Author: Essay Editor

Filmmaker and podcast host Dinesh D’Souza presents evidence of wide-spread, highly-coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election in his latest documentary 2000 Mules. 

D’Souza told The Epoch Times: “2000 Mules will settle the issue beyond a shadow of a doubt by using two powerful, independent modes of investigation. The evidence is so conclusive, so decisive, that it leaves nothing to argue about.”

An investigative team used cellphone tracking and video footage proving that unauthorized individuals he refers to as “mules,” were paid to collect thousands of absentee ballots from voters and deposit them in drop boxes, which is illegal in all 50 states. 

“Not all the drop boxes were under video surveillance, but enough were to provide incontrovertible evidence, much obtained from government entities,” D’Souza said. “’2000 Mules’ contains a lot of never-before-seen footage depicting glove-wearing mules moving from county to county delivering absentee ballots to drop boxes, often in the dead of night.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity to do fraud on a scale not imagined before. The avalanche of absentee ballots sent out and the drop boxes presented much greater opportunity.”

The documentary film will open in 300 theaters on May 2 and May 4. In addition, one can stream the film from the  website www.2000mules.com on May 7^th.  A trailer may be watched now at that site.  

D’Souza, a 1980’s immigrant from India and now a proud American citizen, has produced a number of notable documentaries, including Obama’s America,  Hillary’s America:The Secret History of the Democratic Party,  Death of a Nation,  America: Imagine the World Without Her,  and Trump Card.  Several are ranked in the top 10 highest-grossing political documentaries.

Here are some truly insidious bills introduced by Democrats into the Maryland House and Senate this year. On the surface, they use vague and feel-good language to hide the actual content of the social and political indoctrination, wasteful spending and extreme government overreach:

EDUCATION

Bills to Override any local autonomy of school boards regarding enactment or dissolution of CRT-style indoctrination. State laws preemptively giving hand-picked minority-packed committees free reign to create enforced academic standards in the curriculum without any details on what it would actually include:

Senate Bill 888 Senator Lee (D)

American Studies and Social Equity Standards Advisory Board

Academic standards and model policy established within the State Department of Education requiring The Advisory Board to review and develop recommendations for academic standards for American studies in public schools in the state and to develop a model policy on ethnic and social equity in schools.

The Advisory board to identify existing State academic standards in US history that do not incorporate the historic contributions and perspectives of ethnic groups and social groups (social group includes women, individuals with disabilities, immigrants, refugees, individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex or asexual).

Develop American studies academic standards for students at each grade level  increasing attention to the history contributions and perspectives of ethnic group and social groups in the United States, promote critical thinking regarding the history contributions and perspectives of ethnic groups and social groups, increase the cultural competency of students, eliminate Pathways to racial bias in the curriculum recommend content and instructional methods that enables students to safely explore questions of identity, race equality, and racism in American studies….. Recommend basic curriculum and extracurricular programs that may be offered in schools that are welcome to all students, take into account parental concerns about religion or culture…. promote an overarching focus and participation in the racially culturally and socially diverse Global community. Challenge racist, sexist, gender or ability assumptions, attitudes and behaviors when they occur, using principles and practices of restorative justice.

Ensure that ALL School Personnel are trained on best practices for addressing racial incidents, prohibit conduct based on racism, sexism, ableism and other social biases  and specify the appropriate manner to address the misconduct including disciplinary action if appropriate; establish disciplinary responses to racial incidents including increased utilization of restorative justice practices if appropriate.

Each County before the 2025 school year shall adopt a policy on ethnic and social equity in schools that takes into consideration the policy adopted by The Advisory Board on or before May 2025, the State Board shall adopt American studies academic standards for each grade level taking into consideration the American studies academic standards recommended by The Advisory Board, each County Board shall Implement a curriculum based on the American studies academic standards.

Senate Bill 116 by Senator Ellis (D):

1.“ Inclusive and diverse English language arts development of content standards and implementation requiring the State Board of Education to develop content standards for inclusive and diverse English language arts to be included in certain State Standards.”

2. “Requiring each County Board of Education to develop and Implement certain curriculum guides for inclusive and diverse English language arts content standards shall highlight and promote diversity– including economic diversity, equity and inclusion, tolerance and belonging, to examine the impact that unconscious bias and economic disparities have in both an individual and societal level…

3. Encourage safe welcoming and inclusive environment for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity mental and physical disability and religious beliefs.

