Are you a maker or a taker?

Quotes of the week

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine

“Critical race theory, the 1619 Project and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison, that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together, will destroy our country.” – President Donald Trump

NOTE: Any Soap Box material written by Buddy may be copied and forwarded to family and friends. Material from other sources is usually copyrighted but likely can be shared so long as it is not changed or abridged and the publisher is properly credited, including the link to their site.

Buddy’s Soap Box

A patriotic Texas howdy from Buddy

Too many conservatives are little better than sheep being led to slaughter, but rendered so by choice—a decision to leave the battle for our nation’s survival to someone else. The good news is that the woke side is in even worse shape. We conservatives are the nation’s makers. The maker class naturally produces more fighters—smart fighters. The takers produce little to nothing but are always wanting more, no matter how much they are given.

We, the makers, are proud of these United States, founded by our forefathers as a constitutional republic where God-given equal opportunity is the foundational principle. The takers hate the nation as it is and imagine it transformed into a communist utopia.

Look at what President Donald Trump delivered in just four years—the best economy the nation had ever seen, including tremendous job growth for all Americans, regardless of race or gender.

For that and many other reasons, makers voted for maker Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections. Trump won both because the makers outvoted the takers.

The Arizona vote audit now underway will be the first of a series of audits to dispel the elite lie that Biden won. Very soon all the nation will know who really won the election. And we all will go from there.

For the future, we MUST have free, fair and honest elections. And despite the will of the elites, which is to the contrary, honest elections will happen simply because we the people will not again be blindsided. Too many of us will have our eye on the ball from here out.

Only lunatics vote for what we see happening in Democrat-run cities. Only lunatics want the police defunded. Only lunatics think math is racist and 2 plus 2 might be something other than 4. Only lunatics, dangerous lunatics, preach critical race theory, systemic racism, cancel culture, and argue that all white people are born-in-the-blood racists.

People and corporations that buy in to such drivel need to be laughed at and, in the case of woke corporations, shunned. Both Coca Cola and American Airlines have signed on to critical race theory and the idea that there should be no voter I.D. If you share their positions, then you are as nutty as they are. But if not, consider not buying Coca Cola products and not flying American, no matter how much you respected them in the past.

Be sure to read the guest column below on “critical race theory.” If you’re not sure what it entails, you’ll soon know and you won’t like it unless you are a communist.

Other Items in the News

You just can’t make this up! We’ve all seen science fiction movies with this common plot: A deadly plague is let loose in the land, more often than not producing zombies, and a gaggle of heroes who risk all to find cause and cure. At least one is a techie, usually a comely young woman in a tight t-shirt or an affable young black man. He or she, with some help from a Tom Cruise-type, break into a government or corporate computer and reprogram it with a few strokes and the day is saved. And what they discovered along the way was that our very own government or a corporation caused the plague and then covered it up, even to the point of trying to kill our heroes.

That plot sound familiar in real life? Well, folks, it looks like it really happened, with the government bad guy in real life being Anthony Fauci. Had Fauci been in the movie, he’d have been devoured by the hungry zombies he helped create. But this is real life, where the woke media make heroes of villains, in this case a man who funded incredibly dangerous zombie virus research via a communist government that killed its own doctors when they tried to warn of the coming pandemic.

OAN (One America News) has gone from zero start up to now being the 4th largest cable news network in the nation, even as MSNBC and CNN hemorrhage viewers. Fox News is also losing viewers. All these loser networks have one thing in common, their lying by commission and omission about the stolen presidential election. Only OAN, along with Epoch Times, honestly and regularly reports on the mounting evidence of election fraud and the efforts to expose it. Buddy finds himself watching a lot more OAN and reading a lot more Epoch times and, as a consequence, he knows what it going on in Arizona. Do you?

Here’s a surefire way to get the Keystone XL pipeline back on line and at a bargain price. Consider, The Colonial Pipeline is back online, after paying hackers $4.4 million in ransom.  The Keystone XL people need to put Hunter on their corporate board at a hefty salary, along with a $4-million signing bonus. Then leave it to the Big Guy to take care of the rest!

