Louis R. Avallone

Author: liz

Makes No Sense

Why do “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing? And why did Japanese Kamikaze pilots wear crash helmets? And why do we always press harder on the television remote when it needs new batteries? These are questions that many feel the mind is simply incapable of answering. Of course, we could go on and on with similar conundrums, especially after watching the national Democrat convention in Philadelphia last month.

For starters, how can 68% of Americans believe that Hillary Clinton is not honest and trustworthy – an all-time worst in her political career – yet the Democrat Party nominate her as their candidate for President of the United States? I mean, these negatives are higher than nearly any candidate in recent memory.

And that’s not to mention that 2 out of 3 Americans view her unfavorably, according to a CBS poll, and only about 1 out 3 would feel “proud” to have her as President, according to a CNN poll.

It just doesn’t make sense that almost one-half of Democrat primary voters still wish Bernie Sanders was the Party’s nominee, and yet Hillary Clinton still turned around and thumped Bernie’s supporters on the head – by hiring the very person, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who rigged Democrat Party support to ensure that Bernie would never have been the nominee in the first place.

None of it makes any sense, except to Democrats, who are still planning to vote for Hillary because, well, that’s just what’s right and decent to them.

But given all of the polling data regarding voter sentiment, from the Benghazi murders to the FBI investigation of her handling of classified information – not to mention a rigged Party nomination process – what is going through the minds of those who are nevertheless still chanting, “I’m with Hillary”?

If this describes you, or someone you know, psychologists call this condition the “backfire effect”. This is when, after you have added an idea to your collection of core beliefs, you protect that idea from harm. Even in the face of inconsistent ideas or other information, you stick to your beliefs, instead of questioning them, nevertheless. This “backfire effect” has long-range, deleterious effects on one’s ability to understand the issues, and one’s willingness to analyze other points of view. This is mainly because we all tend to seek out information which confirms our current beliefs anyway.

There are lots of examples of this, but consider the commonly held belief that Republicans are the Party of racism, while the Democrats are not. The facts don’t support this belief, but the “backfire effect” is clearly evident because the facts are tossed aside by all those wanting to protect the “idea” that Republicans are racist.

For example, did you know that it was the Democrat Party’s tireless efforts to preserve and defend slavery that caused the Republican Party to be founded in the first place? Yes, Virginia, the Republican Party was formed as an opposition party to slavery.

In fact, by 1861, the Republicans had elected their first president, Abraham Lincoln, and following the Civil War that ensued over this issue, slavery was ended. Racist groups, such as the KKK were, in fact, supported by the Democrat Party, and later defended by numerous government officials, including President Woodrow Wilson.

Not sure about all that? Well, consider that the 14th Amendment, giving full citizenship to freed slaves, passed in 1868 with 0% Democrat support in Congress. That’s 0%. Not one Democrat supported the amendment. The 15th Amendment, giving freed slaves the right to vote, passed in 1870 with 0% Democrat support in Congress. Again, that is 0% Democrat support.

And for those who say, “Yeah, well, that’s all in the past and a long time ago,” well, let’s talk about the Democrat Party of today, then.

Since 2008, black poverty is up, and black employment is down, even as Democrats controlled both the White House and the Congress. Forty percent of black males are incarcerated, and 72 percent of black children are still being born to unmarried mothers. There are fewer blacks participating in the labor force and the unemployment rate among blacks is more than double than it is among whites. And this is all happening under a federal government filled with Democrats. The same Democrat Party that has spent over 50 years, and billions of dollars, on social welfare programs of every kind, only to have the poverty rate even higher today than it was back then.

And I won’t even get into how white voters in 2008 looked right past the color of skin, and then elected a black man to its highest office in the land.

So, go ahead, dig in your heels, if you must, and dismiss the facts that show how the Democrat Party has paddled up this same river of division so many – and far too many times. The problem is they not only understand the “backfire effect”, but they are counting on it, to keep your vote. The question is, do they have a “fat chance,” or “slim chance,” of doing it?

August 2, 2016
When It’s All About You

President Obama’s remarks, at the memorial service for 5 slain Dallas police officers recently, was a sad reflection of why our nation is so divided, and why it’s not only important for us to do what is right in our communities, but to do it for the right reasons – and not just because of what’s in it, for you.

