So many things happened during our 23rd Semester it is not possible to chronicle them all. Here are a few things that really caught my attention from the semester:
Michael Mercier spoke about the media and let us know that we can fight back and there are steps we can take to hold the media accountable. It isn’t easy but we can do it. EmpowerU is looking for someone to volunteer to run our media narrative pushback efforts. At one point we had a Media Accountability Project and we need to revive it. Are you interested.
The Corruption of the Ohio Republican Party–what I learned was that we have a totally ineffective Republican State Central Committee. This is a group that doesn’t even have financial controls in place and is really unwilling to look at itself in the mirror. Much of the State Central committee is controlled by proxies that work and earn money from the current administration. Until this “Board of Directors’ starts to run and manage the party, Republican Government in Ohio will be poor-performing. The only way to change the State Central Committee is to vote the cast of characters out and make change. This will be your opportunity in the next primary–in August 2022?
Preston Van Loon spoke about the important topic of The Power of Interpersonal Forgiveness. This was a subject that I did not know well but I valued his thoughts. His incredibly, easy to read book, The Path to Forgiveness is something I’ve read (took about 1 hour) and if you or a family member needs to forgive someone this is a GOOD place to start.
Jim Renacci Session–My big take away from this session wasn’t that Jim was the best or only candidate for Governor of Ohio. My take away was to admire and see how a candidate can have so much promise, so many good ideas, but in the case of someone like Governor Mike DeWine, after they win, how everything just gets so corrupted by the swamp. I respect Jim Renacci’s vision of Public Education for Ohio and if he would have won I think our kids would have had a much different outcomes.
The Old Lefthander–The message from this session from John Kiesewetter was simple–Stop and Smell the Roses and Enjoy yourself. Take time with your friends and family and have fun. I may not be able to pitch or play baseball anymore but this is definitely something easy to always remember. I used to LOVE baseball…
Social Emotion Learning is something I didn’t know a lot about before Kirsten Hill spoke with us. I do know a lot about Public Education after spending a year fighting Critical Race Theory. It’s a fool’s game to think that our schools–where in many cases proficiency is below 50%–can try to play psycho-analyst to every kid in the class. This is the parent’s job. My hope is that at some point teachers will get back to teaching the basics–and I hope all our students get a better understanding of just how GREAT America is through better Civic’s education. This is a case where our legislature could just act, but the bottom line is there are few people in Ohio’s Government that are able to get anything done.
The Forgotten Man and the Great Society–one of the things I like most about Tom Hagedorn is the fact that he continually reminds me there are evil forces behind many of the crazy things going on in Government and the Schools. History has shown us dark motives–in many cases they are there.
Jim Lewis, from Building Blocks for Liberty always reminds me that many of today’s problems would go away if the Legislature would just view their job of running the Sovereign State of Ohio and actually do things. Why isn’t this happening?
Being Prepared for Shortages–I’m not. Thanks to Rick Gibbs for making me put this higher on my “to-do” list for the summer. Ask me when we get back to our next semester how I’ve done. I will have made some progress.
The Tour of the Hamilton County Board of Elections–this was the most professional tour I’ve ever taken. Out of the 60 people attending at least 15% of them reached out to me personally and told me they felt better about our election system.
Anni’s Story–Anni Cyrus is a leader and we will be hearing a lot from her in the years ahead. Anni, thank you for opening yourself up to the class and letting us learn what it is like to grow up outside of the United States. Your art and pottery work you brought in was incredible!
Stuart Scheller–What do you do when someone who has been in the Military, at a high level, tells you that the United States military is failing because management and that the Generals are all “Yes” men. This is one of the scariest things I’ve ever heard. With Social Justice becoming more important than military equipment, tactics and personnel this really puts us in a bad spot. This reality check time…
Vivek Ramaswamy–His upbeat lecture reminded me just how much of a “thought leader” he is for our Great Country. Let’s hope he is listened to. One good friend counseled me many years ago that it is easier to get things done on the outside compared to running for elected office. My thought is that Vivek might be able to get more things done outside Government rather than in.
Convention of States–Yes, I’ve got thoughts on this. Extensive. Watch the Blog article that I’ll post this summer on why this is so important.
The Great Reset–is being implemented by consultants pushed by progressives with all the tax money out there. What we do is being monitored, watched and shaped by these groups that want to make our world smaller, different than it is now. Tom DeWeese reminded us that this is happening on State, Local and County level first. We have to be vigilant and watch what happens in our local meetings. Things to watch: Smart Meters, things that record what we do.
67 Shots--Although this class hasn’t finished yet, what happened at Kent State has had a profound impact on me. I think Arthur Krause, father of Allison Krause said it best:
“My daughter was not a bum… She felt that our crossing into Cambodia was wrong. Is this dissent a crime? Is this a reason for killing her? Have we come to such a state in this country that a young girl has to be shot because she disagrees deeply with the actions of her government?” –Arthur Krause, father of Allison Krause
I learned a lot in this 23rd Semester at EmpowerU. At the start of every semester learning something new is always my goal. I hope you learned some great things too. Have a Great Summer!
Dan Regenold