Vision 2016 Part I: Foundations for Our Future

November 14th, 2014 | Dr. Charlie Self

A Time for Reflection
For half a century, America has been at a civil crossroads. Will the founders’ experiment in virtue-based liberty continue or will it be replaced by disempowering ideologies? Will American “first principles” of freedom of conscience/religion, assembly, redress and speech remain robust, or will political correctness stifle the full exchange of ideas? Will government return to its subsidiary role of protecting natural rights or continue the one hundred year trajectory of bestowing rights as largess from a Leviathan?

Courage and Grace: The Morning After 2014

November 5th, 2014 | Dr. Charlie Self

Once again, midterm elections humble an incumbent President. Since 1938, almost all midterms bring favorable gains to the party outside the White House. Apart from an idiotic editorial in the New York Times calling for the elimination of midterm elections, what does this mean for America during the next two years…and beyond?

9/11

September 11th, 2014 | Dr. Charlie Self

9/11: We all remember where we were. (Flames Restaurant, San Jose, CA).

Courage: Compassion and Confrontation

September 4th, 2014 | Dr. Charlie Self

75 years ago Europe erupted in warfare as Hitler invaded Poland with the aid of his new “cooperative partner” Stalin. Just days before, on August 22, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a 10-year non-aggression and trade agreement. The secret protocols divided Eastern Europe into zones of conquest for each power. Russia was given half of Poland, and a free hand in the Baltic states and Finland. Germany was given her share of Poland and a free hand in the West. Both powers knew they would one day go to war…but for now they were allied against the forces of democracy.

Solutions

July 21st, 2014 | Dr. Charlie Self

From the chattering media class to the proverbial “man on the street” – so many folks have fallen into a soft fatalism, an unconscious resignation that nothing can really change when we look at the serious problems we face. Immigration and Israel, fatherless homes and federal deficits, ecological and economic challenges – all seem intractable.

Messenger to the Thoughtful