That’s because you can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. After all, most people are really nice to those who can help them, in some way. Whether it’s your manager at work when you are asking for a raise, or your plumber when you have a burst pipe and water is running everywhere – we act differently when there’s something in it for us – even when it’s the right thing to do in the first place.

And yes, having the POTUS attend this memorial service is both honorable and appropriate. But when the President took the opportunity at the memorial service to make a speech supporting more gun control legislation, in a room full of people hurting, with heavy hearts from the loss of these officers’ lives – it felt like the President came to Dallas more for what was in it for him – and about how a grieving community could help make the case for his political agenda.

Unfortunately, this “what’s in it for me” culture is increasingly expected. Although the President’s remarks should have been only to express the nation’s sympathies to the grieving families and the law enforcement communities, as well as the Dallas community at-large, he took this solemn time to lobby the crowd, saying that “(w)e flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.”

First of all, none of that is true. None of it – not to mention that the killer in Dallas was not even close to being a teenager, or an at-risk youth. Secondly, Pew Research Center conducted a survey last year and found 87 percent of U.S. teenagers had access to either a desktop or laptop computer and books are plentiful in our communities. In fact, our public schools literally hand our children books every year, not to mention there are more libraries in the U.S. than McDonald’s restaurants. So why lie to an audience, not to mention one that is grieving, just to advance an agenda?

Well, it’s not the first time for this administration. Remember the BP oil spill, and Obama’s moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico because he said it was a matter of national security? There are 32,000 Louisiana jobs dependent on drilling, and many drilling rigs were forced to leave the Gulf of Mexico because of inactivity – and they haven’t come back. In the end, the moratorium on drilling was used to help pass new alternative energy legislation in Congress, not increase our national security.

Remember too that Obama began withdrawing our combat troops from Iraq in 2011, and justified doing so because he said we had achieved success and “(t)he tide of war is receding.” But it wasn’t true. To the contrary, our military advisors had warned that it was too soon to leave, and that the tide of war had not, in fact, receded. In the end, though, this single decision to withdraw from Iraq left the door wide open for ISIS to flourish, and expand their terror around the world – all while Obama could now make good on his 2008 campaign promise to withdraw our combat troops and he was re-elected in 2012.

There are other examples of this “what’s in it for me” culture, but the bottom line is that it’s rotting our country from the top down. It is no doubt what is largely responsible for the increasingly deeper divisions between blacks and white, rich and poor, conservatives and liberals, etc. over the last 8 years.

Yes, I know our culture, and all of the advertisements within it, promote this life being all about us, and what’s in it for us: “Have it your way,” “You deserve a break today,” or “You’re worth it.”

But the first sentence in the book, A Purpose Driven Life, perhaps says it best: “It’s not about you”.

And our President should be the first one in line to say so – especially at a memorial service for those who put their lives in harm’s way, so he won’t ever have to.

July 14, 2016
Last Best Hope

It was the highest voter turnout in Great Britain in almost 25 years. In fact, more than 30 million British voters went to the polls last month and voted on whether Great Britain should withdraw from the European Union (or “EU”).

What is the EU? Well, I’m glad you asked, because it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was, either. For starters, the EU is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries. The idea began after World War II on the premise that countries that trade with one another are less like to war with one another. It then developed into a single market, and by 1999, 11 of the EU countries even adopted their own currency, the “Euro”.

You see, even though Europe does not have a common language, culture, or value system, the “EU” nonetheless has its own, single parliament system of government, and sets rules for its member countries on everything from the environment, transport, and consumer rights.

The trouble is, most Europeans don’t really know how it all works, or who’s in charge, and there’s no real sovereignty for these countries, as members of the EU. For example, under EU law, Great Britain cannot prevent anyone from any other EU member state from coming to live in their country. Their border is completely open, as result. And because the EU makes the laws – the voters in Great Britain don’t have much of a say so, at all.

This is one of the many reasons that almost 72% of the British turned out to vote on the issue of withdrawing from the EU. Some see it as these voters wanting to “take back” their country, or restore their national identity. And if so, we would do well in the United States to do the same.

After all, a nation is a group of people who share a destiny, and with that destiny, an identity. But this national identity needs pride, and a sense of affection that is expressed to the exclusion of any other allegiance. But because there is no common language, culture, or value system in Europe, is it really any surprise that the British saw the foundation of their nation eroding away – and wanted to do something about it?

