Tag Archives America

America- Hold ’em or Fold ’em?

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In the language of playing cards, the founding of America was like being dealt three of a kind when the best hand that history had ever seen was king high.

Since then, we’ve had to set some mistakes straight and flush some loathsome practices that didn’t adhere to the uniquely lofty standards that the country had laid out for itself.

We put it all on the table.

Through battles of blood, centuries of sweat
and triumphs of tears, America became a full house.

Still not the perfect hand, but pretty dang good. And by being a model for the rest of the world – a beacon of freedom over dark oceans of tyrannical dominion, countless millions have had their hands improved too.

Now, sure that they can do better, a growing faction in this country believes that if we would just fold this hand that we’ve worked so hard to construct – if we would just burn it all to the ground, what’s sure to be dealt next is a royal flush.

This of course is the worldview of those that have never viewed the world. The communal dream of all those oblivious to the nightmares wrought by their ideological ancestors. The delusion of all those willing to wager that with the proper amount of government coercion and political correctness we can surely perfect human nature.

This is the single-mindedness that arises when
roasting reason over the glowing embers of the enlightenment.

This is the wisdom of burning books instead of reading them.

This is the sagacity of sanctioning despots
instead of defeating them.

This is the new normal when our elite overlords form all the accepted aphorisms, and hoards of corporations just keep repeating them.

This is building back better, when the fact is
it’s only better for the globalists, big technocrats, and socialists.

This is living by lies
instead of calling their bluff.

This is reprogramming with the wrong code
This is what progress looks like when you’re hellbent on making it
but you’re on the wrong road.

This is trying to roll a thirteen with a pair of dice.
Forgetting again, that there are no round trip tickets to a fool’s paradise.

This is the vision of blind loyalty to ideologues. The oh-so-wise paradigm
of eviscerating organized religion but glorifying organized crime.

This is the fallacy of betting on bureaucracy
you can’t redistribute morality
especially when you don’t have any to offer see
this is just playing the same game with a different dealer.

Gambling on the gambit that we are not standing on the shoulders of giants but levitating on the precipice of collectivist bliss.

If they understood history, they’d understand that the odds are infinitely long
when you try to immanentize the eschaton.

In other words
Utopia is not in these cards.

So about that –
place your wagers carefully on the next hand
because when it’s revealed
I bet you’re going to want the full house back.

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Trump or Biden? The Future of Freedom in America

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I’m a single issue voter.

That issue isn’t the economy, healthcare, climate change, immigration, education, or gun control. It’s not even abortion.

I’m a registered non-partisan. I never liked the idea of identifying as a member of either party because I’m generally averse to any sort of group identity.

But I do have values. I value individual worth, the equal and full protection of inalienable rights, natural law, free speech, and freedom of worship.

I believe we need voices on both what we call the “left” and the “right”. We’ve got problems. We need creative problem solving, and we need people to fully analyze any proposed solutions before making widespread policy changes that could have unexpected but devastating effects.

We need compassion. We need conversation.
We need progress. We need preservation.

All of these are important.

Now, the far left and the far right – I view these with equal abhorrence. Both are morally bankrupt and supremely dangerous. They claim to be opposites, but the bloodstains they’ve left on human history are indistinguishable.
The corruption, the destruction, the death…
the real question is, which of these two is more of a threat to present day America?

Well, the far right is small in number, power, and influence. White supremacy is not taught in schools or propped up on cable news or pontificated on in our prevailing publications. The far left on the other hand has almost ubiquitous power and is increasing its numbers and influence by the day. By the hour.
on the front lines of the (culture) war
look at the weapons being wielded in all of our universities, our high schools, even our elementary schools, even more
look at how the big tech companies have formed battalions
with the mainstream media
you’ve seen the double standards
the silencing, the shadowbanning
the Orwelian finaggling of language
the skewing of search results
the censorship
the false narratives
the mass manipulation of reality
you’ve seen the madness of the mobs
the captains of corporations with their smoke grenades
flanked by Hollywood and SJWs and their woke brigades

now take all of this power
and add to it control of the White House
the legislature, and the Supreme Court after they pack it
according to the plan
after the last bastions of conservatism and liberalism are slaughtered
what’s left?
what’s right?

“But Joe Biden is not far left” you might say. That may be true in the same way a cocoon is not a moth. We all know what’s waiting to emerge. Even if he weren’t near the end of his career we all understand, he would of course capitulate to every one of their demands.