Each County Board shall develop and Implement age appropriate curriculum guides for inclusive and diverse English language arts

if passed this act shall take effect July 1st 2022

House Bill 1152 student Bill of Rights and prohibitions on suspensions and expulsions  delegates Washington and Ivy (D):

Public schools cannot suspend a student for disruptive behavior of a school activity, function, process or the learning environment or for being disrespectful to an adult or other students if it is “non-threatening” and  “does not physically harm another student”.  Students can only be suspended for “unsafe behavior”, means “any behavior that is dangerous to the health or safety of students or others”.

Hb 23 ( Democrat-driven bill)

data collection and school resource officer School discipline

Requires the State Department of Education to collect data on all disciplinary actions by each School according to grade-level, race-ethnicity, disability status, gender, socioeconomic status, and language ability, as in immigrants. Elementary schools that have 10% or more of its students in each of those subgroups suspended or secondary schools that suspend 25% or more of its students in each subgroup shall be targeted by the Department of Education “to lower the risk ratio and Report the disproportionality data for any school identified as high suspending in those groups.”

2. A school resource officer may not unilaterally (on their own without administrators permission) enforce discipline related school policies, rules,  regulations.   

 Other Democrat sponsored bills that should concern us:

Elections:

HB413 Voting Rights Act of 2022 counties and municipalities emergency bill Senator Sydnor:

Cannot even give it a short description, one must read in its entirety to see how absurd and dangerous it is.

[Vague and confusing wording giving minorities the right to dispute any election based on any aspect of it that could be construed as racially motivated “even subtly.”]

 Delegate Rosenberg Democrat House Bill 426:

Regarding profiling stops by police

supposedly trying to avoid profiling stops based on ethnicity, race, or religion….. yet the bill “requires a law enforcement officer shall report the following information to the law enforcement agency that employs the officer on each and every traffic stop : the national origin of the driver, the religion of the driver, the gender identity of the driver and the sexual orientation of the driver.”

[So they’re supposed to ask the person stopped all these questions about their race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation? Seriously flawed in its presentation and legal description].

 Hb 463 Del.Severo (D):

Establishing a PERSONAL civil liability of a police officer… under the act, subject to certain exceptions, if it’s found the police officer “did not act in good faith,” then the officer shall be personally liable for civil suits.

Sb 87 Senators Wall and Striker  (D):

Discrimination in Housing, Citizenship, Immigration Status and National Origins

1.…the state prohibiting certain discrimination related to the sale or rental of a dwelling on the basis of citizenship or immigration status subject to certain exceptions..

2. prohibiting a person from inquiring about a person’s citizenship immigration status or national origin in connection with the rental of a dwelling .

3.”A person may not disclose or threaten to disclose information regarding a person’s actual or perceived citizenship, immigration status, or national origin to any other person including an immigration Authority or a law enforcement agency “

 “Healthy Babies Equity act” SB 77 Senator Lam

Requiring public assistance in Maryland to pay comprehensive Medical Care and other Healthcare Services to NON-CITIZEN pregnant women, pre-care, labor and delivery and post-partum care.  (will certainly increase the numbers of “pregnancy tourism” from all over the world arriving in Maryland. )

Senate Bill 550 by Senator Carter (D):

Transgender inmates in prison shall have their pronouns and honorific titles used at all times by all facility staff

All subcontractors and volunteers shall address  inmate in a manner consistent with the inmate’s gender identity

shall use the gender pronouns an inmate has specified in all verbal and written Communications with or regarding inmates that involve the use of a pronoun or honorific

When considering a housing decision within a facility including granting single-cell status, housing an inmate with another inmate of the inmates choice, or removing another inmate who poses a threat to the inmates staff shall consider the inmate’s perception of health and safety

if an inmate is lawfully searched, the inmate shall be searched according to the search policy for the inmates gender identity or according to the gender designation of the facility in which the inmate is house based on the inmates preference

House Bill HV 746 Public Assistance medical coverage for gender-affirming treatment prohibiting the program from issuing an adverse benefit determination for gender-affirming treatment (taxpayers foot the bill for gender reassignment surgery and treatments (50-100K)

House Bill 45 delegate Wells (D):

personal training of all state employees to complete implicit bias awareness training

