What Makes America The Greatest Country in The World?

I am a big Aaron Sorkin fan, enjoying most of the stuff he puts out there, including the opening scene from his HBO series, "The Newsroom," where "sorority girl" asked him the above question.  In fact, my wife Tracy and I saw Sorkin's production of, "To Kill a Mockingbird" on Broadway a few months ago.  Loved it.  But even though Jeff Daniels was great as Atticus Finch, it was Celia Keenan-Bolger who stole the stage as Scout.

Living in the age of identity politics today means not only people separating themselves out due to certain political ideologies, but innocent bystanders being lumped into those groups based on what party they belong to.  Or where they live.  Don't believe me?  Try driving a car with California plates in Idaho, or some other state where folks believe California residency means alignment with Gavin Newsom. Yeah, I am a conservative, but note that my favorite show was "The West Wing." 

Tracy and I saw Brandi Carlile three times in the past few years and absolutely love her music; and actually, we really like her as well. If there is anyone on the opposite side of the political spectrum from me, it is Brandi Carlile.  But after the show below, (how 'bout them seats!) where she was interviewed at the Grammy Museum before for about 30 minutes, and hearing her sing songs like, "By The Way, I Forgive You," "The Mother," and "Fulton County Jane," it became clear that despite our differences, there is much more we have in common than not.  But you wouldn't know that if you believe the media.     

So what makes America great?  Check out the below picture of a hard fought tilt on the pitch last weekend.  Those little 5 year olds had their coaches on the field coaching, substituting players in, officiating, tying shoelaces, high fiving, encouraging kids get up to keep playing after falling, and creating an atmosphere where the kids enjoyed the heck out of the game.  My daughter Courtney is in the black, and she is coaching her #2 while pregnant with #5.  The opposing coach also had a bun cookin', and she had an injured leg, so she limped around the field.

This sort of thing is replicated all over the country, with moms and dads and others getting off work early, going to meetings, hosting practices, and creating sunshine.  I could not help but think that America's greatness is related to what I saw on Saturday.

Of course, I may be just a dad proud of his little girl coaching her little girl, but I am ok with that bias.

10,663 Days with Kids, And Now Empty Nesters

Well, what do you know . . . that day that old folks warned us about snuck right up on us.  Yep, our kids, "before you know it," did grow up too fast!  Not sure how that happened, but my wife of nearly 31 years and I find ourselves in an interesting situation.  Empty nesters!

Courtney is off and married with a small tribe of her own, Lindsey is making a life for herself in Portland, Oregon, and Jake is abroad serving a mission in Edmonton. (Canada is "abroad," right?)  And just like that, here we are!  This beach pic is what first pops into my mind when I think about our little family.  

Since January of this year, Tracy and I have learned a lot about being empty nesters, so hit me up for advice. Or, "Slide into my DMs." We are all in this together. 

Actually, Tracy and I are digging this stage in our lives right now, and here are a few notes . . .

First off, we are intentional about keeping the home fires burning.  One of our favorite movies is "It's A Wonderful Life," which we watch every Christmas.  We can often find it on the big screen at one of our local theaters, but we love that heck out of that flick.  For our last Valentine's Day, I had my friends at Social Spice Media create a nice little surprise for Tracy, which hangs in our place in Utah:

If you don't know the movie, you won't get the reference. 

Second, priorities.  Tracy and I prioritize time together, and while we would love to see family and friends, right now we are spread a bit too thin; so we make sure that our time is our time. Dinner, movie, whatever . . . it is usually just us.

This is how family pictures will probably look like from now on!  Pretty nice that we can walk to church with Mt Timpanogos in the background.  Was a bit cool, but that is what jackets are for!

Watching BYU vs Gonzaga in basketball.  Was a good night for Zag fans!  Really glad that we both love to see sporting events.

Great trip between the holidays to NYC and Boston . . . summer trip to the UK and fall in Nashville are in the queue! 

Grabbing a bite at The Foundry at Sundance. Date nights are huge for us. . . so we ate dinner here before watching the Missouri vs Utah Valley wrestling match.  MO crushed 'em, but UVU made a nice showing.

Enjoying a birthday party, together, that involved too many sweets! 

