The Source of our Discontent

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 10/2/20

            It is both relevant and fair to pose the following questions: Who is chiefly responsible for the nation’s partisan divide and our inflamed political discourse? Who started the acrimony and still feeds it constantly? Who has obviously sought to use that divide for their own political gain?

            Sometimes questions can be answered with other questions. For instance who in 2016 refused to accept the results of the presidential election? Who, instead of accepting defeat and serving as the loyal opposition, has since sought to personally discredit the duly elected candidate at every turn? Who went unsuccessfully from “collusion, collusion” to “Russia, Russia” to “ventilators, ventilators” to impeachment, to “ineffectiveness in a time of pandemic” to “the president hasn’t paid his taxes,” further indicating their disregard for a legitimate election? On whose side of the political divide are the thuggish, destructive “protestors” and their cheerleaders?

            Furthermore, who abandoned the time-honored tradition of losing an election with honor, then working to elect their preferred candidate in the next election? Conservatives never behaved so unseemly during the eight years that gave them gay marriage, apology tours, initiation of socialized medicine, and warnings about “cynical voters who cling to guns or religion.”   

            These questions require no pondering. We all know the answers.

            Precisely our division is centered on race, economic ideology, and our political system itself, that is, how we are governed. Regarding our political system, the divide is a matter of representative government versus government by unelected judges, bureaucrats, and “experts.” Regarding the economy and economic ideology, the division is purely and simply capitalism versus socialism. As for race, the division is supposedly over justice versus injustice. In order to achieve justice, it is apparently now legitimate to bash store fronts, shoot cops, and set cities aflame.

            The most foundational of these three areas is our political system. America is a representative democracy. Understanding that a pure democracy is functionally impossible in a continental nation, we elect people to speak and vote for us. This system is now under attack. Abolish the Electoral College, the dividers are crying, knowing full well that doing so would leave rural America and small states out of the loop, bestowing total electoral power upon the population centers of the nation.                                               

            And just which party now controls the major population centers of the nation? Which one wants to further “transform” our political system by packing the Supreme Court?

            Another source of our discontent is the unabashed embrace of socialism by Bernie Sanders. Ditto the Democrat Party’s joyful embrace of Sanders and his Children’s Crusade. Their claim that public schools and Social Security render us socialist already indicates their need to return to 12^th grade economics. From the very start America has thrived from capitalism. It was a Democrat, Senator Russell Long of Louisiana, who thundered from the Senate floor, “If we’re gonna have capitalism, we gotta have capital, and if we’re gonna have capital, we gotta have capitalists.” Long’s party has long since morphed. Its face is that of 20-somethings who truly believe there is such a thing as free stuff.  

            As for race, a quick relevant story that’s close to my heart: Fifty years ago a personal friend became head football coach at the high school I attended in Forest, Mississippi. 1970 was the first year of integration in Forest. Coach Gary Risher’s team was undefeated and won their conference title. His assistant was James Clark who had been head coach at the Black school, E.T. Hawkins High. Only 6 of Coach Clark’s players chose to remain on the team. Two weeks ago all 6 Black players attended a halftime program that honored the 1970 team, including Edmond Harvey who drove from Las Vegas and picked up Lee Evans in Shreveport to head toward Forest. When my brother Carlton related to me the news of this exciting event, he added, “Tells you something about Forest.”

            Which it does. It also reminds me that here in Georgia I observe good race relations every week of my life. Yet, charges of racism have become the standard cudgel of the party that doesn’t seem to like their country.

            No one can blame conservatives for the nation’s great divide. On election night of 2008 conservatives accepted their fate, assumed the role of the loyal opposition, and set their sights on 2012. Let’s see if Democrats will do likewise come November 3^rd by calling off their thugs, checking their obsession with race, and acknowledging that Forest, Mississippi is a microcosm of the entire nation. In fact, a good nation that is not racist and that will never tolerate the group-think and collectivism Democrats are planning for us.

