Out of Many One: Republican Unity Project

The Republican Party in Oregon has been fractured. It has been that way as far back as my young memory goes. Just like everything else the fractures have only grown.

 

Some people are specifically aimed at this fracturing, they believe that if the GOP is split they can come in and unite the party under their banner. These people are not aimed at unity, they are aimed at dominion.

 

Broadly speaking the Republican Party is split into two camps, each made up of smaller groups and individuals. The first camp is the activist camp. This group has a lot of energy and passion, they organize well and get people to show up to events. They are good at making people feel like they are doing something but they lack focus and direction outside of vague ideas of ‘being heard’ or ‘fighting for liberty.’

 

The second party is the established camp. This camp lacks the energy of the activists and rarely holds big events, preferring regular meetings. They have experience and know how the system works and how to get things done over a long period of time.

 

Currently these two camps are at odds. On both sides you will have Trump supporters, patriots, liberty loving citizens, and people who love our country and state. But there has been calls from the activist wing to split off from the Republican Party.

 

The justification at the heart of this desire is legitimate criticisms of the GOP. Many feel they are more concerned with trying to win by abandoning Republican principles. That they have embraced the hateful labels foisted upon the party by their political opponents.

 

It is my belief that these two wings of the party need each other and if unified would become the party Oregon desperately needs. In order to do that we need to reach agreements on both sides. The word compromise is seen as a dirty word, but that is because its meaning has been corrupted through misuse.

 

Too often the word compromise is used to mean you need to compromise yourself in order to align with what one side wants to do. Instead the true meaning of compromise is both parties reaching a win-win agreement.

 

The changes that need to be made to the Republican Party can in fact be made by us, we just have to want those changes to be made. We elect our party chairs and we create the party platform.

 

It reflects us, to change it we need to change ourselves. While it is harder than it seems it is possible. The activist wing also needs to understand that sometimes change takes time, but if your cause is right and meaningful it will be worth the delayed gratification.

 

We need to stop listening to the people interested in dividing our party in the name of being more conservative or real than someone else. We also need to stop selecting people to lead us and create our platform who have been doing so for the last decade or more. We need to be willing to take risks, suffer the slings and arrows, and hit back when unjustly maligned.

 

It will be dirty, it will be painful, and it will carry real risks of failure, but we are the party of Lincoln, the party of Reagan, and the party of Trump. We have suffered before and produced something beautiful, and now our country has come knocking again. She needs our help, the question is are we simple mercenaries that demands payment for our service or are we patriots who will instead ask what we can do for our country.

Let us unite, because united we stand, divided we fall.

Enough is Enough: What Are You Going to Do?

The police are being told to stand down so that people the mainstream media call mostly peaceful protesters can riot and loot.

The mostly peaceful people cheer on the minority, actively encouraging, condoning, and providing cover for their actions. The mob has taken away your right to have a say. They boldly claim they are speaking for you, the people, as they set fire to the court house or pull down a statue.

They do not speak for me.

But what do we do? Normally I would say elect new people, go out and vote, get involved in your local party. While those things are still important, this is not a normal time.

The police we have entrusted to keep the peace have been handcuffed and are now being beaten savagely as we look on. We now have a choice, do we stand by and watch as these guardians of peace who have stood between us and the most depraved manifestations of our nature are systematically taken apart or do we pick up the responsibility abandoned by those elected officials entrusted with authority and restore peace and order?

It seems like an easy choice, but it is not as easy as you’d think. You will not be cheered for picking up responsibility, in fact by lifting this cross you will be attacked. You will suffer.

You will be called violent when someone punches you in the face. You will be called an extremist as you call for unity. You will be branded racist for loving your country. You will also be tempted.

Tempted to claim the power being used against you and wield it for good. But good fruit cannot grow from a poison tree. Both the suffering and the temptation seek one thing, to strip away your responsibility, because it is in this responsibility that you find meaning.

It is in this responsibility that you make yourself worthy of the suffering of life.

The streets have never been so crowded yet so empty. People shouting empty phrases into the air, conjuring demons out of brothers and making saints out of lies.

Calling people out does not reach their heart, it only causes them to utter false apologies in a misguided attempt to please a monster that feeds on outrage and misery. The apology, instead of satisfying the monster, only sends it into a frenzy as it justifies the outrage (inherent in any apology is an admission of guilt) and means the fruit of misery is ripe.

Our elected officials drop everything to meet the demands of the rioters but you peacefully gather at the capital in the thousands only to be shooed away with a pat on the head. I am just as guilty of this as anyone else. I post things online, I write my blog, I talk with friends and coworkers and we are all full of ideas of what ‘they’ should do. Then we go back to work, go home, and carry on with our lives.

