Saturday, March 18, 2006

We're All Dead!

Since I am on spring break, I have decided it is the appropriate time to discuss something dire. Ladies and gentlemen, we are doomed. In fact, we are so doomed that I don’t think it really matters anymore.

Allow me to explain myself. Actually, allow someone else to explain it to you. Senator John Kerry (who served in Vietnam), explained on the radio that, “I can say to an absolute certainty that if things stay exactly as they are today absent some unpredictable change in what's going on, within the next 30 years the Arctic ice sheet is gone… Already you have the Greenland ice sheet beginning to melt ... If that melts, you have a level of sea level increase that wipes out Boston Harbor, New York Harbor - I mean, it's just stunning what we're looking at.”

Good glory! Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Now of course, that would be simply a disaster. However, I’m not worried about it. You see, we don’t even have to worry about the ice caps. Our planet will be long dead by that point. Al Gore, by way of his friend, explained to us some time ago that he “… believes humans may have only 10 years left to save the planet from turning into a total frying pan.” This frying pan would be the result of global warming.

Good glory! That is even worse. Forget about melting ice caps, we’re all going to be dead 20 years before that happens. I’ve got a question about all this, especially Al Gore’s revelation – what’s the point? Do you really think it will be possible for us, even with the Kyoto Treaty, to mend this damage before we all die? Seems to me that even in the dreams of liberals, we’re already dead! Maybe that’s why John Kerry’s family (a separate entity from John Kerry, as we all know) owns several SUVs, five obscenely large mansions, a jet liner, and a yacht, all of which are polluters. John Kerry knows it is futile to try to stop our inevitable death.

In the mean time, before I die of heat stroke from Al Gore’s frying pan or drown from John Kerry’s floods, I’m going to go up and enjoy several days of snowboarding in the above average snow pack of several world class Colorado ski resorts (I snowboard, I don’t ski – skiers are crazy and unsafe on the slopes, so I refuse to be a part of them).

Another fine lesson from Conservative Textbook.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Ready, Set, They're Off!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you are aware an organization that I believe holds great promise is in the works. This organization is Regenerate Our Culture. As a launch sponsor of this new website, I am please to announce that it has gone live! Regenerate Our Culture is ready to rock!

Regenerate Our Culture is managed by several recognized bloggers including Tim Sweetman of Agent Tim, Kristin Braun of Spunky Jr., Alex King of Smarthomeschool, and Jake Smith of Mission36Teen. Regenerate Our Culture is dedicated to the purpose of regenerating our culture into one that is based on a Biblical world view.

Now that their website is up and running, make sure to stop by on a regular basis to check out the new materials and opinions they post.

Another fine announcement from Conservative Textbook.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

The United States and Protectionism

Dubai Ports World is a company we are all quite familiar with due to recent media and political coverage. Dubai Ports World has now agreed to sell its operations to a U.S. owned entity. Is this a victory for America? In my opinion, this is by no means a victory; it is nothing less than a startling defeat for America. Allow me to explain my position.

I could care less about who ran the loading and unloading of our ports. It really doesn’t matter that much to me as long as that entity does not take the security duties that are currently executed by the port authorities and the United States Coast Guard. However, what is startling about Dubai Ports World’s defeat is that it signals something far larger than many people realize. Primarily, it signifies a renewed birth of a dangerous economic ideal – protectionism. Protectionism is a twisted form of nationalism. Nationalism is a philosophy I subscribe to on nearly all levels; however, protectionism is a branch of capitalism that does not follow the guidelines of a prosperous economy. Protectionism occurs when a country ends all (or nearly all) foreign investment in favor of producing all goods and services within itself.

Protectionism was a viable economic policy centuries ago when we did not have the ability to transport goods and services long distances. Countries had to be self sufficient in order to survive. In our modern world, protectionism no longer is a viable option to maintain our standard of living. The American standard of living, by far the highest standard of living in the world, is built upon not only our (generally) business friendly laws, but also by foreign investment. Many of the products we enjoy, such as clothing, iPods, tools, and computers (people don’t enjoy Windows, but they do enjoy Macs) are made outside of America. This lowers their costs. When their costs are lower, we are able to buy other products ands services with the saved cash. This in turn increases the standard of living.