Did you know that only 54% of us here in the U.S. are very proud to be Americans? Compare that with only 33% of people in Germany, France, and Italy (all EU members) that say the same about their own country. These are countries who are clearly losing their national identities – and quickly. The result is utter failure.

Just look at France or Spain or Greece: these nations are replete with worker protests, and are facing mounting financial difficulties, and unchecked immigration of unassimilated migrant workers, many who are openly hostile to their own host nation, demanding continued entitlement to unsustainable, state-funded social programs, and threatening the peace and stability of that nation.

Margaret Thatcher once said that Europe is “a classic Utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a program whose inevitable destiny is failure: Only the scale of the final damage is in doubt.” Indeed, she was right.

But none of this is new. Back in 2011, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted, “We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him.”

Former British Prime Minister James Cameron said essentially the same in 2011, “(W)e have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. We’ve even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values.”

Does this sound familiar? And while America’s shores once assimilated different cultures and religions into “one nation under God,” today the “great melting pot” in the U.S. means that traditionalists get thrown into the boiling kettle of liberal diversity. Before long, our own nation’s identity will begin to erode precipitously, just as those European countries are witnessing now for themselves.

And similar to errors of those European countries, such as France and Great Britain, President Obama continues to express indifference, regarding our open border with Mexico, which continues to be plagued by cartel violence, drugs, and other forms of illegal smuggling, as well as illegal immigration and terrorism. In fact, the authority of state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law has been diminished under the Obama administration, as the federal government now largely abandons the prosecution of non-criminal illegal immigrants and allows them to remain in the U.S.

Even dyed-in-the-wool liberals must see the parallels here with the European nations and the consequences of unchecked, unassimilated immigrants to one’s nation. The proverbial handwriting is on the wall.

Unlike the British, we cannot withdraw from any EU-like organization to save our country. We are everything that our country has protect its national identity – and we must act before it is too late. There is simply no place for us to go because, in the words of Ronald Reagan, “We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth”.

July 5, 2016
Our Own Worst Enemy Lives Within?

The horrific events at a nightclub in Orlando this month, where 50 people were killed, like those at an office Christmas party in San Bernardino or at a Navy Reserve recruiting station in Chattanooga, the bombing of the Boston Marathon, the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, or the “workplace violence” killing at Fort Hood – too damn many are treating Americans too damn poorly these days.

But we aren’t helping. You see, we actually teach other people how to treat us. Just ask anyone who is always trying to please others, or who is always putting others first, before themselves, because they would feel “guilty” or “selfish” for doing so. As Dr. Phil said, “You either teach people to treat you with dignity and respect, or you don’t – you shape others’ behavior when you teach them what they can get away with and what they cannot.

As Americans, though, we aren’t teaching others to treat us well, at all, and we seem to be letting others get away with anything – even burning our nation’s flag, and parading their own, at our country’s political events.

Instead of treating ourselves with dignity and respect, our news media, political candidates, college professors, and elected officials, including the President of the United States, just apologize incessantly for the flaws in our country.

They say our economy is bad because the rich are getting richer, and that it’s immoral that we don’t provide free healthcare to everyone, as a right. Or provide a “livable” wage for everyone. They say that we’re a nation that was built upon the backs of slaves, and colonization, and imperialism. They say that our nation is filled with racists, bigots, and those who are so bitter that “they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them.”

They say you can’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools because it suggests we are one nation “under God” and that this might offend others. We’re removing the Ten Commandments outside our public buildings because they are “inappropriate, even though James Madison believed that, “We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart.”

And instead of highlighting the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made for the cause of freedom around the world, our President tells Arab television viewers that America “sometimes makes mistakes.”

He apologizes, on behalf of all Americans, to the European countries, by saying that “there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.”

He even went before the Turkish Parliament to point out that “(t)he United States is still working through some of our own darker periods in our history,” instead of reminding them of how America has served as a beacon for freedom everywhere.

Attitude just counts for so much. It really does. It’s infectious. It’s like when someone starts laughing uncontrollably, you can’t help but start smiling yourself.