We say things like, oh it’s Portland, if they would ever come to my town they would never get away with that. Then they come to your town, destroy your statues and loot your businesses. 

You then say, yeah but if they tried that at my house they would never get away with it. Then they show up at your house and burn the American flag on your front porch. You weakly say, well if they break into my house they would never get away with it. 

But it’s too late, they have already gotten away with it. Your house is on fire, the police are not coming, the fire department is not coming, and your neighbors are not coming. You are alone in your burning house and you wonder, why didn’t someone do something? 

All the while you never realized that you were someone, that you could have done something, but each time you were called you hesitated. As your community, your state, and your country burned, you turned on Call of Duty and ignored Duty’s Call. Each hesitation, each ignored call, etched onto your very being until hesitation became habit and inaction became your virtue. 

So what can you do? I’ll admit honestly I have no clear answer for that question because I do not know you. I am not going to lie to you like a politician and say I have all the answers for you and if you support me all your worries will go away. That is a question you are going to have to answer for yourself.

First recognize four things. 

One, work within your circle of influence. This means understanding what you are actually capable of doing. You probably can’t get elected governor, but you can vote. You can always extend your circle of influence and work up to getting elected governor, but chances are for the majority of us, that is outside of our current abilities.

Two, understand there is not going to be one magic solution. Simply changing the school system or the tax code will not fix everything. Lots of things need to be done, do not focus too heavily on any one thing or believe that if only X would happen then everything would be better.

Three we are currently in a culture war not a political disagreement or violent revolution. You cannot win the battle if your army is on the wrong field.

Four, you as an individual are needed right now. Not you as a member of a group (gun owner, male or female, or Trump supporter) but you as the unique individual with your own talents, interests and abilities.

Lastly if you know of any of these events, statue destruction, flooding of a school board meeting to read scripted ‘comments’ trying to cancel someone, or occupations, please bring it to the attention of the rest of the community. Then get up and go use your voice. Don’t get into shouting matches, physical fights or call people names but stand up tall with courage and honor.

PS. I am starting to organize people in my local community here in Oregon to do something I think is pretty cool. Looking to organize mostly young people to become the leaders we need but also looking to build a community. If you are interested, everyone is welcome, reach out to me on Facebook or in the comments of this blog, thanks!

A Professor Against Political Correctness

I first encountered Jordan Peterson on a YouTube video when he was part of a Free Speech event on the University of Toronto Campus. At this event protesters called him all sort of names, they unplugged the sound system and created so much white noise so that the speakers could not talk.

I had seen this type of event happen before, but this time something seemed different. I slowly realized that the things Professor Peterson was saying were articulate and well thought out versions of what I had in my mind.

I had to know more about this person. Thanks to the power of the internet I was able to find hours of video on YouTube. The first ones I arrived at were his videos against Bill C-16 that was being discussed in the Canadian Parliament.

Bill C-16

Professor Peterson made three videos where he addressed his issues with this piece of legislation. The series is called Professor against Political Correctness (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). In these videos he talks about the law itself as well as the doctrine and ideas behind the law and those who are pushing for it.

Little did Professor Peterson know that his three videos on an obscure piece of Canadian legislation would attract global attention. He simply thought the law crossed a line that he would not cross, the codification of compelled speech into law.

In his videos he even says that the act of making the videos could be interpreted as illegal under the Ontario human rights commission. He was told he was overreacting at the time but the University of Toronto sent him a letter telling him that he needed to take down the videos and what he was doing was probably illegal, providing justification for his earlier fear.

This stance brought a lot of attention to Professor Peterson, not all of it positive, and started him on the road of speaking tours and a new book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Activist Assault

“This is like neutrally playing a speech by Hitler, or Milo Yiannopoulos.” Said Professor Nathan Rambukkana of Wilfred Laurier University.

The quote was uttered during an interrogation of teaching assistant Lindsey Shepard. She was being reprimanded for playing a video of Jordan Peterson in her university classroom. A video that was played on Canadian TV station TVO, broadcasted to the public and at the time of this writing has been seen close to 1 million times on YouTube.

Before this protesters at McMaster University tried to shut down a talk given by Jordan Peterson by making a lot of noise and using air horns to drown him out. Peterson ignored them and kept on talking, eventually moving the talk outside and giving it there.

More recently a surreal scene took place at a talk at Queens College as protestors interrupted the speech by jumping on stage. Another shouted from the audience, while protestors outside banged on windows and doors. Shouts of ‘lock them in and burn it down’(3:44) could be heard as other protesters attempted to block the door from the outside using trash cans. One protestor, who broke a window, was arrested carrying a garrote.