 

Roger Hines

9/30/20

             

 

                          The State of our Pilgrim Journey

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 9/18/20

 Former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neil famously declared, “All politics is local,” but that was before his party embraced the so-called progressive agenda, moving from socialism-lite to doctrinaire socialism, from law and order to the defense of lawlessness, from scientific facts to individual “preferences,” from religious freedom to government telling churches what they can and cannot do. Today politics and news point to the state of our union. Our nation and liberty itself are at center stage and also at stake.

 America is at risk. How did we lose the rugged individualism of our founders and of their pilgrim predecessors who risked their lives on 3,000 miles of unsure waters? How could we, a once hardy frontier people, become so fearfully tolerant of anarchy?

Since 1607 from every corner of the earth have come pilgrims to a land that would allow them to pursue happiness. Emma Lazarus’  “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” have not ceased to come. We were and are a nation of pilgrims, simply desirous of freedom and plenty.

 But we have met the enemy and he is us. Compare the leadership of our past pilgrim leaders to today’s mayors and governors who evidence no appreciation of the American spirit.  Consider the vision and leadership of Jefferson, Patrick Henry, FDR, Martin Luther King, JFK, and Reagan, all of whom eschewed fear as they espoused freedom.

Today Americans are fearful. How could those who came of age in the last decade not be? Their universities became therapy centers. Their college presidents assured them that the college they chose would be “supportive,” “safe,” and “nurturing.” Their parents now fear that rioters will move to the suburbs.       

 Modern college-age pilgrims from other nations, particularly Africans and Asians, are appalled when they observe the ideological confusion of their American classmates. But what produced that confusion? Ironically, their educators. Not all educators, but those who whispered Freud and Marx into their young charges’ ears. The result has been the triumph of therapy and collectivism, the waning of self-determination, and the chipping away of freedom.

Since politics is downstream from culture, we should be able to understand what is happening on the streets of Portland and other Democrat-run cities. Portland is in the great Northwest. Brave were those who first headed there. Gutless are the mayors and governors who now refuse to protect their people from thugs. Negligent were the parents who never switched the thugs when they were children. Now lawlessness prevails. The bad fruit of fatherlessness lies everywhere.

At least five things are at stake in America today and all five are issues in the November election. One, laissez-faire capitalism is on the scaffold. The broad and deep influence of Bernie Sanders on our nation’s youths is dangerously transformative. With Sanders being Biden’s alter self, the November election will decide whether America will stick with Adam Smith or do a sure turn to Sanders and his idol, Karl Marx. We’re talking the fate of free enterprise and limited government.

Two, law and order is now considered racist. If those who govern us will allow 100 consecutive nights of vandalism because “rioters are expressing their frustrations,” we have no future except that of lawless, failed nations that we formerly only read about in the newspaper. The charge of “racist” scares corporations, NFL owners, and Democratic politicians, so they cave to fake protestors, inhibiting the enforcement of law.

Three, Judeo-Christian culture is pummeled for being exclusive, even though all religions are exclusive.  American culture has not been informed or primarily influenced by Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. Its roots are in the Jewish and Christian ethic, specifically the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. If by design or by sheer default we let go of this undergirding ethic, we shall see the results, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Judeo-Christian ethic has been our moral and ethical mooring for over two centuries. If changed, we change.  

Four, education continues to move toward indoctrination.  Like corporations, colleges are forsaking the traditional for the trendy, promoting group-think: not thinking per se, but what to think – about same-sex marriage, transgender “studies,” diversity, abortion, and alas, America. Embracing “think as I think,” liberals have abandoned the classical liberalism that ended slavery.

Finally, America’s place in the world is at stake.  If America continues leftward, we are finished as a city on a hill and Lady Liberty will beckon other pilgrims to … what? Venezuela North?  California?

Americans have a month and a half to choose what kind of future they desire. One of those choices will end, for certain, our storied pilgrimage. America will be “re-imagined.”

God help us!