It’s a principle that works both ways, unfortunately. You see, all of this negative talk has had a marked effect on the morale of our nation. In fact, the number of Americans who think the United States “stands above all other countries” has declined to just 28 percent and the number of Americans who are extremely proud to call the United States home continues to decline.

So, is America suffering these horrific events because we haven’t taught other people how to treat us, even those here at home? Is it as simple as Dr. Phil says? Perhaps.

But maybe it’s also that when we repeatedly “bad mouth” or rundown America to ourselves, and around the world, we’re painting a picture of a country that is filled with people who simply aren’t worth treating with dignity and respect.

So, the next time that you choose to remain silent, rather than standing up for yourself and speaking your truth, whether it’s religious freedom, or the safety and security of your family, remember that your silence may be teaching others that it’s okay to treat you poorly, or threaten you, or otherwise diminish your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (in favor of theirs, instead).

If all of this sounds too mumbo-jumbo for you, just remember psychologists all agree that when we continue to put others first, while feeling resentful or badly about ourselves for doing that, our self-respect will inevitably suffer – and perhaps this is where we are as a nation today, and why it feels we are at war.

And maybe, just maybe, this is why so many Americans seem so ready to simply make America great again. We want our self-respect back.

June 17, 2016
Why Barbara Norton’s Comments Matter

By now, many of you have heard about Louisiana State Representative Barbara Norton’s comments about how the Declaration of Independence is “unfair” and “not the truth”, regarding her opposition to a bill in the state legislature mandating that schoolchildren in Louisiana be taught the Declaration of Independence.

Some have been upset, to say the least. Others, not so much.

But what she said matters, and it matters a lot, and not just because so many disagree with her. Here’s why it matters so much more than this one particular issue itself:

You see, our elected officials can’t just show up and “check the box” without the same level of careful preparation and practice that a musician requires to play a musical instrument well, or that a pilot needs to fly an airplane safely, or that doctor must have before performing a surgery competently. But unlike the musician who plays out of tune, being an unprepared state legislator (or school board member, member of Congress, etc.) can have far more significant consequences, because of the number of lives affected in our communities, sometimes in the millions – and this incompetence has nearly bankrupt our nation financially, morally, spiritually, and diminished our national security around the world.

Yes, our elected officials have a great responsibility, regardless of whether they are prepared or not. They can support legislation to encourage businesses to relocate to our community, along with good paying jobs for families, or they cause those businesses to leave through higher and higher taxes. Our elected officials can improve the education system, and provide resources to inspire a love of learning in our children, or condemn them to a lifetime of barely making the grade. They can remain silent to the erosion of our liberties, reduce our national security, or make decisions that will send our nation’s sons and daughters into harm’s way.

Yet, even with all of this opportunity to “make a dent in the universe” through public service, not only are young people disgusted with politics today, and are skeptical of its usefulness to make meaningful change, there is also now a reluctance of good candidates to run for public office. In fact, only one out of three believe running for public office is honorable, and even fewer feel that the idea of working in some form of public service is appealing to them – and the numbers show it. In 2012, for example, nearly half of state legislative districts in our country did not have any competition from both major political parties, marking the lowest level of competition between the parties, and the fewest choices in candidates for the voters, in over 10 years.

And if you have an electorate that is increasingly more unaware of our American history, and the principals upon which our nation (and the Declaration of Independence) was written, this only serves to exacerbate the crisis we have in this country of electing competent, honest officials to public office.

Thomas Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” That’s because knowledge is freedom in a democracy. Less engaged voters, plus more and more elected officials who are not prepared for the job they were elected to do, will eventually reduce the pool of talented candidates interested in public service to a handful of those barely worth keeping in office at all.

You see, as voters, we must be in the “people” business. As Jack Welch, the former Chairman and CEO of General Electric said, “We spend all our time on people,” he says, “The day we screw up the people thing, this company is over.” Unfortunately, the exact same is true for our government, from every city hall, school board, statehouse, and all the way to the White House.

So yes, when State Representative Barbara Norton says on the floor of the Louisiana House of Representatives that “all men are not created equal”, it confirms what so many already believe: We’ve messed up this “people thing” in government. And it’s time that the voters start doing something about it – like a boss.

June 3, 2016
There’s an Old Saying…

There’s an old saying, “Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.” So, who are you? Who are we, I mean, as a country?

