Can't Chicken Just Be Good Chicken Because It's Good?

Can we just stop?  I know it's the fault of people on the left AND the right, but could we just stop politicizing EVERY issue and every item?  We're politicizing food; most recently with Blue Bell ice cream, and over the past few years, chicken.  Chick-fil-A chicken, to be exact.


Most recently, the company has been ranked number one in fast food for customer satisfaction.  Kind of goes with the corporate purpose that Truett Cathy came up with many years ago which is, "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive impact on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."  Pretty cool, huh?  Here's a link to the article written by The Daily Caller about our recent accolades.

Thing is, people are STILL politicizing the business.  I'm not even talking about the leftists, and trust me, there are some out there still doing that.  I'm talking about Chicks On The Right.   I follow them on Twitter (rethinking that decision now) and they re-posted the Daily Caller's article with the title, "Sorry, Libs, Chick-fil-A is Officially America's Favorite Fast Food Restaurant."  I mean, really?

Hey, it is totally cool that Chick-fil-A was voted number one, no doubt about it, but I'm starting to wonder if we have to take every chance we get to thumb our noses at liberals?  Then I start to ask myself the following questions: Does this comment or activity win us elections?  Does this convince people to want to vote Republican?  Does this advance our ball down the court any further than it was before we made the comment?

Do the memes of 'snowflakes' and 'safe spaces' help our cause?  Do the words, 'libtard' and 'Demonrats' do any good?   Just because the left does it to us, doesn't mean we have to respond in like kind. It's all a distraction from the issues.  Wag the dog, people. 

I have decided that I'm laying down my pitchfork and my torch.  I'm still in this fight for liberty and freedom for the long haul, though.  I just wish that more of my friends and colleagues would lay their torches down, too and pick up a walk list and do some promoting instead of demeaning.  As a good friend of mine eight years ago once said, "What 'FOR'"?

U.S. Senator Cornyn Speaks Reason Regarding Supreme Court Nomination

Y'all done gone and done it.  No, seriously.  Y'all, and by y'all, I mean Empower Texans done gone and made me defend John Cornyn.  It's absolutely the last thing I thought I'd ever do since he has been the subject of criticism a few times here on the blog.

John Cornyn, the senior US Senator from Texas had an article, dare I say a hit piece, written about him on Empower Texans about the upcoming Supreme Court pick by President Donald Trump.  In the article he was quoted as saying,..."Cornyn cautioned Trump against selecting any nominee with a publicly stated position on overturning court precedents such as Roe v. Wade.”   He goes on to further explain his opinion, “I think that would be a terrible mistake, for the president to nominate somebody who had that sort of agenda,” he said adding that “we don’t need judges who have either personal or political or ideological agendas, in my view. And I think that ought to comfort all of us.”

Alright, now let's think about this objectively before we get emotional.  I know, it's hard to do in politics, but it's necessary.  Would you want someone with a preconceived agenda, even if you agreed with it?  My answer, NO.  Judges are supposed to be impartial.  They aren't supposed to announce ahead of time on how they would rule on any case.  We as conservatives always cry out about 'legislating from the bench' or that we're concerned that whomever is nominated has an agenda.  That's where our hypocrisy rears its ugly head.  Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to point out the hypocrisy on the 'right' side of things. 

The thing about Empower Texans and, well, ALL of us is that we're writing articles that simply confirm our own bias.  Like in the video Keynes vs. Hayek Rap Battle Round Two, when Hayek says, "Are they doing real science or confirming their bias?"  I think that's something that we could apply to this situation here.  Read the article that Empower Texans wrote here and decide for yourself.

A Facebook friend says it even better than I could, so I've included his comment here, " Cornyn’s conservative credentials or the lack thereof aside, the headline is misleading. Cornyn did not tell Trump not to nominate a pro-life justice, he “cautioned Trump against selecting any nominee with a publicly stated position on overturning court precedents such as Roe v. Wade.”
Justice Willet has made this same statement time and time again, judges should not declare how they will rule on any case until they hear the case in front of them, just as Scalia did before him. Cornyn was saying that there is a difference between a pro-life judge and one who declares ahead of time that they are actively seeking to overturn any specific precedent, regardless of which one it is."  

What happened to objectivity?  I guess that's gone by the wayside along with manners and civil discourse.  Honestly, I'm writing this as someone who cares deeply for the health of the Republican party and for our unification efforts going forward into November.  Empower Texans seems that they are only capable of attacking Republicans, not ever attempting to bolster the Republican ticket in order to help defeat Democrats.  I guess that's what happens when your group has only a single financial backer and they have an agenda.  Ironic, isn't it?       

The 2018 Texas GOP Convention and Censure

Andrew Breitbart once said, "If you can't sell freedom or liberty, you suck."  Yep, that pretty much sums up my weekend at the Texas GOP convention this weekend.  Let me expound.

I have been a delegate to the state convention every two years since 2010.  This convention marks my fourth convention and probably the most disappointing convention for me to date.  The attitudes displayed by my fellow convention goers was very saddening to me.  It's true what people say about politics bringing out the worst in people.

What I saw on display was the opposite in lots of cases of what we as Republicans and Libertarians claim to be 'for'.  We claim to be for a lot of things, freedom of speech, freedom to conduct your lives with personal responsibility, free markets, etc.  However, freedom of speech was the biggest bit of hypocrisy I saw within the convention and attitudes of convention goers.  When candidates and office holders were on stage, they were at times met with boos and jeers from the audience.  Some of them were shouted down and not even given a chance to speak their mind.  Just because we don't agree with someone one hundred percent of the time doesn't mean that they should be shouted down.

Another problem I have is with the idea of censure. To censure someone means to express severe disapproval  of someone or something, typically in a formal statement.  Apparently, that's what the Texas GOP is all about.  The idea that we need to censure elected officials because we don't like a bill that they voted for or against.  Or the idea that they're not conservative enough.  There was an effort underway at Convention to offer up censure of several different Republican office holders; one of which was John Cornyn.  Now, while I don't agree 100% with Senator Cornyn, do I think he needs to be censured?  NO.  In my opinion, censure is a dangerous habit to start.  Here's why, plain and simple; when do you stop?

Here's something else to think about; just like when Margaret Thatcher famously said, "The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.", you could change it to read something like this, "The problem with censure is that you eventually run out of allies in the Republican/Conservative movement."  If you censure EVERY office holder and precinct chair or county chair, for that matter, you run out of people to actually work with.  Some will disagree with me and say that we need checks and balances.  To which I would AGREE.  Here's the 'but'; we already have checks and balances in the form of...ELECTIONS!

It's easy for all of us as activists to focus on the echo chambers of our lives, but unless you actually get out and knock some doors or do some phone banking to help elect Republicans, we'll never win, no matter who censured who.  And remember,  "If you can't sell freedom or liberty, you suck."