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ROWLETT RAMBLINGS

Liberalism in College

9/26/2020

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I just watched several interviews of college students on the news. The topic of the interviews was what each student thought about President Trump’s pending selection of the SCOTUS. Among the upper class students, there was universal disagreement of Trump’s selections of potential appointees.  However, there is an interesting observation.

All the interviews were made before Trump’s list of potential appointees were made public. My observation is unassailable. The opinions were formed as a result of coaching or blind allegiance, without benefit of intelligent thought. The students were going to be against the Trump appointee, no matter who it was or their qualifications.

They were college students. Where did they get such strong opinions without benefit of intelligent thought and logic?  Some influence might be family influence, but I doubt much. At that age, rebellion is the major resistance to family influence. I feel the predetermined influence was coming from the college influence.  Colleges, in general, are teaching our kids WHAT to think, rather than HOW to think. College professors are typically liberal rather than conservative thinking people. Liberalism has been a part of college training for a long time.

I have a firsthand story. It demonstrates the slow encroachment of liberalism, sometimes known as Socialism, into the colleges.

When I was a college student, about three or four lifetimes ago, my major was Business Administration. Although in the School of Business, there were academic core requirements in other departments, such as Liberal Arts. English Literature, a core requirement of the business school, was in the College of Arts and Sciences. As one of my electives, I enrolled in an English writing course. There were some “mechanics” taught about writing, but much of the classwork was discussion about societal issues. Slowly evolving during the semester was the topic of a “Liberal education vs. a Vocational education.” The discussions were not “Greek Mythology vs. Auto Body Repair. It was English literature, foreign language, and music, et cetera, vs. Accounting, Finance, Government, et cetera.

If one wanted a good grade in this class, one better demonstrate leaning toward Liberalism rather than Vocational. In fact, the assignment for the final exam was to write a paper comparing a liberal education vs. a vocational education. If you wanted a good grade, there was no doubt how one must “flavor” the paper.

Well, my writing skills got me a fairly good grade on the paper and the course, however my lying skills substantially improved during the course. I did not become a Liberal. The effort failed with me. However, how many students did it influence? More importantly, with increasing encroachment of liberal teachings in the universities and the three lifetimes since I was in school, how much more efficient have our universities become at influencing our young people, and therefore the future path of our nation?

AGAIN, our universities are teaching our kids WHAT to think rather than HOW to think. Yet, American business donates vast sums of money each year further endowing universities that preach against solid conservative doctrines. There needs to be some re-thinking here.

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Time marches on

9/23/2020

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I grew up in a small mid-western farming town. Everybody knew everybody else. My parents put together a family at the end of the depression era. I was the first born. Because of the depression, everyone was very money conscience. The hero of the working class, which all mid-western small towns were, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR and his WPA jobs creation program were a life saver for many, many people. They were totally loyal to him. Probably loved him. Then, there was Harry Truman. He made the nuclear decision that ended the war with Japan. I liked Harry. He threatened to “kick the ass” of a newsman that criticized his daughter’s piano playing. I was just old enough to love that. It was fitting for my early forming attitude. A little later JFK came along. I really liked Kennedy. He was my guy. I voted for him in the first election in which I could vote.

If you add all the above up, I was a hard-core Democrat. I still have a lot of respect for those guys, and still somewhat in awe of the decisions they had to make. Although they had their dissenting opinions to address, no one doubted their loyalty to the USA and the Constitution.

Then, something happened along the way. I eventually enrolled into a major university with an excellent business school, Indiana University. I began to learn about more sophisticated approaches to government and financing. I learned that simply throwing money at a problem wasn’t always the best solution. It certainly did not seem to have long lasting solutions. I began to learn that modifying some of the economic and financial engines could have far longer lasting results. Then, I entered the world of big business and began to see first-hand the results of careful planning. Stated simply, throwing money at a problem was not always the best solution.

While I was going thru my learning curve in the world of business, some other things were happening. A major development was Lyndon Baines Johnson and his Great Society. Being a Democrat, it initially, it sounded good. However, something new appeared. The right to free speech took on a sinister look. When I used to think of free speech, I thought of a guy standing on an orange crate in the local park expounding on his/her beliefs. The image of hundreds of persons marching on something yet to be determined was completely foreign to me. Over the years, the peaceful marches evolved into riots, burnings, shootings, and general cess pool type behavior. You know what I’m talking about. Turn on any news channel or read any newspaper today. Many of our cities are being destroyed.

Now, unless you are deaf, dumb, and blind, quickly access the current leadership of the Democrat Party. Take Pelosi, Schiff, Biden, and any of the other Democrat leadership, ad nauseum, and compare them to FDR, Truman, and JFK. There is no comparison. The Democrat Party is not the Democrat Party, anymore. Rather than having duly earned respect, they have become lying, conniving, manipulative, bunch of squalling kids on a playground that can not cope with adult issues of the day. They can not open their mouths without trash talk. All the cities being destroyed, or damaged, are led by Democrat officialdom. They even fire police chiefs that resist them. Members of police departments are racing to the doors to file retirement papers.

Do I wish that Trump would keep his mouth shut sometimes? I sure do. But he pales in comparison the clap trap coming out of the Democrat ranks.

How does anyone admit to being a Democrat, today, and still hold his/her head up? If you could identify yourself as a Truman Democrat, I would like to invite you out for a beer so we can discuss things that need discussing. If you are a Pelosi Democrat, don’t bother.

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I'm kinda tired of this riot crap

9/11/2020

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Causes of the Civil War
There were many different Causes of the Civil War between the Union of the North and the Confederacy of the South. The two major causes of the Civil War were slavery and States Rights. The economy in the south was based on the cash crop plantation system which depended on the institution of slavery whereas the economy in the north was based on manufacturing and industry and was not reliant on slaves. The South was concerned about the dominance of the northern states following the election of Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party and the possible infringement of state’s rights.

State’s rights seems to be the main issue, which of course, slavery was a major part of the issue. No sensible person disputes that slavery was wrong.

The above are facts of history. I am not sure what parts Antifa or BLM plays in this scene. What they say vs. what they do seems to be miles apart. No one disputes Black lives matter. In fact, I have NEVER heard anyone say Black lives didn't matter. Antifa is adamant and unwavering in their goals to overthrow the USA. With all their noble signs, chants, marches, and slogans, one can not miss the burning, looting, intimidation, and commission of crimes in the background.

In my opinion, if BLM and Antifa want to put integrity into their movements, they need to team up with law enforcement and help isolate and put down the criminals. If they don't help in establishing order, they have voted for the opposite course of action and, in fact, support the criminal activity. That's only two choices. One doesn't have to be real smart to select one of two.

If, after help from BLM and Antifa, street looting doesn't stop, the next step is rather unpleasant. All law enforcement would be issued brand new ammunition clips. All scenes of street looting would be visited. So long as marches are peaceful and "Save the Whale" signs are not used as weapons, all is good. However, once someone throws a brick thru a window, or engages in arson or looting, a command is given by law enforcement to STOP!!   If that command is ignored, it is given a second time. If it is ignored a second time, shoot them.

Law enforcement did not make the decision on behalf of the law breaker that he/she should riot, burn and steal. That decision was made solely by the law breaker. If the law breaker commits crimes for profit or any other benefit, he/she must consider the risks. In the business world, it is a simple risk/reward calculation. Dumb people make stupid risk/reward calculations. That isn't law enforcement's fault.

So, stated simply, law enforcement has to put risk back into the equation. To fail to do so, especially for stupid, selfish political reasons, is only to water the weeds. They'll grow bigger.

I'm not writing for a friend.

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