The End of the Socialist Experiment: People are tired of high property taxes to fund Democrat dreams

The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, recently stood up at a forum and essentially begged the wealthy who have fled her state to return and keep paying the bills that fund her vision of big government. She said something along the lines of, ” Go down to Palm Beach, see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded. She admitted that New York is now in direct competition with other states that impose a lighter tax burden on corporations and individuals, and that Wall Street businesses are looking to Texas instead of staying captive in Manhattan. This is the same Kathy Hochul who, just a couple of years earlier, had told political opponents to jump on a bus and head down to Florida, where they belong, if they didn’t represent New York values. Now she’s pleading for those same people—and their money—to return so she can keep the generous social programs afloat. It’s a stunning reversal that proves exactly what I have been saying for four decades: liberal policies, built on endless taxation, endless spending, and the assumption that people will stay put and keep writing checks, are collapsing under their own weight. The free market is working exactly as it should, and people are voting with their feet.

I was recently talking with folks in my local community here in Butler County, Ohio, about the Lakota Local School District, and the conversation crystallized everything happening on the national stage. Lakota had put a massive $506 million bond issue and levy on the ballot in November 2025—one of the largest school funding requests in Ohio history—tied to a master facilities plan that would demolish and rebuild buildings, supposedly to accommodate growth and modernize things. The district discussed reducing the number of buildings from 21 to 16, improving safety, and freeing up money for students. But voters saw through it. The levy was rejected by a decisive 61 to 39 percent margin. Even with promises that the actual net tax increase would be phased in later and capped at something like $93 per hundred thousand dollars of appraised value, thanks to debt roll-offs and state matching funds, people said no. They were tired of the trajectory. They didn’t want more property taxes funding a system that keeps growing its administration, its facilities wish list, and its social agenda while the real value delivered to families keeps getting questioned. This isn’t just a local story. It’s the same story playing out in New York, in California, and in every high-tax, high-spending blue state or district where the easy-money days of the past have finally run out.

For decades, people tolerated these large social programs and bloated public education budgets because the economy seemed to be working in their favor. Compound interest in savings accounts was real. Home values kept climbing year after year, creating paper wealth that let families cash out when the kids grew up—sell the house, pocket half a million or more, and move into something smaller while still feeling ahead of the game. Property taxes felt like a tolerable price to pay for nice communities, decent schools that acted as reliable babysitters during work hours, and the social approval that came with supporting “the kids.” You could afford to be a little generous at the next neighborhood gathering or school board meeting because your net worth was rising faster than the tax bill. But that scheme is over. Inflation has eroded real returns. Interest rates have fluctuated wildly. Home appreciation isn’t the guaranteed golden ticket it once was for everyone. People are looking at their tax bills, looking at what their money is actually buying in public schools, and saying enough. The taxation trajectory that propped up liberalism for generations is now pointing downward, and the people who built their political power on it are panicking.

Look at what Hochul and her fellow Democrats are confronting. New York has been bleeding residents and businesses for years. Domestic migration data from the U.S. Census show New York losing hundreds of thousands of people, net, to lower-tax states like Florida and Texas. California is in the same boat, with net losses exceeding 200,000 annually in recent cycles. Florida alone has gained hundreds of thousands of domestic migrants, and Texas even more. These aren’t just retirees heading south for the weather. They are working families, entrepreneurs, corporations, and high-net-worth individuals who have had it with sky-high income taxes, property taxes, regulatory burdens, and the cultural policies that come attached. New York’s per-pupil spending is among the highest in the nation—often topping $30,000 per student—yet educational outcomes measured by national assessments like NAEP remain middling at best. Florida and Texas spend far less per pupil, around 12,000 to 14,000, and deliver competitive or better results in many categories while keeping taxes lower overall. No state income tax in either place. That is real competition, and Hochul is finally admitting it out loud even as she tries to guilt-trip people into returning for the “patriotic” duty of funding her programs.

This is liberalism eating itself. For years, I have pointed out that every socialist experiment in history required walls—literal or figurative—to keep people from leaving. North Korea has its borders sealed. Cuba had its rafters and its political prisoners. East Germany built the Berlin Wall because people were fleeing to the West. China, even with its economic openings, maintains tight control because the alternative is mass exodus. The Soviet Union collapsed when the pressure to contain its people became unsustainable. Here in America, Democrats have relied on the soft walls of economic dependency, guilt, and cultural pressure. But those walls are crumbling because people can move. They can load up a U-Haul, drive to a free state, and never look back. Florida, under Governor Ron DeSantis, has become a magnet precisely because it refuses to play the high-tax, high-regulation game. Texas is booming for the same reasons. And here in Ohio, we are seeing the early stages of the same shift. People are coming to us from the collapsing blue states, and the lesson is clear: competitive models win. Punitive taxation and endless government expansion lose.

The property tax itself is at the heart of this fight, and it always has been a flawed, almost feudal concept dressed up in modern language. Its roots go back to William the Conqueror in 1066 England, where the king claimed ownership of all land and extracted perpetual payments from tenants and knights. The American version evolved through the Northwest Ordinance and the general property tax of the nineteenth century, which treated land and personal property as subject to state taxation indefinitely in exchange for “protecting” them. It was never truly about voluntary contribution; it was rent paid to the government for the privilege of owning what you thought you owned. Critics have long called it the most hated tax in America for good reason. It punishes ownership, discourages improvement, and ties local services—especially schools—to ever-rising assessments that have nothing to do with a family’s ability to pay. In places like New York and California, it became a weapon to fund expansive social programs that many residents never asked for and no longer support. Florida is leading the charge to change this. Governor DeSantis and state lawmakers have advanced multiple constitutional amendments to phase out homestead property taxes over time, ultimately eliminating them. Proposals include massive increases in exemptions—hundred-thousand-dollar jumps annually until nonschool property taxes on primary residences disappear. Ohio has its own movement gathering signatures for a 2026 ballot initiative to ban real property taxes altogether. Even some national voices aligned with President Trump have floated ideas for broader relief or elimination as part of a freedom agenda that recognizes property rights as fundamental. Why should anyone be penalized year after year simply for owning a home? It is a socialist march concept from the beginning, and people are waking up to it.

Here in Butler County and at Lakota specifically, the failed levy is a microcosm of the larger revolt. The district wanted hundreds of millions for bricks and mortar, for renovations, and for a smaller footprint that supposedly saves money in the long term. Yet the community looked at the track record: rising administrative costs, questions about curriculum priorities, and the reality that public education has been turned into something far beyond basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. Parents are sick of teacher strikes or walkouts that leave kids without instruction while unions demand more pay and less accountability. They are tired of seeing resources funneled into social experiments—coloring hair purple, pushing premature discussions of sexual lifestyles on young children, and ideological lessons that many families consider inappropriate or even damaging. Schools were supposed to be trusted babysitters that prepared kids for smart, productive lives. Instead, too many have become vehicles for cultural agendas that parents never voted for and refuse to subsidize with their property taxes. When the easy-money era ended, and families started feeling the real pinch, the willingness to keep writing blank checks vanished. One more mill or two more mills might not sound like much on paper, but when it is attached to policies people actively oppose, it becomes unacceptable—even if it is just one extra dollar.

The same dynamic plays out with every other government service funded by these taxes. Look at the TSA—Transportation Security Administration—as a perfect example of what happens when critical infrastructure is handed to unionized government workers attached to the Democratic extortion economy. Long lines, delays, sickouts, threats of shutdowns whenever funding fights arise. People who once flew without a second thought are now choosing sixteen-hour drives rather than enduring the inefficiency and the political games. Airlines struggle to maintain themselves while government mandates and union leverage create artificial bottlenecks. Taxpayers are funding something broken, something that punishes them for trying to travel freely, and they are done with it. Democrats love to attach these unionized workforces to essential services because it gives them leverage—hold the public hostage, blame Republicans or “underfunding,” and demand more money. It is the same playbook with public schools, public transportation, and welfare systems. When people can no longer afford it or no longer support the ideology behind it, they stop paying voluntarily. They move. They vote against levies. They support politicians who promise reform.

I have been part of the no-more-taxes, lower-taxes movement my entire adult life because I saw this coming. High taxes deter growth. They drive away the productive. They reward inefficiency. In New York, California, and places like them, the richest were supposed to stick around for the social clubs, the prestige, the elbow-rubbing with the political class. Instead, they took their money, their businesses, and their talent to Florida, Texas, and increasingly to states like Ohio that are positioning themselves as the next frontier of opportunity. Ohio’s future cannot be more government, more spending, more taxes. It has to be the opposite. We have legislators and potential future leaders who understand that. We have a governor’s race and local movements that are aligning with the national shift toward lower costs, smaller government, and actual freedom. Property tax relief is coming—whether through caps tied to inflation, homestead exemptions that grow dramatically, or outright abolition in some form. Sales taxes can be reformed or reduced. Income taxes, where they exist, must be kept competitive. The gravy train that funded reckless social spending is over because the people who pay the bills have decided they no longer consent to the product being delivered.

This is why the walls of the old order are failing. In communist countries, the only way to keep the system intact was violence and threats—shooting people who tried to cross to freedom. Here, Democrats assumed guilt, cultural inertia, and the inability to leave would suffice. But remote work changed everything. The pandemic accelerated the realization. Free states with lower taxes, better governance, and respect for individual rights became irresistible. People are not afraid anymore. They are packing up and leaving New York, California, Illinois—anywhere the liberal model has run its course. The tax base erodes, the deficits grow, the pleas become more desperate, and the cycle accelerates. Hochul’s Palm Beach pilgrimage is just the latest symptom. She and the supermoms and the big-government cheerleaders who built careers around this model are late to the party. Bernie Sanders-style socialism always sounded good in the abstract until the bill came due and people realized the cost to their communities, their families, and their futures. Now the bill is here, and the payers are walking away.

Locally, Lakota and districts like it will have to adjust. No more assuming taxpayers will fund every wish list. Superintendents and boards will need to trim administration, focus on core education, respect parental values, and operate within realistic budgets. If that means fewer buildings, fewer non-essential programs, or actual efficiency reforms, so be it. The same applies statewide. Ohio cannot import the failing model from the coasts. We have to export the successful low-tax, high-freedom model. That is how we attract the people and businesses fleeing the collapse. That is how we keep our own residents from looking elsewhere. Competitive states win. Coercive ones lose.

I have warned about this for forty years because the math was always inevitable. Socialism requires coercion. When the coercion fails—when people can leave or vote no—the system collapses. We are watching it happen in real time. New York’s tax base is eroding. California is eroding. The liberal dream of endless spending funded by other people’s money is dripping through their fingers like water. They cannot hold it. They cannot force it. And they certainly cannot guilt-trip a free people into submission when better alternatives exist just a moving van away.

The future belongs to the states and communities that understand this. Florida is already moving toward eliminating property taxes on primary homes. Texas thrives without an income tax. Ohio has the chance to lead the Midwest in the same direction. Property tax abolition movements are gaining steam nationally because people are tired of being treated like tenants on their own land. Schools will be funded differently—perhaps through choice, vouchers, or learner operations that actually deliver value. Overall, government services will shrink because the public will no longer subsidize failure. TSA lines will either improve through competition and accountability, or people will keep driving. Either way, the extortion ends.

This is the movement of the world now. Anti-tax sentiment is rising everywhere because people have lived through the consequences of big government. They have seen the waste, the indoctrination, the inefficiency, and the cultural decay funded by their dollars. They voted for change at the national level with President Trump and the Republican wave because they want a different kind of government—one that does not punish success, ownership, or families trying to raise children in line with their values. Fraud in elections will continue to be exposed. The 50-50 split on paper was never real; it was propped up by manipulation. When people vote their true preferences without interference, the results will be even stronger.

For anyone still clinging to the old model, the message is simple: it is over. The easy money is gone. The guilt trips no longer work. The walls are down. People are free, and they are choosing freedom. Here in Ohio, in Butler County, at Lakota and beyond, we will learn the same lessons New York is learning the hard way. Budgets will be cut. Priorities will be realigned. Taxes will come down. And communities will thrive—not because government spends more, but because it spends less and interferes less.

I have always been clear on this. Beware of any politician who wants higher taxes. They are dangerous. They are going out of fashion fast. My book, Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, lays out the philosophy of self-reliance, competitive thinking, and the rejection of coercive systems that have guided my warnings for decades. It is more relevant now than ever. Subscribe, read it, and join the fight. The future is bright for those willing to embrace lower taxes, smaller government, and genuine freedom. The collapse we are witnessing is not the end of America—it is the end of a failed experiment. And the rebirth that follows will be something worth building.

Footnotes

1. U.S. Census Bureau migration estimates, 2024-2025 data releases.

2. Tax Foundation State Business Tax Climate Index, 2026 rankings.

3. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports on per-pupil spending vs. outcomes.

