What is Dangerous for Some is Deadly for Others in Contemporary America

(Speech from the We The People North Carolina (WTPNC) Event at Covenant Classical School in Concord, North Carolina)
*****************************************************


Good evening, everyone. I hope that you are having a great week so far.


There is a high level of discord currently building throughout the nation, spurred on by everything from accusations of racism and elitism to actual facts and figures showing us that this economy is not rebounding as we need and economic resources for the people are not being as fruitful as we require. It is this discord – this dysfunction in government and this disharmony in our society – that led to the Tea Party Movement that started as a result of our disgust from the 2008 bailouts and the 2009 stimul-LESS bill…two initiatives that spent more American taxpayer money but gave American taxpayers less than we were explained. The disjointed political mindset that has overtaken America has led to our movement. It has led to protests throughout the nation for the past 2 years as frustrated Americans have come to realize that the nation that we have grown to know and love was built as the result of the values of our forefathers, the work of our ancestors, and the daily dedication to an existence of freedom known throughout the world as the American Way of Life. That way of life is currently under attack.


This has led us to this location tonight, just as it led others to assemble at Independence Hall in Robert’s native Philadelphia earlier today. We come together in the spirit of togetherness to decree to our soon-to-be vacationing leaders in Congress and in Raleigh that enough is enough: too much government has equated to too many limitations on the freedoms of everyday Americans. Their actions today and their plans for tomorrow have reached a point where they are taking opportunities, resources, and hope from Americans from all backgrounds. Therefore, we have come to say – as citizens from all backgrounds – that it is time to Take Back America.


When people hear that phrase “Take Back America” – particularly at a Tea Party – the temptation is there to immediately follow the line of thinking that the Rev. Al Sharpton or the NAACP promote: that this 3-word phrase is code to disillusioned White Americans to protest, disrespect, and perhaps even threaten the first Black president of these United States. They believe that the primary energy fueling the Tea Party movement and the increased volume from the protests from We the People comes from racism. They remain skeptical of our actions even as we continue to struggle as a nation. They remain divisive with their viewpoints even as we continue the straight-forward talk that we must have as a community of believers – believers in God and in our nation – as we work to straighten out this mess.

Sadly, their skepticism is natural and, in many regards, very well-deserved.

For decades now, we as conservatives have been too passive in our love for all Americans and too tolerant of the everyday injustices that we see all around us. We have not communicated effectively about why our beliefs in smaller government save all of us from the depression and disillusionment that many people – including today’s youth – battle against. We have said passionately that a high tide raises all boats, but we have not passionately fought to save the sinking ships in our inner city communities. We have not done enough as neighbors and friends to charter the dangerous political waters together so that those that can captain their ships can avoid pitfalls and those that enter the waterways of life without the proper resources can learn how to accumulate them in order to command their lives as fully-fledged citizens.


Therefore, skepticism of our activism and the motivating intent of our movement will be challenged vigorously until we as patriots reach out to our skeptics with a heart full of equality, a mind full of empathy, and a vocabulary full of common sense viewpoints and solutions. Rallies such as ours tonight may spark a nation of millions to act due to taxation and spending, but until we speak to the shootings and devastation in our cities and the lives of millions of African-Americans and others that are impacted, we will continue to be a nation divided. The blood spilled to preserve our nation in the past will be shed in vain due to the blood spilling in our streets today if we don’t speak out of love for a better tomorrow for us all.


What Mr. Jealous of the NAACP, Rev. Sharpton and others miss is that solutions for a better United States are full of liberty and devoid of color. The call to history today is not a call against a historic president; it is a call to be historic in a time where ordinary people can make a world of difference – and a better world for our children and grandchildren.


Last year, there was a call for a tea party movement based on the acronym TEA – Taxed Enough Already. And although there is a clear need for the messages of fiscal restraint and common sense solutions to rebound our challenged national economy, what we are finding is that there is a greater need to communicate a message through a We the People movement in order to heal our land, leverage our ideas into universal truths, and mold our conservative principles into social, economic, and national solutions that work for the citizenry we call family – from the disadvantaged that need hope to those that exhibit to us all that with hope and hard work, the American Dream is obtainable.


Despite the false press releases denoting the decline of America…and despite the notions from current leaders in Washington that detest the belief in American exceptionalism…I stand here tonight to tell you that our nation is still a nation full of visionaries. We remain a nation of dreamers and a nation of inventors. And because we continue to hold dear the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…we know that we must confront the obstacles before us today and push our activism past the point of being a tea party – TEA…Taxed Enough Already…and make a difference in our nation’s development through a BEA Movement – B – E – A….Big Government….Eradication…Throughout America.



It is up to us starting this evening and throughout 2010 to BEA involved. It is up to us starting today to be patriotic with passion that loves, not with emotionalism that fights our brother and sister with malice. And it is up to us to BEA the ambassadors of the conservative message – and dare I say the classic American political and social message – to those that are skeptical of us today. This is because we as conservatives understand – but others that are not do not understand – that with big government today, What is Dangerous for Some is Deadly for Others in Contemporary America.



That is what I have titled these remarks tonight: What is Dangerous for Some is Deadly for Others in Contemporary America.


It rings so very true with the communities we are struggling to connect with conservatives – and it approaches why we are struggling as a nation with race, with unity, and perhaps even with economic vitality in these tough times.



When people ask me as a proud young conservative and as a Black Republican what I think we must do in order to incorporate more young people and more minorities into the conservative political fold, I explain that it takes two things: preaching the “smaller government, bigger people” mantra that I discuss in my book. It takes more neighbors being more visible leaders in the communities of our nation instead of leaving basic decision-making up to bureaucrats that deal with numbers and self-justifying action plans, not people and life-empowering solutions. I tell them that because of the crisis we face in our cities today, we must powerfully and lovingly explain to our friends and fellow citizens that when it comes to big government, What is Dangerous for Some is Deadly for Others in Contemporary America.



That is the message that our young people must embrace for a better nation where America is an economic, cultural, and military leader throughout the world in the 21st century. That is the message that we as ambassadors must take to Black America in order to bridge them back into feeling as though they are full-blooded Americans, living as though they are full-blooded, and embracing their identity as full-blooded Americans.



And I know that many of you may criticize my use of the term “Black America.” I know that many of you will tell me – correctly – that in terms of our nation, there is only one country involved: the United States of America. I agree with you on principle, for people of all creeds and citizens of both genders have shed blood and incur sacrifices for the sovereignty of this great land. However, as ambassadors, we must deal with truth just as we must enact our plans for liberty as visionaries. And, while speaking in truth and with love, we must – as ambassadors – acknowledge the destruction that big government has imposed on African-American communities for decades now.


We cannot unite America with a BEA movement if we will not admit that big government continues to divide America where very different realties, huge contrasts in life expectations, and rampant every day disparities exist in such a way that many live in a different world in this nation even as we live under the same flag as a country.



This is nothing new. Time and time again, expansive big government has been embraced by politicians to separate our nation from within and separate our citizens collectively from their freedom. From the expansion of slavery within an expanding new nation that just declared that “all men are created equal” to the expansion of Jim Crow in response to Constitutional amendments guaranteeing citizenship…and now to the addiction of urban residents and young Americans to the expectations of big government intrusion in our lives…America has allowed big government to write the rules of fairness, the definitions of equality, and the terms of engagement in these United States. But just as we are learning that the continuation of big government sets America on a dangerous course for the future, we as ambassadors must faithfully inform others that continuing the loyalty of urban voters to big government and its toxic results sets Black America on a deadly course of destruction – right here and right now.


It is time for BEA: Big Government Eradication Throughout America.


And to take back America with our BEA Movement, we must disallow the phrase “take back America” from being equated only with national debt, increased taxation, and federalized healthcare programs. As ambassadors for a better future, another 3-word phrase - “Too much government” – must not be code for our disapproval of President Obama’s domestic direction for the nation or the liberal agenda being directed by Speaker Pelosi. As ambassadors, our TEA Party Movement – T – E – A – must mean that we will be tenacious for conservative change, energized by our patriotism, and accountable to God, our forefathers, and our communities with our political activism. As ambassadors, our BEA Movement – B-E-A – must mean that we will break new ground with our conservations about the political direction of the nation, evangelize limited government with examples that show advancement for us all, and actualize a connection between the lost and the willing among us in order to regain the lost potential of our youth within our cities today.

For us, “too much government” means too much regulation that hinders the business growth needed to bring jobs back into our economy. To that, we say as Americans to our government: get your hands out of our pockets so that we can create more employment for the people of this nation.



However, “too much government” must also mean that too many bureaucrats are limiting those within the welfare system while ignoring avenues of independence…that too many liberals are playing God within the court systems and ignoring fairness and justice for families…and that too many government incentives are wreaking havoc within social systems and ignoring people’s God-given rights despite their economic status. To that, we say as ambassadors to big government: get your hands from around the necks of a disproportioned amount of African-Americans and urban young people, for you hinder their ability to live freely. Big government, you choke off any hope for a life of prosperity and freedom with your growing presence in their lives. That is a message we must take to Black America to reunite all of America under our republican form of government.



