.  It also shows us that the Democrats have no intention of losing their narrative method of distorting truth as a way to sway the public to their thinking.

For example, in a high-tech Hollywood-like video in which the Democrats replayed Trump’s words at the protest on Jan. 6, the film included his calls to fight for this country and the Constitution but conveniently left out the most important words in which President Trump called for the march and protest to be and remain peaceful. 

And, of course, there are the individual narratives (some would call them lies).  The now infamous and Hollywood like performance of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez about her “near-death experiences” on Jan. 6.  Or the statements by Maxine Waters (and similarly other Democrats) that she never uttered the words that most have seen or listened to on tape calling for violence against Trump and his supporters.

But then, such misleading presentations are not surprising when you are holding an impeachment that the majority of actual and leading Constitutional Law scholars in this country assert is not constitutional.  It is not surprising when the judge for the “trial” is also a partisan Democrat senator-participant who is firmly on record as believing Trump must be impeached.  

This is nothing more than a show trial.  There is nothing to see here unless your desire is to watch the Democrats display their disrespect for our Constitution, their pathological hate for one man, their hate for American ideals, and their disregard for the actual business of the people that they ought to be conducting.

Instead of the distraction of this political theatrical re-run, try considering some of what it is distracting you from.  There is so much; let me list just a few that you might have missed.

There is the walk-back of the promise of immediate jobs for the tens of thousands of pipeline and oil workers that Biden’s executive orders have put out of work.  When will jobs for these people who need to support themselves and families now become an actuality?  Oh, sometime in the future; no time soon, but it will be worth the wait his press secretary tells us.  Worth it for whom?  The workers’ starving children?  How can this not remind one of Stalin’s five-year plans that repeatedly promised the current sacrifice would be rewarded in the future?

There is the cancelling that continues in all spheres.  People silenced by social media, by their employers, and by new executive orders that are effective not only in current and present silencing, but in creating a fear that essentially works to silence the potential of future speech opposing Left views.  Again, we are reminded of Stalinist Russia where those who spoke out against the Soviet plan were threatened and harassed, sometimes beaten and arrested, expelled or put to death.  While we may not have gone as far as Great Terror Russia, the current silencing/censoring/cancelling from the political Left and its symbiotic partners serves to quash those who might otherwise speak out.

This instilling of fear is further amplified by such things as the recent Bank of America data share in which it provided the government with the names of ANYONE who, from their banking records, showed they were in DC on or around Jan. 6.  When the federal authorities asked, Bank of America turned over the results of its internal scan to federal authorities.  The profile requested and provided included: "1. Customers confirmed as transacting, either through bank account debit card or credit card purchases in Washington, D.C. between 1/5 and 1/6. 2. Purchases made for Hotel/Airbnb RSVPs in DC, VA, and MD after 1/6. 3. Any purchase of weapons or at a weapons-related merchant between 1/7 and their upcoming suspected stay in D.C. area around Inauguration Day. 4. Airline related purchases since 1/6."

That is, if you were visiting your mother and used your BOA card to buy a coffee and bagel on the morning of Jan. 6 you were reported to the feds by BOA, and they felt no restraints about their ability to call you in and question you as if you were a terrorist.   BOA apparently did not notify its customers they were being spied upon.  And indeed, people who had done nothing wrong other than being in DC on the 6^th were called in and interrogated before being cleared. 

If this does not give you the sense of some sort of a police state, then let me suggest that you also look at the militarized encampment that our capitol has become; an encampment not to protect the people, but to keep them from their government.

There are of course the many international proclamations and orders that have been made by President Biden, all with little thought or even time for consideration.  They are either simply a spiteful reversal of Trump policies, regardless of the pros or cons of those policies, or they are a response to Leftist demands that must be met immediately because they address some alleged “crisis” either of environment or immigration.  Yet even a cursory review of many of these actions by independent experts reveal that their long-term effects will be anything but good.

And, finally, let me mention the Time article that sets forth the collusion between politicians, big Tech and big Corporations to ensure the outcome of the election to be against Trump.  The article brags that this action was heroic because these people took it upon themselves to adjust the will of the people to ensure an outcome that they, not necessarily the people, favored.  And let me just suggest that any dictator similarly sees as heroic any actions that ensure his retention of power regardless of their suppression of the will of the people.