We pay attention to what Miley Cyrus twerks, what Jay-Z and Beyonce say, and a hundred other insignificant matters, but fewer than half of all Americans know that there are 3 branches of government, or can even name them. We obsess over an American dentist who shot a lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe and a bison calf that had to be euthanized in Yellowstone National Park, but don’t even give more than a glancing look at the almost 1 million abortions that are performed every year in our country – even with organizations like Planned Parenthood chopping up and selling baby body parts, like a poultry processor, and yet a majority of Americans still view Planned Parenthood favorably and want the federal government funding for them to continue.

Are you kidding me? But I get it, in a way, though. It’s easy to get spread out too thin, and get distracted from what’s most important. And sometimes the urgent in our life wins out over the important.

Like how too many in our country are obsessed with making it more acceptable, and accessible, for grown men to go to the restroom alongside our aging mothers and young daughters. The media and Washington, D.C. crowd choose to focus more on the 0.3% of the population in our country that could be uncomfortable going into the restroom of their natural, physical gender, even though there are 40 million more of our young daughters (who are under 18) that may now feel uncomfortable themselves going into the restroom, as a result.

But what about getting uncomfortable about the senseless killings in our communities? Or generational poverty, or rising incarceration rates? What about becoming uncomfortable with rising unemployment, or a generation of Americans growing up without fathers, or the risk of terrorism here at home?

Bottom line, you can’t do big things if you don’t know what the big things are in the first place, and you can’t know what those big things are if you’re distracted by all the small things. It’s a bit of a chicken-in-the-egg situation, here.

It’s like when President Kennedy told Congress in 1961, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

That was a “big thing” and with that vision, Kennedy directed the attention of a country towards what was important, and mobilized the best and brightest our country had to offer, in the process. From medical imaging, to enhanced dialysis, and even the cordless vacuum – all were the result of our country’s commitment to doing a “big thing”.

What “big thing” is our country doing today? Or, are we so distracted by the insignificant that we are focused on “no thing”. If you feel we’re not doing any “big thing” in our country today, maybe it’s time we start focusing on the lack of leaders in our country, elected or otherwise, who have forgotten that leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.

This is no doubt what causes too many of us to have a sense of helplessness, or to feel we have no influence on what happens in our lives. But it’s not entirely our fault. In fact, Margaret Thatcher once lamented about Great Britain that, “…we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.”

If the same is true about America today, this cannot end well for any American, for freedom anywhere, or the legacy of so many that fought and died protecting this experiment in liberty called America.

After all, the Bible says, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” But if we don’t pay attention long enough to see what really matters, and are distracted by the inconsequential instead, what other outcome can there be?

May 20, 2016
Tone Deaf

Informed voters, they say, are essential to our democracy. Yet arguably, our democracy has thrived, for all intents and purposes, without informed voters. In 1850, only about 1 out of 2 school-aged children were enrolled in school – and for many of them, believe it or not, attended only one day a year. By 1870, emancipated blacks were granted the right to vote, by way of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, and their formal schooling was even less – 1 out of 10 were enrolled in school.

Fast forward to our modern day electorate, and you’ll see over the past 30 years year that states have begun allowing ex-felons to vote, adding nearly 1 million to the voter registration rolls – and studies have shown that incarcerated people are among the least well educated in our country.

And while 9 out of 10 Americans are highschool graduates today; in the 1950s, only 5 out of 10 were. In the late 1800s, it was only 1 out of 10.

So, as you can tell, formally educated voters have not always been part of our democracy, yet it thrived, nonetheless. By contrast, many would say that we are more informed, better educated today than at any time in our nation’s history, yet voter involvement is still at its lowest point.

But if our country’s formal education level is higher today than it has ever been, why is voter participation at its lowest level since World War II? The most recent, 2014 mid-term election, for example, saw only 36 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots.

It could be, for many voters, not so much that they are uninformed (although many are), but perhaps their “give-a-damn” about the issues is broken. And why wouldn’t it be? Most Americans say that elected officials put their own interests ahead of the people’s, and even more say that cannot trust Washington to do what is right – not even most of the time.

More than half of all Americans believe that government is almost always wasteful and inefficient, and most would NOT even like to see their child enter politics as a career.