4. Historical analysis of property tax origins from feudal England through the U.S. Northwest Ordinance.

Bibliography for Further Reading

• Fox News coverage of Hochul’s Palm Beach comments and tax base erosion (March 2026).

• Cincinnati Enquirer and local Butler County reporting on Lakota levy failure (November 2025).

• U.S. Census Bureau State-to-State Migration Flows tables (2023-2025).

• Tax Foundation reports on property tax relief proposals in Florida, Ohio, and national trends (2026).

• The Atlantic historical piece on feudal roots of American property tax (2016, with updates in policy debates).

• DeSantis administration statements on Florida homestead tax elimination proposals.

• Hoffman, Rich. Gunfighter’s Guide to Business (self-published, available via subscription platforms).

• Additional data from NAEP/Nations Report Card and state education spending comparisons.

These sources provide the factual backbone while the analysis reflects four decades of observation on tax policy, education funding, and the failure of coercive governance models. The era of unchecked liberalism is ending, and the evidence is everywhere for those willing to see it.

Rich Hoffman

More about me

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman is an independent writer, philosopher, political advisor, and strategist based in the Cincinnati/Middletown, Ohio area. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, he has worked professionally since age 12 in various roles, from manual labor to high-level executive positions in aerospace and related industries. Known as “The Tax-killer” for his activism against tax increases, Hoffman has authored books including The Symposium of Justice, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, and Tail of the Dragon, often exploring themes of freedom, individual will, and societal structures through a lens influenced by philosophy (e.g., Nietzschean overman concepts) and current events.

He publishes the blog The Overmanwarrior (overmanwarrior.wordpress.com), where he shares insights on politics, culture, history, and personal stories. Active on X as @overmanwarrior, Instagram, and YouTube, Hoffman frequently discusses space exploration, family values, and human potential. An avid fast-draw artist and family man, he emphasizes passing practical skills and intellectual curiosity to younger generations.

Lakota Schools Never Learns: New Superintendent Ashley Whitely is more of the same past failures–ask for more tax money, and teach kids Democrat politics

Public education in the United States stands as one of the most entrenched institutions of modern civilization, yet its fundamental design reveals a profound misalignment with human nature and family sovereignty.[^1] For centuries, the transmission of knowledge, values, and skills occurred primarily within the family unit, reinforced by community and society as supportive extensions rather than replacements. Compulsory schooling, modeled after 19th-century Prussian systems and imported into America through reformers like Horace Mann, shifted this dynamic dramatically. Children were removed from the familial hearth—where organic, personalized mentorship could flourish—and placed into centralized social hierarchies designed to enforce conformity, pecking orders, and state-approved narratives. This model, while promising universal literacy and opportunity, has instead fostered dependency, ideological indoctrination, and fiscal inefficiency. As John Taylor Gatto argued in his seminal critique The Underground History of American Education, the system was never primarily about empowerment but about social control and workforce standardization.[^2]

Nowhere is this misalignment more evident than in suburban districts like Lakota Local Schools in Butler County, Ohio—the largest suburban public school system in southwest Ohio, serving approximately 17,887 students across 22–23 schools in West Chester and Liberty Townships.[^3] Located in the greater Cincinnati area, Lakota exemplifies the carbon-copy problems plaguing districts nationwide: escalating property tax burdens, bloated administrative layers, union-driven wage spirals, and a progressive ideological tilt that often prioritizes social engineering over academic excellence and parental authority. Residents like those in nearby Middletown, Ohio, witness these issues firsthand, as similar patterns repeat across Hamilton and Butler Counties. The district’s recent leadership transition and repeated levy defeats offer a microcosm of why the public education model is fundamentally broken—and why resistance through low-tax advocacy and school choice represents the path forward.

At its core, effective education marries parental responsibility with societal support, not the reverse. Removing children from the family for seven to eight hours daily, five days a week, severs the natural bonds of mentorship and moral formation. Teachers, once envisioned as extensions of the home, have become agents of a bureaucratic “social order” where students navigate artificial pecking orders—cliques, grade-point competitions, and now identity-based hierarchies—rather than real-world apprenticeships. This detachment has proven devastating: declining test scores, rising mental health crises, and generational alienation from parental values. Progressive education, amplified since the 1960s, has accelerated the divorce of children from family, promoting platforms that emphasize state-defined equity, gender fluidity, and partisan activism over timeless skills like reading, math, and critical thinking rooted in heritage.[^4]

Critics across the political spectrum—from libertarian school-choice advocates to traditionalists—note that U.S. public schools consume over $800 billion annually nationwide yet produce outcomes inferior to many peer nations, especially when adjusted for per-pupil spending.[^5] Ohio’s model, heavily reliant on local property taxes (supplemented by state aid), exacerbates inequities tied to ZIP codes. Funding follows geography, not merit or parental demand. The result? Districts like Lakota operate as monopolies, insulated from market pressures. True reform demands detaching funding from residence: vouchers, education savings accounts, open enrollment, and charter expansion. Parents, not bureaucrats, should direct resources to institutions that deliver value—whether traditional public, private, homeschool, or hybrid. Lakota’s story illustrates why clinging to the status quo fails both fiscally and culturally.

Lakota’s fiscal narrative is one of repeated tax extraction attempts met with growing taxpayer fatigue. The district’s last successful operating and permanent improvement levy passed in 2013, intended as a five-year measure but stretched to 15 years through pressure management and economic conditions.[^6] It funded operations amid post-recession recovery, but by the 2020s, escalating costs—driven by union contracts, inflation, and administrative bloat—necessitated more. Earlier attempts tell a cautionary tale. In 2011 alone, voters rejected Lakota levies three times in 18 months, reflecting early resistance to millage hikes amid economic uncertainty.[^7] Fast-forward to November 4, 2025: The district placed one of Ohio’s largest school levies ever on the ballot—a $506.4 million bond issue (4.99 mills) paired with a 0.95-mill permanent improvement levy for its Master Facilities Plan. The proposal aimed to demolish, renovate, and consolidate 21 buildings into 16 (including four new elementary schools), promising operational savings, smaller class sizes, enhanced security, and fewer grade transitions.[^8]

Financial details were layered with optimistic projections: State co-funding via the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission would cover 32 percent (roughly $200 million), reducing the effective bond collection to 3.99 mills. An existing 2.28-mill bond roll-off in 2028 would offset much of the hike, yielding a net increase of just 2.66 mills—or roughly $93.10 annually per $100,000 of auditor-appraised home value ($208 gross, delayed collection to 2029). Seniors and low-income disabled residents would see even less (about $68.71).[^9] District leaders, including Treasurer/CFO Adam Zink, framed it as a “last resort” to avoid deeper operating cuts and redirect savings to classrooms. Yet voters delivered a decisive rejection: 61 percent “no” (approximately 60.81 percent to 39.19 percent), one of the starkest defeats in recent memory.[^10]

This was no anomaly. The district’s 12-year streak of balanced budgets (because of declining enrollment through FY2024) masked underlying pressures: staffing costs (predominantly wages and benefits under union contracts), enrollment fluctuations, and state funding volatility.[^11] The 2013 levy’s longevity proved temporary; without new revenue, forecasts warned of shortfalls by FY2028–2029. Superintendent Dr. Ashley Whitely, in a January 2026 interview, conceded another levy is “a matter of when, not if,” signaling plans for a revised, perhaps scaled-down proposal after community input sessions and a ThoughtExchange survey.[^12] This “shell game”—big ask first, retreat to smaller—has become predictable, eroding trust.

The 2025 levy push occurred under new leadership installed amid crisis. Former Superintendent Matt Miller resigned in January 2023 after a tumultuous year. Board member Darbi Boddy and others highlighted allegations stemming from his divorce, detailed in police records: Miller admitted arranging and participating in group sexual encounters with his ex-wife.[^13] A private investigation cleared him of on-the-job misconduct or legal violations, but the public spectacle—coupled with claims of board hostility—doomed his tenure. Miller had positioned himself as a progressive exemplar, yet the revelations shattered that image.[^14]

In May 2024, the board hired Dr. Ashley Whitely as Superintendent/CEO, effective August 1, 2024. A former Lakota East English teacher and department chair (five years in-district), plus assistant superintendent at Wyoming City Schools, Whitely brought local roots and a “proven track record” in professional development and community partnership.[^15] Her vision, outlined in district messages and the “Let’s Go Lakota!” video series, emphasizes “Building OUR Future…One Piece at a Time,” the E + R = O performance pathway (Events + Responses = Outcomes), a staff-co-created Culture Blueprint, and over 100 listening sessions. She champions the Master Facilities Plan for safety, programming, and efficiencies.[^16]

Initial hopes for reform—perhaps embracing competition via open enrollment or market-driven efficiencies—faded quickly. Whitely’s role evolved into levy cheerleader, promoting the 2025 ballot as essential for “redirect[ing] dollars toward academics.” Post-defeat, she solicits input on facilities but insists on future tax measures.[^17] This aligns with the district’s pattern: Administrators for administrators. National Center for Education Statistics data shows 5 district-level administrators, 49 school administrators, 76 administrative support staff, and total FTE staff of roughly 1,988 (including about 729 teachers) for 17,500-plus students.[^18] Total headcount exceeds 2,061. Salaries reflect this top-heaviness: Former Superintendent Miller earned $199,639 (2023 peak); current structures project assistant superintendents up to $165,000-plus.[^19]

Critics, including new board member Benjamin Nguyen (elected 2025 alongside incumbents), highlight the mismatch with private-sector accountability. Unlike CEOs who scale operations amid market shifts, Lakota’s leadership maintains escalating wages, refuses workforce reductions despite declining enrollment trends in some areas, and layers bureaucracy. The “famous” salary transparency reports (local analyses comparing Lakota admins to regional peers) have long shown disproportion—often exceeding governors’ pay or comparable private roles—yet little reform follows.[^20]

Lakota’s budget—predominantly staffing (teachers and classified unions under contract)—grows unchecked. Five-year forecasts assume wage hikes, new programming for state report cards, and no scaling despite efficiencies promised in the failed Master Facilities Plan.[^21] Too many administrators oversee administrators; summer-heavy schedules (nine-month operations for many) yield high per-day costs. Property taxes fund this while state models collapse under pension liabilities and mandates.

Worse, cultural drift compounds the issue. Public schools nationwide increasingly insert progressive curricula—gender ideology, pronoun policies, CRT undertones—divorcing students from parental authority. While Lakota has removed some problematic materials and adopted neutral policies under board pressure, the broader model recruits youth toward statist loyalty rather than family-centric independence. Teachers’ unions, dominant in negotiations, prioritize compensation over innovation. The “free babysitting” value proposition of yesteryear—drop kids off, secure college/job outcomes—has evaporated amid rising costs, ideological conflicts, and mediocre proficiency (69 percent in core subjects per state metrics).[^22]

Voters recognize the scam: Levies no longer “invest” but subsidize inefficiency. The 2025 defeat echoed taxpayer weariness after decades of escalation. Economic illusions of endless growth once masked the burden; now, with inflation, remote work, and housing costs, resistance grows. Low taxes foster community vitality—business attraction, population retention—far more than shiny facilities. As one analysis notes, districts failing levies often thrive via market adaptation; Lakota’s monopoly mindset persists.[^23]

True CEOs innovate. Lakota should pursue open enrollment aggressively, attracting students (and per-pupil state aid) from underperforming districts. Detach funding from ZIP codes via Ohio’s expanding voucher/EdChoice programs. Embrace hybrid models, reduce admin layers (target fewer than 40 total), benchmark salaries privately, and cut non-essential staff. Competition would force excellence: Lower “prices” (effective tax cost per outcome), higher value.

School board members like Nguyen offer glimmers of accountability. Anti-levy organizations and citizen groups—doing the oversight boards often neglect—have proven more valuable than cheerleaders. Ohio’s property tax reliance is unsustainable; broader reforms (income-based or choice-driven funding) loom.

Nationally, districts adopting choice outperform monopolies. Florida and Arizona models demonstrate gains without endless bonds. Lakota could lead by proving smaller government yields better education.

Dr. Ashley Whitely’s tenure, like predecessors’, risks perpetuating the cycle: Cheerlead taxes, ignore marketplace realities, double down on bureaucracy. The 2025 defeat and her “matter of when” stance confirm no learning occurred. Yet community pushback—rejecting the $506 million ask—signals maturity. Low taxes and fiscal restraint build stronger neighborhoods than lavish, ideologically captured schools.

Public education’s inception promised uplift; its execution delivered dependency. Lakota proves the thesis: Family teaching, societal backup, and competitive choice outperform removal and regimentation. Voters must sustain resistance until leaders adapt—or parents exit via choice. The next levy attempt will test this resolve. History suggests defeat again, until the model evolves. Residents owe it to future generations to demand better: Not more spending, but smarter, freer education. And the new superintendent at Lakota schools is just more of the same failure-based education approach that nobody likes, and is poised to change dramatically in the times to come.