 

Roger Hines

9/15/20

 

 

 

 

 

                                  Two Lives Observed

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 8/8/20

It’s worth noting that the recent deaths of black leaders John Lewis and Herman Cain were dealt with quite differently by the liberal media. But then Lewis was a liberal politician and Cain was a conservative businessman.

 In some ways Lewis and Cain were very much alike. Both were Southerners. Both were well known. Well into his adult life, Lewis was called an activist. Business leaders such as Cain are seldom if ever called activists even if they are involved in politics and other social concerns. Let’s just say that both Lewis and Cain were men of action fulfilling the individual yearnings of their hearts.

Politically and philosophically, Lewis and Cain were far apart. Cain was strongly pro-life while Lewis repeatedly received a 100% legislative rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League. Cain was a Republican, Lewis a Democrat.

Who could not admire Lewis for his bravery during the tumultuous civil rights movement? Like his mentor Martin Luther King, Lewis withstood clubs, water hoses, jeers, and cursing. No violence came from Lewis. His reasoned engagement in civil disobedience, his belief in non-violent protest, and his moral and physical courage led to change that could never have been achieved with the destructive tactics of Black Lives Matter or Antifa.

White New England preachers broke the back of slavery. Black Southern preachers broke the back of segregation. An ordained Baptist minister, Lewis spent less time in the pulpit than he did at rallies, marches, and in jails. Like Moses before Pharaoh and the Apostle Peter before the magistrates, Lewis was a holy troublemaker. He had to obey God rather than men. Lewis was one of the “Big Six” leaders of the groups who led the famous 1963 March on Washington, his own organization being the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Lewis was never the angry young black man like former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed during his Georgia House of Representative days. Nor was he an unforgiving, turbulent Al Sharpton. Perhaps Lewis’ closeness to King helped him follow his moral compass. Whites who lived during segregation, observing its indignity and benign neglect, should grant Lewis his due. He risked his life fighting against something he could not abide.

The life of Herman Cain has not been so heralded. But did he not persist and succeed as Lewis did? Did he not put the lie to “white privilege,” the most racist term ever concocted, by working hard, using his talents, and rejecting self-pity? Instead of crying “systemic racism,” did he not avail himself of America’s systemic opportunities? How is it that “white privilege” and racism didn’t keep Cain from success and business leadership positions?

While marches, rallies, protests, and speeches are not totally symbolic (Lewis’ bloodied head was no symbol; it was real), did Cain not go beyond symbolism and pursue the path of self-help through free enterprise and work? Was his life not therefore a model for young men and women, black or white? His was a joyous spirit; his lust for life, infectious. He never put America down. Like Clarence Thomas, Cain refused to let the negatives of his past dictate his future.

The questions above in no way diminish the life and work of Lewis. They simply illustrate the two different paths taken by two Black men. Lewis was a needed voice crying in the wilderness, and Cain was a needed example of how to seize what was available, namely freedom, and to move on in spite of obstacles. Lewis can and should be faulted for his inconsistency of supporting “abortion rights” while preaching justice.

Those who fault the president for not attending Lewis’ funeral might recall that Lewis refused to attend the president’s inauguration. Both men were being petty.

During Cain’s presidential campaign, he was mocked by the media, particularly by CNN. One CNN guest dubbed him “an Uncle Tom who never understood the black experience.” CNN’s humor-challenged duo, Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, bemoaned “the very thought of a Herman Cain presidency.” 

Shakespeare wrote, “Tis marvelous to have a giant’s strength but tyrannous to use it like a giant. Men should be what they seem.” Both Lewis and Cain were giants and they were what they seemed. If liberals must berate Cain for not following their script for what a Black man should think, say, and do, conservatives should still take the high road and honor Lewis.

Leadership guru John Maxwell once remarked, “To add value to others one must first value others.” Both Lewis and Cain did exactly that.

 It’s sad that, in death, Cain has been slighted, but at least we know why.

 

Roger Hines

August 5, 2020

                                               

Leaving a Democrat Upbringing

                           Leaving a Democrat Upbringing

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 7/29/20

            My political conversion was gradual. Salvation didn’t come to me in a moment. It took two brothers, a columnist, a presidential candidate, and 7 years to be born again.

