Dakota Beacon

Forty years ago I made the virtual acquaintance of Francis A. Schaeffer through his 1977 film series “How Should We Then Live?” It was based on his book of the same title and the production was given at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. I was struck by how little I knew about the influence Christianity had on our culture -- education, science, economics, the arts, and our very form of government.

Schaeffer’s perspective may be summed up briefly. “I believe people are as they think. The choices we make…will mold irrevocably the direction of our culture…and the lives of our children.” He pursued the analysis of secular worldviews and how their secular presuppositions color the interpretation of the facts. Over an historical span of 200 years he illustrated how our supposedly neutral society ridicules, ignores, and rejects the Christian point of view about morality, truth, science, the arts, and most other areas of life. He effectively demonstrated the hollowness and modernism and postmodernism.

That was my introduction to the clash of worldviews. I became aware that this clash, over the past century, has had an exceedingly detrimental effect on Western Civilization, certainly in the short term.

Many recent polls show that Millennials prefer socialism over capitalism. One poll prior to 2016 showed that 69% of Millennials said they would vote for a socialist as president. In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said “Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” Many Democrats applauded this statement, but some did not—and some media outlets criticized the president. In this article that first appeared at The American Spectator, Dr. Paul Kengor examines the left’s reactions and argues that all Americans should renounce socialism. He writes, “The undeniable reality is that Donald Trump called out the ‘alarming’ trend toward socialism—with the apparent approval of some very top Democrats—because America is indeed, without question, facing an alarming trend toward socialism.”

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Enter Judicial Watch (JW), one of the premiere public service law firms in the nation (501c3). JW has filed four Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against the US State Department and USAID. JW is seeking the facts concerning allegations that George Soros’ radical groups in Colombia, Romania, Macedonia, and Albania are being funded by US taxpayers.

It works like this. Evidence indicates collusion between officials from the Obama State Department who are still in position (Deep State) in the Trump administration and George Soros to destabilize democratic governments. JW has already forced some documents from the State Department that substantiate this collusion in Albania and Romania. There are further allegations of collusion between State Department officials and Soros to move US taxpayers dollars through Soros’ organizations to undermine democratically elected conservative governments by supporting far-left groups

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Did you see the Microsoft commercial during the Super Bowl? It featured six children who love to play video games with their friends. Each of these kids has a physical limitation that makes using standard video-game controllers quite difficult—until an adaptive controller brought change. In this article, Dr. Joseph Horton looks at the inspiring commercial and draws a stark contrast between it and recent abortion legislation in New York and Virginia.

Human Life Review, Spring 1982 — If most people retain anything of their first philosophy course, it is likely to be the convenient distinction between "facts" and "values" that was fashionable during the heyday of logical positivism. According to this still popular doctrine, we cannot derive "ought" from "is." An impassible gulf separates them. On one side are provable, objective realities; on the other, merely subjective preferences. Or: on one side science, on the other religion, esthetics, ethics.

In these terms, a notable change has occurred in the abortion debate. The advocates of legal abortion used to claim the facts. While their cause was in the ascendant, their constant theme was that "the question when life begins is essentially a moral and religious question, not a scientific one." Nobody could say, they held, when, as a matter of fact, life begins.

Neither men nor women have a clear sense of identity, unless they manage to achieve it more or less on their own; at any rate society can't tell them what they are. And now it even transpires that the abortion debate isn't really about facts at all. It turns out that we can agree that a human fetus is a human being. But unhappily, we can't agree on what a human being is.

Last week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a plan that would dramatically increase the legal minimum wage in the state. Some are cheering his announcement and others have concerns. In this article, economist Dr. Mark Hendrickson looks at Governor Wolf’s proposal and argues this announcement may hurt residents of Pennsylvania. He writes, “I am all in favor of higher wages. However, ill-conceived, counterproductive, and ultimately unfair government intervention like Wolf’s proposal is not the way to accomplish that desirable goal.”