“Coordinate with the Maryland Commission on civil rights to implement the training, and authorizing a unit to incorporate the training into existing employment training regarding implicit bias. Implicit Bias means the attitudes or internalized stereotypes that affect perceptions, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner; implicit bias exists and often contributes to unequal treatment of people based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability and other characteristics. “

Each state employee shall complete at least 2 hours of in-person or virtual interactive training on implicit bias awareness within six months after hiring, requiring each employee take a self-evaluation that measures the employees positive or negative attitude towards a particular concept or social group, information on the impact of implicit bias on interpersonal relationships and encounters in the workplace, information on strategies to address the negative effects of implicit bias, encouraging cultural competency in the workplace.

The (employee) self-evaluation required shall be a behavioral measurement tool, may be modeled after the Harvard implicit association test, shall require the employee to describe their own self understanding of any unconscious attitudes, implicit biases or stereotypes following the evaluation. If it is determined to be necessary by the appointing authority a unit may require an employee to retake any part or all of the training or to participate in additional classes or training.

REPARATIONS:

Maryland House Bill 159 Del. Amprey (D):

introduced January 12th of this year, yet given no media attention.

Economic Justice and Racial Reconciliation Act.

 Says  “the creation of a commission for economic Justice and Racial reconciliation to discuss any racial disparities in wealth and resources as a result of tax laws and systems in place in the state during a certain period Of time from the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War up to the Civil Rights Act 1964 and to make recommendations relating to compensation of the state’s African American communities for racial disparities identified by the commission.”

ABORTION

HB 626 Del. Smith (D)    Pregnant Person’s Freedom Act of 2022 :

Altering certain provisions of law relating to the termination of a pregnancy and investigations made or criminal penalties or civil liability for a pregnant person or a person assisting a pregnant person, prohibiting a certain provision of law that requires the termination of a pregnancy by a licensed physician from being construed to apply to a pregnant person who terminates the person’s own pregnancy under any circumstances.

HB  1171 Declaration of Rights right to reproductive Liberty:

sponsored by Adrienne Jones

Amendment to the Maryland Constitution to establish that every person, as a central component of the individuals rights to Liberty and equality, has the fundamental right to reproductive Liberty, prohibiting the state from directly or indirectly denying  or abridging the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means and submitting the amendment to qualified voters of the state at the next general election.

HB 50 Delegate Amprey(D):

Would require hospitals to perform abortions or sterilizations even if it was against their beliefs, such as Catholic or other religious based hospital systems.

 Delegate Atterbury (Democrat) sponsored a  bill to delete adultery as a justification to decree absolute divorce

H.b. 1058 criminal justice policy reform reduce the state’s incarcerated population reduced spending on Corrections.

House Bill 1200 requiring Department of environment application for building permits to use a social justice measuring evaluation tool before issuing a permit must include such things as sensitive populations, socioeconomic factors equal protection from environmental and public health hazards regardless of race income culture and social status explore layers of environmental justice concern determine the overall environmental justice score for census tracts in the state view additional context layers relevant to an area. A person applying for a permit under this article shall include in the permit application the environmental justice score from the Maryland environmental justice screen mapping tool for the address where the applicant is Seeking a permit on receiving a permit that department shall conduct an analysis of the address where the applicant is Seeking a permit.

SB 931 Senator Watson environment impact of actions on climate, labor and environmental justice

prohibiting a certain governmental unit from taking an (unspecified) action unless the governmental unit has conducted evaluations and assessments of the impact of the action on the climate labor and employment, environmental justice, and any overburden community; authorizing a governmental unit to deny condition approval or mend and action based on certain findings requiring governmental units to coordinate and seek Federal funding to meet the requirements of this act, must include the impact of the action on labor and employment pay the prevailing wage for each trade including wages and fringe benefits offer health care and retirement benefits to the employees working on the project participate in an apprenticeship program registered with the state for each trade employed on a project establishing execute a plan for outreach Recruitment and Retention of State residents to perform work on a project or other items associated with the project with a goal of 25% of hours performed by residents who are “returning citizens”, women, minority individuals or veterans. –vague and overreaching…

The definitions of equity and equality are very similar.   Equity is, “The quality of being fair and impartial.”  Equality is,” The state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.” 