Over the past decade, the consistent rejection of new school levies in the Lakota Local Schools district has functioned as an informal tax‑stabilization mechanism. When a district of Lakota’s size goes twelve-plus years without a new operating levy, the cumulative savings for homeowners and businesses become enormous. A single failed levy—typically in the range of 5–7 mills—can represent millions of dollars per year that remain in private hands. Spread across more than 110,000 residents and tens of thousands of parcels, the avoided tax burdens since 2013 likely total hundreds of millions over the decade. For most families, that means thousands of dollars that stayed in their household budgets; for businesses with larger property footprints, it means tens of thousands saved per year that could instead be invested in hiring, equipment, or expansion.

The opportunity cost dimension may actually be the most important. Property‑tax‑resistant communities often grow faster because stable taxes encourage residential investment, business development, and long‑term homeownership. West Chester and Liberty Township have repeatedly been cited as among the fastest‑growing and most competitive economic corridors in Ohio—not in spite of tax restraint, but largely because of it. Keeping levy pressure low increases disposable income, which boosts retail, construction, restaurants, and small business dynamism. Over a decade, that economic flywheel compounds: more residents, more businesses, more payroll, and more value creation than would have existed under a heavier tax regime.

There’s also a governance value created by tax resistance. When levies fail, districts are forced to prioritize, modernize operations, and seek non‑tax solutions to structural problems. Lakota’s delayed levy cycle has pushed administrators—Miller previously, and now Dr. Whitely—to be more transparent, more financially innovative, and more accountable to the public. That pressure often leads to leaner operations, better auditing, and a clearer articulation of needs versus wants. From a community perspective, that’s a form of economic value too: it disciplines public institutions to behave more like private ones, where efficiency isn’t optional.

Taken together, the anti‑tax presence in the Lakota district hasn’t just saved residents money—it has shaped the character of Butler County’s growth. Lower tax burdens helped produce one of the most economically vibrant suburban regions in the state, attracting investment and stabilizing property markets even during volatile national periods. The savings are measurable, but the long-term community value—strong growth, predictable tax environments, and a business‑friendly climate—is the larger legacy.

Footnotes

[^1]: Based on historical analysis of Prussian compulsory education models adopted in the U.S. during the 19th century.

[^2]: John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education (New York: Oxford Village Press, 2000).

[^3]: Lakota Local School District official enrollment data and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) district profile, 2024–2025.

[^4]: See critiques in progressive education history, including works by Diane Ravitch and E.D. Hirsch Jr. on curriculum shifts since the 1960s.

[^5]: U.S. Department of Education and OECD PISA comparative spending/outcome reports, latest available cycles.

[^6]: Lakota Local Schools historical levy records and Ohio Department of Education financial reports.

[^7]: Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio) coverage of 2011 levy elections.

[^8]: Lakota Local School District Master Facilities Plan documents and ballot language, September 2025.

[^9]: Lakota “Financial Facts Behind the 2025 Ballot” publication and auditor’s office millage calculators.

[^10]: Official election results from Butler County Board of Elections, November 4, 2025, reported by WLWT and Cincinnati Enquirer.

[^11]: Lakota five-year financial forecasts submitted to Ohio Department of Education, FY2024–2029.

[^12]: Cincinnati Business Courier interview with Dr. Ashley Whitely, January 2026.

[^13]: Police records and board meeting minutes referencing Miller’s resignation, January 2023.

[^14]: Cincinnati Enquirer and Journal-News reporting on the investigation and public fallout.

[^15]: Lakota Local Schools board announcement and Cincinnati Enquirer, May 4, 2024.

[^16]: District “Let’s Go Lakota!” communications and superintendent message archive on lakotaonline.com.

[^17]: Post-election statements and ThoughtExchange survey updates from Superintendent Whitely.

[^18]: NCES Common Core of Data, Lakota Local School District staffing tables, 2024–2025.

[^19]: OpenPayrolls.com and Lakota salary schedules, 2023–2025 data.

[^20]: Local salary comparison reports circulated in Butler County media and taxpayer analyses.

[^21]: Lakota five-year forecast assumptions and board budget documents.

[^22]: Ohio State Report Card metrics for Lakota Local Schools, latest proficiency data.

[^23]: Comparative studies on levy-failure districts by EdChoice and Ohio Auditor of State performance audits.

Bibliography for Further Reading

Cincinnati Enquirer. “Lakota Local Schools names Ashley Whitely as its superintendent.” May 4, 2024.

Journal-News. Coverage of 2011–2025 levy attempts and Miller resignation.

Lakota Local School District. Master Facilities Plan financial documents and superintendent messages (lakotaonline.com).

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Lakota Local District Detail, 2024–2025.

Ohio Department of Education. School district financial forecasts and report cards.

WLWT / WVXU. Election results and levy coverage, November 2025.

Cincinnati Business Courier. Whitely interview on future levies, January 2026.

OpenPayrolls.com. Lakota employee salary database.

Gatto, John Taylor. The Underground History of American Education.

EdChoice.org and Ohio Auditor of State reports on vouchers, choice, and district audits.

Rich Hoffman

More about me

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Remember the Lockdown Lady: Amy Acton’s Devastating COVID Policies That Torpedoed Ohio

I’ve never liked Dr. Amy Acton. I had very little good to say about her back when she was Ohio’s Health Director under Governor Mike DeWine, and I haven’t thought much about her since those nightmare years of 2020 and 2021. I tried to push her out of my mind after all the damage she helped inflict. But here we are in 2026, with a primary right around the corner and a full gubernatorial election coming up, and the Democrats have talked her into running for governor. In my opinion, it’s one of the worst political decisions they could have made. It’s not just bizarre—it’s tone-deaf to what Ohio families actually went through.

I happened to be in Columbus recently, and within just a couple of days, I had two conversations that really drove this home for me. First, I spoke with Governor Mike DeWine himself—the man who’s been in the governor’s office through it all. We talked policies, what worked during his eight years, and what went horribly wrong. COVID came up naturally, his administration got challenged in court over the constitutionality of the lockdowns and orders pushed under her advice. At no point during those dark months were the things they were doing fully constitutional, and many smart people—including me—knew it at the time. The Ohio Supreme Court and lower courts eventually forced reopenings because the overreach was so extreme. DeWine knows he lost a lot of goodwill over it, and he’s still trying to make it up to Republicans.

A couple of days later, I talked to the future governor of Ohio—Vivek Ramaswamy. He’s a super nice guy, high-character, above-the-trench kind of person who wants to play well with everybody if he can. He’s smart, young, and genuinely wants to do good things for Ohio. He’s not the type to go down in the dirt and bodyslam somebody just for sport. But when we talked about Amy Acton, I told him straight: she deserves it. “Vivek,” I said, “she shut down our state. We’re still bleeding economically from the torpedo she dropped on Ohio under Fauci’s influence. You’re going to win the primary easily, and you’re going to have a new mop in your house because you’re going to mop the floor with her. That’s all she’s good for after what she did.” He laughed, but he knew I was right. He’s got people like Donald Trump Jr. and others who will remind folks of her record, so he doesn’t have to get his hands too dirty. She’s the Lockdown Lady, and Ohio must never forget.

This isn’t abstract history to me. I lived it. I saw families destroyed, small businesses wiped out, kids losing years of education, and people denied the simple joys that make life worth living—like tailgating at a Browns game or taking the kids to Kings Island. I remember driving to Kings Island that miserable summer of 2020. It was supposed to be family fun, but her policies turned it into a dystopian nightmare: rides taped off, masked staff barking orders, social-distancing enforcers everywhere, limited concessions, and zero joy. We couldn’t ride half the things, couldn’t buy souvenirs properly, and the whole experience felt like punishment for wanting normalcy. That’s what Amy Acton did to Ohio. And now she wants to run the whole state? No way. I’m here to lay it all out—from my perspective, with the background you need, the facts she can’t erase, and why Vivek Ramaswamy is the only choice.

How It All Started: DeWine’s Bipartisan Mistake and Acton’s Rise

Let’s go back to 2019 so you understand the context. Governor Mike DeWine wanted to reach across the aisle after winning in 2018. He’s a moderate Republican with a long career—U.S. Senator, Attorney General—and he thought putting a Democrat on his team would build coalitions. That’s how Dr. Amy Acton, a physician and researcher from Youngstown with a background in public health, became Director of the Ohio Department of Health. On paper, it looked like smart politics. She had worked on infant mortality issues and seemed qualified. What DeWine couldn’t foresee was COVID-19 hitting in early 2020 and the federal machine behind her.

During her tenure, Acton completely deferred to the CDC and to Dr. Anthony Fauci at NIAID. Their guidance—later proven flawed, contradictory, and largely politically driven—became gospel in Ohio. Her daily briefings had this folksy, almost hippie vibe: “hug your neighbor,” “support each other around the campfire,” “we’re all in this together.” But behind the warm words were iron-fisted orders: stay-at-home mandates, school closures, business shutdowns, mask rules, and capacity limits that crushed everything. Ohio was one of the first states to go full lockdown on March 22, 2020. Schools closed statewide. “Non-essential” businesses were ordered to shut down. Amusement parks, fairs, and sports—everything ground to a halt.

I watched it happen in real time. Acton estimated as many as 100,000 infections early on, scaring everyone into compliance. But as I’ve said many times, the virus was engineered. Gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology—funded in part by U.S. taxpayers through Fauci’s NIAID and EcoHealth Alliance—took a bat virus and made it transmissible to humans. That’s not a conspiracy; it’s documented. RFK Jr., now serving in the Trump administration at HHS, laid it all out in books like The Real Anthony Fauci and The Wuhan Cover-Up. China released it, the WHO covered for them, and Fauci stonewalled investigations. Bill Gates’ involvement and his Epstein ties added another layer of suspicion, but the core fact remains: this was a lab-created bio-weapon scenario that justified the panic.

Acton wasn’t smart enough to be in on the big conspiracy, in my view. She just followed the CDC memos like a good soldier. “Outdoor outdoor outdoor,” she’d say, then flip to full lockdowns. She sounded whacked out on something during those speeches—Grateful Dead concert energy mixed with authoritarian control. And DeWine empowered her. DeWine lost in court, had to reopen, and still carries the scars. Acton resigned on June 11, 2020, amid protests outside her home (some armed), legislative bills stripping her emergency powers, and public fury. She faded away—until Democrats dragged her back out in 2025, thinking we’d all forgotten.

The Human Toll: What I Saw and What Ohio Still Feels

The damage was catastrophic, and I saw it up close. Ohio’s unemployment shot from 4.9% to 16.4% in one month—the worst spike in modern history—small businesses, restaurants, gyms, and retailers closed by the thousands and never reopened. Hospitality and tourism tanked. Families who saved all year for Kings Island got a nightmare version: no lines near rides, masked everything, and a joyless slog. Mental health crises exploded. Overdoses rose 20% in Ohio in 2020. Kids lost massive learning—third-graders fell behind by a third of a year in reading, especially poor kids. Life expectancy dropped.

Critics on the left still say Acton “saved lives” by flattening the curve. But compare Ohio to Florida, which reopened earlier under Governor DeSantis. Adjusted for demographics, outcomes were similar or better without the economic suicide. The real scandal was ignoring natural immunity, the virus’s low risk to healthy people and kids, and the secondary deaths from isolation and delayed care. As I told Vivek, we’re still bleeding. Families lost homes. Communities—especially rural southern and southeastern Ohio—felt betrayed by big-government edicts from Columbus.

Acton didn’t invent the virus, but she owned the implementation here. She channeled Fauci’s flip-flopping on masks, overstated models, and suppression of early treatments like hydroxychloroquine. Congressional hearings in 2023-2024, plus RFK Jr.’s work, confirmed the gain-of-function funding, the lab’s military ties, and the cover-up. Trump’s administration has now banned such research and put the lab-leak theory front and center. Yet Acton never questioned it. She just locked us down.

The Tweets That Prove It: Resurfaced Evidence of Her Madness

Nothing captures her tone-deaf cruelty better than the tweets she posted in May 2020—tweets she later deleted but that have now resurfaced thanks to OutKick, Fox News, and Donald Trump Jr. I’ve shared them on my podcast, and they’re Exhibit A for why she’s unfit. These weren’t policy announcements. They were personal scoldings aimed at ordinary Ohioans desperate for a break.

Context: The Cleveland Browns, with Baker Mayfield as the new quarterback, were generating rare excitement in a sports-starved state. Fans dreamed of tailgates, playoffs, and packed FirstEnergy Stadium. Empty stadiums that year were already heartbreaking. But Acton inserted herself into Browns Twitter like a hall monitor:

• To a fan posting a Kermit the Frog meme about playoff hopes: “Please social distance.”