            A political junkie by age 13, I grew up under segregationist governors in Mississippi and studied all of them. Some were serious politicians; others were showmen. All were segregationists and Democrats.

So were all of Georgia’s governors until Jimmy Carter’s inauguration day conversion.  Arkansas had Faubus, Mississippi had Barnett, Alabama had Wallace, and Georgia had Maddox and Carter. In fairness, Carter changed course in his inaugural speech. Nobody can say, however, that he campaigned as a racial healer. He was one-third segregationist (he praised Wallace and promised to invite him to come and speak in Georgia), one-third anti-segregationist (he spoke kindly-when not disparagingly-of Martin Luther King), and one-third populist (he called his lawyer opponent Carl Sanders “cufflinks Carl”).    .

            Alas, neither the Mississippi, the Georgia, nor the national Democrat party has yet to acknowledge its racist past. Nary a word was ever raised about the KKK past of Robert Byrd or South Carolina’s pride and joy, Strom Thurmond, before he left the party to become a Republican. Today Democrats want every Republican to apologize for every sin they ever committed, despite their own unacknowledged racist past.

            Typically when we speak of peace, we’re referring to peace among nations. But today America’s chief concern is domestic peace. This past Monday night marked the 61^st consecutive night of rioting and violence in Portland, Oregon. The three networks and the cable stations have shown mere snippets of the nocturnal lawlessness but online, Breitbart News and other outlets have offered extended viewing of each night’s hours-long destruction, abuse of police, the burning of stores, and the dumping of garbage in front of the police and setting it afire. Democrats are still defending the disorder.

            The carnage is of a magnitude we have seen on television many times, but in other countries. Surely it appears to the world that America is no longer a field of dreams.  Democrat leaders are absolutely silent about the carnage. So are most Republican leaders. The destruction, however, is taking place in Democrat-ruled cities. Democrat mayors and governors are the ones responsible for quelling the lawlessness.

            The whole picture reminds me of my ideological conflict from age 13 to 20. I grew up in a Democrat family. Republicans were oddities. Little did we know that our two older brothers, less than ten years removed from action in World War II, were changing from Democrat to Republican. They admired Eisenhower. They argued with our father about race. The war had changed them politically. Democrats were still fostering the prejudices my brothers had shed because of their military life.

            I often asked myself, “Who is right? Daddy, or Paul and Pete?” The emergence of JFK didn’t help any. He was idealistic and appealing, but Paul and Pete were afraid he, though a war hero, might be a secret racist. After all, he was a Democrat.

            Lyndon Johnson’s candidacy and presidency settled everything for me philosophically. Assuming the presidency after JFK’s assassination and elected in his own right in 1964, Johnson successfully shepherded the Civil Rights Bill through Congress, but all of his other policies led to what big government always leads to: centralized power, excessive regulation, and dependency. It was obvious that LBJ’s future was FDR’s past: government, government, government.

            By age 20 I sensed that America’s Little House-on-the-Prairie spirit and ruggedness were dying. The Great Society nanny state was the culprit. Dependency on government was spreading. Black intellectuals like Ward Conerly, Shelby Steele, and Thomas Sowell have argued that Johnson’s War on Poverty increased poverty, especially for blacks, because it enabled and heightened a spirit of poverty, not a “can do” spirit or work ethic.

            It came to pass, however, that conservative columnist William F. Buckley entered my world, cultivating it for the conservatism of Senator and presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. With the help of Buckley’s columns and Goldwater’s little book, “The Conscience of a Conservative,” I came to know what I truly believed. I knew that my brothers were right and my father and other Democrats were wrong.

            Today LBJ’s “children,” (government employees, bureaucrats, public health experts, Democrat politicians) are insisting we must have an indefinite lockdown. They, of course, have secure, “essential” jobs. They have no fear of unemployment.