And can we blame them? From one Executive Order after another, to a nearly open border with Mexico, to continued deficit spending by Congress, to our skyrocketing national debt of $19 trillion, to our federally controlled education standards, and the rising cost of healthcare, not to mention higher taxes on working Americans, and assaults on our religious liberty or the right to bear arms, it just seems that Washington isn’t listening at all to we, the people.

That gives us a sense that no matter what we do, as voters, we’re largely ineffective at policymaking, or making a real difference on legislation that matters – whether it’s in Washington or in Baton Rouge. So, why bother, at all?

Then, here at home, our Caddo Parish commissioners increased their own salaries 170% since 1995, without asking us. And then we matched their retirement contributions to the tune of almost 2 to 1; for every $1 they contributed to their retirement, the taxpayers contributed almost $2. Again, without asking us.

Also, here at home, our Caddo Parish schools are rated worse than any other school system in our state, as the state of Louisiana has declared that 63% of our schools are failed or failing, even though Caddo Parish taxpayers have spared little expense – contributing nearly $500 million a year towards educating our children.

For all these examples, and many others, as well, it suddenly becomes a question of, “Why bother paying attention?”

I can tell you why bother. Because freedom without participation is meaningless. Because we in America do not have government by the majority, as Thomas Jefferson said, “We have government by the majority who participate”. And we must participate.

The Bible teaches us that the failure to do something that one can, and ought to do, is sinful. James 4:17 reads, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

This means we cannot take the attitude of, “to each his own”. Or looking the other way when there is corruption in our community, or remain at home on election day because we’re too busy. And we shouldn’t ride people out of town on a rail because they propose a new tax or a new law, nor because they oppose the same. Instead, we should get involved.

When we stop being a victim of our circumstances, or otherwise convincing ourselves that that there is nothing we can do to make a difference in Washington or Baton Rouge, our lives will change, and so will our country.

And the best part – you don’t need any formal education to figure that out.

April 8, 2016
More Guts Than They Ever Will

The recent twin bombing, terrorist attacks in Brussels that killed 31 people and injured at least 270 sent shock waves throughout Europe.

About 75 years ago, it was the same. Although the enemy back then was a different one, shock waves were being sent throughout Europe, as Nazi Germany attacked Poland.

And on the day before the Normandy invasion, D-Day, General George S. Patton Jr. told the soldiers of the U.S. Third Army on June 5, 1944, “We’ll win this war, but we’ll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we’ve got more guts than they have; or ever will have.”

Fighting and showing. Fighting and showing. It’s not bragging if you can back it up, as Muhammad Ali often said. And of course, America did back it up – throughout the war. The Allies backed-up German forces across Europe, liberating Paris, and 100 concentration camps in Germany, as Hitler found himself defeated; not by chance, but by American grit and determination, and by those who made the ultimate sacrifice, so that man might live free of the darkest atrocities, and live, instead, in peace with one another.

Today, our nation’s response to threats of terror around the world is very different. Our response today is not to fight, or show. It’s to talk.

“We defeat them in part by saying you are not strong, you are weak,” Obama declared about ISIS, “We send a message to those who might be inspired by them to say you are not going to change our values of liberty and openness and the respect of all people.”

Obviously, President Obama forgot the schoolyard lesson that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” How can telling ISIS that they are weak, defeat them?

BUT, only a few years ago, while campaigning for President, he took a decidedly more forceful tone, when he was at war with his political adversaries (and not terrorists), saying that “(w)e’re going to punish our enemies and we’re going to reward our friends”. When he was running against John McCain, in fact, he was even more pointed, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”

And it’s this preoccupation with politics, rather than peace, or prosperity, or practicality, that is why so many Americans have given up on elected officials, altogether. They know something is missing in our country. And I miss it too. And it’s the ordinary things, admittedly, that we might have always taken for granted.

I miss a President that wants to win. That doesn’t apologize for the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made, for so many nations around the world. That doesn’t go around the world telling everyone that America “sometimes makes mistakes” and that “we are not perfect.”

I miss the America where genuine difference of opinion was debated without anyone being labeled a racist, bigot, greedy, selfish, or an imbecile.

I miss a President that encourages the independent, American spirit of ingenuity, hard work, and the pursuit of the American dream.