We, the people, trusting those we elected to congress, have been led over the cliff like lemmings. We were led by those we elected to believe theirs was “good government.” In fact, it was nothing less than a chimera. No wonder people have lost confidence in the elite who rule us.

The representatives we elected -- and re-elected -- have played us for fools all the while convincing us they would “get things done.” Maybe that was the last thing we needed was to “get things done.” How many laws do we need to live under?

Somewhere, hidden in the details, there is a lesson to be learned. Maybe that lesson is this. Our Founding Fathers had the wisdom and vision to advocate against an overarching centralized government. Their contention for limited government was well conceived.

It’s a sad commentary but true. America is most safe when congress is in recess.

Coach Chuck Noll repeatedly insisted that pro football was a stepping stone to players’ life calling. Tony Dungy, who played for the Steelers in 1977 and 1978, recalls that Noll told rookies that “you have to find your life’s work, while you’re working at this.” This phrase became closely associated with Noll and served as the title for Michael MacCambridge’s 2016 biography, Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work, and for Gary Pomerantz’s Their Life’s Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers (2014), which describes how a remarkable group of Steelers, motivated by their coach’s philosophy, excelled on the field and contributed substantially to society after their playing days ended. Noll set an example for his players; he was devoted to his family and was a licensed pilot, a sailor, and a scuba diver, spoke French, and loved to cook, garden, and do home repairs.

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On this date in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark legal decision in Roe v. Wade. The court struck down a Texas statute banning the procedure of abortion. Forty-six years later, more than 60,000,000 babies have been aborted in America. In this article, Dr. Gary Welton explores data that indicates abortions in America are exploiting minorities. Welton writes, “There is no social justice when racial and ethnic minorities are being aborted at a rate more than 200% higher than white Americans. The liberal support of abortion is the ultimate evidence of racial and ethnic inequality in America.”

The leftist Thought Police couldn’t care less about prejudice and equality. They’re simply informed by and are acting upon their own particular vile prejudices and discriminatory standards, which their institutional power gives them the capacity to enforce. This results in whites being demeaned, demoted, derailed and taken down while leftists elevate and exalt their preferred bigots, as their cultural revolution continues apace. So forget about getting woke — just wake up.

There is a new liberal hit-job technique afoot. The idea is to weaponize business to accomplish gun control. Since the libs are having little success using the federal government to control the private citizen’s legitimate acquisition and use of firearms, the anti-gun crowd has found a workaround.

The point in this technique is to use liberals who run large corporations, banks, and any other major businesses to hurt the gun industry and demonize gun owners. They aim to obstruct or restrict advertising, marketing, distribution, and capital in any way possible. Participating companies agree that they have “a responsibility to lessen gun violence.”

The world’s Talking Bulls don’t really want their ancestors’ ways, just their image. They live in modern homes (presumably with walls), drive cars, shop at supermarkets, visit doctors and use high-tech recording devices to frame unsuspecting youths. Dispense with Western civilization’s fruits? Never! They just want their own ethnic dominance while gorging on them. They don’t love what’s behind them as much as they hate what’s in front of them.

It also should be said that — contrary to common misconceptions — the Indians were not the first Americans. Ernie LaPointe, great-grandson of Sitting Bull, made this point in 2010 when responding to Barack Obama’s inclusion of the famed Indian in a “great Americans” children’s book. He said that Sitting Bull “never was an American” but “a Lakota.”

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Sandman’s account was a remarkable statement, mature, well-reasoned, articulate.  It rings true and moreover it is proven by the video. He seems to have been the only adult involved in the whole incident.

Economist Dr. Thomas Sowell’s broad research and deep intellect effectively strikes down long-prevailing assumptions and conventional wisdom about slavery, black education, ghetto culture, and much more in his heavily documented book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals.” His work is a collection of six long essays each comprising a chapter. In a sense, Dr. Sowell offers an historian’s minority report by contradicting contemporary “multicultural” silliness.