Along with these protests numerous smears have been made against Peterson in the media. He has been called alt-right, a homophobe, and transphobe to name a few, despite identifying as an English Liberal.

The personification of this assault can best be seen in an interview Peterson did with Cathy Newman on England’s Channel 4. One thing that becomes clear in that interview is that the strawman built up of who Peterson is does not hold up to reality.

Sorting it Out

With all the bad press and protests how do you figure out what Peterson is actually about? Go to the source. He has hundreds of hours of videos on YouTube, from college lectures to personal videos recorded in his home.

You could read his books, Maps of Meaning and 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos or check out his public speaking events.

Jordan Peterson is known to give advice such as ‘clean your room’ imploring people to physically clean their room and in doing so taking control of a small part of their world. Setting it in order so that it is clean, functional, and beautiful. It is a call to set your own life in order before you try to criticize or change the world.

Rule 4 from 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is ‘Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.’ A call to do something no matter how small to make yourself slightly better than you were the day before. Imagine how much better you would be after a month of doing that every day.

So why has Peterson garnered so much attention? For those who are interested in his ideas he offering them a message of personal responsibility and individuality. For those how see him as alt-right (he is not by the way) they fall into a few different camps. Those who have only heard about him as a transphobe second hand and believe it without checking him out for themselves and those who see him as a threat to their ideological and cultural hegemony.

Yet do not take my word for it, I encourage you to look for yourself. If you are interested in hearing it straight from Jordan Peterson, he has a speaking event at the Keller Auditorium in Portland Oregon on June 25. There will also be a book club conversation about his book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos in Beaverton Oregon on June 23^rd.

The Return of Antifa

I am going to start this off by saying that this is my opinion and that I hope I am wrong about this return.

With midterm elections drawing near and as winter ends and spring quickly approaches the protest season will resume in full swing. We will see a reemergence of the group known as Antifa.

Who is Antifa?

Antifa is short for Anti-fascist, something that I think most people can agree with. But as Shakespeare said, “What is in a name?”

They claim they are fighting Nazi’s and defending the community against fascism. This can be seen as a noble cause, no one wants to live under fascism or Nazism. The truth of this group is far uglier than this noble sounding claim.

Matthew 7:20 says “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” I am not a deeply religious person but this is sound advice. What kind of fruit does this Antifa tree bear?

November 10^th 2016, $1 million in damage in Portland Oregon.

February 2017 $100,000 in damage in Berkeley California.

September 2017 $600,000 for security to protect Ben Shapiro in Berkeley California.

Antifa throws M-80s at Trump supports in Berkeley California.

Antifa distribute weapons at Ben Shapiro speech in Utah.

A time line of Antifa violence in the first eight months of 2017. The list included January 20^th Inauguration Day, March 4^th March for Trump, and May 1 May Day in Portland Oregon.

Through these actions one of two things is clear. Either they do not care about fighting fascism and are using it as a cover to commit politically motivated acts of violence, or they have extended the term fascist to include classical liberals, never Trump Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Trump supporters, the Republican Party, and anyone who disagrees with them.

Capture the Flag

March 5^th 2018 at London’s King’s College a dialogue was set up between Yaron Brook, Chairman of the board at the Ayn Rand Institute, and Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) a Youtuber and Liberalist.

During the talk members of Antifa stormed the building, forced their way past security and into the room where the conversation was taking place. They attempted to take the microphones away from the speakers and pushed members of the crowd.

A few fights broke out and the protesters were pushed out of the room, but only after pulling the fire alarm and setting off smoke bombs in the building.

This caused the talk to be cancelled and was seen by Antifa as a victory. The conversation moved a few blocks away and was continued without interruption.

During the scuffle Antifa lost their flag, which was proudly claimed as a trophy by the speakers and those who came to hear them talk.

See video, media response and firsthand account here.

“Lock ‘em in and Burn it Down”

Also on March 5^th 2018 Jordan Peterson was scheduled to speak at Queen’s University. Protesters showed up to harass people as they tried to enter the venue. You can even hear someone say, “Lock ‘em in and burn it down.”

During the speech protesters banged on the windows to try and disrupt the event. They even broke an old stained glass window simply because they wanted to silence someone they did not like.

A couple protesters made it inside and onto the stage with a sign. Peterson, showing his capacity for limitless patience continued on with the talk.

Also on March 5^th 2018 in Portland Oregon a talk at Lewis & Clark Law School was also interrupted by protesters when Christina Hoff Sommers (the factual feminist and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute) was invited to speak.

They walked into the room, chanted, sang, and generally made noise, denying Sommers, who has a PhD in Philosophy from Brandeis University and is the author of several books, including Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys, the ability to talk and denied the students who came to listen to her the chance to hear what she had to say.