Biden, while addressing our troops, quoted Mao Zedong, longtime Chinese Communist Party leader and a man responsible for the deaths of millions. The quote:  “Women hold up half the world!” (Something any man understands who has waited and waited for his wife to get ready to go out for the evening!)  But why quote a big fish communist mass killer? And for that matter, why was a Space Force commander removed from his command and is now being investigated after he criticized communism in his personal blog? Were Hunter and the Big Guy that upset, fearing the loss of future income?

The preceding item reminds us of the communist threat and McCarthyism in the 1950s. “Tail Gunner” Joe McCarthy went after communists in our government and Hollywood the way a terrier goes after a rat. In the process, his too often overcharged efforts hurt innocent people along with those not so innocent and, in the process, made it more difficult for other anti-communists to do good work. A future president, Ronald Reagan (our other great modern-day president), played a key role in purging communist influence in Hollywood.

I grew up in the 1950s, and I can tell you, no better decade followed the 1950s. The next decade saw the rise of a counter culture that began metastasizing in colleges and universities as the least useful individuals in our culture took teaching positions, where they fed on our young until arriving at today’s woke new McCarthyism, a McCarthyism many times more septic than anything we saw from poor old Joe.

In the 1950s, the question asked was, “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

Today, the new woke mantras are many:

“Are you or have you ever been a patriot?”

“Are you or have you ever been a conservative or a Republican?”

“Are you or have you ever been a Christian?”

“Are you or have you ever been a heterosexual?”

“Are you or have you ever been someone who works for a living?”

“Are you or have you ever been someone who has had positive thoughts about Donald Trump?”

“Are you or have you ever been a white person?”

Any of the above, and especially the last, can get you in big trouble these days.

If you want to see what a Democrat will do to get new voters, you need look no further than our border with Mexico. Here in Texas we have the longest state border. President Donald Trump closed most of the Texas border with the fence he promised and delivered, but the moment Biden invaded the Oval Office, his first act was to make sure the remaining gaps were made wide open. And he announced, “Come, ye little future Democrats, come to the land of milk and honey and blanket trees and ham bushes, come ye to vote in our new no I.D.-required elections.”

That open-door voter drive is bringing in vicious gangs, drug smugglers, child traffickers, rapists, and other scum, along with the many good and decent people; it matters not a whit to Biden.  The fact that many of the good folk were raped or died on the way here, none of that matters either.  Only votes count. No wonder the few remaining decent Democrats won’t admit their party affiliation or say who they voted for.

Nonsense from the usual suspects, but good for a laugh!

Burnt Out: Is the Exhausting Cult of Productivity Finally Over? In the last decade, employees have been encouraged to see work and life as interchangeable, and to hustle ever harder. But the pandemic has brought a new reckoning.

This week’s Aesop’s Fable: The Ass and His Masters

An ass, belonging to an herb-seller who gave him too little food and too much work, made a petition to Jupiter to be released from his present service and provided with another master.  Jupiter, after warning him that he would repent his request, caused him to be sold to a tile-maker.  Shortly afterwards, finding that he had heavier loads to carry and harder work in the brick-field, the ass petitioned for another change of master.  Jupiter, telling him that it would be the last time that he could grant his request, ordained that he be sold to a tanner.  The ass found that he had fallen into worse hands, and noting his master’s occupation, said, groaning:  “It would have been better for me to have been either starved by the one, or to have been overworked by the other of my former masters, than to have been bought by my present owner, who will even after I am dead tan my hide, and make me useful to him.”

Moral of the story, dedicated to the wokie dokes: “He that finds discontentment in one place is not likely to find happiness in another.”

Highly Recommended

The following are excellent resources for those of us (way more than 75 million strong) who want full and honest news reporting. We’ll be adding to this list as we go along. Those who prefer filtered news—only the news deemed safe for them to know—can stay with the legacy media, such as it is.

Here’s a great way to join thousands—and eventually millions—of others who are letting their government representatives know their thoughts on pending legislation.  Heritage Action for America from the Heritage Foundation makes doing so super EASY! They do the research. They inform you. Then in almost the blink of an eye, you contact your federal or state representatives regarding pending legislation expressing your support or opposition.

Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) AARP is a shill for big government, AMAC isn’t.

Fox News and One America News (OAN) Cable channel

The Epoch Times print newspaper and web site/email updates

Dennis Prager  This man will help you find the mainstream conservative hiding inside you.