For us, “too much government” means the runaway control of career politicians that feed us sound bites and call it leadership – all while they devour chunks of campaign funding and bake up schemes of pork for “preferred constituents” – all while giving the rest of us morsels for our families to survive on. To that, we say as Americans to those that mirror this remark: you have ridden on the backs of the American people for your last term. You will serve us with humility in office or you will leave from office in humiliation in November.
However, “too much government” must also mean that too many career politicians represent Americans living in Gerry-mandered districts that prompt no accountability due to high-level brokering over political numbers, not people’s lives. “Too much government” – as ambassadors in this sense – must mean that we go humbly to African-Americans and young voters and discuss the arrogance that career politicians such as Representative Charlie Rangel and Representative Maxine Waters have while in office for decades. As ambassadors, we must show that while Rangel and Waters make money they should not have and hide revenue they are ashamed off, they face ethics violations in Congress while the ethical, moral, and societal fabric of the communities they represent erodes away. We say as ambassadors to those that mirror this remark: you mock the poor and distraught that you represent in office with your elitism and arrogance. You dishonor your ancestors and ours with the lifestyle, view and status you take for granted at the cost of those whose eyes are weary, whose status is meager, whose safety is compromised, yet whose backs you use to carry votes in your re-election bids and personal gains into your coffers. You advocate big government, knowing that it is the life-blood of your legacy, even as you know that it spills innocent blood in the streets in the process – a fact that makes my blood boil with contempt for you and pumps the heart of activism for a change for something better for those citizens that deserve better. That is a message we must take to Black America to reunite all of America under our representative form of government.



For us, “too much government” refers to the self-serving structures of government waste that are in place to increase government funding – even at the risk of increased government spending and taxation…and perhaps even decreased government efficiency. It means to create government jobs even at the risk of ruining small business opportunities. It means to put into place government agencies with no end-goal in sight at the risk of eliminating faith-based and people-centric solutions that foster more results and healthy citizens at a higher clip. To that, we say as Americans: big government, what you are doing is reallocating resources for the select few. What we believe in as a sovereign nation is creating wealth for the masses. You believe in job creation for you the few. We believe in the ability to be successful as We the People.


However, as ambassadors, we must make sure that the phrase “too much government” also informs our skeptics as to why government is our resource, not our ally…that government is to serve us, not to shape us…that big government is our burden, not our benefactor. We must take both history and contemporary times to uphold our points of views as self-evident truths about the big government direction we rally against. We must remind our fellow Americans that limited government defended our God-given rights in the Declaration of Independence. Larger government gave us dangerous fugitive slave laws that endangered freemen throughout the early United States. Limited government provided amendments to secure citizenship and suffrage. Big government created Jim Crow. Limited government gave us freedom of religion. Larger government has removed God from our public places and schools throughout America today. And academically, smaller government wants to ensure that poor children have the freedom of choice for education, allowing tax dollars to be used at schools that will work to ensure that our youth today are prepared for the job markets of tomorrow. Big government wants to expand the scope and cost of failing schools in urban communities – all while ignoring the drop-out rates from our schools and the violence within our schools.


But, of course, why not do that when we have other government programs to handle those issues? A government handling their lives from cradle to grave will eventually ensure that the cradle will fall into despair and that the grave will be swift-coming in their lives.


We must take to these communities this message: any government big enough to give you a piecemeal to get you through tough times is big enough to break up your families for generations, from slavery to today. Any government big enough to give your child a free lunch in school is big enough to create wasteful jobs within the school system that robs your child of the best shot to get a good job once he graduates from the school system….IF he graduates from the school system. Any government big enough to promise you equality with a program is big enough to keep you in oppression with another program.



As ambassadors, we must say to all of America – but particularly to those hurting the most in America and to those isolated through disparities in communities such as Black America – big government has not been the friend of Americans. It has been the ruse to buy more of your votes. It has been the ruse to take more of your money. It has been the ruse to accumulate more power for itself and it has been the ruse to keep true liberty from more of you.



From the unemployed in America to the rich in America…to White folks in America to Black folks in America…from Southerners in America to native Pennsylvanians in America…big government has no place for the citizen, for big government competes against the Will of the People for the sake of its own existence. It will not forsake the rich or the small business owner in its current conquest, just as it has not forsaken the opportunity to devour the disadvantaged and even much of Black America - in its previous conquests to date, particularly those over the past 50 years.


As we have seen with the destruction of the Black family through the Great Society Movement, the destruction of urban school systems through the imbalanced influence of teachers’ unions, and the discrepancies between Blacks and other Americans when concerning health, prison, marriage, jobs, education, and families – bureaucracy cannot exist without burdens, and big government cannot exist without big crises.


The direction of big government has been dangerous for our national debt, our national sovereignty, and our American Way of Life for all of us…but for the disadvantaged, disillusioned, and discriminated fellow citizens among us, big government – has been – and still is deadly.


To overcome big government today to bring back smaller government…more responsible government…and more responsive and representative government….to bring that back for tomorrow, it will take bigger people – and bigger people means all of us, ambassadors: Black, White, women, men, young, old – all of us, fulfilled with who we are ethnically, fighting to improve where we live passionately, and proud to be Americans daily.


Ambassadors: there are similarities within our diversity that call for more limited government and personal liberty. President Jefferson is attributed as saying in concerns to liberty: "A government big enough to supply you with everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have...." Black leaders such as Malcolm X echoed the same message when he said, “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”


Malcolm X also said that, “Power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny and oppression.” Is that not what we face from big government today – as Americans of all creeds? Are we not in a struggle for power over our lives, a struggle against big government that looks to keep small businesses hampered, everyday people overtaxed, government agencies in the lives of young people, and police forces in the lives of millions of Black people as children or adults? Yet, rest assured: our power to defend freedom will overcome the current power from big government.


It is time for us to act.


It is time to BEA – Big Government Eradication throughout America.


It is the only way to bridge all of America together.


It is the only way to save our cities, reclaim the potential of our youth, and rejuvenate our society as an economic engine and a pillar of moral strength for the nation and for all of world.


It is the only way to truly correct this mess created by our years of personal apathy and government expansion. Thankfully, our republican form of government – one of We the People – allows us to redeem our nation through the patriotism of political activists to defend America and the diligence of grassroots ambassadors to reconnect and heal America.

I believe in you. I believe in us. And I believe that the best days of the United States are still ahead of us – because of you.


Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you tonight. God Bless you all and God Bless the United States of America.

The Meaning of July Fourth for the New School Negro

July 4, 2010

Dear fellow citizens - those of us that had been enjoying cookouts, a 3-day weekend, or perhaps an opportunity to take off a week from work due to the celebration of our nation’s birthday on the 4th of July.


Perhaps this week has been marked in your minds due to the aroma of ribs and other grilled items on the barbeque. Perhaps it has been marked by the arrival of summer weather, sunshine, and time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Perhaps, even, this week has been marked by “The Decision” by a 25-year-old on what city he will take his money-making, basketball-playing abilities to.


These are some of the reasons to enjoy this past week, one where Americans will attempt to forget the escalating tensions in our nation, stemming from continued high unemployment, continued economic stressors on middle-class and working-class Americans, and continue disappointments in leaders from both sides of the aisle to calm down the growing racial, social, and cultural tensions brewing since the 2000 presidential elections.


I come to you today, humbly and perhaps nervously, as I wonder what this 4th of July was supposed to mean to me – and perhaps to us all, not just African-Americans within the United States that are suffering higher rates of negative statistics more than any other racial or cultural makeup other than Native Americans, but also for the rest of the citizens of our great land, even as we continue to hear about why our diversity and colorful differences should be delineations to keep us distrustful of one another, not demarcations to be expanded upon with courage and excitement so that we can leverage our perspectives to bridge ourselves over these troubled times.


I cannot come to you today as a proud Negro freedman such as the great Frederick Douglass did so many years ago. As were the founding fathers of this nation, Mr. Douglass was a man that was an epic leader within the United States of America. Whereas the founding fathers were tantamount with the establishment of our great land starting with the holiday we just celebrated, Mr. Douglass was paramount in pushing the consciousness of a fractionalized culture, a tormented president, and a war-torn nation to a place where building up a stronger nation meant tearing down the immoral comforts of the status quo and challenging the contemporary constructs inhibiting Americans of both genders and all racial backgrounds.


In that regard, I wish that this 4th of July be not like the one that Mr. Douglass endured in 1852, where he asked to his audience in Rochester, NY why he was asked to speak to the beauty of American liberty at a time when humanity of African slaves was still overtly devalued, simultaneously done in the midst of Independence Day celebrations. However, I do expect and demand that we begin to view this new 4th of July cycle as did Mr. Douglass, taking the opportunity to reflect upon how we will be able to take our war-torn nation – a nation being pulled apart at the seams by overseas conflicts, urban terrorism, racial and social disconnect, and economic class warfare – to a place of healing and resolution so that we can overcome these troubled times. As did Mr. Douglass, I hope that this 4th of July cycle can allow us to direct our tormented and currently troubled president to a clearer vision of what must be done to correct our nation’s woes, even as the decisions may seemingly go against his personal beliefs but with a correctness that only the wisest of men around him will encourage and understand, much as Mr. Douglass did in his time. It is my hope that we will have the courage to acknowledge and embrace our fractionalized American culture in today’s nation so that we can fully engage, heal, and foster the fractionalized sub-cultures within the United States – the communities and categories of citizens where unemployment, under-education, and uneasiness from birth to early demise are the anticipated norm for generations of families. In a time where we must be willing to acknowledge our differences within America without discounting our common bond as Americans, it is my hope that we are as strong as Mr. Douglass to take pride in our nation’s diversity as we will need to be courageous in our common knowledge of it to bind the fractures and leverage the impending strength of healing to create a better, more United States of America.


