Conservative Thinker

As we move into a new year, it is good to look back and learn from this past year. After a very long and grinding political campaign, there are some important takeaways that need to be noted. For many years now, liberals have taken the moral high ground and deemed themselves to be much more compassionate, understanding, open-minded, and genuinely more accepting and diverse than conservatives. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The last few months have exposed a real heart of darkness that lies at the core of liberalism. There are two major ways it has manifested itself. The first way is that liberals can't and won't accept personal responsibility. From Hillary Clinton on down to the average base liberal, we have seen this constant and consistent blame game. The intent is to shift the focus from the real reasons Hillary lost the election to Donald Trump, and go down a road of setting up paper tigers. Those paper tigers include such fanciful follies as Russian

As we continue on this transition phase in Washington DC, it is the perfect time to offer some sage advice to Mr. Trump and the Republicans in Congress. It is essential to use history as a guide and to learn from previous experiences to make the road ahead smoother. As Republicans get ready to have full control of Congress and the White House, there are some lessons that need to be learned. This is a unique opportunity to craft and push through some conservative legislation and work on fixing a multitude of issues that have a great need to be addressed. Failing to take advantage of this golden opportunity would be a tragic setback to our republic and to the many Americans who voted for a real change of direction. The Republicans and Mr. Trump need to remember Scott Walker and Wisconsin as they move ahead in the upcoming year. The Scott Walker story is interesting and worth learning from. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for nine years before deciding to run for Mil

With the death of Cuban strongman, Fidel Castro, it becomes necessary to put his impact in a bit of historical perspective. Far too many people have begun to pay glowing tributes to him, and are trying to soften the image of a dark and brutal dictator. By choosing to nullify the evil, liberals are doing a grave disservice to history. To be fair, you could find traces of good in Stalin, Hitler, Chairman Mao, and numerous other evil dictators throughout the course of history, if you chose to look hard enough, but the fact remains they were evil men who killed millions of people and paved a trail of misery and despair for millions more. Fidel Castro is no different, so let's not allow a rewriting of the truth. Castro came to power in February of 1959 after Fulgencio Batista fled into exile and left room for the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary to fill the void as President. Over the next fifty plus years, he ruled Cuba with an iron fist as a full-fledged dictator. He curtailed free

Why do I write? That is a really great question, actually. I have been asked that quite often over the last several months. It isn't an easy question to answer and the answer is probably not what most might think. I started this journey ten months ago in a hotel room in Winchester, Tennessee. I felt a nudge, a calling if you will, to do more than just share a few news stories with people and give a couple of sentences to summarize the importance of them. I felt God was clearly guiding me to add my voice to the many voices already out here. I didn't start this endeavor for wealth or fame. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I would love to write full-time and make a living at it. But it is a lot deeper than that. So why do I write? I write because I truly and deeply love our founding fathers and the unique vision they laid out for this republic in which I reside. I write to keep that vision alive and to ignite that same flame in the hearts and minds and souls of

Thanksgiving is filled with amazing aromas that trigger memories of days gone by. Remembering those childhood days at my grandparents and the sights and sounds of a bustling kitchen. The smell of the turkey roasting in the oven as it mixes with the smells of the cranberries, mashed potatoes, carrots, fruit salad, and pumpkin pie. The sound of laughter and banter from aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, and cousins. Thanksgiving Day is truly a uniquely American holiday that combines food and drink with family and friends. We all get lost in the smells, sights, and sounds of the day but most of us fail to grasp the real essence of Thanksgiving. Well beyond the tastes of food and the football games there lies a core centerpiece to Thanksgiving. That centerpiece is celebrating the fruits of your labor for the year past and giving thanks to God for all of the rich blessings that have been bestowed on us. The core values of hard work and self-determination make the bountiful har

Maybe the biggest loser on election day wasn't Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party, but the mainstream media and print journalism. There was a time when true journalism involved finding out the who, what, when, where, and why of a particular news story, and doing it in an unbiased way. You knew as a journalist, that reporting the news in a fair and balanced way with facts and accurate quotes, was essential to maintaining credibility to the public at large. Your credibility was a sacred cow and you never wanted to tarnish it under any circumstances. Unfortunately, that time has passed, and the journalism of today has devolved into a sort of faux journalism. This transformation didn't just happen overnight. It has been a slow and steady evolution that finally reached a crescendo this past year. Back in the 1980's, some may remember the Palestinian uprising, the Intifada. Palestinians were angry at the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and proceeded