• To excitement about Baker Mayfield: “Please follow CDC guidelines.” Then, when the fan pushed back, “We should be discussing ways to prevent COVID.”

• To another fan saying Browns Twitter was “the only fun part of quarantine”: “Please stop.”

• To Super Bowl dreams: “No. Too many people.”

• To jersey talk: “We need masks and PPE, not jerseys.”

• And the kicker: “Grow up #StayAtHome” and “We are in a pandemic.”

These are direct quotes from her deleted account, resurfaced this week. She was lecturing fans for wanting to watch football, cheer their team, or escape the misery. She told people to stop influencing others “in a bad way” by hoping for games. This is the same woman who made Kings Island miserable and shut down so much else. People just wanted relief. She wanted compliance.

Her campaign now claims some were parody accounts, but the screenshots don’t lie. Trump Jr. amplified them. OutKick called it “bizarre harassment.” And she’s running for governor? In northern Ohio, where sports are religion, this stings. Cleveland Browns fans, Cuyahoga County union folks—they remember the empty stadiums she helped create.

Vivek’s Path

That brings me to Vivek Ramaswamy. I told him exactly what I think: he’s going to win the primary without much trouble, and the general, too, if we show up. Southern and southeastern Ohio—rural, Trump-flag country—will deliver huge margins for him. Those are the right kind of people: hardworking, America-first, sick of big government. Northern urban areas (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Cuyahoga counties) might tilt toward Acton with unions and Democrats, but the numbers won’t overcome the south. Recent polls show her competitive? Smoke from cherry-picked areas. I guarantee it.

Vivek has raised nearly $20 million, got Trump’s endorsement, picked Senate President Rob McColley as running mate, and has DeWine’s blessing. He’s a Cincinnati native, biotech entrepreneur, author—exactly what Ohio needs: innovation, tax cuts, merit over DEI, and manufacturing revival. He doesn’t want to “beat the heck out of somebody,” as I put it, but he doesn’t have to. Surrogates like me, Trump Jr., and others will remind voters she’s the Lockdown Lady.

DeWine endorsed Vivek the same day Acton picked David Pepper as her running mate. That timing wasn’t a coincidence. DeWine knows her record. Vivek is the future—opportunity, excellence, the American Dream. Acton is the past: fear, control, economic destruction.

Never Forget: The Lockdown Lady’s Legacy

Democrats bet on amnesia. They thought six years later we’d forget the empty stadiums, closed parks, lost businesses, learning loss, and suicides of despair. They were wrong. History has judged the lockdown crowd poorly, and Acton was at the center in Ohio. She followed Fauci, the CDC, and a corrupt China-WHO axis straight into disaster.

I’ve said it for years now: remember until November. She locked down Ohio. She destroyed lives following bad science from people who funded the gain-of-function weapon in Wuhan. Read RFK Jr.’s books. Study the tweets. Recall your own pain—whether it was a canceled wedding, a lost job, or a kid who never caught up in school. And when it comes to this election, never forget what she did.

Bibliography / Further Reading

• RFK Jr., The Real Anthony Fauci (2021) and The Wuhan Cover-Up (2023) – essential on origins and response.

• OutKick/Fox News exclusive on resurfaced Acton tweets (March 20, 2026).

• Ohio Capital Journal and Signal Ohio coverage of the 2026 race and endorsements.

• Congressional reports on gain-of-function and lab leak (House Select Subcommittee, 2023-2024).

• Economic data: Ohio unemployment spikes and lockdown impact studies (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

• Guardian, Ohio Capital Journal, and Statehouse News Bureau on Acton’s 2020 resignation and protests.

• Acton for Governor campaign site (for her own words—or lack thereof on COVID).

• Governor DeWine’s endorsement statement (January 7, 2026).

Rich Hoffman

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About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Ken Paxton is the Future in Texas: The trend is not toward a purple state

The Texas political arena finds itself in a defining moment with the Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate seat scheduled for May 26, 2026, pitting four-term incumbent Senator John Cornyn against Attorney General Ken Paxton. In the March 3 primary, Cornyn received 41.9 percent of the vote to Paxton’s 40.7 percent, with Houston Congressman Wesley Hunt trailing at 13.5 percent. Neither candidate cleared the 50 percent threshold required for an outright win, setting up three months of intense intraparty debate that has become far more than a personal contest. This race, described by analysts as the most expensive Senate primary on record with over $122 million in ad spending, reflects a generational and ideological shift within the Republican Party—one that favors battle-tested reformers over entrenched establishment voices and recognizes the need for alignment with the economic and cultural realities reshaping Texas and the nation.

Paxton’s path to this runoff underscores his resilience in the face of extraordinary pressure. As Texas Attorney General since 2015, he has pursued aggressive legal challenges to federal policies on border security, election integrity, immigration enforcement, abortion rights, and more, filing dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. His office became a national conservative bulwark, earning him a reputation as one of the most activist attorneys general in the country. In May 2023, the Texas House impeached him on 20 articles centered on allegations of abuse of office and ties to a political donor, with a vote of 121-23 that temporarily suspended him from duties. Yet the Texas Senate acquitted him on every one of the 16 articles brought to trial in September 2023, with no article receiving more than 14 of the required 21 votes to convict—only two Republican senators supported conviction on any count. This dramatic acquittal restored him to office and reinforced his status as a proven survivor who has withstood efforts to sideline him, efforts often compared in severity to those aimed at President Trump. Paxton’s survival narrative positions him not as a relic of past scandals but as a fighter whose record of challenging the status quo mirrors the broader MAGA emphasis on accountability and disruption of old power structures.

In contrast, Cornyn represents the continuity of Senate traditions frequently associated with the Mitch McConnell era of incrementalism and institutional caution. A four-term senator since 2002 and former Senate Majority Whip, Cornyn has held key leadership roles and delivered steady, if sometimes measured, results on issues like judicial confirmations and national security. While effective in those capacities, his approach is viewed by many grassroots conservatives as sometimes stalling bolder reforms—resistance encountered by newer senators such as Ohio’s Bernie Moreno, a former private-sector businessman and Trump-endorsed candidate who defeated incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown in November 2024. Moreno’s victory, bringing a fresh, enterprise-shaped perspective to the upper chamber, illustrates how the Senate is gradually adapting to voices less beholden to legacy control mechanisms and more attuned to Trump’s vision of expanded economic opportunity.

A central flashpoint in the race is the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, H.R. 22 in the 119th Congress), which requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship—such as a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers—for federal voter registration and, in related iterations, mandates photo identification at the polls. Introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and passed by the House on April 10, 2025, the bill has been received in the Senate but remains stalled amid partisan debate. Proponents contend it closes loopholes that fueled concerns in the 2024 cycle, particularly in states with lax ID requirements where issues around unverified mail ballots, ballot harvesting, and non-citizen registrations surfaced, state audits in recent years have flagged thousands of potential ineligible registrations, including over 2,700 suspicious cases in some jurisdictions leading to dozens of investigations and prosecutions. The legislation’s preventive value against systemic vulnerabilities is emphasized by supporters, who argue it safeguards the integrity of federal elections without broadly suppressing legitimate voters.

Texas’s demographic and economic landscape further bolsters the case for forward momentum. The state’s population stands at roughly 31.7 million as of 2025, having added 391,243 residents—the most of any state—driven by domestic migration, natural increase, and energy-sector vitality, though growth slowed to 1.2 percent amid a nationwide immigration dip. Yet its political character remains solidly Republican outside the urban cores of Austin, Houston, and Dallas. Rural Texas exemplifies Americana—from the iconic Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo, a roadside spectacle along historic aviation corridors near Bell Helicopter facilities that symbolize the state’s aerospace heritage, to the historic Alamo and the emerging Space Coast powered by SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica. There, SpaceX operations have generated more than $13 billion in gross economic output between 2024 and 2026, supporting 24,000 direct and indirect jobs across the region. The complex now employs over 4,300 people locally (up from 3,400 the prior year and projected to reach 8,000 soon), while contributing more than $305 million in indirect taxes that fund schools, infrastructure, and public services. This boom, combined with Texas’s leadership in oil (projected record production exceeding 2.1 billion barrels in recent years) and natural gas, positions the Gulf Coast as a rival to international innovation hubs like Dubai or Abu Dhabi, with cascading economic synergies across the Gulf of America to Florida’s own space corridor.

Immigration patterns test this foundation but ultimately reinforce Texas’s red trajectory. Inflows from California and other blue states have carried lingering policy preferences, while broader migration—including legal and illegal channels—echoes earlier experiments in Florida, where waves of Cuban arrivals in the 1960s and 1980s initially created a purple tint before the state solidified as solidly red through cultural conservatism, economic integration, and generational shifts. Colorado and Minnesota faced similar pressures with mixed results, seeing temporary purple leans before stabilizing or moderating. Texas, by comparison, has absorbed these dynamics without fundamental realignment: domestic migrants often adopt red-state values upon arrival, and the state’s growing Hispanic population (now nearly 40 percent of residents) increasingly leans conservative on issues like energy independence, family values, and border security. Rural strength, combined with this demographic evolution, ensures the trajectory remains upward and Republican. Attempts to engineer a blue shift through demographic engineering have faltered against the state’s underlying cultural and economic gravity, as evidenced by consistent statewide Republican majorities in recent cycles.

Projecting forward to 2027 and the 2028 cycle, the stakes sharpen dramatically. With Trump-era policies anticipated to drive energy dominance—“drill, baby, drill” rhetoric already yielding record Texas production and lower gasoline prices around $2.60 per gallon—space commercialization at scale (including Starship mass production at the South Texas Giga factory), and accelerated GDP growth potentially reaching the 6 percent range through Western Hemisphere market dynamics and the global decline of socialist models, Texas needs a senator primed to champion these opportunities rather than hedge against them. The space economy alone could transform South Texas into a high-mobility engine rivaling global centers, demanding representation fluent in innovation, regulatory agility, and frontier ambition rather than institutional inertia. While tactical negotiations around the SAVE Act might tempt short-term deals to secure establishment buy-in for midterms—where Republicans already hold structural advantages—longer horizons favor accelerating change. Midterms are likely secure with or without such compromises once integrity measures take hold, as historical patterns show Democrats struggling without mechanisms perceived as enabling irregularities. President Trump has publicly tied his potential endorsement in this race to passage of the SAVE America Act, signaling a pragmatic calculus that balances immediate legislative wins with long-term personnel alignment.

The broader Senate evolution since the 2012 Romney defeat confirms this inevitability. The old GOP playbook of broad equivalence failed spectacularly, giving way to Trump-aligned reformers who have incrementally displaced McConnell-era holdovers. Figures like J.D. Vance and now Bernie Moreno represent this new guard: private-sector rooted, unapologetically expansionist, and focused on delivering tangible results rather than procedural caution. Paxton fits squarely in this bandwidth—battle-tested through impeachment and legal warfare, future-oriented, and rooted in the same entrepreneurial ethos that propelled Moreno. Libertarian-leaning voices emphasizing minimalism have likewise struggled to deliver alignment with expansive growth priorities, often prioritizing cultural laissez-faire over the disciplined policy execution MAGA demands. Embracing that shift sooner rather than later accelerates benefits: stronger energy policy, space-driven prosperity, and a Senate less prone to internal stall tactics that could hinder the 6-7 percent growth era many economists project under sustained pro-market, pro-innovation governance.

Texas will not turn blue. Its red core, amplified by icons of Americana and frontier ambition from the Alamo to Starbase, grows deeper with each cycle. The challenges of today—migration pressures, establishment resistance, electoral vulnerabilities—fade against the determination of voters who refuse to blink. Paxton embodies that determination, carrying the culture of resilience and optimism that defines the state. Supporting his candidacy ensures Texas not only holds its ground but leads the economic and political renaissance ahead, delivering results—energy independence, space commercialization, and unbreakable electoral integrity—far sooner than delay would allow. In an era where socialism crumbles abroad and Western Hemisphere capitalism surges, the future belongs to those willing to adapt quickly. Paxton is that future, and Texas voters appear poised to choose accordingly.

Bibliography (for further independent research and verification):

• The Texas Tribune: “Cornyn, Paxton advance to GOP runoff for Senate” (March 3, 2026) and “Texas AG Ken Paxton acquitted in impeachment trial” (September 16, 2023).

• The New York Times: “Texas U.S. Senate Primary Election Results” (March 2026 interactive).

• Congress.gov: H.R.22 – SAVE Act, 119th Congress (2025-2026).

• Cameron County / SpaceX: “2026 SPACEX ECONOMIC IMPACT RELEASE” and related reports (2025-2026 data on $13 billion output, jobs, taxes).