Yet, I am discouraged about our current journey. Perhaps Mr. Douglass was as well, even if his words from 1852 do not exhibit this pain or anxiety. As for him, he rhetorically asked the question: “What is the meaning of the 4th of July to the Negro?” As for me today, I humbly plea to my fellow countrymen and lady citizens: “What is the meaning of the 4th of July to a New School Negro?”


My question today can and does expand into multiple layers of directives for answers.


Although we have moved our nation past the usage of the term “Negro”, I grant that I am, in many ways, a “New School Negro” of the 21st century. As such, I am called to take into account the social conditions around us, the political rumblings affecting us, and the historical obligations pushing us. And when I use the term “us”, that term is universal – used to stand for us, that is, “United States”, including African-Americans that stand on the brisk of the very best and the very worst on this 4th of July.


So, in that regard, I am not the only “New School Negro”, and therefore, I must ask: what does this 4th of July mean to us collectively as a new generation advancing from the legacy of former slaves and abolitionists? Mr. Douglass said to his 1852 audience, “…Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions…whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day (sic), rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them…” And today, is that not the case with the New School Negro, those that celebrate the achievement of riches and allure while the deafening calls for social change and young Black leadership rings in the inner city cadence of gunfire, violence, and anguish? Have we forgotten the lynchings of the past or the gunfire from yesterday’s news that we have replaced the meaning of the 4th of July’s symbolism for freedom and liberty that our ancestors died for with the shallow pursuit of time off and luxury, even as an increased amount of us are not free any longer – freed by educational liberty, liberated by economic opportunities, or made loose by efforts to leverage the painful triumphs of history with the historic gains some of us enjoy today? I am not talking about economic redistribution, but I am certainly referring to historic reflection and obligation.


Mr. Douglass said in 1852 that, “…whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting.” Yet, what must we say to the New School Negro of today? If we look at the horrible treatment of Black women in the days of lore – when Americans celebrated collective liberty while persecuting its women with horrors of sub-equality, most notably persecuting its Black female slaves – how much more hideous and revolting is our conduct today where we celebrate the objectification of our women and embrace terms such as “player”, “pimp”, “dog” and “nigga’” as our terms of endearment for men we revere and love? If we look at the status of our Black relationships today, were the times more hideous when our families when our families were broken up by government – either through slavery in the 19th century or through bureaucratic programs in the 20th century – or are they more hideous today because we foster the expectation that our bodies, our relationships, our ability to love, and our need for emotional continuality must be disrespected at each crossroads? Even for those that have secured the American Dream that affords many of us to vacation during this 4th of July cycle, I ask: is it more hideous that our ancestors lagged behind in education, economics, social status, and life expectancy because of slavery and Jim Crow or is it more hideous because the current generations post-Civil Rights has not done enough to prevent our slippage and current conditions? Whereas it was deplorable for racism to prevent us from rising up to our highest levels during those times before us, it is despicable that we as New School Negroes have not harnessed the true meanings and sacrifices of the 4th of July – for our people and from all American people – into ensuring that the progress from 1852 onward through the 20th century did not erode into the gunfire, fatherlessness, hopelessness, and death that more Negroes in these new generations face than necessary today. I cry: if what Mr. Douglass spoke to in 1852 were horrible, then what we must speak to today is the hideousness that we will either eradicate from our legacy with our conscious efforts or tolerate in our souls with our lethargic egoism.


And whereas Mr. Douglass spoke to the meaning of the 4th of July for the Negro to provide a deeper understanding for the majority of those listening in Rochester that day – most of whom surely were not Black – I say that the meaning of the 4th of July for the New School Negro has meaning for all Americans.


Many of my political persuasion believe that the time is now to put aside racial designations in order to heal the nation. However, without an understanding of the New School Negro, there is no chance for reconciliation for those that are disproportionately disadvantaged. And if there is no chance for reconciliation of our disadvantaged, there is no hope for the political pursuits of small government, more liberty, and less separation of the masses, for no people depending on the scraps of a nation will advocate for the elimination of those scraps unless there is a collective agreement that decrees and promotes true equality so that the scraps are undesirable.


The meaning of the 4th of July today – for today’s abolitionists and others – must mean fostering a reconciliation where we are no longer intimidated by race and unwilling to acknowledge today’s separating factors on race, particularly if we are going to reclaim the lost potential in our cities and youth from our misguided desire to impress our definitions of life on those that live death daily. It is that plain; it is that simple. Mr. Douglass submitted that “…where all is plain there is nothing to be argued….” I submit the same today. If we are so willing to take back America, reclaim America’s liberty for its citizens, and scale back government for the sake of our children and grandchildren, how can we not be willing to simultaneously reclaim our cities from the confused and tortured hands of children acting like adults? If we are so willing to take back America in elections this fall and moving forward, how can we not be willing to also reclaim our common sense of reality when looking at statistics concerning where we worship God on Sundays, where we education our children during the week, and where our health, work, and leisure opportunities are unequally available? For a culture that rightfully rebels against the notion of predetermined poverty and destitution, our notion of liberty today can not equate to a sense of personal accountability for those that we acknowledge have not been availed the ability to account collectively for 50 years now. Our love for the celebrated 4th of July…our love for our embattled nation at this time…must embrace the American Dream by enacting the principles that realize this dream embraces the lost and the found, the forgotten and the remembered, in a fight to improve our common lot.


This 4th of July – as with the others over recent history – have been opportunities to implore us to champion our individual causes instead of inviting us to acquiesce to the collective cause for American advancement. What is this 4th of July truly mean to me, a New School Negro, or to others of us new generation Americans? Whereas Douglass said that it was a “…a day that reveals to (the Negro), more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim…”, I say that it is a day that makes clear to us that we must turn apart from our cowardice to confront the issues before us before we all are revealed to be constant victims of our apathy, our complacency, and our governments indefinitely. Douglass called our national celebration a sham before the nation was prompted to abhor its hypocrisy; today, our celebration will be hollow and meaningless if we are not urged to upend the hypocrisy of our times – times where Black millionaires mimic Black gangsters and White activists call for urban peace from their suburbs. He called our national greatness mere swelling vanity, yet I call it fleeting glory if our vanity continues us storing up treasures where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal while allowing our brethren to decay and rot and our ability to prosper as a nation dwindles even as our insulation from the problems erode around us. Mr. Douglass said that “…there is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour…” This is not true of our times, but there is no other nation in the world – for the New School Negro or for the new generation American – that can claim to have as many pillars of hope and examples of liberty before them in their history and, therefore, there is no higher shock in the hearts or deeper stain of blood on the hands of those Americans today that refuse to look history into the eyes, search deep within their own hearts, and strengthen their words and hands to act and contravene the misery around us.


Douglass concluded that he did not despair for our nation in spite of his scathing rebuttal of the 4th of July celebration in 1852 Rochester. Despite the years of apathy, selfishness, detachment, blind trust, blind hatred, misunderstandings, and limited growth, I have hope as well, not only because we are still a nation full of worshippers of the Most High God, but we are also a nation that takes pride in the ability to be a beacon to the world around us. Yet, are we willing to accept what makes us different as ethical Americans in order to embrace what makes us great as Americans? Are we now willing to acknowledge the differing levels of American life that exist within American culture in order to uplift the American Dream? As a New School Negro, I ask myself if I am able – and if we are willing – to accept the mantle of history, even as we are called to put down the comforts of this world. As a new generation American, I ask myself if I am able – and if we are willing – to step forward on faith to make the efforts of the past mean something to our children than mere footnotes of history to learn for a scholarly test, a score to be achieved for a moment but a lesson lost for a lifetime? If this 4th of July is to mean anything for the next 51 weeks - and if it is to mean something for the next 51 months or 51 years – it must be time for it to mean something from day to day, as if the 4th of July is July 5th, July 6th, July 16th, and so forth. The waving of our flag and the resonance of our patriotism must be the moxie that holds our debating form of republican government together with honor, respect, representativeness, and resolute honesty for the ethical obligations we hold to the past to bring about the enriching foundation for our future. If we can find this during this 4th of July cycle, perhaps fewer mothers will cry in the streets, fewer children will go without families or resources, and fewer people will rue their government. If we can claim this today, perhaps understanding and unity will ring where mistrust and dissension now reside. If we can make this so right now, perhaps the pessimism of Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech will rightfully prompt us to forgo the American hypocrisy he loathed in Rochester and we loathe today to find the glory Douglass facilitated in his times, just as we labor to reclaim glory contemporarily.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse is "The Truth"

June 17, 2010



Ok, well, no, she's not.

Jesus Christ is The Truth.


