Laura Hollis is: Current: Associate Professional Specialist and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame. Past: Director at Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Associate Director and Clinical Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Education: University of Notre Dame Law School, University of Notre Dame. Summary: She has 20+ years' experience in curriculum and other program development and delivery.
I am already reading so many pundits and other talking heads analyzing the disaster that was this year's elections. I am adding my own ten cents. Here goes:
1. We are outnumbered. We accurately foresaw the enthusiasm, the passion, the commitment, the determination, and the turnout. Married women, men, independents, Catholics, evangelicals - they all went for Romney in percentages as high or higher than the groups which voted for McCain in 2008. It wasn't enough. What we saw in the election on Tuesday was a tipping point: we are now at a place where there are legitimately fewer Americans who desire a free republic with a free people than there are those who think the government should give them stuff. There are fewer of us who believe in the value of free exchange and free enterprise. There are fewer of us who do not wish to demonize successful people in order to justify taking from them. We are outnumbered. For the moment. It's just that simple.
2. It wasn't the candidate(s ). Some are already saying, "Romney was the wrong guy"; "He should have picked Marco Rubio to get Florida/Rob Portman to get Ohio/Chris Christie to get [someplace else]." With all due respect, these assessments are incorrect. Romney ran a strategic and well-organized campaign. Yes, he could have hit harder on Benghazi. But for those who would have loved that, there are those who would have found it distasteful. No matter what tactic you could point to that Romney could have done better, it would have been spun in a way that was detrimental to his chances. Romney would have been an excellent president, and Ryan was an inspired choice. No matter who we ran this year, they would have lost. See #1, above.
3. It's the culture, stupid. We have been trying to fight this battle every four years at the voting booth. It is long past time we admit that is not where the battle really is. We abdicated control of the culture - starting back in the 1960s. And now our largest primary social institutions - education, the media, Hollywood (entertainment ) have become really nothing more than an assembly line for cranking out reliable little Leftists. Furthermore, we have allowed the government to undermine the institutions that instill good character - marriage, the family, communities, schools, our churches. So, here we are, at least two full generations later - we are reaping what we have sown. It took nearly fifty years to get here; it will take another fifty years to get back. But it starts with the determination to reclaim education, the
January 4 at 20:15 EST .
Escaped commieny I agree with her points but not with her statement that we were outnumbered, the numbers that reelected zero were the result of over 70,000 cases of fraud. ( dead, duplicates, machine malfunctions, it was everything, everywhere, he out 'ground-gamed' us. A legitimate voter roll, would have had a different outcome. True The Vote had their hands tied, ORCA was sabotaged, Voter ID denied , all of this by the unJustice Dept of the zero regime
January 4 at 21:05 EST .
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Belwhatter The perfidy of those who would destroy the USA is beyond bounds.
TexasRose posted on Main Page The Lobby Didn't see this posted, so hopefully, I didn't just miss it. This Texas Lady gives a very good response to why there should be no gun free zones. She lived it (Luby's cafeteria shooting ). She also gives a good response to why there should be no assault weapons ban. Apparently, it had been put to good use at least once!
December 20 at 10:59 EST .
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Ole buzzard Her last sentence NAILS it. The Second Amendment exists to make sure we have the means to protect ourselves from our government!!
December 20 at 11:19 EST .
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Charactercounts Someone said to me last week, "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
TexasRose This says there was a military coup involving Gen. Petraus and that's what his resignation is all about! I don't know anything about this website/news source.
ALynnMcW AS an old economics major this made me laugh. I took a final once with an extra point essay question. Some made up scenario about if this happens then what happens next? It was a complicated question with an unsure answer which I commented on. I got credit for the answer as the professor said my guess was as good as anyone else on the matter. Economics is a funny science especially if you are a liberal.
March 6 at 17:35 EST .
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TexasRose posted on Main Page The Lobby Hey, all. My son will be awarded the rank of Eagle Scout, tomorrow. I thought that this poem was nice and that you all would like it:
The Oyster And The Eagle
When God made the oyster, he guaranteed him social security. He built the oyster a house, a shell to protect him from his enemies. When hungry, the oyster simply opens his shell, and the food rushes in.