President Donald Trump’s Great America PAC is now up and running.  Give to this PAC or to individual candidates you know to be truly conservative. Money given to the Republican Party is money down a RINO hole. https://texasscorecard.com/state/legislative-priorities-tracker/

Texas Score Card https://texasscorecard.com/state/legislative-priorities-tracker/

Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute.

Project Veritas, Fun and informative hidden camera videos exposing the secret agendas of the left in their own words.

Columns worth reading

Each week under this heading, I’ll include columns or intros to columns you can read in full elsewhere on the internet. Each of these columns pretty much express our Soap Box views, else we’d not be sharing them with you.

Some people do nothing. Some act on their convictions. One way we can act is by contributing to organizations that deliver honest news and good arguments far better and beyond what we as individuals have the opportunity to do. Two such organizations are cited here, one relatively new to the cause of freedom, the other a longtime soldier in the trenches. Look them over and if you are pleased with what you find, consider contributing to the cause.

Speaking in the clearest possible terms, critical Race Theory (CRT) is the work of morons. Where it flourishes no good will come of it. Wise citizens will reject CRT as the ugly insanity it is.

Regarding Critical Race Theory (CRT) comes from Brandon Waltens writing for The Texas Score Card.

According to the Center for American Renewal, “Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a theory espousing that all of society is racialized and properly viewed through a prism of identity groups based on race and color, with minorities being the oppressed while white people serve as the oppressor.

“In this ideology’s framing, all of society’s ills are ultimately caused by white people and the various “systems” that CRT adherents associate with “white culture.” This includes Christianity, capitalism, traditional marriage, rule of law, traditional family structures, and a republican form of government. CRT teaches that white people are inherently and irredeemably racist and benefit from various systemically racist power structures that white people have put in place and perpetuate.

“Similarly, America and its founding are taught to be systemically racist. The purpose of CRT is to sow division among Americans under the guise of “equity” and “diversity.” CRT completely contradicts the foundational American creed that Americans are created with equal dignity and with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Even in Texas, we have seen examples of Critical Race Theory seeping into our public schools.

For example, last week Tera Collum reported that parents in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD in North Texas have found critical race theory and programs using its terminology being taught in their schools, even as district officials deny it.

In another nearby district, Carroll ISD, parents rose up earlier this month and replaced two members of the school board after the district had implemented a controversial Cultural Competence Action Plan that incorporated parts of Critical Race Theory.

So, what is the Texas Legislature doing to stop the insidious practice?

Earlier this month, legislation by State Rep. Steve Toth to ban critical race theory in Texas public schools was significantly altered in the Texas House after Toth accepted numerous Democrat amendments to water down the bill.

For example, one amendment required the teaching of “the history of white supremacy.” Another amendment added the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the life and work of Cesar Chavez. And another, requires teaching the history of LULAC, the League of Latin American Citizens, a leftist political group that advocates for open borders.

Want a deeper dive into Critical Race Theory? Here’s more from America Renewing:

Summary

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a theory espousing that all of society is racialized and properly viewed through a prism of identity groups based on race and color, with minorities being the oppressed while white people serve as the oppressor. In this ideology’s framing, all of society’s ills are ultimately caused by white people and the various “systems” that CRT adherents associate with “white culture.” This includes Christianity, capitalism, traditional marriage, rule of law, traditional family structures, and a republican form of government. CRT teaches that white people are inherently and irredeemably racist and benefit from various systemically racist power structures that white people have put in place and perpetuate. Similarly, America and its founding are taught to be systemically racist. The purpose of CRT is to sow division among Americans under the guise of “equity” and “diversity.” CRT completely contradicts the foundational American creed that Americans are created with equal dignity and with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Discussion


Critical Race Theory has swiftly become unquestioned dogma among political, administrative, military, cultural, corporate, educational, and financial leaders in our society. The activists and proponents of this ideology seek to impose this Marxist worldview on America through institutions (schools, churches, government, HR departments, etc.), explicitly sowing new racial divisions, reviving old divisions, destroying national unity, and undermining the American way of life.