What would happen if we stopped allowing foreign investment in America? Clothing, iPods, tools, computers, and countless other products would increase in price. This, of course, would make it more expensive for families to buy these important products (who can live without an iPod?). They would either continue to buy these more expensive products and have less money available for other needs, or they would forego buying these products in the first place. In any case, the standard of living would decrease.

Do you now see where the danger in the Dubai Ports World situation lurks? Protectionists are taking the leading role in forcing foreign investment to think twice about coming to America. This is not an isolated case. In fact, other foreign companies have been forced to not invest in America in recent months. These are signs of protectionism, and they signify possible dangers for the future economic strength of America.

Another fine lesson from Conservative Textbook.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

The Future

I have talked about my optimism for the conservative movement in America. My belief is that this movement, grounded in the ideals of freedom, equality, and self-motivation, is poised to be in the forefront of American politics for many decades to come. As a philosophy, the conservative movement is still very young. Most consider the modern conservative movement to have gained the majority rule when President Ronald Reagan took the office of the presidency.

I would like to address the topic of college students and the conservative movement. As many of you know, college professors (and high school teachers) are likely to be liberals. Though this is not a crime, many times professors will add a little political spice to their lectures where it is inappropriate. It is at this point that these professors become activists, giving a political tirade to a captive audience. Now before I go on, I wish to say that there are many excellent teachers and professors out in the field. Three of my community college professors fit into this category. One in particular (my accounting professor) is the best professor any student could wish to have in a class. All three of these professors keep their political views to themselves in the classroom. In fact, I have no clue as to the political orientation of one of the three. This is how it should be in the academic world. Unfortunately, it is not always so with professors.

What about the professors who become left wing activists in front of students? What is to be done with these professors? In my opinion, the best thing to do is to expose them. Such was the case with Sean Allen of Aurora, Colorado. Sean produced proof positive that exposed his geography teacher as abusing his privilege to teach the young kids in his class. Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado at the People’s Republic of Boulder was also exposed, though not quite in the same way. Students must take the lead and begin to alert the school officials to these teachers. Unfortunately, many times academia will not take actions against such abuses of power by teachers and will subsequently dismiss students who alerted them to such situations. When that point is reached, it is the duty of the student and the family to take more drastic measures, such as alerting the news media to such incidences of unnecessary politics in the classroom.

Of course, this sounds all fine and dandy, but will it work? Will students really stand up for what they believe at the risk of a grade in the class? I have to admit, this would be difficult even for me. A good portion of my self-esteem comes from straight A’s in my classes (there are other activities, of course ☺). However, when push comes to shove, I believe most conservative students would address the issue. If not directly in front of the professor, in other ways such as alerting the proper school authorities to such grievances.

It can be done. The conservative movement has come so far in the past decades. It has grown from a significant minority with no voice or power into the majority political force in the nation. The conservative movement has broken down the stronghold of the liberal media. It has beaten back many of the unrelenting attacks of communism in disguise (socialism). Conservatives now have a voice in nearly all aspects of the culture. Academia is one of the last spider-holes of liberal dominance with no conservative outlet. Along with many other conservatives, I believe we are beginning to see the slow erosion of that monopoly in the form of students taking a stand. All movements start out small and isolated as in the cases of Professor Ward Churchill, Professor John Daly, and Jay Bennish. However, these cases show that some students are willing to stand up to liberals. When young people see others doing something, it is much easier to follow suit. These instances will no doubt embolden conservative students to insist on fair and balanced school lectures and studies. These instances will, in time, create a movement in the academia to chip away at this last bastion of the liberal monopoly.

Another fine lesson from Conservative Textbook.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Regenerate Our Culture

As I was reading other blogs today, I stopped by The Rebelution. It was here I discovered a new and very promising organization – Regenerate Our Culture. This organization is headed by bloggers I highly respect such as Tim Sweetman of Agent Tim, Kristin Braun of Spunky Jr., Alex King of Smarthomeschool, and Jake Smith of Mission36Teen. This organization is dedicated to the purpose of regenerating our culture into one that is based on a Biblical worldview. Regenerate Our Culture, once launched (check out their button in my sidebar under Announcements to watch the countdown), will bring together the best posts from the teen blogosphere and will create a network of blogs. Be sure to check them out often!

Another fine announcement from Conservative Textbook.