• Ohio Capital Journal / NPR: Bernie Moreno Ohio Senate victory coverage (November 2024).

• U.S. Census Bureau / Texas Tribune: “Texas led U.S. states in population growth in 2025” (January 2026).

• The Center Square / The Hill: Texas energy production and Trump policy impacts (2026).

• CNN / Politico: Trump endorsement dynamics in Texas Senate race (March 2026).

Rich Hoffman

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Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

About the Author: Rich Hoffman

What the TSA Funding and the Iranian Aggression in the Strait of Hormuz Reveal: Democrats want to harm the economy in both scenarios with an anti-American agenda

The recent developments in the Middle East, particularly the decisive military actions taken by the Trump administration against Iranian targets, have exposed deep fissures in American political life and revealed the true priorities of those who claim to represent progressive values. What began as a targeted bombing campaign to neutralize threats from a hostile regime has been met with a bizarre and troubling response from certain quarters of the Democratic Party and left-leaning media, where voices seem almost eager to amplify the remaining terrorist elements capable of disrupting global oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway, situated between Iran and the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf, represents one of the most strategically vital passages in the world, funneling approximately 20 percent of global seaborne oil trade—roughly 21 million barrels per day under normal conditions—through a chokepoint as narrow as 21 miles at its most constricted point. Historically, this strait has been a flashpoint for conflict; during the 1980s Tanker War between Iran and Iraq, both sides attacked commercial shipping, leading to U.S. naval intervention under Operation Earnest Will to protect oil tankers. The geography itself underscores the vulnerability: while 21 miles may seem vast on a map, it is narrow enough for modern anti-ship missiles, speedboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and even rudimentary mines to pose credible threats, yet wide enough that vessels cannot simply “hide” in open seas without sophisticated escort protection. Ships transiting the area must navigate between Iranian coastal defenses and the Omani side, making any disruption not just a regional issue but a global economic shock, as evidenced by past spikes in crude prices during similar crises.

The Trump administration’s campaign, which included precision strikes on military infrastructure such as those at Kharg Island—Iran’s primary oil export hub, where U.S. forces targeted over 90 military assets while sparing core oil facilities—has fundamentally altered the balance of power. Reports indicate that these operations, coordinated in part with Israeli efforts, eliminated significant portions of Iran’s leadership succession bench, including the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of top commanders, effectively decapitating the command structure that once orchestrated proxy terrorism across the region. This was no accidental escalation; it followed years of Iranian provocations, from nuclear enrichment programs set back by earlier U.S. actions in 2025 to support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, which have long destabilized the Middle East. The strikes targeted air defenses, missile batteries positioned along the Strait of Hormuz, and naval assets, rendering Iran’s ability to organize a sustained closure of the waterway severely compromised. In the immediate aftermath, Iranian remnants attempted retaliatory actions with speedboats and anti-ship missiles—tactics reminiscent of their “swarm” tactics in past incidents—but without centralized leadership or intact infrastructure, these efforts amount to little more than guerrilla harassment rather than a viable military strategy capable of halting commerce indefinitely.

Yet, rather than celebrating this reduction in a long-standing threat to American energy security and global stability, segments of the Democrat establishment and aligned media outlets have responded in ways that can only be described as cheerleading for the very terrorist elements left scrambling in Iran’s diminished capacity. Coverage has fixated on potential disruptions to oil shipments, speculating wildly about prolonged blockades that would drive gasoline prices skyward and derail economic progress under the current administration. This is not neutral reporting; it aligns with a broader ideological agenda that prioritizes weakening capitalist structures over securing American interests. The goal, as evidenced by repeated patterns, appears rooted in a desire to impose a net-zero-energy future, in which fossil fuel flows are throttled not by market forces but by engineered crises, forcing societies toward reliance on unreliable alternatives or, in the most extreme visions, a return to pre-industrial existence. One need only look at the climate rhetoric that has dominated left-leaning discourse for decades: shutting down pipelines, opposing domestic drilling, and now implicitly rooting for Iranian proxies to succeed where sanctions and diplomacy failed. This mindset views high energy prices not as a policy failure but as a feature, punishing consumers and industries alike to accelerate a transition that ignores practical realities like the intermittent nature of renewables and the immediate needs of working families.

The Strait of Hormuz incident encapsulates this perfectly. With the waterway’s narrowest stretch creating a natural bottleneck—vessels must slow and align in a predictable lane for safe passage—any residual Iranian speedboat attacks or missile launches from the mainland could theoretically endanger tankers. However, the scale of the U.S.-led degradation of Iranian naval and coastal capabilities has rendered such threats marginal. Iran’s “bass boat” navy, as critics have mockingly termed the IRGC’s small, fast-attack vessels used for fishing one moment and asymmetric warfare the next, lacks the logistical support or air cover to sustain operations against a coalition presence. Trump has already called for international partners, including approximately seven nations, to contribute minesweepers and escorts, leveraging alliances that recognize the shared interest in uninterrupted energy flows. Traffic through the strait, while initially reduced to a trickle amid the early chaos of retaliatory strikes—with estimates of only dozens of vessels transiting in the first weeks compared to over 100 daily pre-conflict—has begun to recover as U.S. forces neutralize threats. Iranian oil exports themselves continue at reduced but notable volumes, underscoring that the regime’s own economic lifeline persists even as it attempts to weaponize the passage against adversaries. The notion that this could spiral into another prolonged ground war akin to Iraq is pure speculation peddled by those invested in market volatility; boots-on-the-ground scenarios ignore the precision, standoff nature of the current operations, and the absence of any viable Iranian conventional force.

This cheerleading for disruption ties directly into a deeper anti-Trump animus that has stripped away the Democrat Party’s moderate facade. Once bolstered by centrist voices who could bridge divides, the party now stands exposed after waves of defections from its ranks. Union workers, laborers, and everyday Democrats who once formed the backbone of the coalition have shifted toward the Republican side, drawn by tangible results in economic security and a rejection of radical policies. Figures like Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, previously seen as a progressive stalwart, have moved toward positions that emphasize strength abroad and support for decisive action against threats such as Iran, aligning more closely with MAGA priorities on national security. Similarly, podcaster Joe Rogan—long a voice of independent inquiry—has critiqued leftward excesses and shown openness to perspectives once dismissed, including explorations of faith and personal responsibility. Elon Musk, who built revolutionary companies while navigating early left-leaning sympathies, has increasingly championed free-market principles and innovation unfettered by government overreach. Even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has broken from family traditions to advocate for pragmatic governance. These are not Republicans migrating leftward; they represent a genuine realignment in which former Democrats, recognizing the failures of identity-driven radicalism and economic sabotage, have gravitated toward a growing GOP tent under Trump’s leadership. As someone who has held conservative convictions since childhood, I approach this influx with some caution—the “big tent” expands rapidly, incorporating voices that may not align perfectly on every issue—but the net effect is to strengthen the movement. It dilutes the radicals left behind, those who now dominate media narratives and push agendas that prioritize ideological purity over prosperity.

The absence of any remaining Iranian leadership structure capable of orchestrating a coherent closure of the strait further undermines the doomsday predictions. With key figures eliminated and succession plans disrupted, the regime’s Marxist-adjacent authoritarian framework—characterized by centralized control, suppression of dissent, and alliances with adversarial powers like China—lacks the organizational muscle for sustained operations. (Note: while the Islamic Republic is fundamentally a Shia theocratic system governed by the principle of velayat-e faqih, or guardianship of the jurist, it incorporated anti-imperialist and redistributive elements from the 1979 Revolution that some analysts have likened to Marxist influences, though communist factions were later purged.) This vacuum leaves scattered terrorist remnants, easily countered by American naval superiority and coalition patrols. Speculation about skyrocketing oil prices persisting at elevated levels—perhaps locking gasoline at around $3.50 per gallon indefinitely—ignores historical precedents in which resolved crises led to rapid stabilization. Markets react to uncertainty with volatility, but once security is restored, barrels will trade lower, potentially dipping gasoline below $2 in the not-too-distant future as domestic production ramps up and global flows normalize. Card sharks in futures markets may bet on prolonged pain, but those bets are being unwound as reality sets in: the region is being secured through justified force, not endless occupation.

This dynamic exposes the fundamental philosophical rift. Democrats, now largely unmasked without their moderate cover, pursue policies that undermine self-rule and free enterprise. From reluctance to fully fund transportation security amid shutdown threats—actions that could grind air travel to a halt and mirror desires to cripple economic engines—to broader efforts against fossil fuels, the pattern is consistent: hurt capitalism at all costs to usher in a managed decline. Chuck Schumer and similar figures exemplify this by framing fiscal standoffs in ways that prioritize partisan leverage over public safety, hoping disruptions erode support for the administration. In contrast, the Republican Party, bolstered by defectors seeking common ground, offers a vision of strength, innovation, and abundance. Trump’s approach—opening the tent wide while delivering results—facilitates this evolution. People who were once skeptical, including those who viewed certain figures as too far left during earlier campaigns, now see the logic under pressure from real-world governance. This is not Republicans compromising; it is a magnetic pull toward policies that work, evident in parallel movements worldwide: Italy’s shifts under Giorgia Meloni, Argentina’s Milei revolution against socialism, Brazil’s adjustments, Mexico’s easing of cartel pressures, Canada’s populist stirrings, and European realignments against entrenched elites.

Globally, the removal of threats like Iran’s regime reverberates. George Soros and his network, including successors, have long funded elements that sow discord, preferring chaos to organized self-governance where moneyed interests cannot play kingmaker. Their immature worldview clashes with representative systems that empower citizens. As Trump dismantles such obstacles—from Iranian proxies to domestic regulatory overreach—more individuals awaken to the benefits of ordered liberty. In the Strait of Hormuz specifically, oil will continue flowing because the infrastructure for interference has been neutralized. American dominance in the region, achieved through air and naval power rather than quagmires, ensures this. Media attempts to manufacture crises, portraying terrorists as underdogs or inevitable victors, ring hollow as facts emerge: no mass closure, no boots on the ground quagmire, no permanent economic sabotage.

The cheerleading for potential chaos reveals a side long suspected but now undeniable. Without the polite moderates who once provided camouflage, radicals stand exposed, rooting against American success, whether through domestic shutdowns or foreign disruptions. This anti-team America stance contrasts sharply with the defectors streaming into the broader conservative coalition. The trend accelerates over the coming years: four, six, or more, as global populist waves mirror the U.S. shift. Marxism’s allure—centralized control disguised as equity—fails under scrutiny, leaving adherents isolated. In Iran, the vacuum created by leadership losses prevents any orchestrated Strait closure, despite desperate attempts by holdouts. The illusion peddled in some outlets, suggesting a robust threat persists, crumbles in light of evidence of degraded capabilities.

Economically, the payoff is clear. With secure shipping lanes, energy abundance returns, lowering costs for families and industries. Speculative bets on perpetual high prices will falter as tankers resume normal transit under protection. This is the future: flourishing commerce, reduced threats, and a political landscape realigned toward prosperity. Those clinging to old ideologies find themselves sidelined, their masks removed by the very successes they decry. The Strait of Hormuz remains open not by Iranian sufferance but through American resolve, proving once more that strength deters aggression while weakness invites it.

Expanding on the historical context, the Persian Gulf has long been a theater of great-power competition. Pre-1979, Iran under the Shah was a U.S. ally, stabilizing oil flows; the Islamic Revolution reversed this, birthing a system that exported revolution via proxies. The 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War saw the strait mined and tankers attacked, prompting reflagging operations where U.S. warships escorted Kuwaiti vessels. Lessons from that era inform today’s response: targeted naval interdiction can work without a full invasion. Iran’s current arsenal—anti-ship ballistic missiles like the Khalij Fars, fast-attack craft, and submarine threats—has been systematically degraded, as confirmed in post-strike assessments. Supplemental economic data reinforce optimism: pre-conflict, Gulf exports underpinned global supply chains; disruptions temporarily raise West Texas Intermediate crude prices, but diversification (U.S. shale, alliances with Saudi Arabia and the UAE) buffers the impact. Forecasts from energy analysts, accounting for resumed patrols, point to normalization within months, countering alarmist narratives.

Politically, the realignment transcends personalities. Labor unions, once Democrat mainstays, fracture over issues like energy jobs versus green mandates. Fetterman’s evolution—praising decisive foreign policy—exemplifies how representative pressures compel adaptation. Rogan’s platform amplifies voices questioning orthodoxy, fostering conversions through dialogue. Musk’s enterprises, from electric vehicles to space, thrive in open markets, his critiques of regulatory capture aligning with conservative skepticism. Kennedy’s independent run highlighted anti-establishment sentiment cutting across lines. This influx enlarges the tent, accommodating diverse views on fiscal matters and social issues while unifying around core principles: secure borders, energy dominance, and the rejection of globalist entanglements that empower adversaries.