            Buckley and Goldwater’s children are standing at the precipice and are yelling, “Stop!” My two brothers are looking down – at Portland and other cities – and are shaking their heads at what is going on in the nation for whom they trudged across Europe, often going hungry.

 

Roger Hines

7/29/20

           

                           

Flags, Kindnesses, and Other Mid-summer Musings

          Flags, Kindnesses, and Other Mid-summer Musings

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 7/25/20

            Sorry, but on my desk in a mug full of pencils stands my little 4x6 Confederate flag. Beside it is another 4x6 flag, Old Glory. Those are the two flags, one or both of which all of my immediate kin have lived under. I love both flags.

             No, the Confederate flag is not evil. And those who say it is are guilty of judging a thing by its misrepresentation. Should Christians abandon the cross symbol simply because the KKK sullied it? Then why should those of us with Southern ancestry abandon the Confederate flag just because it too has been sullied or misrepresented by one group or another? It’s a piece of history.

            The Confederate flag is all about regional love and allegiance. How many of the Confederate troops do you suppose had the defense of slavery on their minds as they fought, bled and died? How many ordinary Civil War-era Southerners, most of whom were dirt poor, were dedicated to maintaining the institution of slavery?

            When the Civil War began in 1861, South Carolina, the first state to secede, had been a state for only 73 years. Do you suspect there may have been many South Carolinians who still had deeper love for their own region than for the vast, growing nation they had joined? If the states were wrong to secede from the union, was America wrong to separate from Britain? Of course we didn’t call that separation secession, or Brexit, but that’s exactly what it was.

            Cave, cave, cave. That’s what people do when they are afraid to fight, or when it’s not politically expedient, or when they think they will suffer economically. Wherever they lie buried, Cicero, Robert E. Lee, and Churchill are weeping. They were not cavers. Those who taint Robert E. Lee show their ignorance of him. If Georgians cave on Stone Mountain, …

            But on to a positive note. In the midst of the coronavirus season, kindness is being reported everywhere. Fast food managers have reported that many who are driving through to order their burgers, etc. are paying for the vehicle right behind them. Tipping generously in various and sundry venues has been widespread. When I said to a young man in business for himself who had just repaired my garage door, “If it won’t mess up your books, I’m going to add a little to this bill,” he thanked me profusely and broke down.

            As a whole, Americans of all races are still good people. We know what is meant by “neighbor” and “fellow citizen.” That’s one reason the expression, “white privilege,” is misleading. Anyone who believes they are privileged should do something about it like divesting themselves of it by giving some of it away. Otherwise quit saying it…

            Verbal silliness is getting out of hand. Whatever “woke” means, the fashionable word is bound to die soon. I’m praying. Even the word science is being manipulated. (More about the “man” in man-ipulated in a moment.) Politicians and media stars are trying to deify the word, science: “We must follow the science,” “The president doesn’t believe in science,” or “Everybody knows that such and such is settled science.” Thinking people will ask, “Whose science? Ptolemy’s or Galileo’s? Isaac Newton’s or Albert Einstein’s?” “Albert Einstein’s or Andrea Chez’s?” Professor Chez, professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA says, “Einstein is right about relativity, at least for now.”  Chez rightly implies that true science is never settled. But invoke the word science and you’re considered smart.

            More verbal silliness: the UK Royal Navy has banned the words “manpower” and “unmanned.” (Guess those words are man-ipulative.) We know enough about the proper Brits to know they would never originate such silliness. They caught it from us…

            Kudos to churches and other religious entities that rejected Payroll Protection money. My pastor, Dr. Perry Fowler of Kennesaw First Baptist Church has led the church and school in not accepting it, urging us to “put our faith in action and trust God to provide.” God has. Pastor Fowler added, “Our community’s small businesses need assistance and we don’t need to limit their opportunities if they desire to take the loan.”

Amen. Also, when churches accept money from the government they allow the government’s foot in the door and strengthen the argument for the taxation of churches …

            Beware of “training” these days, especially if you work for a corporation. It’s  simple indoctrination. If the “training” is about racism, sexism, diversity, same sex marriage, or hate crimes, you can be sure someone is insisting that you think as they think. All of this “sensitivity training” is the most un-American thing going.

