One American's Credo

I am of Scottish and Danish stock: what could be sterner stuff? Yes, Braveheart and Norsemen. My people made Europe with their blood and sweat–and the Faith that elevated the Continent and the British Isles. That point in time came in the early 1700’s when my people felt and bore the crushing weight of religious persecution. As Scots and Danes imbued with the Love of God burning deep within, they faced the stormy dangers of the unpredictable Atlantic to leave Europe behind and come here, Philadelphia and Omaha respectively. They forged iron and steel to make their homes, churches and schools.

They fought for Independence and then for Freedom of the Slaves. They fought to rescue Europe from tyranny twice, only to be faced with World-wide Communism. By their efforts, because by their sides were thousands and thousands of other Americans of like-mind, the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its Evil Empire.

Now, our Great Nation is being fed the pap that all that should be forgotten and replaced with the very fallacies, weaknesses, and “-isms” from which our forefathers had fought and freed themselves.

I am proud of America and I have devoted my life, as have my brothers and sisters in Faith, to preserving and improving Our Nation within a framework of respect for the Fact that “we are standing on the Shoulders of Giants” !! Europe needs us more than we need its profound exhaustion and declining birthrate, which are the natural consequences of their diminishing Faith.

Let us all grasp the fact that Europe’s reliance on faithless solipsism and nihilism cannot endure long and even now is being pulled from beneath their complacent feet. Healthy societies are either moving forward responsibly or they are sliding into chaos, confusion and inescapable vulnerability. One would have thought a Lenin, a Hitler and a Stalin sufficient to warn Europeans “to stand guardians at the doors” of their Freedoms.

Our Faith, Our People, Our Land and Our God-Given Inalienable Rights as Citizens of this Great Nation (as confirmed in and meant to be preserved by the U. S. Constitution) are the most solid reasons for relentlessly protecting and exercising to the fullest Our Freedoms. Turn back the assault by going on the offensive !!

Jim Ritchie is a practicing attorney in the Atlanta area, and President of Georgia Media Matters, Ltd.

Tutoring Justice Thomas

Slated on Backbone Radio, June 1 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

If Obama is elected President, it will be because of civic illiteracy. Is that too highbrow for you? I'm saying it will be because American politics finally turned into "American Idol," the contest for prom king. A win for Obie will mean our process of choosing the trustees of power was emotionalized, feminized, and infantilized to the point where Madison and Hamilton wouldn't recognize it. Backbone Radio is on a crusade to combat civic illiteracy. We're all about self-government for grownups, America as the Founders intended it to be. That's why we love the Claremont Institute. No one else teaches our country's founding principles as well as they do.

Did you know that when Clarence Thomas was a young agency head under President Reagan, long before anyone dreamed of him being a Supreme Court Justice and brilliant guardian of the Constitution, he hired a couple of political theorists from Claremont as his tutors in what America was meant to be? True story, you can look it up.

** Dr. John Marini of the University of Nevada at Reno was one of those Thomas staffers back in the '80s. I thrive on Marini's tutoring, and it will be great to have him on the show this Sunday. Listen and learn.

** Further in the cause of recovering civic literacy, we'll also do an hour of Politics 101 with CU political scientist and fearless conservative, Dr. Vincent McGuire. An evening in the candy store, I'd say.

** And there's more. Imagine a guided tour of leftism and atheism called "Ten Books that Screwed Up the World." It actually exists, and the author, Prof. Benjamin Wiker, will be my guest. So will our man on the campaign trail, often wrong but never dull, Mike Littwin of the Rocky.

It's odd. Backbone is abundant among ordinary Americans, but scarce among political figures, more scarce the more prominent they are, for some reason. We're out to change that. We need your help. Please join us. Our country's very survival could depend on it.