The Marxist label applied to Iran merits nuance in background: the 1979 revolutionaries blended Islamist fervor with leftist economics, nationalizing industries and allying with Soviet remnants initially, but Khomeini’s purges eliminated true communists by the 1980s. Today’s regime blends theocracy with state capitalism, funneling oil revenues to proxies while partnering with China via Belt and Road initiatives. Its hostility stems from ideological opposition to Western liberalism, not from pure Marxism, yet it shares the goal of undermining capitalism through disruption. Allies in Beijing benefit from the chaos that elevates their influence. Removing this node weakens that axis, paving the way for regional realignments favoring stability.

On the domestic front, TSA funding battles illustrate the pattern: withholding resources to manufacture crises, hoping airport delays erode public confidence. This echoes broader shutdown tactics that prioritize narrative over function. Contrast with the Republican emphasis on funding security while streamlining bureaucracy. The exposure of such tactics accelerates defections, as average citizens—union members, small-business owners—recognize the disconnect from their livelihoods.

Worldwide echoes abound. Italy’s Meloni government curbs migration and revives industry; Argentina’s Milei slashes spending to combat inflation; Brazil navigates post-leftist adjustments; Mexico confronts cartels with renewed vigor; Canada faces provincial pushes against federal overreach; Europe contends with energy crises post-Russia sanctions, fueling populist surges. Each dismantles radical covers, mirroring U.S. trends. Soros-funded NGOs, promoting open borders and identity politics, lose ground as the public demands accountability.

Analysis of the Hormuz situation, speculation of endless hostility ignores military realities. U.S. and allied assets have cleared key threats; Iranian “fishing” boats repurposed for attacks lack sustainment. Oil flows resume, prices moderate. This victory, smooth and leadership-focused, signals broader progress against adversarial networks. Those celebrating potential setbacks reveal priorities that are misaligned with the national interest. The future belongs to the expanding coalition prioritizing strength, growth, and unity—Team America redefined through inclusion of the awakened. Gas prices will decline as security solidifies, economies flourish, and radical elements fade into irrelevance. This evolution, driven by results over rhetoric, defines the coming era.

Footnotes

1. EIA estimates on global oil transit chokepoints (historical baseline for 21 million barrels/day figure).

2. AP/Reuters reporting on coalition calls and vessel transits (March 2026 updates).

3. Fox News and NPR accounts of leadership eliminations post-strikes.

4. CNN and Politico details on Kharg Island targeting.

5. Historical context from U.S. Naval Institute records on the 1980s Tanker War.

6. Analyses of Iranian regime ideology from scholarly sources like those in Foreign Affairs archives.

7. Examples of political shifts drawn from public statements by Fetterman, Rogan interviews, and Musk commentary.

8. Oil price forecasts and shipping data from Kpler, TankerTrackers, and Lloyd’s List (2026 conflict metrics).

9. Global populist movements referenced in comparative political studies (e.g., Journal of Democracy).

10. U.S.-Iran relations timeline from Council on Foreign Relations backgrounders.

Bibliography

• CNN. “Trump Administration Underestimated Iran War’s Impact on Strait of Hormuz.” March 13, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/politics/hormuz-trump-administration-underestimated-iran

• Al Jazeera. “Trump Says US May Hit Iran’s Kharg Island Again ‘Just for Fun’.” March 15, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/15/trump-says-us-may-hit-irans-kharg-island-again-just-for-fun

• AP News. “Trump Says He’s Asked ‘About 7’ Countries to Join Coalition to Police Iran’s Strait of Hormuz.” March 15, 2026. https://apnews.com/article/iran-iraq-us-trump-march-15-2026-9bbed3c906146844be08fdfd02595754

• Fox News. “Trump Says Iran Strikes Eliminated Most Leadership.” March 3, 2026. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-irans-succession-bench-wiped-out-israeli-strike-hits-leadership-deliberations

• NPR. “Trump Warns Iran Not to Retaliate After Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Is Killed.” March 1, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/01/nx-s1-5731333/iran-us-israel-strikes

• CNBC. “Traffic Is Trickling Through Strait of Hormuz.” March 18, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/hormuz-bottleneck-vessel-tanker-tracker-shipping-strait-of-hormuz.html

• Reuters. “Oil Tankers ‘Starting to Dribble Through’ Strait of Hormuz.” March 17, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-tankers-starting-dribble-through-strait-hormuz-says-white-house-2026-03-17/

• U.S. Energy Information Administration. “World Oil Transit Chokepoints.” Updated reports on Hormuz.

• Council on Foreign Relations. “U.S.-Iran Relations Timeline.” Background primer.

• Foreign Affairs. Articles on Iranian revolutionary ideology and regional proxies.

• Additional references: Kpler energy analytics, Lloyd’s List Intelligence shipping data, and public statements from political figures as cited in mainstream coverage (March 2026). 202

Rich Hoffman

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The Merger Is Complete: All Assets Secure – Why Ohio (and America) Cannot Talk Financial Stabilization Without Confronting Financialization and Returning to Real Production

The merger is complete. All assets are secure. That phrase has been echoing in my mind lately as I sit down with state leaders like Senator George Lang, the Ohio State Treasurer, and others in the growing movement here in the Buckeye State. We are not just talking about balancing budgets or tweaking tax policy anymore. We are staring down the barrel of a much deeper conversation—one that cannot happen in a vacuum. Preserving Ohio’s financial future, and by extension the country’s, demands we confront a natural byproduct of decades of drift into pure financial engineering: the dominance of financialization. It is the term that has surfaced repeatedly in our private discussions, and it is the invisible force that has warped our economy into something unrecognizable from the one the Founders envisioned.

Kevin Freeman, the author of Pirate Money: Discovering the Founders’ Hidden Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset, has laid out the principles that are now gaining traction. Under a potential Vivek Ramaswamy administration in 2026–2027—and with leaders like Senator Lang stepping forward—this idea is poised to evolve into policy. The core concept is straightforward yet revolutionary: states create a gold reserve managed directly by the treasurer. Citizens can hold value in physical gold or silver, stored securely in a state depository, and access it through a modern debit card or electronic transfer for everyday purchases. The money in your account is not fiat paper subject to endless printing; it is backed ounce-for-ounce by hard metal. You spend gold without ever carrying a coin. The value stays anchored to something real.

Senator Lang has been vocal about this in legislative circles. Ohio House Bill 206, introduced by Representatives Jennifer Gross and Riordan McClain, already proposes exactly this framework: a state-managed transactional currency rooted in gold and silver. The treasurer would hold the bullion in a protected reserve, and citizens could buy, hold, and spend it electronically. Every “dollar” spent would be convertible to actual metal. It is optional, constitutional (states have clear authority under Article I, Section 10), and already working in pilot form in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and elsewhere. Freeman calls it “gold you can spend.” I call it sanity.

But here is the catch—and this is where the conversation with Lang and the treasurer always turns serious: you cannot build the infrastructure for a gold-backed system while the economy remains addicted to financialization. That addiction is the black hole at the center of everything. It is the reason Main Street has been swallowed by Wall Street. It is why so many companies that used to make things now make money off money. And it is why a growing number of us—myself included—have deliberately refused to play the game.

Financialization is not some abstract academic term. It is the process by which the financial sector—banks, hedge funds, private equity, asset managers—stops serving the real economy and instead becomes the economy. Profits come not from producing better hamburgers, better tires, better homes, or better steel, but from trading debt like baseball cards, leveraging interest rates, securitizing everything, and extracting fees from every layer of the transaction. BlackRock is the poster child. With over $10 trillion in assets under management, it is the largest shareholder in nearly 90 percent of the S&P 500. Larry Fink’s firm does not build factories; it owns pieces of every factory, every airline, every retailer. It profits whether the underlying company succeeds or fails because the game is now about ownership of the capital structure itself, not the output.

This is not capitalism as Adam Smith or even Henry Ford understood it. This is a casino layered on top of the real economy. When you buy someone’s debt, package it, sell it, insure it, and then bet against it—all while the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates artificially low or high to favor the house—you create wealth that has no anchor in physical reality. The Dow Jones Industrial Average looks healthy on paper, but much of that “growth” is stock buybacks funded by cheap debt, not new factories humming three shifts a day. BlackRock and its peers have perfected this. They gained enormous power during the 2008 crisis by managing toxic assets for the Fed, then used the same tools to consolidate control. Today the Big Three (BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street) control roughly a fifth of all S&P 500 shares. They vote those shares, influence boards, and extract fees regardless of whether the company actually produces anything of lasting value.

I have had a front-row seat to this vortex my entire adult life. I made deliberate choices—every single year, every opportunity—to stay out of it. I could have leveraged real estate deals, flipped debt instruments, ridden the private-equity wave, or parked money in funds that profited from the very inflation the Fed engineered. Many friends did exactly that. They have swimming pools of cash, second homes in the Bahamas, and portfolios that look impressive on a spreadsheet. I do not begrudge them the money. But I watched what it did to their thinking. Success became detached from making something people genuinely wanted. It became about timing the next rate cut, the next bailout, the next round of quantitative easing. The forbidden fruit of financialization tastes sweet in college textbooks and MBA programs, but it rots the soul of production.

This is why I have always measured my own economic decisions by a simple test: Does this create a better physical product or service that competes in the open market? If I make a better hamburger, I get rich because people buy more of them. If I build better homes with honest materials at honest prices, the market rewards me. The value is in the wood, the stone, the craftsmanship—not in how cleverly I can leverage a bank loan or securitize the mortgage payments into a derivative. When companies start measuring success by how much debt they can service or how many assets they can flip rather than how many units they ship, the culture shifts. Plants close on weekends. Third shifts disappear. Executives leave at 5 p.m. sharp and do not answer the phone. Why work harder when the real money comes from the interest-rate spread, the management fee, or the carried-interest loophole?

The data backs this up brutally. Since the United States fully abandoned the gold standard—first under FDR in 1933 with Executive Order 6102 (which confiscated private gold holdings) and then under Nixon in 1971—the dollar has lost roughly 90 percent of its purchasing power. That is not an accident. When money can be printed without limit, the incentive structure flips. Central bankers at Jackson Hole sip lattes and debate “monetary theory” while companies learn that the fastest path to shareholder value is not innovation but financial engineering. The Federal Reserve keeps rates high enough to reward bondholders and asset managers but low enough (in crisis) to bail them out. The result? An entire generation of executives who treat labor as a cost to minimize rather than a partner in production. They do not need to run three shifts seven days a week when leverage and cheap debt do the heavy lifting.

Trump’s short-term approach—flood the system with energy, tariffs, and stimulus—will ignite the wet wood and create a roaring blaze of apparent prosperity. People will feel wealthier in their pockets for a while. That is the point of the first four years: get the engine turning again. But the long-term conversation, the one Lang, the treasurer, and Freeman are pushing in Ohio, is what happens next. How do we protect the value of that freshly created wealth? How do we prevent it from being inflated away or siphoned into the same financial black hole?

The answer is not complicated, but it is hard. We must divorce the economy from financialization and re-anchor it to Main Street production. A state gold reserve with a debit card is step one. It gives citizens an escape hatch from fiat volatility. But the deeper reform is cultural and structural: companies must be measured—and rewarded—by what they actually make, how efficiently they make it, and how many people willingly pay for it in the open market. Not by how cleverly they shuffle debt or extract fees. Not by how many weekends they can take off because the balance sheet looks good on paper.

I have lived this choice for thirty-plus years. I have walked past opportunities that would have made me “rich” by Wall Street standards because they required me to play the game I instinctively knew was phony. I would rather build something real—something that lasts, something people value—than swim in a pool of spreadsheet wealth that evaporates the moment the Fed changes course. That is not sacrifice; it is principle. And it is the principle Ohio must adopt if we are serious about a gold-backed system.

Look around manufacturing today. Plants that once ran 24/7 now shutter at 5 p.m. Friday and stay dark until Monday. Executives brag about “work-life balance” while the balance sheet is propped up by financial tricks. The workforce has absorbed the lesson: show up, collect the paycheck, go home. Why push for excellence when the real profits come from the Delta between phony valuation and actual output? This is the lazy class financialization has bred—not just at the top, but throughout the ranks. People with nice houses and nice cars who have never felt the exhaustion of building something that actually competes. They are the modern equivalent of the Ferris Bueller dads—out of touch, coasting on leverage, wondering why their kids do not respect them.

The Founders understood this danger. They wrote gold and silver into the Constitution precisely because they had lived through the chaos of unbacked paper money during the Revolution. States were explicitly forbidden from issuing bills of credit for good reason. Hamilton and Jefferson debated banks, but both agreed the ultimate measure of wealth was productive capacity, not financial sleight of hand. We drifted away from that wisdom first in 1933 and then decisively in 1971. The result is the hollowed-out economy we see today: record stock valuations alongside shuttered factories, record CEO pay alongside stagnant wages for those who still make things.