            Happy summer! Stay free.

Roger Hines

7/23/20

           

           

           

             

The Left’s Most Recent Cudgel

                          The Left’s Most Recent Cudgel

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 7/11/20

            Nothing is currently hurting race relations more than the unfortunate expression, “white privilege.” What is the goal of those who incessantly throw the term around? Is it to improve race relations or to achieve a diabolical political goal by assigning guilt? The answer to this question is obvious and its repercussions are damaging, dangerous, and supremely unfair.

            Damaging because the expression creates a ready-made wall that ends conversation before it starts. Dangerous because accusatory finger pointing doesn’t ever resolve conflict, particularly regarding race. It only pours gasoline on the fire. It’s unfair because it paints with the broadest of brushes. “White privilege” refers to all whites. Presumptuously it argues that because of their skin color, all whites possess an automatic asset. Tell that to the poor whites who lived up and down the gravel road I lived on during my boyhood. Indeed, poverty or near poverty was the basis of the commonality between whites and blacks. A weird bond, perhaps, but a bond still. Maybe that’s why, even though segregation was the established order, we didn’t always act like it. We labored, laughed, and struggled together.

            Living only two miles away from my family, the black, respected Josh Crudup was better off than many whites and not because of government largesse but because he worked himself half to death with his childless wife on their beloved little farm. Were he alive I guarantee you he would be taking sides with Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Clarence Thomas, Burgess Owens, and the many non-prominent blacks who understand the subterfuge behind “white privilege.”

            “White privilege” didn’t emerge from common usage. Most etymologists point to W.E.B. du Bois, the black socialist of the early 20^th century who occasionally used the phrase. The fluid term’s more recent come-back can be attributed to the Black Lives Matter organization that has hurled the two words in our collective face.

            With its “white privilege” cudgel, BLM is setting back the successful work of Martin Luther King, particularly his method of peaceful protest. At the only King Rally I ever attended – in support of King’s cause – I observed order, solemnity, and dead-eye focus. I heard woeful songs that addressed the purpose at hand, eloquent speeches that evoked emotion, thought and action. And I heard sincere prayers. Compare this approach and its undeniable results (desegregation, the Civil Rights Act, a black president) to what we are getting from BLM in the streets today.

            The difference in the two shows that the radical left is not interested in justice, but chaos. Corporate heads are absolutely blind to this. Are they listening to what BLM’s leaders are saying about police and the constitution? With the Democrat Party wrapped securely around its fingers, BLM gets a pass for dishonoring King’s legacy. King was a minister. Christian precepts undergirded his every speech: “Love your enemies!” he would bellow. “Forgive the white man!” he urged more than once. This is neither the approach nor the philosophy of the hate group, BLM.  

            And oh, the embarrassing cowardice that “white privilege” shaming has revealed.  NFL Quarterback Drew Brees took a strong stand against kneeling during the national anthem only to apologize … how many times now? Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy wore a t-shirt with “One American News” (a conservative cable network) on it and was criticized. For his great sin, pointed out by one of his young team members (yes, these days the pot commands the potter), Gundy asked for a $1 million pay cut. Oklahoma State’s Athletic Director stated he believed Gundy had been “awakened” to what was right. Let’s pray that Gundy can still feed his family.      

Not to be outdone, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, also doing an about-face, has announced that all NFL teams will play the black national anthem at all games during week 1 of the 2020 season. Supposedly two national anthems will bring racial unity. Could we say these feel good measures have become “systemic”?

            The “white privilege” cry is also condescending. To blacks because it presumes blacks can never be whole unless fawning whites like Brees, Gundy, and Goodell repent for being white. To whites because it serves as a cudgel for the left to beat them into compliance. Truth is it deepens our division.

            I witnessed and fought against true racial subjugation. (Ask my wife if I weep whenever it’s brought up.) That’s why I reject radical groups with ulterior motives and outlandish political “solutions.”