Yours for the Republic, JOHN ANDREWS

Dare your graduate to read

(Denver Post, June 1) It was a graduation to remember. Our grandson and his classmates looked great in their blue mortarboard caps with gold tassels. Parents beamed and cameras flashed. The speaker was brief, taking his text from Psalms: “Children are a gift from God.” Ian’s dad caught the whole thing on video. Did I mention that Ian is five, and this was preschool commencement at Hosanna Lutheran? There was hardly a dry eye in the place as the graduates gave a fine choral rendition of “Kindergarten Here We Come.” Our little crown prince won’t recall much about that day as the years pass, but be honest: What do you recall of substance about the graduation days you or your children went through? If you remember who spoke or the advice they gave, you’re a savant. If you can name, let alone still have, the gifts you got, you’re a packrat. It all fades.

What I still have and still treasure from completing junior high, high school, and eventually college, is some books my parents and other adults gave me. I felt honored that they took me seriously enough at this educational milestone to present me with the tools of further learning, formally inscribed and signed.

We of the gray hair, rattled by things like texting and tattoos, grouch that schools are being dumbed down and youth are going to the dogs. Sure, that’s been the complaint of every generation since Plato, but this time (we fret) it’s really happening. Then why not push back and compliment your graduate with a gift that will last, a book?

I don’t mean just any book. Ixnay on the latest from Oprah or Starbucks. Go for something more timeless, serious but short, not heavily political or religious yet edgy enough to reward the reader. If you’ve read it yourself, the personal connection will flatter your young friend. A bridge of ideas between you will span the coming decades.

“The Abolition of Man” by C. S. Lewis is less than 100 pages, delphically silent on the author’s beloved Christian faith, and came out long before Obama was born. Yet its powerful treatment of what truth is, how the world works, and what it means to really think, is as fresh as tomorrow’s headlines. It has changed many lives. I recently sent it to Ben Steiger, graduating from Bentonville High in Arkansas.

Equally sparkling in their brevity are “The Law” by Frederic Bastiat, a French parliamentarian who wrote in 1850, and “Introduction to Citizenship for New Americans” by Thomas Krannawitter of the Claremont Institute. The graduate who’s soon to be a voter will find them thoughtful guides to understanding the free society, without a speck of partisanship.

Bastiat was that rarity, a reflective statesman. A father of the breed was Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor in the 2nd century, who penned his remarkable “Meditations” while on military campaign. “My Early Life” by Winston Churchill is another example, closer to our own time. Either makes a memorable gift at this season.

Character forged in the fire seems to be the theme of my recommendations here. That wasn’t planned; I just grabbed some favorites off the shelf. It’s fitting, though, for the Class of 2008 as they ask themselves, “What now?” Help set their moral compass with books like Elton Trueblood’s “Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish” or Robert Bolt’s unforgettable play about Sir Thomas More, “A Man for All Seasons.”

Whatever book you give, inscribe it with three A’s. Jot your affection for the person he or she is, your admiration for the summit reached with this diploma, and your anticipation of higher peaks the graduate will climb. Then sign it, date it, and feel great about it. You’ve given a gift that will last.

Geddes picked to succeed Regent Schauer

Dr. Jim Geddes, a trauma surgeon from Sedalia, will carry the Republican banner for CU Regent from the 6th congressional district this November. Geddes was nominated by acclamation at Saturday's GOP assembly in Castle Rock after incumbent Paul Schauer quit the race Thursday night. "We're in a battle for the ideological soul of our university, our party, and our country," Geddes told the assembly. Schauer <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_told Allison Sherry of the Denver Post that his withdrawal had nothing to do with a storm of conservative anger, including a mailer that bracketed him with Ward Churchill as no fan of Western Civilization. Presumably he was also unruffled by a week of bruising criticism in print and on radio by Mike Rosen.

If you believe that, contact me about a special price on the deed to Pike's Peak, Mt. McKinley, or any national landmark of your choosing. More on target were the comments to Sherry by some of Schauer's liberal allies on the regents, Democrat Mike Carrigan who said he was swift-boated and Republican Pat Hayes who called the whole thing "frightening." For her crowd of lefties, yes. For real freedom of thought at the university, no.

Several party leaders told me they were disappointed Schauer didn't attend the 6th CD assembly, thank party workers for their support, and perhaps even offer the nomination of Geddes as his successor. It would have given more plausibility to his profession of not leaving under fire, but just wanting a change.