But the actual usage is very different. Equity is frequently used to imply an equal result.  Unions talk of equity of pay meaning that all who have the same job description get the same pay and benefits.  It doesn’t discuss how the persons get to the same job.  But it does discuss the fairness of treatment once the job is achieved.  

Equality is frequently used in association with the phrase, “equal opportunity.”  It implies the fairness at the beginning of the process.  In the Declaration of Independence it is said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (persons) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

To promote equality, we have desegregated schools.  The expectation is that all the students in the same class get the same opportunity to learn.  We all know that is more of a hope than a reality.  But any form of segregation makes sure that equal opportunity won’t happen.  

Fair housing laws have desegregated neighborhoods or at least made our best attempt to that end.  At least systematic desegregation is a change that attempts to make equal opportunity into equitable results.  The difference in results depends on the individual.  

So, though the two words, equity and equality, come from the same root stem, they have an important difference in meaning.  

Holly Geddes

Our Lady of the Perpetually Offended

Many of us fondly remember the old Saturday Night Live skit of “ the Church Lady,” performed by Dana Carvey in drag; we all laughed at the arrogance, smugness and zealotry of the fundamentalist church lady dispensing her judgmental criticism of those whose lifestyle, behaviors and speech she disagreed with and roundly condemned as the work of Satan.

 Today we have a new version of that church lady, the woke mob of “Social Justice warriors”, who are so steadfast and strident in their self-righteous beliefs that they go on social media to bully, intimidate, and destroy people’s entire lives because of something “offensive” to them someone may have said, even 10 or 20 years prior. Those who do not ascribe to their personal beliefs and viewpoints are to be destroyed– even attacked physically in the streets and terrorized at their homes, businesses and public places–all justified in the name of the social justice mob’s self-righteousness. Childish and hyperbolic name-calling and labeling allows them to hate even more (nazi, fascists, transphobe, ad nauseum). They justify their Orwellian thought-policing and perpetually offended mindset with slogans like “hate speech is violence” (yet their own hate-filled speech is somehow acceptable).

 Any of us who have ever been around someone who is  thin-skinned, hyper-reactive and easily offended knows that it is like walking on eggshells– never knowing what seemingly innocuous statement or behavior is going to “trigger” them. What this creates is a culture where we all walk on eggshells, afraid to say anything to anyone, because it might offend somebody, and therefore one might also suffer the bullying, shaming and possibly destruction of their entire lives and livelihood, ultimately creating an entire nation of frightened sheeple afraid to speak out and where censorship reigns… is this really what we want?

 This psychological Reign of Terror will come back to bite those who join with the mob when every word ever spoken or thought has serious real-life repercussions. Those who point fingers end up with them pointed right back at them. History has shown that this sort of intellectual fascism has never ended well– it has created brutal dictatorships where there is no freedom of speech, witch hunts, inquisitions, Holy Wars, Civil Wars and other senseless violence, where ultimately nobody wins.  Violent revolution has always brought hate, brutality and oppression but the free exchange of ideas in a civilized manner has created an evolution of thought and understanding throughout history. The words and deeds of Martin Luther King Jr, William Wilberforce, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ghandi have created greater positive change in the world than those of the Pol Pots and Stalins. The Founding Fathers belief’s came out of the Enlightenment which promoted freedom of religion, expression and scientific enquiry.

History also shows that when people civilly disagree, listen to one another and speak respectfully, they can often change hearts and minds much more effectively than the heartless mob court of cancel culture. People who have been lifetime racists and KKK members have had their hearts and minds transformed through the kindness of others showing them a different way to see the world or through a friendship with someone of a different ethnicity or religion. They may go on to teach others about their transformation and positively influence them.  People’s beliefs do change and mature over time, something most young SJW’s fail to realize.  A universal truth is that hate begets hate and love begets love. Freedom of speech means freedom to debate ideas and rethink our own viewpoints; honoring diversity is not just about color, it’s also about Creed and honoring differences in beliefs. Tolerance is not about tolerating those we agree with, it’s about tolerating those with whom we don’t.

Now of course this doesn’t mean that we should tolerate actual physical harm to others or taking other’s rights away. We create laws and enforce those laws against such “belief-based” crimes as honor killings, domestic violence, genital mutilation, child marriage, slavery, pedophilia, human trafficking and bondage, as well as civil rights violations. That is very different than destroying a person’s life and livelihood because we disagree with their current or distant-past opinions (what the woke crowd insidiously refers to as “one’s truth” when it is their opinion, thereby granting them immunity from criticism).