So, no, I am not watching the political theater.  I am hoping that it may finally assuage the irrational if not psychotic Trump-hatred, but I am pretty sure it will not.  I would rather reflect upon the above and many similar activities that the Left engages in right before our eyes.  My reflections include not only how they are destroying the good of this country, but also how to open the eyes of my fellow citizens to what is going on in this comedy that is really a tragedy for America.

Just Another Drop in the Bucket

In an unprecedented action the House voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees.  Those committees include the Committee on Education and Labor and the House Budget Committee.  Not only does this remove her (and hence her constituents’) voice on those committees; it also changes the balance of power (favorably for the Left) on those committees.

Before she was elected to Congress, Rep. Greene, on social media, posted or “liked” some alleged violent statements and some alleged conspiracy theories.  Her constituents knew this and yet they voted for her.  They wanted her voice to represent them in Congress including on committees.  Yet, the majority of her Congressional colleagues (mostly Democrat) did not like her views and so voted to relieve her of her committee assignments, effectively silencing not just her voice, but the voice of her constituents as well.

This action invites any majority to simply remove voices that do not support their own. It sets a very dangerous precedent.

This is not what an America that tolerates and appreciates diverse views does. This is what a government ruled by people who believe their view should be the only view does.  This is what a totalitarian regime does.

If you are not outraged, you have no idea what America or democracy or our democratic republic is all about.  This has nothing to do with your personal beliefs.  It has to do with accepting the silencing of voices that those in power do not like. 

This is yet one more notch in the massive silencing that is going on and that I addressed in my more lengthy post yesterday.  It may seem to you like just a drop in the bucket, nothing to get worked up over.  But when that bucket is full, it will hold every drop of the freedoms that Americans now enjoy.  And those in power, not the people, will hold that bucket.  They can toss it out, down the drain, and likely will before they ever let you drink from it again.

                                                       

Losing Your Voice: The Why and How of a Power Grab

There seems to currently be an all-out war on diverse voices.  The sort of silencing that we are seeing these days makes us think of totalitarian regimes that we read about in history class, the Bolsheviks, Lenin, Stalin, etc.  I’d like to think I’m exaggerating, but friends of mine who grew up in Communist or other totalitarian regimes as well as others with firsthand knowledge of that sort of partisan political silencing now indicate they are seeing that sort of silencing here in America.  Former presidential candidate and Democrat Tulsi Gabbard has referred to what we are witnessing as not unlike a police state.

Why the attack on diverse voices?  The answer is fairly simple: When you want yourself or your party to be in control not just of your designated duties, but of society itself; when you think so less of the common man’s abilities to make the “right” decisions, when you want to create your own utopia.  When those are your goals, in order to achieve them you must silence all voices that do not parrot your own.

The “How” of this power grab in America today is multifaceted.  It includes a number of power structures all of which are complicit in a Leftest campaign for what they call “unity” but which really is designed to silence all opposition to their plans. Following are some of the tactics currently in use.

               Combine Forces with Big Tech

Big Tech’s biases sync with those of the Left.  And, Big Tech has the power to silence the voices of those holding different views. 

Democrat Tulsi Gabbard in discussing the Left’s silencing that undermines our civil liberties, noted that "Big Tech is culpable in that they are using their monopolistic power to pick and choose whose voices are heard and whose voices are squelched, whether it’s based on who they agree with, disagree with, political affiliation, who you voted for."

I am aware of the old saw that Big Tech can do as it pleases because it is a private company, not the government and therefore has no responsibility to First Amendment rights.  That view is mistaken both ethically and legally.

In today’s world, social media is our version of the old public square where everyone could speak their views.  That makes these social media sites and their Big Tech controllers uniquely important.  In Packingham v. NC, a unanimous Supreme Court held that a North Carolina law prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing various websites, where minors were known to be active and have accounts, regardless of whether the sex offender directly interacted with a minor, violated the First Amendment.  The Court stated, “to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.”

While the facts of that case were different from the facts of today’s censorship and silencing by Twitter, Facebook, Amazon’s server (Parlor and Parler App), and others, that case tells us that because the internet is today’s public square, there must be some protection of First Amendment rights within that square if those rights are to mean anything at all. 

               Combine Forces with News and Entertainment

When the Press silences only voices of one political viewpoint or when it presents stories in a way that assists and promotes one viewpoint, the silencing becomes a form of propaganda. 