But when God made the EAGLE, he said, "The Blue sky is the limit. Go and build your house." So the EAGLE went and built his house upon the highest mountain peak, where storms threatened him every day. For food, he must fly through miles of rain and snow and wind.
The EAGLE, then...not the oyster...is the symbol of the United States Of America, and Scouting's highest award.
Ole buzzard And hugs from an Ole Buzzard, too!! WTG, young man!!
March 2 at 23:34 EST .
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TexasRose Thank you, LDotters. I am very proud of him, and I will express your well-wishes to him!
March 2 at 23:39 EST .
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Hikergal Wonderful job young man!Take this to heart the people at The Connection really are proud of you!
March 3 at 00:39 EST .
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ZurichMike Congratulations! Very few make it through that discipline!
ZurichMike Eagle Scout from 1976
March 3 at 02:24 EST .
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Nugoddess Yea! Congratulations to your Eagle and of course, to the entire family for raising such a fine young man.
March 3 at 08:07 EST .
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MsHope Another great citizen in the making. Congratulations.
March 3 at 09:44 EST .
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Tivadoc Congratulations, truly a great honor for your family. We are right behind you with my oldest expected to become an Eagle next year. It's a long hard road for young men of that age to stay focused and complete the program.
TexasRose posted on Main Page The Lobby Just had to share: “So the final conclusion would surely be that whereas other civilizations have been brought down by attacks of barbarians from without, ours had the unique distinction of training its own destroyers at its own educational institutions, and then providing them with facilities for propagating their destructive ideology far and wide, all at the public expense. Thus did Western Man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability out of his own strength, his own impotence out of his own erotomania, himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down, and having convinced himself that he was too numerous, labored with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer. Until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keeled over--a weary, battered old brontosaurus--and became extinct.” ― Malcolm Muggeridge
Tianne TexasRose, thank you for 'sharing' Mr. Muggeridge's solemn and serious comments. Mark Steyn made some similar observations in a recent column, "It is not necessary to be a believing Christian to be unnerved by the ease and speed with which we have cast off our inheritance and trampled it into the dust. When American municipalities are proudly displaying the execution of skeleton Santas and giant Satans on public property, it may just be a heartening exercise of the First Amendment, it may be a trivial example of the narcissism of moral frivolity. Or it could be a sign that, eventually, societies become too stupid to survive".
December 19 at 03:20 EST .
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TexasRose posted on Main Page The Lobby I posted a comment on the thing I wrote about my son's opinion of Ronald Reagan (that he wasn't conservative ), but it got lost. Here it is (sorry it is in the wrong place ): Thanks, everyone (who commented ). My son is 17 and very smart (homeschooled ) and likes Ron Paul (like many his age ). I think, in Ron Paul's view, no one is conservative enough. Anyway, my son says, "Don't look at what he (Reagan ) said, but in what he did. He raised taxes 11 times." I know he had a huge majority democrat in Congress to deal with and even got his vetoes overturned 8 times, 3 of which were budget. One of his budgets was considered DOA by that Congress. And, I don't think Ron Paul liked the deficit spending to bring our military up to par. SO, maybe just life experience will help my son. He's very smart, but he needs experience to give him wisdom. Thanks again.
August 20 at 15:12 EST .
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Escaped commieny Yikes the sites are troublesome today, just wanted to say cap Marine has it right from yesterday's clips and comments.
August 20 at 16:52 EST .
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BubbaEuler Wow! When I was 17 y/o, I didn't even know that Richard Nixon wanted to be a lounge singer/pianist!
When I read about these wonderful young people who are cognizant of current events and popular political sharks, I am heartened. Thank you.
August 21 at 13:59 EST .
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TexasRose posted on Main Page The Lobby My son keeps saying (and apparently many are saying on the net ) that Ronald Reagan was really a socialist! It doesn't even make sense to me, but apparently (or at least, I believe ) many on the left are twisting history again in order to say that Reagan was a socialist. Has anyone else heard this? And how would you rebut?
Wonnie76 Naturally the left would say that. I don't believe the word they say on TV, internet, radio, facebook or billboards.
August 19 at 14:14 EST .