And in the NBA, Paul Pierce is "The Truth", according to Shaquille O'Neal, although I would have to put my bet on Jesus in a game of one-on-one between Pierce and Christ. Pierce would probably do the same as well, by the way.


With that said, though, Dr. Morse's analysis on the breakdown of families and its impact on the economic systems within America are not only theories to be studies, but are realities being enacted everyday in the lives of Black America, urban American, and in America's young adults.


For example, the willingness to marginalize Americans to the net worth of their personal "gross domestic output" (i.e., their quantifiable, employment-based value) is a misguided notion that has impacted the lives of many Americans over the course of the past several generations. Failing to bring proper credence to the intrinsic value of motherhood (including stay-home motherhood), fatherhood, and marriage has subsequently led to losses in our economic vitality due to a drain of resources headed to social programs, social justice, criminal justice institutions, and rehabilitative services from our national, state, and city budgets.

In essence, Dr. Morse - in projecting what the future may look like at this rate - described the last 40 years of life within urban America, complete with educational failures, relationship issues, broken homes, and economic depravity.

And, to deliver it with wit? Yeah, maybe she is the truth after all, or at least, she brings a lot of truth into the national social and political discussions of our day.

Meeting Immaculee and an Immaculate Moment

June 16, 2010


People that know me know that I can get through as a "proud young conservative" - considering all of the attacks that I undergo - because of the wife that I have. She is my rock. She is a gift in my life. Proverbs 31? That describes her fully in my life.

With that said, she is also someone that did not enter our marriage unscathed. Like me, she was scarred by the abuse and hatred of someone else's hands - literally. Because of this, her faith (notably her Catholicism and ability to pray regularly and faithfully) deepened even before we started dating. It has grown in the years that we have been married.

For her, knowing the stories of powerful folks such as Immaculee Ilibagiza comes as naturally as breathing.

She knew of Immaculee's incredible story because she watches (and reads) much of Dr. Wayne Dyer's work. She knew of the chance encounter that Immaculee and Wayne had that led to her book. She knew of Immaculee's dedication to praying the Rosary, something that my wife does often as well.

So, as much as it was an honor to listen to Immaculee's speech at dinner this evening...as much as it was an honor to shake her hand and have her sign her book for my wife...it was greater still to do one thing:

Speak to my wife via phone.

Yes, I'm that crazy husband that understands the value of small moments in one's life. To have a woman that overcame domestic violence talk to another woman that she read about and emulated due to her courage and dedication to God in the most deadly of situations meant the world to me. My wife was shocked. I think that Immaculee was honored. I know that it will make an impact on my wife's heart.

And the seal for me? Immaculee's first words after introducing herself to my wife on the phone (my cellphone as I was getting the book signed): "Your husband loves you very much."

Yes, I do, but it is God through me that makes it real.

And, in that regard, perhaps Immaculee made an impact on my heart as well that night with more than just her story. God is very real in everything from politics to the smallest of human interaction.

A Thought on Christian Anthropology and Saving America

June 16, 2010


As you know, I am here at the Acton Institute's "Acton University 2010" event, held by the organization named after Lord Acton. (www.acton.org)

I came because I wanted to take some of the great information from the classes in order to apply it to the political discussions that we need to have, advance, and "flesh out" in order to create a better nation out of the crisis state that we find ourselves in today.

Truthfully, though, much of what I may need to illustrate my points came from the first lecture, particularly as it comes to the need for Black America to re-adopt Republicanism as a partisan home politically.

Secular determination - the basic social equation of thought that beliefs that heredity + environment = human actions (and, thus, the conditions humans find themselves in) - wraps up the treatment of Black people in America by the liberal left. In essence, the guiding principles of most Democrats - and now, tragically, mostly all Black elected officials (of which the vast majority are Democrats) - center around this notion of secular determination, using the mindset to continue a deadly cycle of limiting government dependency and prospects for the future. At the same time, this theory also proves - in many ways - why the disappearance of the Black church's influence over Black America has had a detriment effect on urban America over the past 50 years.

Why does this matter? Look at the destination of aid, urban solutions, and the like over the past 50 years. Much of those resources are headed into Black America's widening hole of hopelessness because the prevailing initiatives impacting these Americans are guided by the notion that the conditions that they found themselves in are, by nature, the best that they can do.

And they say that the Christian Right is racist?

Looking forward to hearing more throughout the week....

Missing the Point, Perhaps Missing the Boat

May 13, 2010

(This blog is the unedit version of The Loop 21 article, "Black America is on the wrong side of the immigration issue", found at http://theloop21.com/politics/black-america-the-wrong-side-the-immigration-issue )

At first, I was for the spirit of the law but completely against the legislation as written.

Arizona’s SB 1070 – in its first draft – seemed to be nothing more than an open invitation to profile anyone that looked Latino (including Black folks and biracial Americans) in the state’s attempt to scale back illegal immigration. Under the initial law, the efforts were not contained to any sense of decorum. Despite verbal direction from Governor Jan Brewer, racial profiling was a valid concern for all non-white people residing in or visiting Arizona. It promised to lead to unjust questioning and privacy (and civil rights) violations based on appearances alone.

Like many conservatives and Republicans around the country, I stood with President Obama and others (including including Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL)) to express opposition to the initial draft of SB 1070. Widespread bipartisan opposition SB 1070 in its initial form prompted changes from the Arizona state legislature.

Once the law was modified to ensure that random profiling and questioning could be deterred – basically codifying that such questioning of legal status in Arizona could only come after “…any lawful stop, detention, or arrest…”, many conservatives and moderates found more common ground on the intent and proposed enforcement of the new immigrant bill. However, many in Black America – led by the Reverend Al Sharpton – instead find common ground between the fight against SB 1070 in its current form and the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century.

They are wrong, and in the process, they are spending precious moral capital on an issue that African-Americans can ill-afford to be on the wrong side of history over, especially as we face plenty of mounting issues ourselves.

Vowing to bring “…people into Arizona in the spirit of the ‘freedom rides’…” – as Reverend Sharpton did over SB 1070 – tarnishes the blood spilled by law-abiding Americans that fought for the equality and safety of law-abiding American citizens during previous Freedom Rides. It is shameful to even make the comparison as the two political issues contrast even on the surface of the argument, even when the common threat of deplorable profiling based on race alone (an act I abhor in all situations) is taken into consideration. For example, in the case of SB 1070, race-based actions by authorities– though un-American and intolerable – could lead to the arrest of illegal residents within America, thus solving a criminal situation. As was the case with plenty of African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement – including plenty of Freedom Riders – race-based interaction with the authorities in those instances often led to violent beatings, violations to their civil rights as Americans (including unwarranted jailing and fines), and perhaps lynching and other forms of death and “mysterious disappearances.”

Being asked to return home and re-enter the line for legalization in America properly (be it through naturalization or some work-authorized status) is not the same as being forced to bleed to death by way of castration or drown after enduring some inhumane beating. There is no civil rights similarity between the two historical issues in recent American memory, particularly since – unlike the struggles of the 1950s and 1960s - there is not a constitutionally-based civil rights issue present in the current illegal immigration issue. Anyone who lived through the Civil Rights Movement – especially any African-American leader – should know this clearly. We can and should defend the human rights of individuals everywhere, but we can only defend the civil rights for those protected by law through our Constitution, as we did with Black folks in America. Today – as was the case decades ago – the moral right of the argument gets its support from the inherent legal rights from overriding Law of the Land.

There is no political justification for Rev. Sharpton and others within Black America for taking an opposing stance on SB 1070 – which is now the immigration check equivalent to further investigating a speeding motorist that was caught with a 9MM on the passenger’s seat – especially if the opposition is based on some manufactured semblance to historical struggles of African-Americans; (of course, some may consider Rev. Sharpton’s recent alliance with the White House – pointing to situations such as the recent Sharpton-Smiley controversy, for example – as the only necessary “political justification” needed.) Dr. King and others would never have been able to take the moral high road today (as they did years ago) while marching with residents wearing “I’m an illegal” t-shirts in the process of protests. In 2010, we are not facing a matter of discriminating against those with civil rights forged by the United States Constitution. Because of that, any true proper political resolution to illegal immigration – ranging from completely amnesty to complete deportation and points between that may be considered– cannot rightfully leverage the moral, political, and spiritual energy that fueled justice during America’s moral crisis of the 20th Century.

Any attempt to improperly marry the two issues on political precedence suppresses the historical resonance of the Civil Rights Movement and, further distances African-Americans from sharing more of a national identity with other Americans in lieu of embracing the rights of outlaws based on skin color primarily – the very rudimentary toxin that drives the racial profiling we detest. If that is the prime criteria that Black America is going to use in siding on national issues such as illegal immigration or other current political matters, then we may have come to a point in time where the vision of uniting the nation despite racial and ethnic diversity (thus, embracing the “melting pot” of America as we were once taught in school to do) has faded, leaving African-Americans in a position of peril. If Black folks in America are no longer willing to follow the paths of their ancestors and demand full inclusion and respect within the American identity – straying from the path through distancing themselves from other Americans on issues through the prism of race or finding political and constitutional kindred with those that possess no civil rights – then what are we collectively pursuing? If proper embrace of the American Dream –a dream of prosperity, lawfulness, safety, respect, and advancement of values that people from around the world risk their lives for both legally and otherwise – is no longer the dream for current African-Americans as it was with our forefathers, then what does our dream entail?