             It’s time to speak out against BLM.  They are socialist radicals. Listen to what they’re saying. Their two-letter expression is merely a ploy and, incredibly, many cowardly elites are falling for it.

Roger Hines

7/7/20

Our Recent Embracing of Punks The dictionary says a punk is a young troublemaker, a thug, a goon, a ruffian, or a hoodlum. Recently punk behavior has become prevalent. It has also become acceptable. “Not in my book!” you say. Well, maybe not, but look around and observe what is going unattended to and unpunished. We have always had punks and their shenanigans but having political leaders defend them is an incredible development. The excusing of punks, granting them principled motives, is widespread. For three months they have looted, rioted, stopped traffic on interstate highways, and assaulted cops with little if any official resistance. Punks have set up a guillotine outside the mansion of Amazon owner, Jeff Bezos. Strange since Bezos is as left-wing as they are. But Bezos is a capitalist and that’s a problem. Punks have toppled monuments and bashed in storefronts. Whether Antifa goons or Black Lives Matter ruffians, what does it matter? Their modus operandi is destruction, terror, and shaming white Americans for their ancestors’ sins. No, they are not revolutionaries with a noble cause and their goal is not to change our world for the better. They are anarchists and terrorists who are receiving the blessings of mayors, governors, college professors, and the ruling radical wing of the Democrat party. Supposedly urged on by injustice, our punks are making a mockery of justice. Attempting to erase history they hate, they show an amazing ignorance of it. My first hearing of the word “punk” was during boyhood when my father referred to “punk wood.” Punk wood was a rotted portion of the heart of a tree that was becoming soft and dangerous, the result of a fungal infection. Ironically a beautiful tree can withstand punk wood for a long time, but its presence is still the sign of early death. “Punk wood” was also used to refer to cut, stacked wood that has become too dry (“over seasoned” as woodsman Walter Hines, Sr. would put it). It’s partially crumbly, rotting. If it burns at all in the fireplace, it does so inefficiently, releasing more smoke than fire and little if any heat. As with wood or a stately tree, so with civilization itself. Even if the heart of a civilization is infected with citizen apathy, mediocrity, or punk lawlessness, it can live. But who knows for how long? And with how much of its past glory? This past week I looked on as an outstanding professional cut down my neighbor’s tall river birch tree. From the street the tree appeared to be beautiful and whole. Its unique bark stood out amongst the prevailing pines, yet the heart of the tree was decaying. It had become infected. American culture is being infected by punks. Most are black, though some are white. Perhaps they are the ill-taught fatherless who have known little if any restraint. Or the offspring of punk parents who fell for the London-originated punk culture of the 70s with its intentionally offensive musical lyrics, anger, and social alienation. One thing they are not is true social justice warriors. The intellectual and spiritual distance between them and Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King is incalculable. Their true intention of chaos and disorder is obvious. Even so, many are bowing before them. Corporate heads scramble to identify with the punks. Supportive blue-state governors have lost their minds, seriously defending the “protestors.” Influenced by the punks, Kansas State University’s football team has declared they will boycott the entire season this year unless the university expels students who have posted “racist remarks” on social media. Kansas State administrators are falling all over themselves to comply. Colleges make so much money from football they have to bow to their demanding teenage athletes. Our punks are after a new social order. Come November they could very well get it, thanks in part to establishment conservatives who have pandered to the punks by joining the White-Guilt Cult. Senators Rubio and Braun, Senate Leader McConnell, Ambassador Haley, and General Mattis are but a few. Imagine Republicans labeling looting a “political statement.” Sociologist Charles Murray has warned us that white America is also “coming apart” and can also get angry. Mayors had better allow their police to stop the craziness. It’s time to put some people in jail. Calls for unity are empty unless we first punish lawlessness. Where has destructive lawlessness ever righted any wrongs? Homeowners, you’re next on the punks’ list. Ask the St. Louis couple whose property gate was forced open by “protestors.” I for one admire the couple for standing up to the punks and defending their person and property. Who but a coward would not? Roger Hines July 1, 2020

                          Our Recent Embracing of Punks

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 7/4/20

             The dictionary says a punk is a young troublemaker, a thug, a goon, a ruffian, or a hoodlum.