Nine student groups signed a letter in an attempt to get this talk shut down. In the letter they called Sommers a “Known fascist” and said that she was there to “encourage what we believe to be an act of aggression and violence toward members of our society who experience racial and gendered oppression.”

The groups are The National Lawyers Guild, Lewis & Clark Student Chapter, Minority Law Student Association, Women’s Law Caucus, Immigration Student Group, Jewish Law Society, OutLaw, Lewis & Clark Young Democratic Socialists of America, Black Law Student Association, and the Latino Law Society.

These groups openly believe that a 67 year old feminist is a “known fascist” and out to get people in society.

The Protest Season

There is an idea going around that maybe Antifa and the radical protesters have calmed down in the recent months. That maybe this is a sign that they have given up. On the surface this would appear to be true.

But talking with and listening to people who have reported and dealt this behavior before they explain that protests always die down during the winter months. That it will pick up again come spring and summer.

If the protests and Antifa action we have seen this month alone are any indication we are in store for a long summer full of these ‘activists.’ Antifa may come back, but I hope I am wrong.

Kids as Political Weapons

Lately we have seen kids all over the news. They have appeared on CNN, took part in a 2 minutes of hate style (from Orwell’s 1984) town hall where they called a representative from the NRA (Dana Loesch) a murderer and likened a US senator (Marco Rubio) to a school shooter.

Of course these are the same group of kids over and over again, and they have the same agenda as the mainstream media. They want to capitalize on the victimhood of these kids to make the public feel sympathy for their cause: Gun Control.

It is a clever tactic, because who is going to argue with a kid who has been traumatized, you just end up looking like a bully who does not care about school shootings. Yet this weaponization of school kids goes too far.

There are times when the adults need to stand up, put the kids in time out and tell them they need to be quiet and let the adults talk. Kids are not possessed of any special expertise or experience except in the realm of being kids.

Inexperienced and Short Sighted

The world is a complex place. So complex that adults cannot even understand the whole of it. Children, having less time and living less life, have no clue how the world works due to this complexity and lack of experience.

There is a reason we do not allow children to vote, drink, go to war, smoke, or enter into legal contracts. They have a hard time understanding the long term ramifications of these actions not only on their own life but on the community as well.

This is why we should not take advice from children on how to act. Sometime children are able to state things clearly and honestly but this is the exception, not the rule.

Kids, go back to class, put in the time and work and come back when you actually know what you are talking about. Do not attempt to lecture me or anyone else on morality or what is right and what should be done.

You are an inexperienced, uneducated child who has lived under the protection of your parents and those who came before you. Grow up, stop whining, and show a little respect for the system they built that allows you to grow up in relative safety and security.

The system is not perfect by any means, but all things considered it is a better system then what is found in most of the world. If it were as truly awful as you think or have been told then why do people risk life, limb, and liberty in an attempt to come here?

The Western World is a light of civilization in a dark world, a little gratitude for the benefits you gain by being born into this system would go a long way.

State Sanctioned Truancy

When these protests and walk outs are planned it is usually with the consent of the teachers and administrators of the school. We are paying the state to educate our children and instead they give the kids signs with slogans on them and tell them to march in the street.

Most kids will see this as a chance to skip class, hang out with friends and feel good about their virtue signaling. If you ask teenagers what would they rather do, math, history, and science or go out on the town, hang out with your friends, and fight for ‘change’ and make the world a ‘better’ place, all without getting into trouble and at the encouragement of their teachers, which do you think they are going to pick?

Not to mention the fact that these protests are probably not going to change anything other than missing out on a day of school. We are living in a world where you need to fill out a permission slip in triplicate and pay a fee to send your kid to a museum but no such precautions are taken to allow your children to run around the street of town shouting at people and getting in the way of traffic.

Publicly Funded Revolution

I personally do not have children, but I do pay property taxes. A good portion of those property taxes goes to these schools, which is fine with me because there can be a public benefit to educating children.

I know I personally do not want my money going to fund these sort of protests. Do you really want to pay teachers and administrators to, at best, sit on their hands and do nothing or, at worst, push their own political agenda?

I want kids to be educated and taught TO think, not WHAT to think. There is a benefit to educating the public, but there is only harm in indoctrinating the public.

Child Soldiers

It is clear that these children are being weaponized to push a political agenda. Kids should not be a political tool to use against your political opponents regardless of which party you belong to. Some lines should not be crossed.

These children are human beings, impressionable minds looking to figure out the world. As such, they have no place in the adult world of politics. To be clear, I am not saying do not talk to your children about these things but do not put them in front of a camera and tell them what to say in order to push an agenda.