Sadly, that might lead us to other questions as well. Have we collectively missed the point of what the Civil Rights Movement was all about – fighting for the empowerment of citizens’ freedom under the guarantee of the U.S. Constitution? Are we missing the significance of what our collective support of illegal residents’ rights means in today’s America? How that support could signal why, perhaps, a majority of Americans may see African-Americans as leaning towards philosophies that they oppose - including open borders and socialized democracy – and regularly oppose us politically in response? Or perhaps, maybe we have just missed the boat on what our forefathers were willing to die for to secure our equality and freedom as previously-tortured (and many would argue still-discriminated against) Americans as lawful citizens, particularly if we are so willing to equate the calls for justice under the law with the protests of those that willfully sidestep it.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble...or Reconcile

Monday, February 1, 2010

I like it.

I like the new President Obama.

Talk of utilizing nuclear power.

Talk of off-shore drilling.

Talk of tax cuts to encourage business growth and subsequent job growth.

And the president took on the GOP - on their turf and on their terms.

I like it. I like the feistiness. I like the talk of bipartisan ideas. I like the efforts to talk to Republicans directly.

Perhaps the Tea Party people were heard after all. Perhaps Scott Brown's victory made a difference. Maybe the president sees the need to wrangle in the fringes of the right and try to find common ground.

Now, if only I can get him to do the same with the Democrats that ran things off the rails in 2009.

Many conservatives criticized the president on his appearance at the GOP House retreat in Baltimore on Friday. They felt that President Obama was being rather condescending, professorial, and perhaps revisionist with some of his responses while going through the live televised question-and-answer he conducted with the participants of the retreat. Maybe they thought his answers were, at times, terse. At the same time, they were probably just as packaged as some of the questions coming from a body full of candidates looking to keep their jobs and accumulate more power as mid-term elections loom on the horizon.

Or many this was just the tough love talk that both sides needed to have after a failure of 2009, one where Republican ideas were never seriously considered by a president and supermajority (may it R.I.P.) that felt that it could take political and legislative risks with impunity while Republicans refused to budge much at all to compromise their positions while staring down the wrong end of the Capitol Hill numbers barrel.

If President Obama is serious about becoming the centrist he attempted to run as during 2008 and pull in his party's extremism, he has a good chance of being able to gain some considerable legislative wins during 2010 and, perhaps, lessen the losses for his party in November. Reigning in Pelosi and others may come with the ire of some Democrats and left-leaning media types, but it may also come with victories that translate into betters numbers with employment, energy needs, and support for his initiatives in handling the war effort overseas. A majority of America likes Barack Obama the person but, to date, have not been able to rally behind (or, in some cases, like) President Obama the chief legislator.

The type of tough-talk directness that we saw from President Obama and the House GOP is along the lines that we expected to see in 2009 in order to hammer out the ideas coming from all sides in a process that was supposed to yield the best solutions for a struggling America.

Again, if this is a start to a new way of doing things in Washington: I like it.

And, for the record, I won't hold the president attempting to make his 2009 legislative endeavors (led by Speaker Pelosi and Speaker Reid) appear to be centrist if he doesn't continue to hold President Bush accountable for the growing lack of confident Americans are having in Washington. At some point, we each are only what we believed in, and sometimes that is enough to prompt us to defend even our failures just as the president did in some regards this week. However, as we know, the nation doesn't get much of a puncher's chance of knocking out this recession and other crises without our leaders finally getting in the ring - on equal footing - to duke it out. if this process leads to real conversation, real reconciliation, and real change, then let the combatants in Washington go at it as the results will yield something that Americans can believe in, more Congressman can agree to, and people can benefit from.

Oh No, Justice Alito!

Thursday, January 28, 2010








The picture shows confidence, calm, and a pleasant demeanor. A smile that indicates that he will not worry about criticism from the right or the left, keeping his focus on the constitutional obligation to uphold our founding document.








If we pull a George H. W. Bush, we can clear see a different story.








Read Justice Alito's lips: that's not true.






And if you read his body language after President Obama's judgement on the Supreme Court's recent ruling on campaign support, you can see that the stoicism from Alito may not be as true, either.



So much for the notion that the Supreme Court is a ruling body that operates outside of the influences of emotion or concern for anything other than a just interpretation of the Constitution.








Perhaps judicial activism - or emotional investment - isn't just a liberal stronghold anymore.




For as bold as the president's stance was to take on the Supreme Court as Commander-in-Chief (and former constitutional law professor) during his first State of the Union Address was, it was also bold for the justice to knowingly mouth "...not true..." during a round of applause in response to the president's statement, especially as he must have known that cameras were catching responses throughout the room (especially after Congressman Joe Wilson's (R-SC) remarks in September.)


Usually, it is the Supreme Court that fits into the role of populist defender, guarding the rights of America and her citizens as afforded in the Constitution against the special interests of politicians and significant policy makers. Everything from defending the premise of equality (Brown v Board of Education) to the very nature of its makeup (the infamous FDR attempt to stack the Supreme Court with his choice of justices with a 1930s quasi-pyramid scheme to expand the number of justices on the court) has been under the umbrella of the Supreme Court in its quest to defend the tenets of the nation as a populist gatekeeper. President Obama's televised rebuttal from the presidential bully pulpit changed that dynamic.


As, perhaps, rightfully so, a point that rubbed Justice Alito - and perhaps judges modeling his style of ruling from this decision - the wrong way in such a public place.


Washington as usual has been defined as the ability of big dollars and big business to influence the manner of everyday politicking moreso than the everyday Americans that congresspeople represent through the election process. This ruling, on face value, seems to jeopardize the ability of the everyday American (i.e., the guy or lady without the "deep pockets" that a select few have) to have a tangible voice in the political process, particularly regarding campaign advertisements and big-dollar donations to campaigns that shift the attention span of candidates from the populace to the lobbyists. Regardless of the legal arguments stating that the risk is minimal at best (it may be true that the law directly speaking to foreign-based corporations was not addressed or changed by the Supreme Court last week), the fact remains that a risk was taken - perhaps inappropriately - by the Supreme Court in reversing this previous statute in favor of big businesses, notably at at time when big business has been able to receive bailout money without much responsibility to the American taxpayer for

regarding ethics (i.e., keeping the big bonuses in place) or recovery (i.e., not using the money to annul this trend of unemployment).

Usually, it is the Supreme Court that has to remind a president of the jeopardy incurred when American endeavors are not in line with basic premises of the Constitution - namely, a republic where the everyday American is represented and listened to by its government without impediments of race, gender, previous servitude, or other labels that do not strip our citizenship (such as socioeconomic background.) In this instance, it worked the other way around.

President Obama got it right - we cannot allow corporations even more ability to buy-and-sell politicians, political agendas, and voting influence if we are going to continue the march towards rebuilding the best of America as we renew our nation. Call it politically convenience (many big businesses may come out against the president during Election 2010 because of his unpopularity at the polls right now) or populist fury (a renewed political personality that the president seems to have taken on since the turn of the year) if you will, but Obama's stance seems to be both anomalous - but correct - turn for the administration to change how Washington "is done" today.

It will be interesting to see how Washington plays out from here after suck a public calling-out by the president towards the Supreme Court. President Obama seems willing to take on perceived naysayers and opponents in a fight to earn back the confidence of the American people. Since day one, that has included Republicans, but perhaps it will now also include Republicans on the non-partisan bench of the highest court of the land. The Court may continue to find itself being criticized by a former law professor that has the rare eloquence, a new (or renewed, based on your view) populist backbone, and the ultimate bully pulpit (the presidency) to cast down judgement even after the final ruling has been sent down from the Court. The non-partisan Court - full of political appointments - may soon find itself reminiscing of the times when being political meant merely taking sides on Roe v Wade. The thoughts of that must make the members of the Court hold firm on the stoicism and disregard of outside detractions needed to clearly uphold the Constitution and the best of our nation's legal realities for freedom, even when Obama and the Court disagree on particular decisions.

Especially if this president continues to take a populist stance to wipe the smiles off of a justice's face.

State of DisUnion

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Everyone is waiting to hear President Obama's first State of the Union Address.

What I am waiting for: for President Obama to reunify our states - our states of politics, our states of economics, and our states of cooperation.

To me, the most important thing with this evening's address is to restate the union that he campaigned to lead.

Pundits on both sides of the aisle are going to look to see how the president projects his overall message. They will pick apart his words and try to read his intent on the economy, on health care, and on the wars overseas.

However, those will not be the important points, for nothing else will matter if the president is unable to get a majority of Americans clearly on the same page, including those Americans serving on Capitol Hill and in Washington.

Perhaps it will be the losses in New Jersey, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Perhaps it will be the daunting realization that while the Congressional leadership led much of this disaster for the Obama Administration in 2009, most of them will be in full campaign mode in 2010, thus leaving him to hold the bag of responsibility for the current status. Perhaps it will be a reflection upon the magic of 2008 and the hope of January 2009. Regardless of what the primers end up being, President Obama will be successful with his address and with his impending presidency if he is capable of finding the true middle ground that will allow a majority of lawmakers and everyday Americans to get behind him as Commander-in-Chief with full force, something that has yet to transpire during his term.