That brings us to the incumbent.
Do I think that Trump could speak more presidentially and use more unifying rhetoric? Yes. Do I think any of the people that have spent the past 4 years screaming about him would change their mind if he did so? No.

Do I think he’s narcissistic and gets the ultimate ego boost from being President? Yes. Do I think he wants to be a dictator and make everyone handmaids and slaves? No.

Do I see both sides making the argument that the other side wants to take away their rights? Yes. Do I see the powers that be in the mainstream press and big social media companies treating these arguments with equal discretion? No.

So, despite his moral missteps, misguided tweets, and off-putting mannerisms
the fact of the matter is
that Trump is the only one defending all of us in the exhausted middle
the only one defending America as we know it
maybe the vitriol that he elicits from all those that wish to control us should tell us something

it’s a dark place we’ve all been in
like you
I’m just trying to find the light in it
in this life
I just want the opportunity to thrive
I just want liberty
I just want the enlightenment to survive

the single issue that I’m voting on is freedom
because without it, none of the others matter
and when this is over
I just hope it still stands
I know, we may disagree
I just want to live in a country where we still can

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For America

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Right about now, if not for the coronavirus
the summer Olympics would be starting
do you ever watch the opening ceremony?
the pomp and circumstance
the songs and the verve and the dance
the torch lighting
the parade of the participants
they walk out onto the world’s stage in
unison, each nation unanimously uniformed
carefully costumed in customs
to characterize their heritage
then, near the end of this exhibition of traditions
comes the United States of America…

and it looks like a mix of every other country
you see red, white, and blue
but you see a lot of other colors too
you see the smiles
you see the strength that comes
when diversity is merged with purpose
melded by the moxie
to churn mettle into medals
and grit into gold
united by the will to come home as champions
but it was postponed until next year
and I wonder if we’ll even still have team USA by then
I wonder, is America even possible?

this idea of a melting pot
with 330 million ingredients
the delicacy of such a delicacy
will we savor it, or spit it out?
slogans painted on courts and roads want to know
the fire is inquiring
as it drips from awnings of unrest
in the shards of shattered windows
our reflections beg the question
will the American experiment excel
or explode?
will the most prosperous and free country in the history of the world cannibalize itself?

I don’t know

what if we re-envisioned patriotism
into not believing our country is perfect
but believing it’s worthwhile to make our country better
what if we didn’t think of it as pledging allegiance to a flag
but as pledging allegiance to the fabric
that we’re all made of
liberty, equality, and justice are in our constitution
not because we’re American
but because we’re human

it’s why these truths are self-evident
it’s why the yearning to be part of something greater than ourselves is so prevalent
this law that’s written on all of our hearts
is so much more important
than any law that could be written in a Capitol building

if we were willing to live by the tenets of respect, love, and grace
we wouldn’t need to separate ourselves by gender, income, or race
if our conscience is collective
our government doesn’t need to be
what this means to me
is power to the people
we forget, we are powerful people

MLK Jr said we need to be co-workers with God
even if you don’t believe in God
we still need to be co-workers in good
we need to see the good in each other
we need to see the good in our country
yes, learn about slavery, the Confederation, and Jim Crow
but also learn about
Garrison, Gettysburg, and Harriet Beecher Stowe
learn about lynchings, plantations, and segregation
but also about emancipation, the Cold War
and the greatest generation
learn about our most egregious breaches of freedom
learn them so well
that we’ll never feel the need to repeat them
learn about the courage and the passion that we unleashed to defeat them
learn about the failures and successes of America
learn how they’ve both been twisted
learn about what the world would look like today if America never existed

learn, and let us be free to discern
and seek,
and by any means necessary let us be free
to speak

let us be immersed in serving
let us reason our way to our convictions
and not be convicted by coercion

you can’t create a utopia with imperfect people
but you can create a place where people are free to be imperfect
can we at least agree that such a place would be worth it

whatever your intentions
whatever tactics you’re employing
just ask the question
am I building, or am I destroying?
ask not what your government can do
but what you can do

stop looking at everything through glasses that are tinted red or blue
and to the mainstream media – stop tinting everything that the masses are looking at

we can write a much better narrative

look, I don’t know if America is possible
it’s never been done before
but I know the only way to find out
is to want it
and to work for it
to operate from a position of hope and not hate
to thirst, not for blood but for brotherhood
we have to give what it takes
we’re gonna have to summon some of that golden mettle
and moxie and grit
and God and good
and find the will to make our way

when the olympic flame makes its way
to the next opening ceremony
the eyes of the world will be watching to see what countries take the stage

I don’t want to root for
west America, or east America
or coastal America, or middle America
or black America, or white America

I just want to root
for America

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To Build or Destroy?

