Before I \u201cexpound\u201d on anything else, let me give you my reaction to Vice President Harris\u2019s choice of Governor Tim Walz as her running mate: \u201cWelcome to the show, Coach\u201d. The rally yesterday at Temple University in Philadelphia was a showcase of the \u201cnext generation\u201d of Democratic power. First, Governor Josh Shapiro gave a powerful speech in support of the Harris-Walz ticket. It seemed clear that he was disappointed it wasn\u2019t Harris-Shapiro. But it was also clear that he knew his duty to the \u201cgreater good\u201d of the Party and America. He\u2019s \u201call-in\u201d to elect Harris and Walz to the White House, and he showed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Vice President Harris came out and introduced her choice for Vice President, Tim Walz.\u00a0\u00a0She gave a solid speech, outlining where Democrats want to go:\u00a0\u00a0to a future of freedom, not \u201cback\u201d to a past of restrictions and limitations.\u00a0\u00a0The slogan, \u201cWe Aren\u2019t Going Back\u201d sums up the whole thrust of her campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then we got to meet the Governor of Minnesota, dubbed by the media a \u201cHappy Warrior\u201d. (That’s the nickname for one of Minnesota\u2019s favorite sons of the 1950s and 60\u2019s, Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey).\u00a0What\u2019s not to like.\u00a0He’s a farm boy who joined the National Guard and rose to\u00a0\u00a0sergeant-major and\u00a0\u00a0a hunter and fisherman who favors reasonable gun reform. He’s a twenty-year public school social studies teacher and state championship football coach, a Democratic Congressman who served a dozen years in a \u201cpurple\u201d district, and the Governor who led the state response to the George Floyd killing.\u00a0\u00a0The Coach can do his own speech-making as well.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s got \u201cthe touch\u201d; he make his points, laughs with the crowd, and gets them \u201cready for the big game\u201d on election day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Harris-Walz campaign made a strategic decision.\u00a0\u00a0While Joe Biden\u2019s campaign was based on the existential threat to Democracy posed by Donald Trump, Harris-Walz has stepped back from that nightmare.\u00a0\u00a0They define their opponents not as dangerous, just \u201cweird\u201d and \u201cout-of-date\u201d, and define their goals as bringing more freedom to a diverse American society.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a positive campaign goal rather than a dark negative.\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t mean that Trump is any less a threat, but it\u2019s a positive contrast to the Trump Campaign\u2019s, Steven Miller induced, nightmare of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a powerful strategy, vote for us for the future, not against them for the past. And it only works with candidates for the future: Harris, Walz, and the rest of the strong Democratic ticket. Don\u2019t be surprised when the Coach has us ready for the \u201cbig game\u201d in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looming in the background of the Trump Campaign are the radical conservative \u201cthink tanks\u201d. Their goal is to establish not just the foundations of the second Trump Administration, but to literally change the course of the American experiment. Their view is that the essence of Americanism is in the core values of the Northern Europeans who settled on the North American continent. Any other cultures entering the United States need to \u201cassimilate\u201d, otherwise they contaminate the \u201cGreat American Melting Pot\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most recognizable of those \u201cthink tanks\u201d is the Heritage Foundation, authors of \u201cProject 2025\u201d. That\u2019s a 900 page step-by-step guide to \u201croot out\u201d the \u201cevil of progressivism\u201d in the American government and replace it with those loyal to the Foundation\u2019s values. But another essential pillar of the radical-conservative movement is a small educational institution (with a decent cross country team) in the southern part of Michigan, Hillsdale College. Over the past decade, Hillsdale has gone from a conservative Christian school, to the single most important source of opposition to progressive government. They are a major supporter of home schooling, encouraging parents to get their students \u201cout\u201d of public school where they might be \u201cindoctrinated\u201d into a broader view of American society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hillsdale takes great pride in refusing all forms of government educational aid. Their students can\u2019t get guaranteed student loans, because the College wants no part of the Federal regulations that come from accepting those funds. So there are no diversity rules at Hillsdale, no Title IX regulations, no guaranteed equity requirements. Hillsdale doesn\u2019t want to be diverse or equitable, they want their students to follow their ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wanted to know about the Hillsdale endorsed curriculum for American History a few years ago, \u201cProject 1776\u201d (to contrast with the \u201c1619 Project\u201d), so I got on their mailing list. I receive a constant stream of Hillsdale \u201csurveys\u201d, damning the actions of the current government. The latest is an attack on the Department of Justice, a \u201cmirror image\u201d of what Democrats accuse the court system as doing for Donald Trump. According to Hillsdale, heres\u2019 what the DOJ does:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026Instead of protecting your God-given constitutional rights, the administration uses the Department of Justice to attack its political opponents\u2026as well as Christians, parents, and anyone who dares to stand up for our constitutional liberties.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, with the help of the media it\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When Vice President Harris talks about freedom, she\u2019s talking about the freedom of a woman to control her own body, and the freedom of a person of color to succeed in American society.\u00a0\u00a0When Hillsdale thinks of freedom, they are thinking about the \u201cright\u201d to tell others how to act, what to do, and to stay \u201cin their place\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Their \u201cfreedom\u201d is the freedom to sustain a conservative Christian culture that doesn\u2019t represent the majority of Americans.\u00a0\u00a0But who needs a majority of Americans, when there\u2019s a majority on the Supreme Court, and with a potential Trump re-election, the \u201cunitary executive\u201d power to alter the American Government guided by \u201cProject 2025\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s what Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are standing against. It\u2019s what\u2019s really is at stake in the election of 2024. Either we move onto the future, or we are certainly \u201cgoing back\u201d, following the route planned out by Heritage and Hillsdale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s America\u2019s choice.\u00a0\u00a0And as Coach Walz would say, those folks who want to “go back” are just weird.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
What\u2019s at Stake<\/h3>\n\n\n\n