Election 2020

  The Pressure Cooker of Freedom A pressure cooker is heating up in American politics. The upcoming election requires critical thought to release the pressure that could otherwise blow up the country. Listening to the speeches at the Democratic National Convention, I was struck by Obama’s emphasis on values. It occurred to me that while much of what was said sounded good, these ideas cannot be fully realized by merely tinkering with the government. Effective governance sets up guardrails that encourage behaviors benefiting the common good. However, good behavior cannot be legislated. True freedom requires us to manage the pressure of our national debt through sound governance. The Obamas and Kamala emphasized hope as the value that sustains freedom. I disagree. While I concur that freedom is our crowning value, it is actually a function of four competing forces: liberty, equality, order, and disorder. Liberty is the mantra of the Republican Party, deeply embedded in our Constituti...

Doug Mastriano, the republican Candidate for governor, has recently been unfairly attacked about his competence on his doctoral thesis which was published in the book entitled “Alvin York” A new biography of the hero of the Argonne.” I checked this book out of the library recently to see his research for myself.  Sergeant York is a famous soldier from World War I. With the help of seven soldiers from his platoon he poked a whole in the Aragon line and captured 132 German soldiers. This saved countless American lives in the stalemate of WWI. In the book he is very open about Sergeant York’s faith in Jesus Christ. In this day of inclusionary cynical criticism many people may find his book to be exclusionary and perhaps offensive. He has been criticized for believing eye witness accounts which may not be accurate. Many professionals have done research in the past only to be proven in error when technology advances to a point to further illuminate conclusions. The position maps may hav...

We live in trying times. A virus pandemic is upon us that is projected to kill over 60,000 people. This will surpass the 57,933 casualties from the Vietnam War. It does not come close to the 405,000 Americans who gave their lives in WWII, or the 620,000 who died in the Civil War. However, this is a new kind of war that requires a new kind of battle strategy. In the past our federalist system worked well when emergencies allowed us to centralize command and control through exceptions like the  Gulf of Ton-kin Resolution and the Patriot Act. It will take more than invoking the Defense Production Act to fight the outbreak that is currently plaguing our nation. This act was not meant to fight epidemics. It was created to give the president command and control to marshal military supplies in the Korean War. To fight a war against an unseen enemy like a virus we will need new kinds of resources, a coordinated strategy and structural change. An old Chamber of Commerce friend of mine...