Teachers, parents, and the media are all failing these kids in this regard. Instead of teaching these children how to look at a problem and work to solve it on their own, they are teaching children that it is okay to use manipulation of other people’s emotions in order to get what you want.

They are also being taught that if that person does not immediately give it to you than they are an enemy of yours that truly does not care for you and is worthy of your hatred and scorn. Sometimes no is one of the most loving statements you can make to a person.

Children are our future, do not squander that future by playing political games with them. Let them learn and grow and work out small things on their own before you tell them they need to go out and be an activist dead set on fixing the world. Chances are, due to their inexperience and lack of maturity, they will only make a complex problem worse.

Be Active: A Harsh Criticism for Republicans

The Republican Party in Oregon is a joke.

The Party fights and squabbles leading up to the primary, yet once the primary is done the Party is no more united then it was before the primary. Instead the different groups split off and call each other RINO or claim that because this candidate does not agree with me on X they are not a real Republican.

Unity

Purity testing is killing the Party and causing it to fractionate. The Party lacks any sort of unity outside of the name Republican.

The sentiment is if you do not believe what I, a real Republican, believe then I am simply going to stay home on Election Day and refuse to vote. Or I will write a name in or simply not send in my ballot because I do not want to waste a stamp.

If you fail to compromise within the Party then you will break and you might as well give up and allow a different Party to take your place. You cannot get everything you want all the time, grow up and make a sacrifice for the future.

The candidate might not be perfect but they are better than the alternative and they are more likely to listen to you in the future if you help get them elected.

Failure to Take Action

The Republican Party is inert. They do nothing to get out in the world and get their message out. I have seen more conservative action from non-political groups then I have ever seen from the Party.

The Democratic Party has several activist groups who attract attention and get people energized. What does the Republican Party do, argue on Facebook! Now is the perfect time for a conservative message.

Young men want, no need, to be told that they can take personal responsibility for their own lives and can make things happen for themselves. And they actually want to hear this message, just look at the wild popularity of Jordan Peterson.

People want to be told that you should always tell the truth and that seeking the truth is a good thing, at the very least do not lie. This is a conservative message, a message of the church and of science, to seek Truth above all else.

Instead they are letting the Progressive Left get away with lying for fear of pissing off their social justice mob. Where are the brave, strong, tough Republicans who will stand up for Republican values and American values?

They are afraid to say they love America because they do not want the bad media attention. But the people will see through the media lies. Use alternative media like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to speak directly to the people and expose the media for their lies.

Just about every cell phone has a camera now, use it and let the public decide for themselves.

Instead the Republican’s try to keep their heads down and hope they can slip in without anyone noticing. How has that worked out so far? That pain in your chest is your soul rotting because you are more focused on protecting yourself from Twitter hate mobs then you are for standing up for Truth, Responsibility, and American Values.

Allows the Left to Label and Define Us

You let those on the left define what you and the Party are. They call you racist, bigot, Nazi and what do Republicans do. The fire back with the word liberal.

It is clear to everyone who the racists and bigots are, just call them for what they are. What did the Republican Party do when Antifa threated to attack them if they marched in the Rose Parade on 82^nd? Nothing. The parade got shut down and the Republican Party did nothing.

This looked weak and conceded the point Antifa was making, that the Republican Party is racist and full of Nazi’s and Fascists. Where was the push back, where was the pride of the Party to defend their reputation?

The people of Oregon are begging for someone to step up and stand up to these people, but the Party leaders are too afraid of being called racist. I understand that the press is against you and you will not get a fair shake in the court of public opinion but that does not mean you take the easy road.

You stand up and fight back, take the hard road, accept the suffering that will be heaped on you and understand that if you are speaking the truth that it will all come out in the end. Have faith.

You allow the left to control the conversation. You argue using their words and premises. It is time to reject their premises and prove them false.

Do the work, challenge Democrats to open debate, make it public and do your homework before the event starts. Study their tricks and literature and do not make a fool of yourself. The left does not want their ideas out in the public and for good reason, they are authoritarian in nature.

Yet the Republican’s just come across as weak and leaderless. I have attended local meet ups and felt zero energy in the room. We have a Republican President, house and senate and yet it feels like the Party is ashamed of winning.

Do not be ashamed of being a conservative or Republican, conservative and Republican thought and ethics have a place and are valuable.

Pick Up What the Left has Abandoned

The left has abandoned Free Speech, innocent until proven guilty, and the universal rights of the individual just to name a few. Instead the left worships hate speech, social justice, and groups rights.

Free Speech, innocent until proven guilty and universal rights of the individual are founding principles that most Americans believe in and will gladly vote for. They have been abandoned as if they are trash on the side of the road.