We need more free exchange of ideas, more debate societies in schools, more speakers of differing views on campus. Instead of rioting and stopping “offensive” speakers, schools should be presenting alternative viewpoints as a part of higher education, followed by a requisite debate period or panel discussion.

We all need to look inward and question why we might be so vehemently attached to our beliefs that we must destroy anyone who does not agree with all of ours. Is it part of this culture of narcissism, where anyone who questions or disagrees with the narcissist is responded to with rage?  Is it a deep-seated insecurity that one must deny some hidden beliefs they secretly hold by openly condemning those same beliefs in others? Is it like the Church Lady, mere ego-driven virtue signaling? Is it their guilt for being the most privileged generation in human history– evidenced by throwing tantrums when they don’t get their way?

Regardless of the inner motivation of these modern-day Church Ladies, allowing them to dominate and control us back to the Dark Ages, using social media as their modern-day Witch-burning stake– will end very badly indeed.

Elizabeth Ochoa

A history of civil rights advocacy

The House Policy Committee’s 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar offers 365 examples of GOP support for women, blacks, and other minorities, often over Democratic objections. Among its highlights:

“To stop the Democrats’ pro-slavery agenda, anti-slavery activists founded the Republican party, starting with a few dozen men and women in Ripon, Wisconsin on March 20, 1854,” the calendar notes. “Democratic opposition to Republican efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans lasted not only throughout Reconstruction, but well into the 20th century. In the south, those Democrats who most bitterly opposed equality for blacks founded the Ku Klux Klan, which operated as the party’s terrorist wing.”

An 1866 comment from Governor Oliver Morton (R., Ind.), immortalized in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall: “Every one who shoots down Negroes in the streets, burns Negro school-houses and meeting-houses, and murders women and children by the light of their own flaming dwellings, calls himself a Democrat,” Morton said. “Every New York rioter in 1863 who burned up little children in colored asylums, who robbed, ravished, and murdered indiscriminately in the midst of a blazing city for three days and nights, calls himself a Democrat.”

White supremacists worked club in hand with Democrats for decades:

May 22, 1856: Two years after the Grand Old party’s birth, U.S. Senator Charles Sumner (R., Mass.) rose to decry pro-slavery Democrats. Congressman Preston Brooks (D., S.C.) responded by grabbing a stick and beating Sumner unconscious in the Senate chamber. Disabled, Sumner could not resume his duties for three years.

July 30, 1866: New Orleans’s Democratic government ordered police to raid an integrated GOP meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.

September 28, 1868: Democrats in Opelousas, Louisiana killed nearly 300 blacks who tried to foil an assault on a Republican newspaper editor.

October 7, 1868: Republicans criticized Democrats’ national slogan: “This is a white man’s country: Let white men rule.”

April 20, 1871: The GOP Congress adopted the Ku Klux Klan Act, banning the pro-Democrat domestic terrorist group.

October 18, 1871: GOP President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched federal troops to quell Klan violence in South Carolina.

September 14, 1874: Racist white Democrats stormed Louisiana’s statehouse to oust GOP Governor William Kellogg’s racially integrated administration; 27 people were killed.

August 17, 1937: Republicans opposed Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Supreme Court nominee, U.S. Senator Hugo Black (D., Al.), a former Klansman who defended Klansmen against racial-murder charges.

February 2005: The Democrats’ Klan-coddling is embodied by KKK alumnus Robert Byrd, West Virginia’s logorrheic U.S. senator and, having served since January 3, 1959, that body’s dean. Thirteen years earlier, Byrd wrote this to the KKK’s Imperial Wizard: “The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia.” Byrd led Senate Democrats as late as December 1988. On March 4, 2001, Byrd told Fox News’s Tony Snow: “There are white nig**rs. I’ve seen a lot of white nig**rs in my time; I’m going to use that word.” National Democrats never arranged a primary challenge against Byrd.

Contrast the KKKozy Democrats with the GOP. When former Klansman David Duke ran for Louisiana governor in 1991 as a Republican, national GOP officials scorned him. Local Republicans endorsed incumbent Democrat Edwin Edwards, despite his ethical baggage. As one Republican-created bumper sticker pleaded: “Vote for the crook: It’s important!”

