Guardians of the Future

The Cleveland Indians baseball team will next year be known as the Cleveland Guardians. Cleveland is not my town or team, but as a (former) baseball fan, I've known about the Cleveland Indians my whole life. In fact, they were the Cleveland Indians for both of my parents' whole lives.

The "Indians" was the team name throughout two World Wars, the Roaring '20s, the Great Depression, the Korean war, the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam war, the entire space age, 9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Great Recession, right up through the January 6 Capital riot and on into Antifa, BLM, and CRT. 

Leaving race obsession out of any public decision today seems impossible, but I've got a good imagination. Why such a servicable 105-year-old name urgently needed change, I can't fathom. But naming rights belong to the team's city, and Cleveland has decided that "Guardians" fits today's team better than "Indians." Perhaps they have a good point.

Cleveland did a thoughtful job in choosing the Guardian name. Cleveland's "Guardians of Traffic" statues are quite impressive. They are 90-year-old landmarks on the Hope Memorial Bridge, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 to ensure the preservation of the traffic guardian statues. That's a solid hometown hook for the new name.

Appropriately enough, the bridge is located within a stone's throw of the Cleveland baseball team's home, Progressive Field. Now, there's a name I would change.

Guardian of Traffic - Cleveland, OH

Perspective Needed

People don't pay much attention to history anymore--especially United States history--but it's worth mentioning that the Capitol building was attacked long before the January 6, 2021 riot.

There was the 1954 shooting by Puerto Rican nationalists that left five Congressmen wounded. In 1971, the Marxist group Weathermen Underground bombed the Capitol. As wrong as it was, it's not as though the January 6 breach was something completely foreign to the Capitol's history. 

I find myself unable to watch a nano-second of media coverage of the joke "commission" investigating January 6, but this much I can say: Anyone who compares the January 6 Capitol breach to the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, owes an immediate apology to each one of the thousands of family members who still grieve the loss of their loved ones on that terrible day. Debra Burlingame, sister of one of the airline pilots murdered on 9/11, explains why in this interview.

Not a Word to Add

Victor Davis Hanson sums up the terrifying mess this country has deteriorated into in a mere year and a half. The American Descent into Madness › American Greatness (amgreatness.com) is a long piece, but it is an important must-read--and quite a depressing one, because it's all true.

There's nothing more to say.

Freedom Beyond Control

The New York Times

When events like Sunday's mass protest against the Communist Cuban government erupt so suddenly and unexpectedly, I'm always reminded of the human flaw of believing we are in control.

Pity the poor "Democratic Socialists" (actually, they are Marxists) in United States government, big business and media who truly believed their plan to shove socialism down our throats was all wrapped up in a tidy bow. Suddenly there are thousands of brutally oppressed people marching in the streets screaming "Libertad!" (Freedom) and "Patria y Vida!" (Homeland and Life) less than one hundred miles from Key West. "The Squad" is uncharacteristically quiet. Apparently the current Cuban crisis makes socialism, let alone communism, a very hard sell.

These Cuban protestors are brave people. American protests are not punished with torture and execution, but Cubans may pay with their lives for daring to speak out against the totalitarian Communist government. Many of them already have.

And what is the US government's response to Cuba's reach for freedom? Pathetically inadequate--a weak mix of lame words and no actions. I expected nothing more from the current administration, and I'm sad to be right in that conclusion. But throughout real America, the people of the United States support the courageous efforts of the Cuban people to throw off their communist chains. This is nowhere so true as in Florida, the home of so many Cuban families that escaped the iron fist of communism and made a free and prosperous life in America. Miami, Fort Meyers, and Naples are among the Florida communities marching in solidarity with the Cuban people who are risking all in demanding their liberty.

The "Democratic Socialists" who want to break and remake our nation are noisy and have the headlines. But the Americans who believe in our country, and in Cuba's drive for freedom, have the numbers. We have taken the stark warning from Cuba. Despite their arrogant illusion of control, I think the "Democratic Socialists" will need to peddle their Marxism elsewhere. Libertad is the word of the times.

A Galvanized Grassroots

Not to be a downer on the weekend, but Victor Davis Hanson's piece in American Greatness on "The Cruel Progressive Creed Undoing Civilization" is a must-read for any concerned American citizen. Saturday or not, we don't have time to waste. The Communists and Marxists in our elite ruling class are very busy dismantling our society, 24/7. We who wish to protect our national values, institutions and traditions have got to keep pace, and knowledge is power.

The brightest ray of hope to end the death spiral is the army of parents rising up across the country to challenge the radical left-wing agendas of school boards and to demand accountability. In many cases communities have initiated efforts to recall school board members and--most encouraging--many parents have chosen to run for election to their school board themselves.

This activism and involvement on a local level is very good news for the ultimate health of our republic. It is a necessary reaction to overreach and oppression. In the USA, contrary to progressive dogma that believes only it knows best, "We the People" are the government. We ourselves are responsible for maintaining our hard-won liberties. Freedom begins--or ends--at our own doorsteps.

Words to Live By

 

"...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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..."

Preamble, United States Declaration of Independence

A Chilling Read

This week I finished reading Jonah Goldberg's book, Suicide of the West. Published in 2018, just a heartbeat in time ahead of the pandemic and current breakdown of our society, Suicide is remarkably prescient in detailing where all the wearying decades of political correctness was actually going. The book does a chillingly accurate job of explaining the origins and meaning of our current national and cultural crisis.

I've followed Goldberg for many years. He's a conservative "Never-Trumper" who can be brilliantly smart and laugh-out-loud humorous at the same time. Suicide of the West is thoroughly researched and annotated; although it is completely absorbing and endlessly interesting, it is not a fast read. There is so much data and history, so many facts and examples provided, that this reader had to maintain a slower pace in order to process all of the information being presented. But I found it to be well worth the time investment. I recommend it to any thoughtful American seeking to better understand just why it seems apparent that the wheels are coming off our society.

The book leaves us at our present destination. The final chapter, "Decline is a Choice," is where this nation stands today. I have been continuously shocked at the rapid deterioration in our political and societal health during the past year. After reading Suicide of the West, I don't believe that Jonah Goldberg has been at all surprised.