            Recently punk behavior has become prevalent. It has also become acceptable. “Not in my book!” you say. Well, maybe not, but look around and observe what is going unattended to and unpunished. We have always had punks and their shenanigans but having political leaders defend them is an incredible development. The excusing of punks, granting them principled motives, is widespread. For three months they have looted, rioted, stopped traffic on interstate highways, and assaulted cops with little if any official resistance.

            Punks have set up a guillotine outside the mansion of Amazon owner, Jeff Bezos. Strange since Bezos is as left-wing as they are. But Bezos is a capitalist and that’s a problem. Punks have toppled monuments and bashed in storefronts. Whether Antifa goons or Black Lives Matter ruffians, what does it matter? Their modus operandi is destruction, terror, and shaming white Americans for their ancestors’ sins.

            No, they are not revolutionaries with a noble cause and their goal is not to change our world for the better. They are anarchists and terrorists who are receiving the blessings of mayors, governors, college professors, and the ruling radical wing of the Democrat party. Supposedly urged on by injustice, our punks are making a mockery of justice. Attempting to erase history they hate, they show an amazing ignorance of it.

            My first hearing of the word “punk” was during boyhood when my father referred to “punk wood.”  Punk wood was a rotted portion of the heart of a tree that was becoming soft and dangerous, the result of a fungal infection. Ironically a beautiful tree can withstand punk wood for a long time, but its presence is still the sign of early death. “Punk wood” was also used to refer to cut, stacked wood that has become too dry (“over seasoned” as woodsman Walter Hines, Sr. would put it). It’s partially crumbly, rotting. If it burns at all in the fireplace, it does so inefficiently, releasing more smoke than fire and little if any heat.

            As with wood or a stately tree, so with civilization itself. Even if the heart of a civilization is infected with citizen apathy, mediocrity, or punk lawlessness, it can live. But who knows for how long? And with how much of its past glory?

            This past week I looked on as an outstanding professional cut down my neighbor’s tall river birch tree. From the street the tree appeared to be beautiful and whole. Its unique bark stood out amongst the prevailing pines, yet the heart of the tree was decaying. It had become infected.

            American culture is being infected by punks. Most are black, though some are white.  Perhaps they are the ill-taught fatherless who have known little if any restraint. Or the offspring of punk parents who fell for the London-originated punk culture of the 70s with its intentionally offensive musical lyrics, anger, and social alienation. One thing they are not is true social justice warriors. The intellectual and spiritual distance between them and Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King is incalculable. Their true intention of chaos and disorder is obvious.

            Even so, many are bowing before them. Corporate heads scramble to identify with the punks. Supportive blue-state governors have lost their minds, seriously defending the “protestors.” Influenced by the punks, Kansas State University’s football team has declared they will boycott the entire season this year unless the university expels students who have posted “racist remarks” on social media. Kansas State administrators are falling all over themselves to comply. Colleges make so much money from football they have to bow to their demanding teenage athletes.

            Our punks are after a new social order. Come November they could very well get it, thanks in part to establishment conservatives who have pandered to the punks by joining the White-Guilt Cult. Senators Rubio and Braun, Senate Leader McConnell, Ambassador Haley, and General Mattis are but a few. Imagine Republicans labeling looting a “political statement.”

            Sociologist Charles Murray has warned us that white America is also “coming apart” and can also get angry. Mayors had better allow their police to   stop the craziness. It’s time to put some people in jail. Calls for unity are empty unless we first punish lawlessness. Where has destructive lawlessness ever righted any wrongs?

            Homeowners, you’re next on the punks’ list. Ask the St. Louis couple whose property gate was forced open by “protestors.” I for one admire the couple for standing up to the punks and defending their person and property. Who but a coward would not?

Roger Hines

July 1, 2020