Gathering Republican ideas (such as the spending freeze, an idea that he mocked John McCain with during the presidential debates as a "hatchet job" idea towards the economy) or championing through left-leaning pet projects will not do. At some point, it's not partisanship anymore, just as the Obama Presidency had the promise of being past after his historic election. This point on Wednesday night will be about unifying the nation behind a leader. Obama made it a point to look towards Lincoln as an example as he rode into Washington (literally) 12 months ago. With his State of the Union Address, he has a chance to channel the Great Emancipator again, this time to free America from the chains of disunity brought on by economic peril, proposed historic change, and fears for the future.

Selective Americanism Against Celebrating the Standard

Tuesday, January 26, 2010



This is why I get frustrated with liberalism.



And sorry - I hate to go all "Beck-Hannity-Limbaugh" on you, but you have to understand - this is ridiculous.

And I'm really not the "I hate liberalism" type of guy. I disagree with it. I stand against it. I don't hate it, though, nor do I hate those that lean in this direction politically.

But, we have yet another example of what frustrates me so.



A series of questions:


Why is it that when we get mainstream liberal messaging such as homosexual parenting ("Jimmy has Two Mommies", for instance) or other alternative lifestyles, there is an argument that roundly states that America must foster this messaging for the good of diversity, even if it means promoting books about gay penguins to kindergarten and 1st grade students in public schools? (And, it should be noted, schools that still fall woefully short on historical books such as the Buffalo Soldiers and other civil rights pioneers.)



Not that I'm trying to prohibit any Americans from their right to free speech as long as it does not physically harm anyone. At the same time, I don't want or need a barrage of messaging going directly to my children at school on issues that are socially controversial or complex. I can do that explanation for them, as I should as a father.



Now, why is it that when it's time to hear the other side of a story - a perspective that leans conservative - there becomes a threat to safety and personal liberty that must be stopped in its tracks.


We hear that civil rights will be rolled back decades if a conservative perspective is shared. We hear that people's rights will be trampled upon if we allow free speech in this instance to be voiced.


In many ways, it ends up becoming an "I love America...but only when it's the America I want" type of situation.


Such is the case coming from the Tim Tebow inspirational story that is becoming a symbol of fervor against the pro-life.


For those of you that don't know the story, it's pretty simple to explain:


Tim Tebow's mother was overseas as a missionary when she contracted an illness that made her pregnancy in 1987 a high-risk one. After being advised to terminate the pregnancy, Mrs. Tebow and her family decided to go forward with the pregnancy due to their Christian beliefs.


The baby that was born of that decision was Tim Tebow, an award-winning and 2-time NCAA champion football player. And, from all accounts, that's the low side of his accomplishments. Known as a proud Christian and a gentleman, Tebow is roundly respected in sports circles for his manner with disadvantaged children, his affability with the media and with opponents, and his leadership within his team.


All Tebow wants to do in a 30-second ad is tell his story as an encouragement for women to consider decisions other than abortion when pregnant, a move that is a lot less powerful than multiple Planned Parenthood buildings standing in urban centers throughout the nation as symbols encouraging women to make that opposite choice.


Yet, to protesters, this move by Tebow and Focus on the Family is a threat to their rights as Americans and a violation of broadcast integrity during the Super Bowl.



Somewhere, Rush Limbaugh is surely yet sadly calling someone a femi-nazi even as I type.


I disagree with his terminology, but I agree with his sentiment 100%.


Only in America can we defend a woman's right to choose while bashing another's right to give both sides of that very complex issue. And regardless of what people want to say about this, it does boil down to liberalism vs. conservatism in a way that makes people draw lines in the sand and refuse to acquiesce to our collective Americanism. The clear contradiction of the left comes across as a response that one would expect from a group of spoiled second graders that are upset that the first graders also got a chance to go on the special field trip that they just returned from. For all of the screaming and anger, there is a clear principle that is being ignored by these protesters from the left: that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, particularly when it comes to the court of public opinion.


How is it that we can now be at a point of time in America where we can be blitzed with gay characters in prime time dramas, sitcoms, and other avenues in the media on a regular basis - complete with intimate scenes - and not be able to tolerate the social opposite? Again, conservatives are told repeatedly to learn tolerance (which, for the record, I believe in as being accordance with the "love your neighbor as yourself" commandment that many on the Christian right conveniently forget about when addressing these issues), but those following alternative lifestyles are not held to remembering what they truly are: alternative lifestyles. They are not the mainstream. They are not the norm.


Life is, however, and a celebration of a difficult choice and a success story that follows from it is nothing to be scared of.


The same liberalism that wants to prevent this ad from running during the Super Bowl and wants to promote abortion rights without supporting women's right to choose (and, that does include choosing life, not abortion) would continue to block fair debates on complex issues, erect left-leaning institutions in communities that do not need such on-going "influence", and potentially snuff out lives.


This is an issue that is close to home for me. 15 years prior to Tebow's birth, I had a similar story.


My late mother and I were dying while I was being born, a result of my mother's undiagnosed diabetes and me being more than 2 weeks overdue; (I was supposed to be a Christmas baby.) In the midst of childbirth, monitors indicated that my mother and I were suffering greatly during the birthing process. Due to my size (I was born at 10 pounds), my breathing was cut off and my head was being crushed. The stress from the complication caused my mother to have life-threatening issues. Both of our heart rates dropped considerably.


The doctor came out to consult with my father about a painful decision he was giving him to make: save the wife and try again to have another child or save the child at the strong risk that the wife may die.


My father took the third option: go save both the wife (my mother) and the baby (me.)


Perplexed that my father's decision did not include "choice" but only included life, the doctor returned - and we both lived to tell about it.


Not that I'll ever win a Heisman Trophy or throw a collegiate touchdown pass, but I am glad to be here :-)


In a land where life , liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is celebrated as a constitutional right and a backbone statement from our Declaration of Independence, it is puzzling that so many on the left would argue to celebrate choices from abortion that honor the opposite while working so hard to prevent the pursuit of happiness through the choice of life, even in the same annuals of media that their alternative messages have been constitutionally-protected to survive in. Again, I have nothing against the right to hear about alternatives, but I will never stand for the protection of alternatives at the risk of destroying the standards - and, in this instance, if the alternative is abortion through choice, the standard is life.


If the aftermath of abortion - the resentment of lost fathers, the regret by lost mothers, the pain of blotched or repeated procedures - is cast aside by these same liberal organizations in their quest to promote their social agendas, why must the conservative side of the coin do the same by casting aside the joy of choosing life and allowing God the opportunity to present His Glory in what initially appears to be a downturn in one's journey? At some point, if America is going to return to its glory as a nation, it must begin to return to the glory of standards, even as we protect the rights of those from an alternative point of view.


If we can use television to celebrate Super Bowl touchdowns, diversity, alternative lifestyles, and diverging political points of view, why can't we use the greatest American television stage to celebrate the greatest gift we have all received: life?



It may not be politically correct for some, but I'd love to hear an amen to that.

Standing in Congress vs Standing for America

Monday, January 25, 2010



It's funny...well, not really.


If the Congressional leaders that stand behind President Obama on Wednesday night during the State of the Union Address were more concerned with standing for Americans instead of merely standing up for partisan unity or presidential presence, perhaps the nation would not be as far behind on the path to recovery as it is today.

Wednesday's State of the Union address will probably not include much of the language that President Obama mentioned in his speech to Ohio residents after the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts - namely, that he is willing to take his lumps as president. However, many of those lumps have come from friendly fire as the Democrats have taken their focus away from the primary issues as defined by the American people (jobs) in order to chase pet projects that have become their legislative Moby Dick (universal health care.)


Starting Wednesday, the Democrats will need to do a better job of listening more to the American people. Despite what many left-leaning politicos will say, the supermajority of 2009 was lost in 2010 because of the Democrats' inability to balance the ambition of congressional leaders with the will of most Americans. Some of the failures of the Democrats throughout 2009 have come from overreach by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, risk-taking that led to questionable behavior including the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Louisiana Purchase." Instead of standing up for Americans to promote a better and unified nation, they took a stand in order to promote their ideas and avenues for actions.


Sadly, the Democrats did more to follow the lead of the Republican congresses before them this decade and look to please themselves over standing up for the nation while in office. Ironically, the Democrats are the party that is seen as more populist - or, at least, it was seen that way from 2006 through last year. Perhaps bipartisanship leadership - not supermajority status - will make the difference and allow 2010 to be the year where Congress does more for the American people than spend more money, do less for everyday Americans, and invoke President Bush's legacy repeatedly as a cause for their shortcomings.

One MLK Day, Two Needed Messages...