Republicans supported legislation favorable to blacks, often against intense Democratic pushback:

In 1865, Congressional Republicans unanimously backed the 13th Amendment, which made slavery unconstitutional. Among Democrats, 63 percent of senators and 78 percent of House members voted: “No.”

In 1866, 94 percent of GOP senators and 96 percent of GOP House members approved the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing all Americans equal protection of the law. Every congressional Democrat voted: “No.”

February 28, 1871: The GOP Congress passed the Enforcement Act, giving black voters federal protection.

February 8, 1894: Democratic President Grover Cleveland and a Democratic Congress repealed the GOP’s Enforcement Act, denying black voters federal protection.

January 26, 1922: The U.S. House adopted Rep. Leonidas Dyer’s (R., Mo.) bill making lynching a federal crime. Filibustering Senate Democrats killed the measure.

May 17, 1954: As chief justice, former three-term governor Earl Warren (R., Calif.) led the U.S. Supreme Court’s desegregation of government schools via the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. GOP President Dwight Eisenhower’s Justice Department argued for Topeka, Kansas’s black school children. Democrat John W. Davis, who lost a presidential bid to incumbent Republican Calvin Coolidge in 1924, defended “separate but equal” classrooms.

September 24, 1957: Eisenhower deployed the 82nd Airborne Division to desegregate Little Rock’s government schools over the strenuous resistance of Governor Orval Faubus (D., Ark.).

May 6, 1960: Eisenhower signs the GOP’s 1960 Civil Rights Act after it survived a five-day, five-hour filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats.

July 2, 1964: Democratic President Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act after former Klansman Robert Byrd’s 14-hour filibuster and the votes of 22 other Senate Democrats (including Tennessee’s Al Gore, Sr.) failed to scuttle the measure. Illinois Republican Everett Dirksen rallied 26 GOP senators and 44 Democrats to invoke cloture and allow the bill’s passage. According to John Fonte in the January 9, 2003, National Review, 82 percent of Republicans so voted, versus only 66 percent of Democrats.

Although Senator Barry Goldwater (R., Ariz.) opposed this bill the very year he became the GOP’s presidential standard-bearer, Goldwater supported the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts and called for integrating Arizona’s National Guard two years before Truman desegregated the military. Goldwater feared the 1964 Act would limit freedom of association in the private sector, a controversial but principled libertarian objection rooted in the First Amendment rather than racial hatred.

June 29, 1982: President Ronald Reagan signed a 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Republican party also is the home of numerous “firsts.” Among them:

Until 1935, every black federal legislator was Republican. America’s first black U.S. Representative, South Carolina’s Joseph Rainey, and our first black senator, Mississippi’s Hiram Revels, both reached Capitol Hill in 1870. On December 9, 1872, Louisiana Republican Pinckney Benton Stewart “P.B.S.” Pinchback became America’s first black governor.

August 8, 1878: GOP supply-siders may hate to admit it, but America’s first black Collector of Internal Revenue was former U.S. Rep. James Rapier (R., Ala.).

October 16, 1901: GOP President Theodore Roosevelt invited to the White House as its first black dinner guest Republican educator Booker T. Washington. The pro-Democrat Richmond Times newspaper warned that consequently, “White women may receive attentions from Negro men.” As Toni Marshall wrote in the November 9, 1995, Washington Times, when Roosevelt sought reelection in 1904, Democrats produced a button that showed their presidential nominee, Alton Parker, beside a white couple while Roosevelt posed with a white bride and black groom. The button read: “The Choice Is Yours.”

GOP presidents Gerald Ford in 1975 and Ronald Reagan in 1982 promoted Daniel James and Roscoe Robinson to become, respectively, the Air Force’s and Army’s first black four-star generals.

November 2, 1983: President Reagan established Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a national holiday, the first such honor for a black American.

President Reagan named Colin Powell America’s first black national-security adviser while GOP President George W. Bush appointed him our first black secretary of state.

President G.W. Bush named Condoleezza Rice America’s first black female NSC chief, then our second (consecutive) black secretary of State. During her nomination hearing, one-time Klansman Robert Byrd and other Senate Democrats stalled Rice’s confirmation for a week. Amid unanimous GOP support, 12 Democrats and Vermont Independent James Jeffords opposed Rice — the most “No” votes for a State designee since 14 senators frowned on Henry Clay in 1825.