The election results from Tuesday caught many by surprise. Thanks to a very biased mainstream media and inaccurate polls, many people had just assumed Mrs. Clinton was going to become the first woman President of the United States. Few pundits and political savvy prognosticators saw the electorate as angry or dissatisfied enough to turn over the tables in the temple. Alas, the Silent Majority spoke loud and clear Tuesday night. The voters in "fly over country" saw the political pendulum swing too far to the left and were angry and scared enough by the prospects of a President Clinton to punch the ballot for Donald Trump. Many people finally reached the point of actually getting out and voting to change the direction of our republic. They have become sick and tired of the career politicians and business as usual in Washington. To those voters, a lot of which hadn't voted in years due to being apathetic, Donald Trump was seen as an outsider and an agent of change. So is

One of the many things wrong with our current political landscape, is that it is littered with numerous career politicians. Our founding fathers hadn't planned on people making a life out of going to Washington DC and becoming immersed in government and politics. It was supposed to be a brief moment of servitude, and then back home to your family and workplace. Unfortunately, we have morphed into an elective despotism with many instances of people enjoying the power and money of a self-aggrandizing political system. One such example is Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. This is a case study in politics as usual with a bit of hypocrisy thrown in for good measure. It highlights the core reason why Donald Trump rode a wave of anger and discontent from a fed-up electorate. Many in Wisconsin are well aware of the Russ Feingold story, but for those who aren't, it is worth a brief summary. He is a lawyer by trade and served for ten years in the Wisconsin state legislature before decidin

July 4th, 1776 was the beginning of a grand experiment in the history of the world. It was a unique historical moment and our founding fathers had high hopes that this fledgling republic would be a bastion of freedom and liberty. They guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the framework of a constitutional republic of the people, by the people, and for the people. Now, 240 years later, the momentum that propelled the United States of America into a great and thriving republic has been lost, and the slow and steady demise is nearly complete. One need only look at the stark reality of the current political landscape to see Lady Liberty lying on her death bed struggling to breathe. So what happened to our once great republic? One could argue, and I will do so, that FDR and The New Deal programs of the 1930's marked the beginning of this demise. The New Deal was a series of social liberal programs enacted in the United States from 1933-1938. The programs were in

The Great Debate became The Great Debacle. As I listened to the debate on the radio driving home from work, I found myself utterly frustrated by the dismal performance of Donald Trump. I pictured myself on that stage debating Hillary Clinton and found myself effectively articulating a much more coherent argument from behind the wheel, than Mr. Trump did at Hofstra University. It was a night of lost opportunities. There were many listening and watching tonight for the first time. Unlike myself, most people aren't really tuned in and engaged in politics and foreign policy issues. Most Americans have other things that capture their time and attention. Tonight was an opportunity for both candidates to reach out to these folks. Unfortunately, what Mr. Trump failed miserably to grasp, is that which Ronald Reagan knew instinctively. You need to eloquently articulate a logical and realistic alternative to your opponent. Are you better off today than eight years ago, my friends? Is t

As Monday night approaches, with the much anticipated first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it is a perfect time to put it in perspective and offer a preview of what to look for as you watch. The idea of a televised presidential debate is a relatively new phenomenon. The first televised presidential debate took place in 1960 from Chicago and pitted a young John F. Kennedy against an aged Richard Nixon. To those that only listened to the debate on the radio, most felt Nixon won. Those Americans that watched it on television though, saw it very differently. Most saw a rather tan Kennedy beat a pale and disheveled Nixon. The images of that first debate most likely tipped the election in favor of JFK. Nearly six percent of the voters said that the debate decided their vote. Clearly, images make a lasting impression. That is the power of television. There are moments that can make or break a presidential candidate and set them up for victory or defeat in November. One

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001. I remember that day vividly. It was surreal for me. I was in Rock Falls, IL that day and a mentor and trainer for Schwans Home Service. The day became less of a training day and more of a day of questions about what was happening. What was the reason for these attacks? Why would someone do this? Who is responsible for this kind of terrorist attack? Are there more attacks coming? All great questions that are just as applicable today as they were fifteen years ago. Have we forgotten the message that was sent to us that day? The message was quite clear and chilling to anyone perceptive enough to receive it. It was a devastating blow and a shot across the bow. We are in a war for the survival of Western and Christian civilization. The war has been going on for several hundreds of years now. We just failed to grasp that reality of history. Ignorance and apathy tend to be very good at blinding us fro