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Gerty Miss TexasRose, the only place socialism is implemented and works is in monastic life! Nothing belongs to you and everything is done for the common good while you work and pray to the best of your ability and obey without question!
This is OK if that is your choice; rare is the individual who chooses this way of life.
With a stretch, anyone who believes in the concept of equality could be called a socialist--that is the denotation of the word. The connotation of the word 'socialist' in its political application is quite different!
August 19 at 15:20 EST .
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Gerty PS--most of us knew Ronald Reagan, and Ronald Reagan was no political socialist!
August 19 at 15:22 EST .
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Cap MarineTet68 Go back and listen to what has become known as "The Speech," the one where he introduced Goldwater. It was, as he put it, his own ideas. He did nothing from that moment on, but try to implement those ideas. Anyone suggesting he might have been a "socialist" is one of: 1 ) stupid 2 ) evil.
Struan Great clip, Cap. It is no wonder The Left wants control of the Internet - it nullifies their Truth Hole. Ronald Reagan was as much a Socialist as Barry Soetero/Obama is an American.
August 19 at 16:31 EST .
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MsCharlotteVale Reagan was no socialist by a long shot! Remember that Mooche said she wanted to change our history and traditions and change our conversations. Leftists are evil liars.
August 19 at 16:48 EST .
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Shooter1002 Seems to me that the left is manufacturing this 'talking point' i.e. 'Reagan was a socialist' as a smoke screen for Obama's obvious hard socialist ideology. Consider that most people haven't a clue what socialism is much less whether its good or bad. Most HS grads couldn't find France on a map! -Reagan was good! -Reagan was a socialist! -Obama is a socialist therefore Obama is good!
Tell a lie, make it a big, big lie almost an incredible lie. Repeat it again, again and again. Shout down, ridicule and demonize any disagreement. Voila, you have a new truth! The younger and/or the less informed the audience, the greater the veracity of this new truth!
Fireball27 Texas Rose, please tell your son, Ronald Reagan was President when the Democrats were in total control, and he still got things done, despite the Democrat Party. Tell him when you look at a graph of spending and revenue, you will see things got better when the Republicans gained control in 1994. Of course the Democrats claim that was Clintons doing, but it wasn't. He was dragged kicking and screaming to welfare reform, and the other gains the Republicans made. And Capt'n I sure hope it's number 1! I think that can be fixed.
It is by a Repub group and the site is meant to "facilitate efficient sharing of public information about the Obama Administration" and highlight FOIA requests that have gone unfulfilled. It has been set up to look like Wikipedia.
April 5 at 14:37 EST .
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Kono Given the brick wall and moat Ø's administration has erected around itself to keep out prying eyes, this sounds like a useful resource. All those smug promises to run the most transparent administration in history ring hollow. (There was probably an "of course I'll love you in the morning" somewhere in there, too...)
I just can't bring myself to browse through a list of broken promises right now, though. Will have to check it out some other time.
TexasRose posted on Main Page The Lobby Dear RoseSpice and billp: I just saw the response from yesterday's post from Obama Cites Faith in Buttressing Support for Government Programs, Calls for Civility at Prayer Breakfast I thought I should write to tell you what I meant. Trust me, I agree with you that Jesus didn't tell gov't to take care of the poor - that he told us to do that. My concern is that conservatives say for gov't not to but for churches, but then, too many times, they won't give to the churches so that the churches have the funds to do so. The churches can't print money, you know. I know it's knee jerk reaction to attack when you feel attacked by leftists on this site, but I'm no leftist! I'm just trying to encourage people to do the right thing, sometimes things they give lip service to, but not action to. OK?
February 4 at 13:21 EST .
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Tenntom didn't church groups beat all others to Katrina relief??
February 4 at 16:03 EST .
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RoseOfTexas There have been studies showing conservatives donate more than liberals to churches & other charities. Remember soon after he took office 0 tried to reduce the ability of higher-income earners to write off their charitable deductions? The progs want the poor dependent on the govt alone.
While it is true the churches can't print money, we serve the One Who multiplied the loaves & fishes. My church in Houston just raised an unbelievable amount of money in this economy (granted it's a lot better here than most places) to pay off our facilities & support missions.
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