Monday, January 18, 2010


(The following are speeches given during MLK Day events in Florida)



Lenny McAllister: MLK Day Celebration in Ocala, FL (2010 January 18 (“MLK Day, Furthering The Dream of Yesterday, and Waking Up for a Better Future”))


People may wonder why it was important to me to come with prepared words to address you today. Many of you may state – and rightfully so- that we gather today to honor the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man that was moved by the Spirit to move a nation towards a better way of life. And you would be right – Dr. King was a man that used his connection to the Holy Spirit to dare to have The Dream. At the same time, my fellow Americans, he also had action items, and without action items – along with a network of leaders and fellow dreamers – we would not have a MLK Day each year and chances are that we would not have the expression of civil rights that we enjoy today. Therefore, I come to you with action items to further Dr. King’s dream and ask that we honor the man and his memory with more than just talk of dreams.

President Lincoln used a speech that started “4 score and 7 years ago” in order to call his beleaguered countrymen to continue their march towards unity of our nation during its most trying hour. Now, here we come today, 2 score and 7 years past the date of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, speaking up in order to call our beleaguered communities to act so that we can continue our march towards equal rights as Americans, equal opportunities as contributors to our nation, and equal kindred in the brotherhood of prosperity and visionary leadership of this great land.

King’s efforts and sacrifices came those scores of years ago, but our time to continue his accomplishments and dream is right now. It is before us here in the Sunshine State. It is in our hands in each state of Lincoln’s Union.

Without the sustained march towards realizing the fullest details of King’s Dream, we are hampered in our march towards bettering our fellow man. Although we are capable and encouraged to help the victims in Haiti through the epic tragedy they are incurring, we are limited in restoring their communities if we lag behind in our societal, educational, and economic potential here in America. Although it is best to encourage and mentor our schoolchildren today with the pursuits of their youth, we are limited in leading our children into a prosperous future if we impede our discipline, communicative channels, and networking relationships that could make the difference in their lives with limiting stereotypes, outdated misunderstandings, and esteem for others and ourselves. Although we are free from slavery, Jim Crow, and many glass ceilings from the American past, we are boxed into probabilities of failure and disappointment if we are not willing to actively work towards being freer than the previous generation, healthier than we were just a year ago, and better than we were just yesterday.

Dr. King worked aside a network of leaders and everyday Americans. He came at a time when America needed a dream – a new vision for what the United States could be once united past the impediments of racism and self-limitations. He came with a Dream that talked about his children being equal but spoke to America about opening up its potential to becoming a superpower of wealth, might, and ethical esteem throughout the world by shedding its racism of the past and embracing the moment to be historic.

President Lincoln had Americans such as Frederick Douglass to push him to greater heights as the Great Emancipator, just as Dr. King had Freedom Fighters and others that believed in the push for Civil Rights.

Lincoln noted change “4 score and 7 years ago” during his time in Gettysburg to reunite America. King told us 2 score and 7 years ago that he had a dream for a better time for America.

Today, I say that it is time to even the scores throughout America.

It is time for us to even the scores of our schoolchildren with others as they have fallen behind other American children in the classroom. It is time to demand better facilities, better teachers, and better school options with our tax money. A better educated child will be a more active citizen in our communities and a source of pride for Black America as an adult.

It is time for us to even the scores in the job market, as African-Americans are still more likely to be last-hired and first-fired. It is time to even the playing field, one that today sees that Black men are twice as likely to be unemployed with college degrees as other American men with similar levels of education. It is time to ensure that equality is not just a slogan from the past, but it is an umbrella promise for the future for all Americans.

It is time for us to even the scores and lessen the rate of disease, disillusionment, and even death at our own hands. It is time to even the scores within the fields of health care, crime, and chivalry once again with other Americans. It is time for us to stop killing each other with our diets. It is time for us to stop killing each other with weapons. It is time to stop killing each other’s esteem with disrespect for our women. It is time for Black pride to rise up through teaching Black love, Black self-respect, Black family unity, and Black chivalry and stop speaking solely with a tone of blaming others, looking outside our communities for solutions, and embracing sub-standard realities for our children and grandchildren. King led the disadvantaged towards equality with self-empowerment. We must do the same today.

Dr. King spoke of a Dream for all of America, but he knew that he would take action within Black America for this dream to become reality. Therefore, if we are to take one thing from this MLK Day, I ask that it be this:

If Dr. King dared us to collectively Dream along with him, we must now be called to collectively wake up to honor him.

Wake up, brothers and sisters, and act towards better educational opportunities for our children immediately. Do not allow the continuing failure of the school system in our communities to continue to be the box that limits our children’s futures. The status quo of educational poverty must be replaced with a quid pro quo system that rewards educational freedom for our children and nothing else, not political allegiances or backroom deals that cut us out. Be involved as volunteers, as mentors, and as civic activists so that our children receive an education, not just schooling.

Wake up, brothers and sisters, and act towards better quality of life within Black America. Regardless of the health care fight in Washington, if we are unwilling to stop the violence against our bodies with our diets, with our physical confrontations, and with our inactivity, we will always stay behind the health care curve. Wake up to live lest we continue to die prematurely in our sleep. The time is now to change our daily habits so that we change our daily experiences.

Wake up, brothers and sisters, and act towards health care justice for Black America, making sure that we are not the most murdered in the womb and the fastest to lay in the tomb.

Wake up, brothers and sisters, and act towards embracing economic opportunities, equality, and prosperity in America. Embrace Americanism – economically, socially, and historically – with tenacity and insight. This is your nation, too – fully. The red represents our ancestors’ sacrifice. The blue represents the depth of talent that we can contribute to America’s improvement. The white represents the brightness of our future – together - should we remain engaged in upholding America - together.

There was a time for Dr. King to be historic and Dream. It is now our time to be historic and wake up into action.

If you have not contributed or volunteered to improve our communities, do so now. If you already do contribute, thank you – for now, it is time for us to do more. We must be involved in educational changes, economic changes, and personal changes daily if we are going to wake up from crisis and return to the highest pursuit of Dr. King’s Dream.

As I have written in my book, America will only be all that we can be with smaller government along with bigger people. That applies so much more to Black America and the crisis we face today in our communities.

It was a time to dream. Now, it is time to wake up and DO!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of those bigger people when he gave us a Dream to chase after.

Now, we must be those bigger people by waking up into action so that the American Dream – along with Dr. King’s Dream – can become a greater reality for us all.

Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Dr. King, for your love. And thank you all for what you do to improve our communities, save our children, and strengthen our nation. God Bless you all and God Bless the United States of America.


Lenny McAllister: Ocala Tea Party (2010 January 18 (“Martin Luther King Was a Tea Party Patriot”))


Good afternoon, Tea Party Patriots.


Thank you for the invitation to address you this afternoon. In a region that is part of the Sunshine State, it is refreshing to see the sunshine reflecting off of your faces today. It is a clear sign that more Americans are becoming engaged with the political processes of their communities and less likely to tolerate a government that has gone on far too long without a true sense of accountability to the Constitution of the United States, the memory of our founding fathers, and the will of a representative republic constituted by one simple phrase: We, The People.


Today, we gather here to protest the direction of government on a day where the nation commemorates the successes of one of its greatest protestors – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Like you, Dr. King saw the need for a change in how our society and government worked in his day, just as we do now. Like you, Dr. King did not wait for others to make a difference in the world – he believed in the power of people over the power of government. Like you, Dr. King saw the vision of a better America coming through the application of our unique constitution, one that guarantees the enjoyment of inalienable rights from God alone, not through false promises through expansive government that taxes us plenty to give us little. Dr. King knew that holding America to its credos as listed in our Constitution was the way to ensure equality. Just the same, we stand here today knowing that holding our current elected officials to the tenets of representative government is the way to scale back the waywardness in spending and backroom deals that we have seen in Washington, allowing us to regain the effectiveness of our collective voice in government.


In his time, Dr. King stepped outside of societal norms to change the way society operated. That is how he led the Civil Rights Movement.


In our time – right here, right now – we must step outside of politics as normal in order to change the way our government works. That is how we will lead our nation back on track and ensure that America will be a world leader for generations to come.


Dr. King led a movement of people that reclaimed the American Dream 50 years ago. You – the people of the Tea Party movement – are the current leaders that will help reclaim the American Dream for the next 50 years. King fought the good fight against government for American equality for us. Today, we fight the good fight against government for American prosperity for all.


Because of the King example that you are following, if someone comes to you and says that it was inappropriate to have a tea party today or that it was not in line with the message of Dr. Martin Luther King to protest government today, I implore you to remind them with respect that Dr. King rallied against government that restricted personal liberties, just as you are doing today. Remind them that Dr. King marched against laws that contradicted the Constitution, just as you are doing today. Remind them that Dr. King was also called a rabble-rouser, a trouble maker, and a radical without a cause, just as you are called today.


Those that think that you dishonor the memory of Dr. King by speaking out against the continuation of the abomination in Washington on MLK Day obviously do not see one simple fact: that Martin Luther King was a 20th century Tea Party Patriot.
Yes, he was – from protesting for a reality that was needed in America before others joined the fight to believing that the Constitution was a time-honored document to be followed by government, not ignored by contemporary politicians chasing partisan glory, big-money contributions, or political philosophies.


And as a Tea Party Patriot, Dr. King would encourage you to protest your government until your government fulfills the obligations enumerated in the founding laws of the land.


He would tell us something that we already know: change will come, but positive, American change will not come from free-spending politicians or big-government program. It will never come from more taxation or from more spending. It will come from the collective power of the people, not a powerful collection of politicians.