The mainstream media has biases that, like those of Big Tech, sync with the views of the Left.  Hence, they use omission, distortion, presentation of opinion as fact, suppression of unfavorable stories (e.g., Hunter Biden and his laptop) and airtime to persuade people to adopt the Left viewpoint on most issues.

By now I think it is common knowledge that the mainstream media’s reports about Trump and his actions were over 90% unfavorable.  It is also clear that their approach toward Biden is to present everything favorably or if that is not possible to simply not report it.  As Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it, “The press does not feel responsibility for its judgments.  It makes judgments and attaches labels with the greatest of ease.  Mediocre journalists simply make headlines of their conclusions, which suddenly become generally accepted.” (See his book “Warning to the West”)

Our democracy requires informed citizenry and we in large part depend on the media for that information.  If they are not presenting it or are presenting it in a way that conforms only to one voice, then they are essentially silencing all our voices, because without having full facts and information, it is impossible to even formulate differing views.

While the news media may have become a dystopian form of entertainment, the Entertainment Industry itself, again with biases similar to the Left, has made it its mission to use its programming to bend the views of the American people to those of the Left.   A recent article in the Hollywood Reporter indicated that Hollywood needs to “double down” on pushing the Left agenda.  We will be presented with “entertainment” that reinforces what is good/acceptable and what is not.

               Combine Forces with Corporations and Academia

Again, these institutions tend to also have biases that sync with the views of the Left.  Their role seems to be to limit opportunity for those who hold diverse and opposing views.  We regularly see these institutions blackball individuals who do not share the “correct” views while at the same time making public statements in support of trending Leftist causes and those who advocate for them.

Just this week Sephora cut ties with one of their beauty “vloggers” because she had stated she supported then-President Trump and also expressed her Christian views.  The company was made aware of this via a form of “report on your neighbor” conducted by some Twitter users who accused the vlogger of being racist.  Sephora in response to these unproven allegations said the vlogger’s beliefs are “not aligned” with the company’s “values around inclusivity.”  Apparently lack of inclusivity of conservative views is OK with Sephora.

This is not a unique incident.  Over and over, we hear of individuals, including teachers, scientists, athletes, and respected community members being fired for holding conservative views or making statements that are not in line with the Left’s narrative.  A United States soccer star received backlash for standing during the United States’ National Anthem.  It seems that every entity aligned with the Left that has the power to do so is encouraging its own hiring officers as well as those of others not to hire anyone aligned with Trump or conservatives. 

When Trump Administration employees leaving government service were told by the Biden Administration that they would not be able to receive the rest of their maternity leave which they were already in the course of, their main concern was that they would not be able to find immediate employment not because of having a new child at home but because former Trump officials face an uphill climb finding a job in a Washington D.C.  Reported in Politico on Feb 2, the article notes that employees declined to go on the record for fear that it would affect [their] prospects of landing a job with a salary sufficient to support a family.

Blackballing those who speak diverse views is a form of silencing because it places a person in the untenable position of having to choose between speaking their views or being able to feed themself.  

Academia is not immune from this sort of behavior.  Just this week I received information about the Kansas Board of Regents passing a suspension of tenure and its protections through 2022.  While the justification is potential financial problems due to CoVid, the reality is that under this plan administrators could layoff faculty without any procedural safeguards, without the right to discovery, and with no procedure for reinstating faculty once the financial exigency has passed.  Thus, this makes it possible for a tenured member of the faculty to be fired for any reason, including unpopular views, as long as she is told that it is due to financial exigency.

               Taking Political Action

The current administration is right on board with the Left and its silencing.  It supports the impeachment of a political rival.  It supports calls to censure or remove Congress persons who spoke up or made objections to the Left’s position about the election’s irregularities.  Via executive order that effectively silences the voices of the people, the President is cancelling all actions of his predecessor without reflection about their benefit or detriment to the country. Some of these orders include enforcement and punishment provisions for not complying.  And the people’s Capitol is filled with military protecting not the people but those within the seats of power (while at the same time no military is sent to cities actually under violent assault from Left and anarchist organizations).

The first bills in a new Congress reflect the priorities of that administration.  In this administration we see bills that would further silence views that do not “unite” with those of the Left.  HR-1 and its counterpart S-1, eliminates any restrictions on vote-by-mail, a form of voting that is noted for its likelihood of misuse and hence dilution of legitimate voters’ voices. 