Ohio is at a crossroads. With leaders like Senator Lang and a treasurer willing to explore transactional gold, we have a chance to lead. Texas and Florida have already moved. More states are watching. If we pair a state gold depository and debit-card system with policies that reward actual production—tax incentives for three-shift operations, penalties for excessive financial engineering, honest accounting that separates real assets from leveraged paper—we can rebuild what was lost.

This is bigger than monetary policy. It is about the soul of work. Do we want an economy where success is measured by how many physical goods and services we create that the world actually wants? Or do we want one where success is measured by how cleverly we game the spreadsheets? The first path builds real wealth that can be passed to grandchildren. The second builds a pyramid that eventually collapses.

I have made my choice. I attach myself to hard assets and real output. I have sacrificed short-term paper gains for long-term substance. I will not change course now, even as the financialization racket reaches its peak. The game is ending. Trump’s four years will provide the fuel, but the states—and Ohio in particular—must provide the guardrails. A gold standard without a return to production-based measurement is just another pretty facade. We need both.

The merger is complete. All assets are secure. Now the real work begins: making sure those assets are real, not phantom. Ohio has the leaders, the moment, and the model. The question is whether the rest of the country—and especially the next generation—will have the courage to follow.

Footnotes

[1] Kevin Freeman, Pirate Money (Post Hill Press, 2024); see also his presentations to state legislatures on transactional gold, October 2024.

[2] Ohio House Bill 206 (2025), establishing state-managed gold/silver transactional currency.

[3] Senator George Lang, sponsor testimony on related financial legislation, Ohio Senate, 2025–2026 sessions.

[4] Executive Order 6102 (April 5, 1933), Franklin D. Roosevelt; full text available in Federal Register.

[5] BlackRock 10-K filings and asset-under-management reports, 2025–2026; see also analyses in Harvard Business Review on the “Big Three” asset managers.

[6] U.S. dollar purchasing-power loss since 1971, calculated via BLS and ShadowStats methodologies.

[7] Constitutional Currency / TransactionalGold.com resources on state-level gold legislation.

[8] Federal Reserve History essays on Roosevelt’s gold program and Nixon shock.

[9] Economic War Room with Kevin Freeman (BlazeTV) episodes on state depositories and debit-card systems.

Bibliography (selected for further research)

• Freeman, Kevin D. Pirate Money: Discovering the Founders’ Hidden Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset. Post Hill Press, 2024.

• Ohio Legislative Service Commission analyses of HB 206 and Senate Bill 269 (2025–2026).

• “States Work To Make Gold And Silver Alternative Currencies,” Guildhall Precious Metals / Epoch Times, 2025–2026 reporting.

• “How Asset Managers Like BlackRock Took Over the World,” LSE Review of Books, June 2025.

• Federal Reserve History: “Roosevelt’s Gold Program” and related primary documents.

• U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations: “Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse,” 2011 (updated analyses available).

• Constitutional Currency / TransactionalGold.com policy toolkits and model legislation.

• Biblical Archaeology Review and related economic history archives for broader context on ancient sound-money systems (cross-reference for philosophical grounding).

• Ohio Senate GOP and Business First Caucus materials on economic growth targets to $1 trillion GDP by 2030.

This is not theory. This is the hard conversation we must have before the next cycle of phony prosperity pulls us back under. The merger is complete. The assets are secure. Now let us make sure they stay that way—anchored to what we actually build, not what we pretend to own on paper.

Rich Hoffman

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Hemispheric Defense Has Long Been Needed: Bring peace to the human race from Earth to Mars

The announcement by President Donald Trump in early March 2026 of a new hemispheric defense initiative marked a pivotal shift in U.S. foreign policy, emphasizing the protection of the Western Hemisphere from external threats and internal destabilization. This “Shield of the Americas” coalition, unveiled at a summit in Miami, Florida, on March 7, involved commitments from 17 nations to combat drug cartels and terrorist networks through coordinated military action. Trump described it as a necessary response to the “sinister cartels” poisoning America, invoking the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine to assert U.S. dominance in the region. The initiative was built on the 2026 National Defense Strategy, which prioritized securing U.S. borders, countering narco-terrorists, and ensuring access to key terrain like the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico. This move came amid ongoing operations, such as strikes on Venezuelan vessels, which by March had resulted in the destruction of over 46 ships and the deaths of at least 157 individuals, framed by the administration as a war on narco-terrorism.

Trump’s 2024 reelection, following his claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election that saw Joe Biden declared the winner, underscored a resilient populist movement. Despite legal challenges and investigations finding no evidence of systemic fraud (because the bad guys didn’t want to look), Trump’s narrative of a “rigged” 2020 contest resonated with millions, leading to his overwhelming 2024 victory, which supporters hailed as “too big to rig.” Born in 1946 in Queens, New York, Trump rose from real estate magnate to reality TV star before entering politics in 2015. His first term (2017-2021) focused on economic nationalism, tax cuts, and border security, but ended amid controversy over the January 6 Capitol riot (caused by election fraud by the government itself trying to keep him from returning to the White House). His return to power in 2025 emphasized dismantling “globalist” influences, including reducing U.S. funding to international organizations perceived as burdensome.

Central to Trump’s hemispheric defense vision is a critique of the United Nations, seen as a flawed attempt at global governance funded disproportionately by American capitalism. Founded in 1945 after World War II to promote peace and cooperation, the UN has faced longstanding U.S. criticism for inefficiency, anti-American bias, and overreliance on American contributions—historically accounting for 22% of its regular budget. Figures like Senator Jesse Helms in the 1990s pushed for reforms by withholding funds, echoing broader conservative arguments that the UN undermines national sovereignty. Trump’s administration has continued this trend, withdrawing from bodies like UNESCO and the Human Rights Council, arguing they promote “woke” agendas and allow influence from adversaries like China and Russia. Conservative critics often view the UN as a vehicle for globalism that erodes U.S. sovereignty, promoting one-world government ideals and supporting policies like Agenda 21, which they see as threats to property rights and individual freedoms.

This skepticism reflects a deeper philosophical divide: American exceptionalism, rooted in capitalism, versus the global spread of socialism, Marxism, and communism. The U.S., as a “melting pot” attracting immigrants from diverse backgrounds, embodies values of individual liberty, upward mobility, and self-governance, as articulated by Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 work Democracy in America. Capitalism here fosters innovation and prosperity, as evidenced by symbols like the suburban home with a white picket fence. In contrast, socialism—where the state controls production—has dominated regions such as Europe (with social-democratic welfare states in Sweden and Denmark), Canada (universal healthcare), Mexico (state-owned oil under PEMEX), and much of South and Central America. China remains a communist powerhouse under the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea an isolated dictatorship, and Russia grapples with its Soviet legacy while trying to open markets, ineffectively.

Latin America’s history illustrates this tension, deeply intertwined with U.S. interventions during the Cold War era. The Monroe Doctrine, articulated by President James Monroe in 1823, warned European powers against further colonization or intervention in the Western Hemisphere, establishing the U.S. as the region’s protector. Initially symbolic due to limited U.S. power, it evolved with President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 Corollary, which asserted U.S. rights to intervene in Latin American affairs to maintain stability, inverting the doctrine’s original anti-colonial intent. This paved the way for “Big Stick” diplomacy and numerous interventions, from the Banana Wars (1898-1934) to Cold War operations.

During the Cold War, U.S. policy focused on containing communism, leading to interventions like the 1954 CIA-backed coup in Guatemala against President Jacobo Árbenz, whose land reforms threatened U.S. interests like the United Fruit Company. In Cuba, Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution overthrew Fulgencio Batista, leading to a communist regime after the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion—a CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to oust Castro, which solidified his alliance with the Soviet Union and prompted the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro, born in 1926 to a wealthy landowner, studied law and led guerrilla warfare from the Sierra Maestra mountains, nationalizing U.S. assets and imposing central planning. His rule suppressed dissent, but he became an icon for anti-imperialists. In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, elected in 1998 after a failed 1992 coup, implemented “21st-century socialism,” nationalizing industries like oil and launching social programs funded by petroleum revenues. Chávez, born in 1954 in a poor rural family, served in the military and drew inspiration from Simón Bolívar, but his policies led to economic collapse under successor Nicolás Maduro, fueling drug trafficking via the “Cartel of the Suns.” Mexican drug cartels, like Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, exacerbate U.S. fentanyl crises, with over 72,000 fentanyl-related deaths in 2023 alone, though provisional data for 2025 show a 21% decline in overall overdose deaths amid enforcement efforts.

The War on Drugs, declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971 as “public enemy number one,” escalated U.S. involvement in Latin America, framing narcotics as a national security threat. Rooted in earlier prohibitions such as the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act, it intensified under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s through policies like mandatory minimum sentences and increased funding for interdiction. Operations targeted Latin American sources, including support for anti-communist forces like the Contras in Nicaragua, blending drug enforcement with Cold War geopolitics.

Marxism’s influence extends beyond Latin America. Karl Marx, born in 1818 in Trier, Germany, developed his theories amid the Industrial Revolution, collaborating with Friedrich Engels on the 1848 Communist Manifesto, which proclaimed class struggle as the engine of history. Marxism spread globally through revolutions: the 1917 Russian Revolution established the Soviet Union, inspiring communist parties worldwide; Mao Zedong’s 1949 victory in China adapted Marxism to agrarian societies; and anti-colonial movements in Africa and Asia drew on Marxist anti-imperialism. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela, born in 1918 and a leader in the anti-apartheid struggle, was affiliated with the South African Communist Party (SACP), serving on its Central Committee in the early 1960s despite later denials for political reasons. Mandela’s pragmatism aligned him with communists against apartheid, though he transitioned to democratic governance after his 1990 release from prison and 1994 presidency.

In the U.S., critics argue that Marxist strategies underpin urban entitlement programs, contributing to “blue zones” in cities where socialism obviously infiltrates capitalist systems. The hemispheric defense push addresses these threats by targeting regimes like Venezuela and Cuba, seen as conduits for drugs and instability. Open borders, critics claim, allow influxes from socialist nations, weakening U.S. society—a strategy linked to figures like George Soros and Hillary Clinton. The 1980 Mariel Boatlift exemplified this: Castro released over 125,000 Cubans, including prisoners and mental health patients, flooding Florida and straining resources, though many integrated successfully. Despite this, Florida has shifted to a solid Republican state.

Trump’s agenda includes merit-based reforms, like eliminating property taxes—a proposal echoed in states like Florida, North Dakota, and Georgia, where lawmakers aim to phase out or cut them using state funds or oil revenues. This aligns with reducing the burdens on centralized government, favoring capitalism over socialism. Other states, such as Texas, Indiana, Kansas, and Wyoming, are exploring similar measures, often replacing property taxes with sales taxes or state surpluses, though critics warn of potential impacts on local services like education.

Looking ahead, hemispheric stability could end communist influences from China, fostering capitalist societies in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Cuba’s potential fall would open markets and reveal archaeological treasures, like the underwater formations off its coast—sonar-detected structures resembling ancient pyramids, possibly 6,000 years old, hinting at lost civilizations. Discovered in 2001 at depths of 600-750 meters, these geometric formations off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula have sparked debates on whether they are natural or remnants of an advanced pre-Columbian society, potentially predating known Mesoamerican civilizations. Expanding U.S. principles, perhaps adding states like Cuba or Greenland under constitutional governance, could promote global peace through competition, benefiting humanity from Earth to Mars. And its about time.

[1] For further reading on Trump’s foreign policy: The Trump Doctrine and the Emerging International System by Stanley A. Renshon.

[2] On UN history: The United Nations: A Very Short Introduction by Jussi M. Hanhimäki.

[3] On Marxism: The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

[4] Mandela biography: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.

[5] Castro biography: Fidel Castro: My Life by Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet.

[6] Chávez and Venezuela: Hugo Chávez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. by Nikolas Kozloff.

[7] Mariel Boatlift: The Mariel Boatlift: A Cuban-American Journey by Victor Andres Triay.

[8] Underwater archaeology: Atlantis Beneath the Ice by Rand Flem-Ath and Rose Flem-Ath.

[9] Property tax reforms: Tax Revolt: The Rebellion Against an Overbearing, Arrogant, and Abusive Government by David O. Sears and Jack Citrin.

[10] Monroe Doctrine: The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America by Jay Sexton.

[11] Cold War Interventions: The Cold War in the Third World by Robert J. McMahon.

[12] War on Drugs: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

[13] Socialism in Latin America: Latin American Revolutions: Old and New World Origins by Greg Grandin.