I miss a President that inspires success without conditioning its achievement on government bureaucracy or income redistribution.

I miss a President that doesn’t conduct himself as a politician running for office, when he has already been elected to the highest office in the land and has a duty to all Americans, and not just certain special interests. A President should be the leader of our nation first, and defender of our Constitution, not a leader of a “movement”.

And that’s why I say I miss what some might have considered ordinary at one time; like fighting for what’s right and best for the cause of freedom, and not what’s only politically correct.

Only then will those who intend to do us harm know – like the Germans learned from those brave soldiers in Normandy – that we Americans have more guts than they have, or ever will, but to defeat them…we need a president who believes that too.

March 25, 2016
In 2009

In 2009, newly elected President Obama said, “Elections have consequences, and at the end of the day, I won.” Unfortunately, though, it is the unborn that has continued to lose. Even as the number of abortions are continuing to drop nationwide – 31,000 fewer abortions last year – and while 53 abortion clinic closed in 2015 alone, black children are still being aborted at 5 times the rate of white children. Abortion is the number-one killer of black lives in America.

And yet, Planned Parenthood (where a third of their facilities operate in primarily black neighborhoods) continues to receive almost exclusive Democrat Party support and protection, plus over a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money. Actually, taxpayer funding accounts for 41% of Planned Parenthood’s overall revenue.

And while it claims to provide other, vital medical services for women, abortions make up 94% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services, even though abortions performed to save the life of the mother occur less than 1% of the time. In fact, even when you combine all of the non-life threatening health issues, that number increases only to 2.8%.

What that means to you and me is that there are over 1 million babies whose lives were taken last year for reasons that were wholly unrelated to the health of the mother. This is important because being pro-life about babies should not come at the expense of being pro-life about women. Obviously, when two lives are threatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life. But this argument – that abortion must remain legal to protect the health of women – is a smokescreen because those instances are almost non-existent, according to the federal government’s own statistics.

Nevertheless, the pro-life community is making progress in the efforts to protect the unborn, and to support life, even after the past 7 years of pro-abortion policies from Washington, D.C. The incessant prayers, the marches, and events like Bishop Duca’s Annual Pro-Life Banquet, or the Ark-La-Tex Pregnancy Crisis Center Dinner, keep the candle of this miracle-in-progress lit – and burning brightly for even those who might not yet know why we believe what we believe.

There have been some recent legal developments regarding Louisiana’s Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, which went into effect on September 1, 2014 and I wanted to briefly mention those. This is regarding the law that requires physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their facility. As you may know, the law was authored by State Representative Katrina Jackson, from Monroe, to combat what she calls “the number one genocide in the African-American community: abortion.”

And despite being passed with large majorities in the Louisiana legislature, and after being signed into law by the Governor in 2014, abortion providers have repeatedly fought back. This past January, they met with some success, as a federal district judge said that requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a local hospital violated the constitutional right to an abortion established by the Supreme Court in 1973.

Then, late last month, the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went the other direction, and blocked THAT decision, which allowed the law to go into effect –namely, requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

But no sooner than this law was in effect, the U.S. Supreme Court, moved to temporarily block the law from going into effect. This allowed two recently closed abortion clinics to reopen for the business.

Although we might need to draw a diagram to keep up with the legal back-and-forth here, stay with me.

You see, this same law was enacted by the State of Texas, before ours, and their law is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court to determine its constitutionality. Meanwhile, there are seven (7) other states with similar laws, just like ours, that no doubt will be affected by the ruling in the Texas matter (which is expected at the end of June).

And with the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, there are only eight (8) justices now. If there was a tie vote in our case, our Louisiana state law would remain in place and enforceable. The importance of the next Supreme Court justice being pro-life cannot be understated, especially since Justice Scalia was perhaps the most passionate abortion opponent, among all of the justices.

And one last note: If you feel that being pro-choice is different than being pro-abortion (because you wouldn’t choose it for yourself, but it’s okay for someone else), please remember pro-choice voters and pro-abortion voters, are almost always two peas in a pod, when it comes to voting on election day. But whichever way you nuance it, you either oppose legal protection for the innocent unborn, or you don’t.

So, yes, President Obama was right on this one. Elections do have consequences, and as the November election approaches, the consequences of this election for the unborn, perhaps like never before, is truly a matter of life or death.