All the Republican Party has to do is pick them up, yet they just look at them as if they were a coiled rattlesnake. You would just have to read the constitution and the bill of rights as if they were a political playbook and you will have more votes than you have ever had in the past.

Even if the left tried to argue with you most people still agree with the bill of rights. They would be arguing against the bill of rights. They will argue against it, the lefts ideology says it was written by a bunch of white male slave owners and so it is bad.

Of course they hate it because it gives rights to the individual and not the group and all they care about are groups, who they then turn into voting blocks. Yet Republican’s remain silent. They are trying to be statesman like and proper, the time for being proper is over.

Pick up freedom, hold up liberty, and promote personal responsibility, because if you do not then no one will. Republicans complain that the country is being ruined by Progressives, yet they stand by and watch it all happen.

Republicans seem to be in love with their complaints as opposed to doing what it takes to do something about them. It is easy to complain, it is difficult to get real things done.

How about you stand up and fight for the values that made this country great. People want to hear about conservative values and to be told that they, as the individual, have the power to change the world, and the great thing about that message is that it is true!

Why the Republican Party is too afraid to stand up and do anything is beyond me. Where are the radical Republicans that ended slavery, fought against Jim Crowe, and stands up for the rights of the individual? Where are the Republican Activists?

Where are the Republicans who will willingly march into a Progressive city like Portland and tell the small business owners that they are there to support them when their livelihood is being overrun by the homeless? The Progressives organized a protest in favor of the homeless people against the businesses. Seize the opportunity.

Where are the Conservative thinkers who are not afraid to stand toe to toe with a Democrat and challenge them with powerful traditional ideas? Ideas such as the importance of the family and that a family with two parents in the household is better than single parent families.

Where are the Republicans pushing back against the poisonous ideas being disseminated by the Progressives through universities, the media, and Hollywood, such as Toxic Masculinity and White Privilege? Stand up for the young man who is already nervous to approach a girl he is interested in but now has to worry if he could face legal action for making a fool of himself.

Pick up the disaffected liberals in the Democratic Party. They are sick of the Progressive radicals who are simply authoritarian socialists and communists or violent anarchists. You just have to appeal to them in ways they can understand. With classical liberal ideas (read Locke and Mill and founding fathers).

Instead Republicans just wait for Democrats to fail hard and hope that they can get voted in simply for not being Democrats. Why not try to get voted in for being conservative? If you wait the damage done will be irreversible.

What to do

Be controversial. It is not hard because now it is controversial to say you support Freedom of Speech. Ignore the labels heaped on you by your political opponents, it is just an attempt to keep you silent so they do not have to argue against your ideas or principles because they have no arguments against them.

Be public. Get out and interact with people. Hold your own events, do not simply attend other events. Go to controversial events and talk to people. Show people that you will stand up clear and strong.

Be honest. Tell the truth, or at the very least do not lie. The truth always finds a way to come out and you can either take your knocks now and improve or you take make it worse and end up losing everything in the end.

Have thought out arguments and principles. I do not care if we disagree on them as long as they thought out and strong. Consider criticisms to your arguments and use them to make your ideas stronger. Make your case powerful and be ready to face opposition not only in the form of arguments but also in the form of name calling. You know it is coming so be ready for it.

Have a clear place you want to go and a good reason why we should go there. If you want to be a leader than lead. Have a vision of the future, develop a plan for reaching that future and figure out why it is good that we should go that way as opposed to another way.

I make these criticism and suggestions from my own experience as a conservative who has lived in Oregon his whole life and has never had a conservative government in power. I wrote this knowing full well that some people will be angry about it. If that is you than ask yourself are you angry because I got it wrong or angry because it hits close to home?

I would be happy to admit I was wrong, as I am still fairly new to the Party, so please correct me if you think I am wrong on some point.

It is time we stand up and fight for the liberties that have been bitterly won throughout our history. It is time to be active.

Problematic Words

Note: This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor are these definitive definitions. Rather these are my observations to which I welcome discussion and dissenting opinions. I also use the term Progressive to describe those on the Far Left. You can replace the word Progressive with Ctrl Left, Alt Left, Far Left, authoritarian Left, and liberal (as far as liberal means American liberal/Democrat that is far to the left). I try to distinguish those on the extreme left from those who are more center left or those on the left that do not fully understand the ideology that has a hold of them. Remember that words matter and to never yield linguistic ground to those you disagree with, for if you use their definitions than you are playing their game and even if you win, you still only win their game. Words are the ground the culture war is being fought and you do not want to fight a battle on the ground your enemy has selected.