With the power of the people, change for the better does come. We have examples on both sides of the political aisle throughout American history.


Ronald Reagan started his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a town historically marred by a low point in the Civil Rights fight. Yet, it was the same man – later as President Reagan – that signed into law the Martin Luther King national holiday that we celebrate today.


The Democratic Party was the party that fought for segregation against African-Americans throughout the Civil Rights era of the 20th century. Yet, it was that same Democratic Party that nominated, then supported the first Black president of the United States.


So yes, change does comes, but it only comes through the persistence of the people - people that work through obstacles of name-calling, disenfranchisement, and discouragement from the status quo to remind us of what is right, what is best, and what is American.


Tea Party people today: with your protests against the outrageous spending that is burdening our children and grandchildren with global debt, you are reminding us of doing what is right.


With your demands that we return the government to the will of the people through smaller, representative government that fosters bigger opportunities for everyday Americans, you are reminding us of what is best.


With your persistence to make your voices heard again and again, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomics, political affiliation, or location, you are reminding us of what is truly American.


You exemplify freedom of assembly. You extol the merits of freedom of speech. You make possible the freedom to prosper.


You are reminding us of what is truly American at a time when the leadership in Washington continues to moves us past a point of recognizing what made this nation so great for so many years.


We now see the desire to be popular with our enemies overseas and be seen as fair by those that attack Americans supersede the obligation of our president and his administration to put the safety of the American people first and foremost. It is time for us – the people of the United States – to remind our elected leadership in Washington that while understanding the human rights of terrorists may hold ethical merit, upholding civil rights of terrorists is unfounded at a time when giving terrorists American criminal rights in court is more important to this administration than getting the needed information to keep Americans safe in the war on terror.


2010 is the year to say clearly and continuously:


Mr. President – prioritize protecting Americans over protecting your reputation around the world.


Mr. President – the prize of a peaceful and safe American homeland will always be worth more than your Nobel Peace Prize.


Mr. President – allow us to claim victory in this war on terror without any campaign timetables before the terrorists claim any more lives.


Mr. President – you are called to be a commander-in-chief to protect our homeland from these attacks, not be a commander-in-thief in taking the nation into unmanageable debt with unsuccessful stimulus packages, cash-for-clunker schemes to uphold the broken and stubborn business model of American automakers, and a questionable national health care plan while unemployment stays unbearable and everyday Americans stay anxious about their prospects for recovery.


We cannot and will not spend our way out of this recession. Big government spending never solved our problems. American brainpower and elbow grease always have.


And that is why it is up to us.


It is up to us, fellow patriots, to remind our government that spending our tax dollars to give us more only ensures us that our government will come around for more of our tax dollars. Taxation does not ensure the prosperity of a nation. Innovation does. Commitment does. Education does. Emancipation of the people does.

Yet, we have watched billions given to banks that asked for money to unfreeze the credit market for Americans, only to watch them freeze out everyday Americans from the rebound that Wall Street experienced over the past several months. Banks have played a corrupt game of us versus them in American business, just as American career politicians have played a continuing game of us versus them in American politics for years.


It is up to us, fellow patriots – today and now – to tell these businesses that horde American prosperity with off-shoring and outsourcing during good times and taxpayer-funded bailouts during bad times that the American taxpayer is not a pawn in your personal game of greed. Without hardworking Americans to pay your goods, Mr. AIG, you are good for nothing. Everyday Americans – and their children and grandchildren – bailed you out of your mire of greed and dysfunction that led to the financial crisis, only for you to spend it on bonuses based on your incompetency. Now it is time for you to work to beat back the rising rate of unemployment. Your profit margins can only be maximized through optimizing American prosperity – and that comes only through American jobs, American workers, and American products being made in the United States of America, sold throughout the world, and winning in the global markets just as we have done for decades. I believe in the American worker – it is time that you believe in him again as well.


Big and unresponsive government restricts American workmanship. Efficient and representative government empowers it – and protects us and our prosperity. We have the talent and the willpower. I believe in the USA. It is our time to make sure that our government acts that way as well.


It is up to us, fellow patriots – today and now – to tell these politicians that our history of republican government of the people is not a roadmap for their individual fame and glory, but a structure guiding the freedom and prosperity for a nation of millions. The 4 walls of government were not built for their comfort in making illicit backroom deals to pass billion-dollar legislation with diminishing benefits for the American people. Those rooms are to be used to empower American ingenuity, encourage private solutions without increased government limitations, and invigorate the economic, social, and personal wealth of Americans – not entrench career politicians into office, particularly those that have forgotten that they serve the American people, not the other way around. It is up to us to say to these politicians in 2010 – change is going to come. Either you will change your ways of spending and of handling the business of government starting in January, or you will be surely be changing your location of business after November.


It is up to us, fellow patriots, to do more than just protest, however. Just as Dr. King did, we must protest and be proactive – we must dream while being diligent with our desires. As a politician, I could tell you what party to be involved with, but as an American, I must implore you to be involved regardless of party affiliation. The mindless servant of politics is the person that does not have an active constituency to be mindful of. That part is up to us today – we must be mindful of our role to stay active in the process if we expect the political process and its participants to stay mindful of our high standards and our historical obligations between government and those that truly govern – we the people of the United States.


Be not discouraged, patriots. This seems like a daunting task, but Americans have faced grim realities before throughout our history and have always created greater realities for themselves in the end.


Only in the United States of America can the rich run for the highest offices of the land, only to be defeated at the hands of the poorest voters at the polls. America was never about the royalty of a few but the prosperity of a nation. With your efforts in elections, in town hall meetings, in local government debates, and in building alliances with your neighbors every day, you can reincorporate the everyday American into the fabric of politics every day. A government focused on taxing and spending is solely concerned about your money. A nation focused on your talents and liberty is focused on your patriotism, your desire to work hard and contribute, and your ability to rebuild America. With you, we make our country less about our government and more about our countrymen and women, the people that our government works for.


Only in the United States of America can the competition of business ideas, the competition of schools and their offerings, and the competition of products across state lines make for a better overall system for us all. We embrace diversity, we encourage healthy debate, and we foster a way of life that says that no one group should dominate based on numbers alone, but should lead with the best ideas and the best models for leadership. Health care reform should not come in America by way of the Democrats have 60 senators; it must come through the sharing of bipartisan ideas that embrace the American spirit of competition of choice, business innovation to drive down cost, and the knowledge that government that dictates how to provide health care can also decide when health care is no longer available based on bureaucratic urges and statistical conclusions.


Freedom – whether it is in health care, in educational opportunities, or from societal restraints – can never be taxed and sold, nor can it be purchased in backroom deals and corrupt conference meetings. It is earned with our patriotism. It is earned with our engagement with the issues. It is bonded with our love for every good thing that America stands for as a unique presence in the world. It is through that promise of hope – not the false promise of free health care – that America shines as the city on a hill throughout the global community.


American health care reform will not come from taxation in 2010 without implementation for years down the road. The sanctity of life is too precious for that, despite what Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi will tell you. Health care reform will come from listening to the American people and giving us what we want – more control of our choices, less costs for service and goods, and the same quality of access and care that we enjoy today. Freedom of choice and quality of service will only be gained the same way as it always has been – through free market enterprise…the beauty of the American way of life.


It is up to us, fellow patriots, to be the change that we can believe in, not the lack of change that we have seen in Washington. It is up to us, fellow Americans, to be the primers of change through our willingness to protest and educate and through our persistence to be involved and be heard. Being a rabble-rouser or being on television means nothing if we are not then ready to be a force with our representatives in Washington, Tallahassee, and points of government in between.


We celebrate the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today because he was willing to be historic at a time when doing so was a threat against his life.


We protest today against the efforts of a tax-and-spend, minimally-effective government because of its threats against our liberty.


We must dare to be historic today and throughout 2010 because without our constant action as respectful activists, candidates, speakers, and citizens, we incur a major obstacle in our collective pursuit of happiness.


The Constitution calls on us to be amenable to these inalienable rights, but the times call on us to be historic to protect these inalienable rights. As I have mentioned in my book, America is in need of recovering through smaller government and bigger people. That means that you are the giants that our nation needs to stop the gigantic debt mounting in Washington. You are the giants that we need to raise the accountability to stop the huge push for a system of change that America has not bargained for. You are the giants to rein in a system that stopped listening to America previously, but now hears your voices loud and clear today.


Be the change.


Be historic.


Be not afraid and be not deterred.


In the face of civil rights challenges, Dr. King was a giant that overcame the negativity, name-calling, and discouragement to beat back government and provide a better way for us all in the 20th century.


In the face of mounting personal restrictions and intense debt, you are the giants to overcome the name-calling and discouragement to beat back government into its rightful place and provide a better way for us all in the 21st century.


So I say:


Be historic.


Be the change.


Be what Dr. King was before you: a protesting patriot with a vision for tomorrow, an unyielding passion for America and equality, and a refusal to stop until life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was once again safe and sound in America in his time.


This is now our calling and this is now our time. Let’s do this – together.


Let’s be historic. What do you say? Are you with me?


The time is now. Let’s be historic.


Thank you for this opportunity. Stay involved with what you do.
God Bless you all and God Bless the United States of America.