Critical Race Theory stems from a foundation in Marxism, departing from the historic economic-based distinctions in favor of militant identity politics. CRT’s baseline philosophy divides society into the “haves” and the “have nots,” asserting that if you are white or a part of so-called white “power structures,” you are inherently racist and part of an oppressing class. By operating under this framework, CRT argues the only way to establish “justice” is to completely revolutionize society by overthrowing the oppressor’s institutions. This necessitates destroying purported “white” cultural values such as the nuclear family, delayed gratification, and objectivity; enforcing equal outcomes based only on the characteristics of race, gender, and sexuality; and forcing white people to continually and publicly confess their collective and individual “sins” with no hope of forgiveness, redemption, or acceptance in the new revolutionary society. Often this dangerous ideology is advanced using taxpayer dollars.

In addition to flying in the face of the core American principle that all human beings are created equal and that someone’s skin color should never be a substitute for their character, CRT has intentionally inflamed issues around race. A theory that blanketly condemns one group based on skin color and blanketly absolves other groups based on skin color is not designed to achieve any notion of justice and equality, but rather to destroy such virtues completely. 

Examples

  • The Smithsonian Institution published and promoted materials claiming, “Whiteness and the normalization of white racial identity throughout America’s history have created a culture where nonwhite persons are seen as inferior or abnormal…. Whiteness (and its accepted normality) also exist as everyday microaggressions toward people of color.” To the Smithsonian Institution, common characteristics of white people include “master and control nature,” “aggressiveness and extroversion,” “objective, rational linear thinking,” “delayed gratification,” and believing “hard work is the key to success.”
  • Coca-Cola is one of many major corporations that has adopted CRT. Coca-Cola instituted “diversity” training that taught, “In the U.S. and other Western nations, white people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white,” and that employees need to be “less white.”
  • Cigna, one of America’s largest health insurance providers, was recently exposed as forcing its employees to undergo CRT training that includes “checking their privilege.” In a slide, privilege is defined as being white, heterosexual, or Christian. Additionally, the company is alleged to actively discourage white men from consideration when it comes to hiring.
  • The Arizona Department of Education has an infographic pushing parents to adopt CRT and raise “race-conscious children,” citing studies alleging children as young as three months prefer to “look at faces of their own race” and that racial prejudice “often peaks” in kids when they are four or five years old.
  • Paul Rossi, a math teacher at the prestigious Grace Church High School in Manhattan, was recently let go by the school after writing a public account of the radical CRT indoctrination being imposed on students by the administration. Among many alarming elements, Rossi revealed that a faculty email chain recommended “flagging” students “who appear resistant” to the “culture we are trying to establish.” Audio suggests the head teacher admitted that students are being taught white people are inherently evil. 
  • The U.S. Navy released a recommended reading list of books in March 2021 for its sailors that included noted CRT provocateur Ibram X. Kendi, who not only embraces CRT, but also advocates for a Department of Anti-Racism to police citizens’ thoughts and discriminate against white Americans. Kendi explicitly advocates for racial discrimination: 

    If racial discrimination is defined as treating, considering, or making a distinction in favor or against an individual based on that person’s race, then racial discrimination is not inherently racist. The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist…. The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.”
  • Concerned cadets and soldiers at West Point privately revealed that America’s foremost military institution is pushing radical CRT material from Dr. Carol Anderson on cadets. Among many of Anderson’s radical views is the claim that “white rage” is triggered by “black advancement” and that Republicans “yearn for a white republic.”

Conclusion

Racism should at every turn be condemned—regardless of what race is the subject of discrimination. In the short 230-year history of our nation, America has made incredible progress to live up to its ideals as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, furthering human rights, freedom, and prosperity for people of every race, sex, religion, and creed. With every generation, America is closer to creating a society that treats all people with dignity and equality.

Proponents may dishonestly assert that CRT is necessary for institutions to have honest discussions about the racial problems our country has historically encountered. This is not true. Opposition to racism in American institutions or in our culture is entirely appropriate and teaching history accurately is essential, without the sort of indoctrination inherent in the CRT framework. Ultimately, CRT is not about educating or healing communities or establishing justice. It is state-sanctioned racism and used as a tool of fear and authoritarian coercion by the most powerful people and institutions in our society to keep Americans divided against each other in order to further enrich and empower those sowing the division. Communities must not be afraid to forcefully reject CRT wherever it manifests —whether in the workplace, at school, in popular culture, or in the halls of government—and Americans must strongly defend the self-evident truth that all men are created equal.