People of Color – This is simply just a fancy way of saying anyone who is not white. It is a way of excluding someone based on skin color that is hiding behind a mask of compassion. It is also discriminating against the ‘People of Color’ by assuming that all people who are not white have the same experiences and desires. This is why you see such vitriol directed toward ‘People of Color’ who defy the norms being forced on them by Progressives.

Ally – This is the term used to describe people who are white or male that support those who are not. Again this is a way to separating white people, men and white men in particular from other groups. It carries connotations that while you might support Progressive ideas you cannot fully become part of the group, simply because of immutable characteristics determined at birth. It also implies that you do not get to call the shots but need to be submissive to those who call you an ally or you will lose that status and become an enemy.

Islamophobia – This word is simply a cudgel to beat people into submission. It is used to brand those opposed to the Progressive party lines as someone driven by hate of someone else. It is curious that there is no corresponding word for other religions, no Christophobia, no Buddaphobia, and no Hinduphobia. The closest thing is Anti-Semitism which usually takes the form of racism. Criticize the Bible, put a crucifix in a jar of urine and burn the American flag and all is fine, but criticize Islam or draw a picture of Mohammed and you’ll be branded an Islamaphobe and probably have riots of Muslims that are excused by mainstream media as justified outrage. It also holds back those Muslims who seek to reform the religion away from the violent fundamentalism prevalent among terrorist groups. It also keeps those Muslims seeking changes in a system of oppression.

Racism – The Progressives are trying to change the meaning of the word racism to mean Power + Privilege. This is so they can justify racist acts by simply denying they are racist. If someone lacks power or privilege then they cannot be racist from this perspective. They are in essence absolving themselves from the sin of racism in their core ideology.

Privilege – This word simply means someone who is doing better than someone else. Of course the Progressive will attribute this success to systemic racism and unconscious bias as opposed to sacrifice and hard work. Again white straight men are the most privileged regardless of everything else, the poorest white male is more privileged than the daughters of former president Barak Obama. This word is also used as a slur against those who disagree with the Progressive ideology.

Unconscious Bias – This is the idea that people are inherently racist/sexist/homophobic etc. No scientific test has been developed to accurately determine Unconscious Bias and if you are asked to attend Unconscious Bias training I would recommend refusing to attend or recording it and sharing it with the world. No one regardless of intention has the right to force you to alter your unconscious, do not allow them access to the deepest areas of your mind, that is your and yours alone.

Systemic Oppression – This is the idea that any given system is set up to oppress certain people. While this might be true in that a hierarchy of competence will exclude the incompetent. The Progressive will generally be referring to a specific company or government agency keeping out ‘people of color’ and women. This is often cited as the reason for the need of equality of outcome.

Equity – This one has been hotly debated but when put forward by a Progressive it means that everyone ends up with the same in the end. While this might sound good on the surface the only way this is possible is through the use of force. It pushes aside hard work, talent, competence, and sacrifice. This means when the Progressive looks at any structure or system and do not see parity within that structure with society (50/50 men and women for example) than it is not equal and that is due to Systemic Oppression.

Intersectionality – This is the Progressive attempt to rectify the idea that a straight white woman has more privilege than a straight black woman. It is a way of organizing society and determining levels of oppression. Almost like a caste system, with white straight cis able-bodied men on the bottom (have the most privilege) and black queer Trans disabled woman on the top (has the least privilege). The interesting thing about intersectionality is that taken to its logical conclusion you end up with individuality. Meaning that no two people are going to intersect in the same way.

Hate Speech – This is just censorship hiding behind the mask of compassion. Since what is considered hateful is subjective it leaves it to those in power to determine what is and is not hate speech. Of course to the Progressive the only thing that is real in the world is power, so they can justify the use of it to do what they want.

If I left anything out please leave it in the comments below and I’ll do another post adding to this one.

The Normalization of Bigotry

The letter above is from the City Club of Portland and is signed by the President of the Board of Governors for that organization, Lisa Watson. In this letter she is rejecting research done by volunteers for City Club at the expense of volunteer time and energy simply because of their skin color.

“As part of the Board of Governors’ standard review of the research process, it came to our attention that every member of the committee was white. While we have no doubt that the committee members entered into this research project in good faith and with all best intentions, it’s clear that an all-white committee makes our research vulnerable to significant and substantive racial bias.”

What Lisa Watson is saying is that they are rejecting this study because it might be compromised by racial bias. Yet the criteria for making that assertion is based on racial bias. That a group of white people cannot do something effectively because they are white. You can read the full article and letter here.

Dear White People

This is not the only article that attacks white people. The New York Times published an article titled Can My Children Be Friends With White People? In this article the author, Ekow N. Yankah a professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshive University says that white people cannot be trusted and he will teach his children to mistrust white people.