“The first Republican I knew was my father, and he is still the Republican I most admire,” Rice has said. “He joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did. My father has never forgotten that day, and neither have I.”

Think about the men and women in uniform who sacrifice for us every day

• Often working day and night sometimes for long shifts
• Working dangerous duty, never knowing if the next civilian they encounter or car stopped is the one that will take their life
• Whose one act of kindness or letting their guard down could end their life
• Never knowing if that next group mission or raid will be their last
• Whose families wait anxiously for them every day, always wondering if they’ll make it back home
• Who get paid low wages for their immense sacrifice and duty, but do so to protect our system of justice with a sense of  honor and duty to their fellow citizens
• Who are often faced with the horrors of mans’ inhumanity to man on a daily basis, beating down their morale and belief in others
• Who often face hostility and resentment from the people they try to help because of a few bad apples in their ranks

I could be referring to our military, but I’m not. I’m referring to the men and women in our own country who work in law enforcement. People who deal with many of the same issues and dangers and those in combat—for their entire police careers. 

Nearly every day we hear of an officer killed in the line of duty, leaving a grieving spouse and children.  The result is less officers on the street, less new recruits and a more dangerous world for all of us.

I think of how dangerous it can be for them, and how stressful their work must be.  How often the public sees them as merely a uniform to be there when help is needed, giving little thought or respect to the people behind the uniform.   The next time you see a police officer, thank him or her for their dedication and willingness to risk their lives every day for us.

Elizabeth Ochoa

Republicans of Kent County invite and encourage all interested members to submit opinion essays giving the conservative and Republican view on newsworthy topics as well as the basic tenets of the Republican Party. Those essays selected will be posted on this website page. Essays may be edited for brevity and clarity. You are encouraged to validate any data/statistical evidence presented by providing their sources. Please send essays via email to info@gopofkent.com. We look forward to your participation.

Socialism Vs Capitalism

Socialism and its big brother, Marxism / Communism, have been around since 1848. The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engles is an all-encompassing theory of economics and politics that sees conflict between the upper class of capitalists and the rest of the population who were poor workers. The rich and privileged capitalists exploited the poor workers. According to Marxist theory, When this had been accomplished for long enough, the workers would hold a revolution and over throw the capitalists, thus taking control of the system. The workers would then get what they needed by the efforts of everyone and all would be equitable.

The tenets of Marxism were written in a time when mass production and the industrial revolution were just starting. After the revolution, the leaders of the victorious workers would organize the distribution of goods to everyone. They would dictate who got what. All means of production would belong to the country, the people. The softer, gentler version was socialism, wherein some businesses could still be private, but the major industries– including communications, factories, distribution of goods– would be government-run.

Russia became the Soviet Union and took over the government of many countries. China followed suit. The results were a disaster. The only people who got wealthy were the leaders. They controlled everything. Innovation couldn’t happen because their vision was limited. All answers were expected to come from the top.

There are two thoughts that I have at this point. The first is that in the Soviet Union, a premium was placed on weapons. So they built up the military and space programs. In the meantime, folks waited in line for everything from cars to bread. The second is that with directions limited to the top echelon, and independent thought rejected, we now see the Russian troops in Ukraine not able to do anything to get around any problems they encounter. Therefore, they have no option but to be brutal. It must be very frustrating to the common soldier and the generals.

In our country, we encourage innovation in every field. And, we get it. But we are officially self-governed. So we may call a program “Social” like Social Security, but, it was instituted by a free and independent congress that can change or dismiss the program at any time. Now, I don’t recommend that every program in the social sphere be canceled just because of its name. We need to take care of people of advanced age, or persons with disabilities, or orphans. It would be inhumane to not care for those in need. But who is cared for and how much money is spent is a matter for our legislature to create as a law. We also collectively have decided to fund communication companies like PBS and the arts. We have created enough wealth with our innovation to be able to support many such “social” programs. They benefit society as a whole. This makes us richer in all sorts of ways.

Personally, I feel that Socialism/ Communism/ Marxism is a fraud. It claims to care for “the workers”. But it really only works for those in charge.

–Holly Geddes