March 11, 2016
We’re The Establishment

It’s like Superman and Lex Luther. Snow White and the Evil Queen. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West. Indiana Jones and the Nazis. The best stories always seem to feature the heroic good guy or gal, who is locked in an epic, heroic struggle for good versus evil.

Many fictional writers say that if you leave these key characters out of your story you will risk losing your audience, altogether. You see, every good story begins with an initial decision or event that creates conflict of some kind for the protagonist in the story, and this will ultimate test – and reveal – the protagonist character’s strengths and weaknesses. Now, the drama unfolds. For example, Dorothy decided to set out for the Land of Oz, down the yellow brick road and must fight her way past flying monkeys and a witch flying around on a broomstick hurling balls of fire. Superman decided to use his superhuman abilities for the benefit of humanity, and must therefore fight for truth, justice, and the American way wherever wrongdoing is found.

Once the conflict has been established, the story next needs a hero – someone who will resolve the inequity, end the crisis, or bring balance to the universe.

And although these are fundamental principles of good fiction writing, sometimes it seems that there is a “story” being told to us, as voters. This is, no doubt, why so many Americans don’t trust our government, and view politicians with great skepticism. In fact, over 80% of Americans don’t trust the government, and feel that public officials put their own interest ahead of the nation’s (in 1965, it was the exact opposite).

So, consider this election year, which is chock-full of candidate stories wherein the hero-candidate professes to be the “anti-establishment” candidate (or protagonist), while their villain-like nemesis in the race is the “establishment” candidate (or the antagonist), instead. More dramatically, they might say they’re fighting a wrongdoer who can’t be seen (like the Wizard in Oz who is secretly pushing all of the buttons and pulling all of the strings behind a curtain, or Hillary’s “vast, right wing conspiracy” from the Monica Lewinsky days).

But this year, for some reason, both Democrat and Republican candidates seem to be tripping over themselves to be considered the “anti-establishment” candidate. But why? Because it makes for a good story, like David and Goliath? Or they want to be considered as the one “sticking it to the man” because it’s “the man” keeping so many of us down?

50 years ago, yes, you could say that there was “establishment” party politics, that included “the man” – you know, old money people, plus bankers, corporate executives, etc. who all worked behind the scenes, and probably had reserved tables in the proverbial, smoke-filled back room. But today?

Naw. And not only naw, but heck naw. There’s no “establishment” like that today.

Yes, there are people who want to keep power in Washington and serve the special interests of a few, instead of all who voted for them, but this practice has been the case for centuries. There’s also the media, and people who want to influence the rest of us, but that too, has not changed in modern times.

In fact, with the Internet, the major media elites have less and less control over what we see, or who gets to be heard and their influence is more diluted today than any time in our nation’s history.

But still, there’s “anti-establishment” excitement is on both sides of the aisle. In fact, Bernie Sanders professes to be the “anti-establishment” candidate for the Democrats, even though he is, perhaps, the most “establishment” of them all (by his own definition). He was elected Mayor of Burlington in 1981, and has been in Congress since 1988. He’s voted 98% of the time with Democrats during his 34-year political career, has endorsed virtually every major Democrat candidate, and repeatedly refuses to run as an “Independent.” And this is the “anti-establishment” candidate?

No, you see, that’s all storytelling. The real “establishment” is we the people.

Our founding fathers established this country for us, and rooted it in rights endowed to us by our Creator. It’s right there in the first sentence of the U.S. Constitution.

And while we know that every good story needs a protagonist and an antagonist to keep the audience’s attention, this obsession with being “anti-establishment” also appears to be more of a way to blame others for the dire straits that our nation is in, rather than a candid discussion about how a candidate will do it differently, when it’s their turn.

So, yes, we are the “establishment.” You and me. Others can use that term to refer to some nameless person or persons, or to conjure up stereotypes that play on our emotions, but that’s not any better than railing against “the rich” when someone wants to explain why the economy is doing poorly, and unemployment continues to rise.

And while running against “the establishment” makes for good drama, it doesn’t often make for good government because instead of telling voters how they will work for the policies we want in Washington, many candidates are just spending too much of their time telling us a good story. The problem is that we’ve all heard this one before and we’re just not interested in the sequel.

February 12, 2016