       "It's not a police issue, it's a society issue," Johnson told reporters outside police          headquarters after a long weekend that saw 65 people shot, 13 of them fatally.   The long Labor Day weekend is normally a fun and joyous last hurrah to summer. But in Chicago, it was just a continuation of a long and deadly year. The weekend saw 65 people shot and 13 of them were killed. Tragic in any city in our nation, but doubly tragic in Chicago. Chicago has now had 500 homicides in 2016, and it is only early September. That breaks down to 63 homicides a month. That means every day in Chicago, there are two people killed. More appalling, Chicago's homicide count is more than New York City and Los Angeles combined. The numbers are staggering. The question is, do black lives really matter? The vast majority of the homicides in Chicago are black on black crime. Nearly 75% of the victims are black and 71% of the perpetrators are black. Of those hom

As many people wind down from summer and head into the autumn season, most likely, the majority of Americans are not honed in on foreign policy issues. Let's face it, most people are interested in their own world and couldn't care less about what is happening elsewhere in the world. That is completely understandable. There are a plethora of domestic policy issues that truly do bring fear and serious concern to the average person. Health care costs continue to rise as Obamacare becomes more and more of a failure, the national debt is now at $20 trillion and growing, the economy is sluggish and in a state of uncertainty, and there is an important election coming up in November. All very important topics to focus on and draw folks away from the looming foreign policy crises. Those domestic policy issues can definitely lead us into serious problems and hurt us. However, the foreign policy decisions can kill us. The current path we are on, if we don't drastically change cours

All of a sudden, there was a loud knock on the door. "Mrs. Kohler? It is the Education Ministry." Mrs. Kohler had been dreading this day. Her son, Timmy, turned three years old today. In another day, another time, in a more free America, this would have been a happy day filled with cake, balloons, and presents to celebrate his birthday. But today, she woke up sick to her stomach. A visceral pain so deep inside her, she thought she was dying. She thought she might as well be dying. The Education Ministry was at her door to take Timmy away. "Mrs. Kohler, please open this door!" She wanted to run away and hide. But where? There were too many people who would turn her in. Oh, how this country had changed. She had always supported the Democrat Party. She now regretted it. If only she had listened to the people who had warned everyone about heading into tyranny. Too late now, she thought, as she opened her door. "You do know why we are here, don't you?"

‘You in the West,’ said an Hungarian poet, ‘have a special duty because you are free. That freedom is both a blessing and a burden. For it makes you spiritually responsible for the whole of humanity.’ He was right. For if we do not keep alive the flame of freedom that flame will go out, and every noble ideal will die with it. It is not by force of weapons but by force of ideas that we seek to spread liberty to the worlds oppressed.                     Margaret Thatcher ~ 1983 God has a way of placing special people in our lives, both in our personal lives and on the world stage. Throughout history, there have been numerous people who have been truly special leaders and statesmen. It is not unusual to find one in a particular decade of history. If you manage to get two such unique statesmen in one decade, count it a blessing. But it is quite rare indeed, when you get three such individuals on the world stage at the same time. The decade of the 1980's brought three such peop

How does this square with the things that you heard at the Republican Convention, what's the difference between what I told you and what they said? How do you square it? You can't. One is real and the other is made up. You just have to decide which is which my fellow Americans The wise and insightful words of former President Bill Clinton as he spoke at the Democrat Party Convention in Philadelphia. He had the unenviable task of trying to paint a softer, kinder Hillary Clinton. As hard as he tried, it is an impossible thing to do. For as personable and likeable as Bill is, Hillary is just the opposite. She is much colder and just can't connect with people on that same folksy level. Her voice is shrill and grating. She has a ton of baggage that is really hard to gloss over. Since Bill wanted America to decide which is true and which is made up, let's introduce you to the real Hillary Clinton. On September 11th, 2012 the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya came und

The fallout from Wednesday night has been stunning to me. The speech by Sen. Ted Cruz at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland has reverberated across our republic. The boos by the Trump folks and the true disdain for Cruz, not only by Trump supporters, but by political pundits and people I have had a good deal of respect for up to this weekend, has really fired up my passionate spirit. The most ire for Cruz has come from him using the phrase, "vote your conscience". Why is this so offensive to some in our land today? I am only accountable to God and my country as I step in that voting booth. I am not accountable to the Republican Party or Donald Trump or any other person or group. It is a duty that I take very seriously and one that is proving to be much more of an issue this year. I will definitely vote my conscience in November. You may ask why? It is a matter of principle. I always stand with our constitution and our founding fathers. Liberty and free