Mistrusting a group of people based on skin color is racist. Teaching children to mistrust people of a certain skin color is racist. As a professor he is not only teaching his own children not to trust white people but teaching other people’s children that white people are not to be trusted.

He does give a pass to white people who go and protest and do what he likes, essentially saying that the only white people you can be friends with are the ones who will do what you want.

Almost one year ago on December 25^th 2016 George Ciccariello-Maher an Associate Professor at Drexel University tweeted out saying “All I want for Christmas is White Genocide.” He followed that tweet up with a clarifying tweet saying “To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian Revolution, that was a good thing indeed.”

He tried to play it off as a joke aimed at criticizing and mocking the alt-right idea of white genocide. Yet if you turned the statement around and replaced white with any other skin color that would get you fired on the spot. Ciccariello-Maher was placed on administrative leave on October 11^th 2017 after blaming the Las Vegas Shooting that left 59 people dead on a system that favors white males.

Sally Boynton Brown, the Chairwoman of the Idaho Democratic Party, said in a speech while running for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair that “My job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt. My job is to shut other white people down when they say, ‘Oh, no, I’m not prejudiced; I’m a Democrat; I’m accepting. My job is to make sure [white people] ‘get’ that they have privilege.” (Read the article here or watch the video here)

Sally Boynton Brown said this among cheers. She also said “I am from Idaho, we are so white” as if being white were something bad to be. That white people need to be ‘schooled’ so that we can move forward as a country.

This is someone who holds a political office in the Democratic Party. Someone who was seen as enough of a leader that she thought she had a chance to win the DNC chair position.

There are several articles like this. Sargon of Akkad a well known YouTuber made a video that does a great job of explaining this narrative here.

Every Narrative Needs a Villain

News media, universities and the political left are trying to build up white people are a sort of monolith. That is because the far left and the Democrat Party focuses on the rights of groups as opposed to the rights of individuals. (See my previous post on that here).

They need people to fit into groups so they can then claim to be fighting for those groups. To fight for a group you must be fighting against something. You cannot fight against the government because there are virtually zero laws that discriminate based on race or gender. Also you do not want to fight the government if you are running for office because you will be the government if you get elected.

Instead you make the government the answer, with you as the elected official of course, and you point to something else as the problem. The ‘problem’ a lot of media outlets and universities are pointing to is white people.

To be fair there have been some horrible white people and there still are horrible white people. Yet to pretend that this is exclusive to white people is to deny context, reality and history.

Exclusionary Tactics

The term People of Color (POC), which is often used in the media and by Progressives is a term designed, consciously or unconsciously, to exclude white people. Think about the term, who is a person of color? Anyone who is not white of course. So when a Progressive says there is racism against People of Color what they are really saying is that white people are racist.

To the Progressive white people cannot be part of the group, they can only be allies. Being an ally means doing everything that the Progressives say is right without question, you can see that in this video here. It also means that you can help the group but you can never truly be part of the group.

By redefining racism and using terms like POC and ally the Progressives are actively creating fault lines among people in order to divide them into groups to get them on their side. At times this turns against them and you get groups like the Alt-Right, who believe in a lot of the same ideas as the Progressive left, just on the white people side.

Why?

The activists, journalists, media pundits, university professors, and anyone else with a Progressive bent to them will tell you they are doing this to help POC, to destroy systemic racism that is at the foundation of Western Civilization or some other flowery way of saying they are helping people.

That is what they will say they are doing, and it might even be what they believe they are doing, but I am reminded of a quote from the bible Matthew 7:20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

So what kind of fruit is being produced by this Progressive tree? Has it fed the hungry, made suffering less for humanity or has it caused people to turn out in the street and destroy things? The fruits I have seen produced are riots in the street, people being attacked for defending freedom of speech, and division being created along any sort of identity lines that people associate with. POC versus white, LGBTQ versus straight, rich versus the poor, men versus women, Republican versus Democrat, and the list of this sort of fruit goes on and on.

The roots of this Progressive tree is Post Modernism growing in the soil of Neo-Marxism. Post Modernism boils everything down to power, if someone is more successful it is because they have more power, while Marxism boils everything down to oppressor versus oppressed. In this ideology if you are doing better than someone else, it is not because you are more competent but rather that you have more power and are using that power to oppress others.

Combine this with the idea of group’s rights and group identity and taking the data that on average white people are doing well, you will find the justification for the hatred of white people. Terms are developed and words redefined to separate white people from others. This is done so that people can manipulate others into doing what they want so they can possess power to make the world a better place.

I just wonder how many bodies they will need to stack up in their attempt this time.