As it was, I gave the nomination for "Doc" Geddes, and was pleased to do so, having been a campaign strategist for him from the start. I expect Jim to win easily in the general election. It's a safe Republican district and he faces only token Democratic opposition. My nominating speech was as follows:

It’s a new day at the University of Colorado. CU has emerged from a difficult time and made a new start under the leadership of former president Hank Brown. The university now has an outstanding new president in Bruce Benson, a true Republican.

CU needs a true Republican majority on the board of regents to support Bruce Benson. All it takes is one more reliable vote, and Dr. Jim Geddes is exactly the man to provide it.

Jim Geddes is a fighting conservative and a gifted leader. We can trust him. Jim knows that the needed reforms in higher education will never be achieved by regents from our party who cater to the left wing faculty and repeatedly vote with the Democrats, as some have done in the past.

Paul Schauer is a good man. We should thank him as he departs. To replace him, and to take CU to the next level, I’m proud to nominate Jim Geddes for Regent.

Big government stalks Centennial

(Denver Post, May 18) “The era of big government is over,” Americans were told by Bill Clinton in 1995. If only. Since then we’ve seen his wife run for President in pursuit of a health care takeover, his buddy Al Gore propagandize for massive intervention on global warming, and his successor George Bush balloon the budget deficit. States and localities have continued to fatten as well, multiplying budgets, payrolls, and new government entities at “an astounding rate,” according to Clint Bolick, author of the book “Grassroots Tyranny.” Familiar with Colorado from his years at Mountain States Legal Foundation, Bolick is now with the Goldwater Institute in Arizona. “Big government didn’t disappear,” he says, “it simply moved to the suburbs.” Our state is notorious for its kudzu-like proliferation of special taxing districts. We’re also the place where life imitated art in 2000, when a city called Centennial incorporated itself south of Denver, echoing James Michener’s novel by that name about an imaginary town north of Denver. A struggle over the young municipality’s future is now underway.

Centennial, where I’ve lived since 1974, will hold an election June 10 on its proposed home-rule charter as drafted by a citizens’ commission. Residents are divided. The debate matters to all Coloradans as a case study in government’s inherent tendency to grow, whether driven by real needs or not.

Commission chairman Cathy Noon argues that under home rule, “we the citizens will craft our own governmental structure, one that meets our needs,” resulting in “more self-governance” and “enhanced quality of life.” Sounds good. But Chris Raab, head of the opposition, worries that city hall insiders are “trying to grow the city, and the growth is not paying for itself.” He contends the charter is fatally flawed with “poor checks and balances.”

Sounds bad; so who’s right? Under Colorado’s constitution, a city or town is entirely a creature of the state legislature unless it votes for home rule under a mini-constitution of its own. Such autonomy has superficial appeal, and most of our larger municipalities have opted for it. But you’d best be skeptical if you value individual liberty, small government, and free markets. Political empire-building is just too big a temptation, especially in localities.

Studying my locality’s proposed charter at CentennialColorado.com, I found a number of commendable safeguards against overgovernment. But they’re mixed with troublesome provisions reflecting the weak checks and balances that Raab criticizes. Why eliminate the treasurer and the clerk, two of the only three citywide elected officers? Why empower the mayor and council members to fire each other for undefined “good cause”? I’ll be voting no.

It’s nothing personal. I just want more safeguards than this plan gives. Founding Father James Madison warned that “schemes of oppression” are easier to carry out locally because special interests swing more weight there. City politicians are much less well-known than those in state and federal offices, notes Clint Bolick, adding: “Local governments are like vampires: they operate best under cover of darkness.”

Randy Simmons, who teaches political economy at Utah State and is mayor of his small town, says that a meddlesome populism infects city councils, and the lack of partisan accountability in local government makes it worse. He observes that even Republicans tend to “go socialist” in municipal office, tempted to “do good with other people’s money.”

Simmons says he’s glad Utah’s constitution has no home rule option, so their legislature can prevent grassroots tyranny. But Colorado lacks that protection. “If the charter’s not written right, citizens can lose control of their city to the hired manager,” says Larry Merkel, who as a Wheat Ridge councilman saw it happen there in 1976. Will Centennial make the same mistake? Let’s hope not.