The underlying premise of his book asserts the similarity of human nature across cultures. We are all subject to the same flaws that have dominated humanity since the fall of Adam and Eve. We are all subject to envy, hatred, and prejudice and are all capable of cruelty and injustice.

Today is the 46^th annual March for Life in Washington, DC. Thousands of people will walk the National Mall today as they remember the 60 million unborn children who have died from abortion in America since Roe v. Wade. In this article that first appeared at The American Spectator, Dr. Paul Kengor highlights a grim practice at abortion clinics across the country: Escorts. Kengor writes, “The ‘escorts’ work outside abortion clinics. Their duty is to ensure that every pregnant mom who approaches the door doesn’t get deterred or change her mind … They strive to guarantee that every potential customer with cash or credit leaves with an abortion under her belt.”

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The point is, you can’t fiddle with freedom by allowing a little here and a little there while retaining your favorite restrictions. Likewise, you can’t fiddle with the free market by skipping the costs while reaping the benefits.

PJ concludes with his typically concise insight designed to inspire a chuckle. “The free market is ugly and stupid, like going to the mall; the unfree market is just as ugly and just as stupid, except there’s nothing in the mall and if you don’t go there they shoot you.”

Watch carefully the approaching encroachment of socialism and the demise of capitalism – along with freedom. In the meantime, pick up a copy of “Eat the Rich” and mourn the good ol’ days.

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From all appearances, increasingly the mob is a tool of the left in forcing their issues. It is also apparent that there is no equivalent tool on the right. The very idea of a community organizer is to stir up a mob as a means to a political end. The Kavanaugh hearings were the zenith of the premise that the mob is organized and controlled by the left. Democrats issued hearing tickets to disrupt. To the left, any speech or ideas they don’t like must be silenced. They are not interested in competing ideas. That is the Democrat mob mentality.

One thing the 600-plus examples have in common – they are left of center on the political spectrum. The 10/18/18 Investor’s Business Daily has it right. “What happens when men physically assault female politicians…? If those women are Republicans and the attackers are leftists, Democrats greet them with silence, excuses, or worse. So left-wing violence grows.”

In the end, liberals’ use of the mob in creating unrest is more about acquiring power than it is about seeking justice.

Sorry, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.  Hate is okay. It is time we quit being cowed by people who exploit our desire to be fair, to be generous, to be kind.  

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Another year gone by and with it the hours and days of 2018 have passed forever. A new year dawns and with it comes another chance to redeem our time in 2019.

Mom used to advise not to wish time away. Our days are numbered and will soon be complete. The end of time will come soon enough for every person. Wishing away time is poor stewardship of a valuable resource.

Horace Mann expressed the passage of time eloquently this way. “Lost yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.”

Let the pundits recap the year. We can gain a better feel for the magnitude and speed of change by viewing the past fifty (1969) or one hundred (1919) years in context. Change and the passage of time go hand-in-hand. Examples of events become points of reference measuring the tempo of our lives.

They can sense it. They can feel it. Something is seriously wrong in our civilization, and many people know it. This is why despite the relatively good economic times, most Americans polled say our country is on the “wrong track.” Yet many are like a gravely ill man who knows he’s not well but can’t precisely identify his ailment. Most often, Americans have only a vague sense of cultural malaise, or they “self-diagnose” wrongly.

Years ago I had a brief “state of the nation” discussion with a very fine, older country gentleman. While no philosopher, he did offer the following diagnosis. Struggling for words and gesticulating a bit, he said, “There’s…there’s no morality.”

“Ring out the old, ring in the new” even today still rings true. The annual cycle is complete and a new cycle begins.

Among one of our favorite poems is one by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ring Out, Wild Bells.” It is part of a larger work, “In Memoriam A.H.H.,” written in tribute to his dear friend and brother-in-law Arthur Henry Hallam upon his early, untimely death.

This poem superbly marks the passing of the old year. Tennyson captures the nostalgic passing of the year together with hope for the future. He expresses everything that needs to be said. His words are worth sharing to help us bid a hearty farewell to 2018 and hale the dawning of 2019

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