But more importantly, HR-1 allows federal regulators to categorize and regulate speech.  If desired, all speech that just mentions a candidate could be illegal for up to 4 months prior to an election; all that is required is that the speech “promotes, attacks, supports, or opposes” a candidate.   The regulators would be a Commission whose chairman would be appointed by the President and have a tie-breaking (and hence partisan) vote.  The bill also requires groups to disclose personal information of supporters, sometimes to the public at large.

While presented as a “voter protection” act, If HR-1 were to become law it would certainly intimidate if not silence those who hold viewpoints in opposition to those in power.  It would silence any form of honest debate about candidates or issues and their possible solutions.  Notably, the ACLU opposes this bill.

               Keeping the People in Fear of Speaking Out

In addition to silencing diverse views, the above activities all also serve to intimidate by creating a fear in others not yet silenced so that they too will not speak out.  This is not unlike a hate crime in which a member of a particular group is injured less to harm that particular individual and more to warn the entire group not to cause trouble – to stay silent.

This is the goal of Biden’s unity:  Unite in silence.  Silence all diverse views and from the outside it will look like we are all united.  The above methods (as well as others) all work to this end.  Do not present diverse views on social media or you may be censored or your account deleted; do not expect to get information from news, yet without information you may not be able to form cogent views and thus will not speak out; prepare to be bombarded with proper viewpoints in entertainment so that you will begin to internalize and speak those views; do not speak diverse views for fear of losing and/or not finding employment; you must follow executive orders (fiats of the executive) or fear punishment for not acting in accordance with this executive power grab; forget speaking through your vote which the Left is working to dilute.  But if you unite with the “correct” view, the party view, you will be just fine.

               And What Will You Do?

People like Poland’s Deputy Justice minister have seen this silencing before.  He recently called on the U.S. to protect every citizen from the “cancel culture” which “has more in common with the methods of Soviet Russia than modern democracies.”  Russian dissident Alexei Navalny said something similar before he was arrested and sentenced to more than two years in a Russian penal colony.  Professor Michael Rachkosvsky who grew up in the former USSR, came to this country in 1993, and now teaches at Quinnipiac University, reminds us that socialist ideologues need to eliminate opposition and control media, art, and literature.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn was seemingly prescient not only in the underlying themes of his novels condemning the ideological lie, but especially in his “Warnings to the West” originally published in 1975.

These and others who have a personal experience with silencing are warning us.  If you cannot speak, cannot vote, and must conform, then you have no voice and you are not free. 

You are being watched by the many arms of the power hungry who will silence you if you do not behave and “unite” with the Left.  You are being watched, but who will watch the watchers?  And is watching just enough?  Are you willing to sit back and watch your freedoms dissolve, perhaps because as of yet you have not been affected? 

My hope is that this taking of our freedom is being done so quickly, so openly and obviously, and so broadly that everyone will notice, that no one will be complacent about it, and that no one will simply sit back and watch.  This is a watershed moment.  Complacency gives those who seek unbridled power exactly what they want.  Indeed, complacency, which is the voice of complicity, may remove your last chance to speak up and your voice may be lost forever.

Is Capitalism the Real Problem?

I think it is a given that our country is clearly split almost exactly in two over how we want to move forward.  But, forward from what?  That is a question that we seem to have skipped examining.

Many argue that we must give up on capitalism because it is a total failure.  But is it? 

While I think most would agree that the mobility both up and down the economic scale that is the promise of capitalism for all has become far less a reality in this country than it once was, I think that we ignore asking and answering why that is or whether it can be corrected.  Instead about half the country would just dump our capitalist system completely and “move forward.”

Let’s just briefly remind ourselves what capitalism is. Capitalism is an economic system where individuals and firms have considerable freedom to decide what to produce and how to produce. It is an economy dominated by free markets, private property and limited government regulation.

In our capitalist democratic republic, which does not have official caste or class systems that prevent upward mobility, true capitalism allows individuals, based on their talents, individual motivations, and a bit of luck to move both up and down.  That mobility includes an amount of risk and uncertainty, but it also includes the hope and promise of a better life for all.

Critics of capitalism will assert that capitalism ignores peoples' needs, results in wealth inequality, and does not promote equal opportunity. They argue that capitalism also encourages mass consumption, is unsustainable, and provides an incentive for business owners to harm the environment or cause other external harm for monetary gain.