2 thoughts on “Are you a maker or a taker?

  1. Buddy, I have been reading your blog weekly since it’s inception – and read your newsletter before that. I am a true believer in forming my own opinion by consuming information from multiple sources, while making every attempt to understand the bias of any given source. I also believe that any source which forgoes facts in favor of pandering to a base (or perceived base) is at best disingenuous and at worst actively evil (I’m looking at you, Tucker Carlson).

    While I acknowledge this is an opinion, not a “news,” blog and you openly acknowledge your bias, I must tell your that I have been disappointed by the name-calling and vitriol against “the left” the blog has devolved into over the last few months. When you started this blog, you said that you welcomed all opinions and were open to a dialogue from those with opposing viewpoints. While I haven’t gone back and checked, and maybe I’m remembering the newsletters and not the blog, my recollection is that the name-calling (“wokies,” “communists,” calling people “nuts” or “nutty”) has been on the rise since Biden took office. Maybe this is intentional on your part because you truly believe anyone who doesn’t believe as you do is a nutty communist, or maybe the response you get from readers backs up your viewpoint, but I daresay name-calling and insulting can only diminish the likelihood of real dialogue across people with different political beliefs.

    As for me, I’m a straight, white, male, Christian, fully-employed Patriot. I voted for Clinton and Biden in the last two elections (both times proverbially holding my nose because neither are / were great candidates) because I couldn’t separate Trump the man – who seems to stand for everything I as a Christian don’t – from what he may stand for as a politician, which admittedly may align with some Christian beliefs. In point of fact, his platform in this last election honestly felt more like “vote for me because I’m me and I’ll keep the GOP in power!” more than a lot of specific conservative viewpoints. I don’t identify as a liberal or a conservative, but it does seem to me objectively that a lot of media that identifies as “conservative” has a tendency to pander to their base more than what I would consider moderate left media like MSNBC, NYT or the WaPo (even if conservatives tend paint them as far left). I think media on both sides tends to operate on scare tactics intended to get their base worked into a frenzy that politicians on the other side are about to bring about the fall of democracy. Just because OANN or The Epoch Times says something, doesn’t make it true!

    I appreciate your point of view, though, and will keep reading. Just maybe consider easing up on the name calling and looking at your conservative media sources as critically as you do those on the other side.

    1. Your comments are always welcome although our viewpoints are likely to continue to diverge. What you view as name calling I see more as simple fact. For example, the people espousing critical race theory are indeed idiots, dangerous idiots. An assistant dean at Brandeis University, Kate Slater, is a poster child for CRT, claiming as she does that all whites are racist and that she, despite being white herself, hates “whiteness” but not “white people,” thus sparing herself a bit of self-loathing. God for-fend that she ever paint a fence with Tom Sawyer!

      Donald Trump was and may be again the best president of this century (which I admit thus far isn’t saying much, given the competition). And, yes, the election was stolen.

      I find that when I ask a Trump hater which of the President’s accomplishments they disapprove of, they can’t name any and invariably fall back on attacking Trump’s character. If you can do better, please share your thoughts. Both sides of the fence will read with interest.

      As for Tucker Carlson, whom you’ve mentioned before, he brings light to issues that are scrupulously ignored by your “moderate left media.” I suspect Tucker’s real offense is that he, like Fox News, One America News, Epoch Times and a caboodle of talk radio shows, draw an audience that dwarfs wokie CNN, MSNBC. The former report all the news, not just what the elites deem fit for rabble consumption.

      We can share thoughts but not visions of this nation’s future. I see only darkness and death on the other side. In my view there is no room for censorship and suppression of news, no room for critical race theory, cancel culture, burning and looting, demonetization of the police, systemic racism, micro aggressions, equity replacing equality, a return to racial segregation. I want noe of that and the majority of Americans of all color, I believe, share that view.

      I hope to be on the winning side and I write Soap Box to lend strength to those who share similar views and to bring others over through columns and thoughts that persuade. Any number of people, including some very far to the left, have seen the light. I’ve actually gotten a few folks on the way over already. With the “help” of China Joe Biden and his destructive policies, I expect to see side switchers in numbers that parallel the growing population fleeing from woke California and Demo cities, fleeing in droves to Red states like my own Texas.

Leave a Reply