We.Are.So.Cultured. Immersive Van Gogh in Hollyweird, totally worth the hype.  Really enjoyed this.

We sometimes have company on date nights- above is the first of many dance recitals, and we enjoyed dinner before and dessert after!

Enjoying the Ute's Spring Football game.  In rain, hail, and wind . . . springtime in Utah.  Again, just us, and afterwards we shared a 40oz porterhouse at Ruth's Chris!

Keeping busy is not a problem.  Tracy is enjoying her gig teaching first grade at Midway Elementary School, and I am enjoying the business down in California while trying to open up in Salt Lake.  We don't feel the weight of kids leaving the nest, we are too busy!  Downsizing seems like a nice empty nester thing to do, unless you're us.  We added the place in Orem, Utah, and I still dream of a cabin in Weaverville.

Empty nesting does not mean we stop worrying about our kids . . . heck, we probably even worry more.  But we do it in the comfort of a quiet living room with our feet up, enjoying a nice chilled bottle of Diet Coke, while watching a period piece on Netflix. 

And to you young parents . . . enjoy it while it lasts; they grow up too fast!

Mister We Could Use A Man Like Herbert Hoover Again . . .

What happened to the folks on the left?

When I was growing up, the liberal left leaning folks were those that espoused tolerance, freedom of expression, and equal rights for all. If you were liberal, then it went without saying that you were kind. Archie Bunker’s son in law, played by now Prius-driving Rob Reiner, was the hippy-type person that fit the leftist point of view. I could imagine that character pushing a dandelion into the rifle barrel in that famous image, or a refined academic that wore a bowtie.

The ACLU has historically fought to ensure no one’s civil rights were trampled on. Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s fanstasic bio, “On the Basis of Sex,” depicted the ACLU getting behind her case to ensure that stay-at-home dads get the same rights as stay-at-home moms, with the goal being that women’s rights continue to progress. The ACLU even went to bat for Nazi demonstrators in 1978 to protect their First Amendment right to march and express their points of view, however twisted they are. Then at around the turn of the century, things started to change.

The organization that won a Supreme Court victory for suspended public school students wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War fought in 2005 to remove “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution in public schools. Little known fact- the ACLU secured Clarence Darrow as the attorney in the famous 1925 Scopes trial, relating to the ban on teaching evolution in public schools in Tennessee. They fought to keep one position in, and then the opposing position out. 

The ACLU no longer appears interested in doing what it did in 1978 to protect civil liberties for all, nor is true to its statement of preserving the “promise liberty for everyone,” but rather is pushing a leftist agenda that is a part of a movement that is a zero sum game. In other words, the objective is promised liberties for only some.

Ben Shapiro was invited to speak at UC Berkeley, and the university spent $836k to protect him and his free speech. Milo Yiannopoulos went a few weeks later during a week billed to highlight the school’s lack of commitment to free speech, and the university ended up spending $2.9M in security costs for that week.  (Glad to see they got money to burn!) The speakers were constantly heckled and shouted down by attendees in an attempt to silence them. at this, the epicenter of free speech movement protests from the 1960s.

Freedom of speech now appears to just cut one way.  I saw a comic talk about how the French accent is the one accent that is ok to mock, and it similarly appears to be ok to short shift those who are white, male, straight and Judeo-Christian. Which is copacetic, as people in those classes of privilege are simply spouting microaggressions anyway.

Ronald Reagan famously said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." Old Dutch may be viewed as the religious leader of conservatism, but the guy had some liberal leanings. He memorized FDR's Fireside Chats. He believed a person's lack of funds should not be a barrier to medical care, especially for senior citizens. He actually believed that labeling left and right was divisive.

On the other hand, John F. Kennedy, a torch bearer of liberalism said, "Ask not what your country can do for you -ask what you can do for your country." This is not consistent with entitlements and endless tax-raising government programs, or how we view leftist politics. But it appears to be consistent with Democratic ideals in 1961.

Trump’s election was a protest on the Obama Administration, and what is coming in 2020 may be an even stronger response from the red states. My 2 cents on this one is it is better to go with the devil you know than the devil you don't.

On the other hand, the only thing I may follow in 2020 is the Rams Superbowl campaign.

Still Fearsome!