These are to some extent legitimate criticisms.  Capitalism will never result in everyone being in the same position – the equity that is all the rage on the Left these days.  Let’s remind ourselves, however, that equity is not equality; to achieve equity requires taking away equality from those individuals who are in a position that is considered superior.  Equity, along with its colleague “fairness,” actually requires a lack of fairness – a lack of equal treatment – to achieve certain state mandated results.  Demanding equity belies one of our core values that all people are created equal and deserve equal treatment. 

Instead of equity, ideally capitalism provides everyone with the opportunity to use their own skills and desires to get to where they want to be.  That is the ideal and, like any ideal, it will never be achieved.  And, at times, even when the opportunities are entirely equal,  the outcomes may appear or actually be unfair. 

But capitalism creates possibilities, the taking of which vary in risk-factor as well as perhaps the need for luck.  It does not guarantee that any particular actions or inactions will or will not result in a particular end.  And, when results are not guaranteed, there is uncertainty.  Uncertainty is often uncomfortable.

Today it does seem that too many individuals are not finding the desired and sometimes even necessary results.  One cannot ignore that we have far too many people with food or home insecurity despite working two and three jobs.  But the reaction to this seems to be the singular:  Capitalism doesn’t work, dump it and move to a different system with socialism being that system of choice.

I ask that we step back.  Let us ask why is it that capitalism is not working.  Is it truly a failed system, or is it just flawed in its current practice?  What does capitalism need to succeed and is that the environment of our capitalism today?  Is it the fault of capitalism or is it the fact that we actually now have a significant number of socialistic regulations and programs interwoven with our capitalism?  I suggest these are things worth examining before simply perhaps throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Let’s look at our first major socialist program – social security.  We have all become dependent on it, we expect to receive it when we retire.  It is a clear piece of certainty (security) in our otherwise uncertain lives.  And it is a socialistic government (social) program that is paid for by the taxes of others.  Overall, it is probably a decent program successfully providing everyone who worked at least a minimal income upon retirement. 

But imagine if instead of government collecting the social security tax from your paycheck each month you had that money to yourself determine how to spend.  You could develop your own retirement plan that might net you far better retirement income.   But that does not have the certainty that social security does.  You might just as easily spend that money on frivolities and have nothing for retirement.  You might make a risky investment and end up with far less.  So, to make sure that everyone has something, we give up our personal freedom and decision-making and allow the government to provide us the secure and certain amount that it determines is appropriate for us.

Government regulations which become more and more inclusive have a huge effect on the free market and hence on the capitalist system.  Remember, capitalism needs limited government intervention to thrive.  When the government, its taxes and regulations, encourages businesses and their jobs to go overseas, when excessively high minimum wages force small businesses to collapse, when government programs deflate individual initiative and encourage a hopelessness of existence dependent upon government help, then it becomes very difficult for capitalism to survive. 

When, due to big government, individuals relinquish their belief in the mobility of capitalism and trade it for the certainty of position, no matter how less than or hopeless that certainty may be, then we really do not have a true capitalist system to evaluate or to throw out.

The more the government provides certainty, the more that we become less willing to take the risks of innovation and self-determination that capitalism requires.  We become accustomed to certainty – to security, to social security not just for retirement, but for life itself.  And when the government does not provide enough, we ask for (demand) more.  That is not really the way capitalism works and so perhaps we should not be blaming capitalism for the inequity that we see around us today.

So, rather than jump ahead to the solution of throwing out capitalism, I suggest that we pause and really examine why capitalism is not working particularly well currently.  Is it the fault of capitalism itself, or is it that it has been infused with too many socialist elements that are the direct antithesis of capitalism and which work to prevent the effectiveness of the capitalist system?  Is there something we can do to put capitalism back on track, or is the only possible solution to completely give it up? These are serious and crucial questions that need to be answered before deciding on the best path forward.

I think that many of the problems with our society are concerns to both sides of our warring populace.  The catch is that half of that populace has already made the decision to move forward with socialism without a full examination and understanding of what is actually causing the problems.

I believe we owe it to ourselves, our country, and our future generations to consider whether we can make corrections to our capitalist system that will address many of the problems with which we are faced.  I think it is at the very least worth a try.

Socialism on the other hand is usually a snake-oil cure.  If we are as a nation to decide to take the path of socialism I would like to see that decision made with a full understanding of what socialism really is and where it leads.  I do not think that many of those leading or following the charge away from capitalism and toward socialism have taken a complete and honest look at either the problems or their proposed solution.