Name one country on this planet whose borders have never changed. Whose land was never fought for. Where every single inhabitant is an ancestor of someone who sprouted forth from within those borders. Name one country whose bedrock isn’t mottled with the cinders of conflict and the ashes of savagery. Can you?

I’m going to assume that you don’t approve of the practices of many Europeans during the colonization period of America, such as murder, pillaging of land, and slavery. By this logic I’m also going to assume that you don’t approve of the practices of the people that lived on this land before the Europeans came, like murder, rape, slavery, pillaging, scalping, roasting people over fires, and tearing the hearts out of children.

I’ve got some bad news. Humans have been doing this to each other ever since there have been humans. But stop and think for just one minute. Think about how you’ve never had to take part in or be the victim of such atrocities. Think about the luxury you have to sit by your sparkling pool on the 4th of July and make up songs about how much you hate your country. The luxury you have to dance on the flag and stomp all over the sacrifices that strangers made for you.

Think about how you’ve never had to shed one drop of blood for your freedom. How you’ve never had to fight for anything. And I don’t mean Twitter battles. Or making posts like this. I mean the unimaginable trauma of taking a life, or watching blood bubble out of your body because someone else can’t agree on where one country ends and another starts, or because you’ve given your life in the perpetual plight of defending the line between where liberty ends and communism starts.

Seriously. Think about it.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Sure, it’s great for me but it’s not so great for oppressed group X”. By now it should be clear that that narrative is constantly being hijacked for political purposes. But it’s also clear that there has been genuine oppression in this country, some systemic forms of which still exist. But think again about freedom. If you truly want to help, you’re free to find someone that needs help and help them. You’re free to start a literacy program. You’re free to teach someone a skill. You’re free to enliven someone by showing them the value of work. You’re free to start a humanitarian aid organization. You’re free to volunteer. You’re free to assemble peacefully and petition your government for a redress of grievances. You’re free to open your home. You’re free to get a job and put all of your spare earnings into making a real difference in your community. You’re free to do so many things that this paragraph could be thousands of words long and still not come close to chronicling them all.

You can’t right past wrongs. But you can make future rights. Equal opportunity is a beautiful thing to fight for. What’s also beautiful is the person you become by building something instead of tearing it down. This is the heart and soul of the American ethos, built by the virtuous vision of the founders: a place that protects your God-given right to make whatever you want out of your God-given life.

To deny the transcendental truth of the principles put forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is to deny the very composition of human nature. Have all American citizens lived up to every covenant outlined therein? No. Has any group of humans ever lived up to their collective code of conduct perfectly? No. But the foundation is there. The values are valiant. And to deny that America has made strides toward living up to its ideals is to deny reality. To tear down that foundation is a grave mistake.

Take one minute and think about what you’re asking for. Regurgitating the rhetoric of America being founded by slavery on stolen land and being irredeemably evil is not only short-sighted and deceitful, it’s dangerous. You’re inadvertently (and in increasingly more cases blatantly) advocating for Civil War 2. You know what that means right? Murder. Pillaging. Blood. Death. Concentration camps. Roasting people over real fires, not just on social media. If the side of communism wins, firing squads. Drawing new borders. Anointing new kings. Taking over land that was someone else’s. All the things you say you’re against. All the atrocities you’ve been so lucky to avert in your lifetime. You want to bring them all raining down upon yourselves and your fellow citizens?

We’re at a tipping point. This is our moment of truth. The fate of our country and our children will be determined by whether we choose to build or destroy – right now. If you care at all about humanity the way you say you do, the choice should be clear.

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God Bless America Concert – July 7th in Seattle

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Beyond excited for this event! I’ll be performing “Nine Twelve” with Jennifer Thomas as well as a mashup of “Fighters” with a song called “Ascension” from her new album. Kimberly StarKey, whom I collaborated with on “Little Drummer Boy” (we have a follow up song in the works as well) will also be performing with Jennifer. We will all be backed by the amazing Ensign symphony orchestra and chorus, and this will all be happening at stunning Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.

Seriously a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to share the stage with these incredibly talented people in celebration of our freedom.

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