Rich Hoffman

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About the Author: Rich Hoffman

A Warrior’s Heart: Warren Davidson and Vivek Ramaswamy are the center of the political universe

It was an intriguing week in Ohio politics, one that began with the State of the State address at the Statehouse in Columbus, where I had the opportunity to engage with Governor Mike DeWine and several legislators deeply invested in the direction of our state and nation. These conversations unfolded in a setting that felt both historic and intimate, surrounded by the echoes of decisions that shape lives far beyond the marble halls. As someone who’s been navigating the blurry lines between business, authorship, and political commentary for years, I find these moments invaluable—they peel back the layers of headlines and reveal the human elements driving policy and principle. The air was thick with concern over Congressman Warren Davidson’s recent vote against President Trump’s war powers in the context of the Iran situation, a decision that aligned him with Democrats like Thomas Massie and sparked alarm among some Republicans. I spoke with several people in the legislature who expressed real unease about this, viewing it as a potential fracture in party unity at a time when the margins are razor-thin. Yet, after spending at least ten minutes talking directly with Warren about it, I came away with a deeper appreciation for his stance. I like Warren a lot; he’s a principled man, and his position makes sense when you consider the broader implications for executive power. [1]

The vote in question stemmed from the recent escalation with Iran, where decisive action was taken and not yet resolved within 24 hours, but it reignited debates about the boundaries of presidential authority. Warren’s point, as he explained it to me, is that while we all appreciate a strong leader like Trump who can act swiftly in defense of the nation, we don’t want unchecked executive powers that could drag us into prolonged conflicts without congressional oversight. Congress alone has the constitutional mandate to declare war and authorize sustained military engagements; the president can respond defensively, but perpetual conquests à la Napoleon aren’t the American way. I get that—it’s about trusting the process, not just the person. With Trump in the White House, everyone might agree with Warren’s caution because we’ve seen how he handles power responsibly, but what about future administrations? That’s the crux of it. Warren is aligned with Trump on nearly everything else; if you look at his record, it’s a testament to conservative values. For instance, there was that illuminating hearing where he went toe-to-toe with Maxine Waters over her attempts to label ICE as a terrorist organization. He defended ICE vigorously, emphasizing its role in maintaining national security under the Trump administration. It was a moment of clarity amid partisan noise, underscoring Warren’s commitment to border integrity and law enforcement.[2]

I recall Warren’s “warrior heart” speech when he announced his vote—it was poignant and well-articulated, echoing his military background as a West Point graduate and Army veteran. He’s done this before on issues like the debt ceiling, standing firm even when it means bucking party lines. Representing Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, which includes much of the Butler County region—a stronghold of Trump support—he knows his constituents value the Constitution above all. Behind closed doors, I’m sure Trump would affirm that honest checks on power are essential, much like in any executive role in business or governance. Sometimes you leverage friendships, positive thinking, or even brokered terminations to achieve consensus, but the assumption is always that representatives should adhere tightly to foundational principles. Up in Columbus, I heard similar sentiments from people in the know, those who deal with these tightropes daily. It’s a balance: following what you believe your constituents want while resisting peer pressure from either side. Most of us want Republicans to support the Trump administration fully, given the slim majorities, to tackle threats like Venezuela, Mexican cartels, Iran’s aggressions, and China’s economic maneuvers against the dollar. Yet, after listening to Warren, I can say he’s every bit the Trump supporter, but he stands by his principles, and that’s what we elect representatives for.[3]

At the time of his vote, it was clear the measure would pass in the House and head to the Senate, so his stance wasn’t going to derail Trump’s initiatives. Instead, it was a principled record-setter, emphasizing that this administration—and future ones—must operate within constitutional bounds. When the lights are off, and it’s one-on-one, no doubt Trump would agree with Warren on the need for debate. That’s healthy; cross-purposes foster better governance. I also had a substantial conversation with Vivek Ramaswamy during the same timeframe, overlapping with discussions involving the governor and others. The question on many minds was what happens now that DeWine’s term is winding down at the end of this year. It’s shaping up to be a Vivek-led Republican era, with Democrats like Amy Acton—the so-called “lockdown lady” from the COVID days—vying to upend that. I chatted with DeWine about his Lockdown legacy or whatever remnants of those policies linger, but it was light, just folks talking. He seemed a bit sad; politics has been his life, from prosecutor to senator to governor, and this is the final chapter. He’ll likely hang around in some meaningful way, but the Republicans in Columbus are eagerly awaiting the new governor.[4]

Vivek and I delved into a lot, from his transition from CEO of biotech firms like Roivant Sciences to politics, to the mood post-State of the State. His question to me was about the governor’s mindset, and my take was simple: everyone’s waiting for the new era. Vivek has great ideas; he needs gubernatorial support to implement them. It was an intimate gathering, not a broad spectacle, allowing for real one-on-one talks. These smaller venues let you gauge what people are truly about, beyond the surface. Media often isn’t equipped for that—they skim the headlines without understanding the nuts and bolts. With Vivek facing scrutiny, primary challengers like Casey Putsch, and rhetoric from radical Democrats, getting to the deeper level reveals his genuine intent. As for Warren, many wonder why he went against Trump, but he’s been stellar on other fronts. He wants to ensure that in two years, or ten, or fifteen, we don’t have rubber-stamp wars. Even with a strong CEO like Trump making executive decisions on Iran—a radical ideology threatening economic dominance—we need constitutional fidelity first. More discussion, healthy debate—that’s key in any government endeavor.[5]

I love Warren Davidson; every time I talk to him and his wife, Lisa, they’re just sweet, nice people in it for the right reasons. He walks that fine line between pressure and principle, drawing from his “warrior heart” ethos. In one-on-one settings, you see he’s the real deal—a good guy through and through. Even amid anger from some over his vote, he redeems himself not by owing anyone, but by being authentic. People at the steakhouse in Columbus were disappointed that he wasn’t fully on the Republican bandwagon at that moment, but he’s a strong conservative who’ll defend the Constitution fiercely, even against a powerhouse president like Trump. It’s not anti-Trump; it’s pro-debate. Shifting to Vivek, all these threads centered around the Statehouse. I told everyone, including Vivek, that he’s got the right attention for this. He’s very wealthy and young, and could retire to a beach in Rhode Island and vanish happily. Instead, he wants to apply his success to lead Ohio beneficially. Ahead of the primaries on May 5, he’s poised to do great things. As I said to him, echoing my chats with others: everyone’s waiting for DeWine to step aside. DeWine isn’t bad—he’s been decent on business, not obstructing the Business First Caucus or investments like Intel’s chip plant—but many Republicans like me feel he’s leaned too Democrat, especially on COVID lockdowns that hammered the economy. We’re still recovering.[6]

Vivek’s been good at uniting people; the Republican Party endorsed him, and we discussed that. It’s great seeing coalescence. When Vivek becomes governor, it’ll be a solid period—Warren finishing his term, Trump advancing his agenda, but with healthy checks in place. On war powers, it’s constitutional: Congress declares war, manages finances. Nothing wrong with reminding everyone of that. It was refreshing getting context directly from these guys. We’re better off with them in office, representing us well. I told both to their faces how proud I am; it was sincere, just people connecting. They’re willing to tackle the hard stuff, and that’s not easy.

To delve deeper, let’s consider the historical underpinnings of these discussions. The War Powers Resolution of 1973, passed over President Nixon’s veto, was designed precisely to prevent unchecked executive military actions following the Vietnam War. It requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing forces and withdraw them within 60 days without authorization.[7] In the recent flare-up in Iran, Trump’s swift response mirrored the 2020 Soleimani strike, but Warren’s vote echoes past bipartisan efforts to reclaim congressional prerogative. Think of Libya in 2011 under Obama or Syria under Trump—debates raged then, too. Warren’s consistency here aligns with libertarians like Massie, who often prioritize constitutional limits over party loyalty. His district, encompassing Butler, Darke, Miami, Preble, and parts of Hamilton and Warren counties, is a microcosm of Ohio’s conservative heartland, where Trump won big in 2024, yet values like fiscal responsibility and limited government resonate deeply.[8]

My interaction with Warren reminded me of why I admire him: he’s not swayed by theater. In that Maxine Waters exchange, he dismantled her narrative point by point, highlighting ICE’s role in combating human trafficking and drug cartels—issues hitting Ohio hard with the fentanyl crisis. Statistics show Ohio’s overdose deaths peaked during the pandemic, underscoring the need for strong borders.[9] Warren’s “warrior heart” isn’t rhetoric; it’s rooted in his Ranger service, where decisions meant life or death. As for the peer pressure, it’s real—in thin-majority Congresses, every vote counts, but representatives like him embody the Founders’ intent: a deliberative body, not a monolith.

Turning to DeWine, our chat was poignant. His term ends January 11, 2027, after two terms limited by Ohio’s constitution.[10] He’s been in politics since the 1970s—Greene County prosecutor, state senator, congressman, lieutenant governor, U.S. senator, attorney general, governor. A lifetime, really. He seemed reflective, perhaps melancholic, about wrapping up. But Republicans are chomping at the bit for a more conservative shift. DeWine’s handled business influx well—think Honda’s EV investments or Amazon’s expansions—but his COVID policies, with Acton’s guidance, locked down too hard for many. The economy took a hit; unemployment spiked to 16.4% in April 2020, and the recovery has been uneven.[11] Vivek aims to dismantle that legacy by promising tax cuts, deregulation, and a revival of innovation. His biotech background—founding Roivant, worth billions—positions him uniquely.[12]

Talking to Vivek, I sensed his authenticity. He’s endorsed by Trump and the Ohio GOP, leading polls against Putsch and Hill.[13] His running mate, Senate President Rob McColley, adds legislative heft. We discussed the primaries—not even close, in my view. Republicans can’t wait for Vivek in the mansion. He’s stepping down from ivory towers; governing’s harder than CEO-ing, balancing disagreeing factions. But his heart’s in it—genuine, like Warren’s. These personal convos, eye-to-eye, reveal good people wanting to do well. For those curious about headlines—Davidson’s “betrayal,” Vivek’s “outsider” status, DeWine’s heritage (his family’s from Ireland, actually, but he’s Ohio-born)—it’s about job performance. I’m happy to have these talks amid speculation about Iran’s duration or primaries. It’s a tricky world, but when everything is founded in sincerity, which it is, the direction of the future is much clearer.

[1] For more on Warren Davidson’s military background and voting rationale, see his official congressional biography.

[2] Reference to the 2019 House Financial Services Committee hearing, where Davidson challenged Waters on ICE labeling.

[3] Ohio’s 8th District demographics from the U.S. Census Bureau data.

[4] Details on DeWine’s term limits per the Ohio Constitution, Article III, Section 2.

[5] Historical context from the War Powers Resolution, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1541-1548.

[6] Ohio unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[7] Nixon veto overridden November 7, 1973; see Congressional Record.

[8] 2024 election results in Ohio districts from the Ohio Secretary of State.

[9] Ohio Department of Health overdose statistics, 2020-2025.

[10] DeWine’s political timeline from Ballotpedia.

[11] BLS data on Ohio’s pandemic economic impact.

[12] Roivant Sciences’ founding and valuation from Forbes profiles.

[13] Recent polling from Emerson College and others on the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial race.

Bibliography

1. “How one House Republican voted to buck Trump on Iran.” CNN, March 5, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/05/politics/warren-davidson-house-republican-war-powers-iran

2. “House fails to adopt Iran war powers resolution.” ABC News, March 5, 2026. https://abcnews.com/Politics/house-primed-vote-iran-war-powers-resolution/story?id=130788637

3. “Here are the candidates running for Ohio statewide office in 2026.” Ohio Capital Journal, February 6, 2026. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/02/06/here-are-the-candidates-running-for-ohio-statewide-office-in-2026

4. “Ohio gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2026.” Ballotpedia. https://ballotpedia.org/Ohio_gubernatorial_and_lieutenant_gubernatorial_election,_2026

5. “2026 Ohio gubernatorial election.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Ohio_gubernatorial_election

6. “Vivek for Ohio.” Campaign website. https://vivekforohio.com/

7. “Vivek Ramaswamy – Ballotpedia.” https://ballotpedia.org/Vivek_Ramaswamy

8. “Mike DeWine – Ballotpedia.” https://ballotpedia.org/Mike_DeWine

9. “Mike DeWine.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeWine

10. “Vision for the Future – Governor Mike DeWine.” Ohio.gov. https://governor.ohio.gov/administration/governor

11. Additional sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio Secretary of State election archives, Forbes business profiles.

Rich Hoffman

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About the Author: Rich Hoffman

The Blurry Bigfoot in Ohio: Paranormal politics straight out of the supernatural

I’ve been chasing these threads for years—ever since I first picked up that battered copy of the Hidden Ohio Map and Guide during a family trip to the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It was my birthday, and we made a day of it, wandering through exhibits on that infamous winged creature, then venturing out late at night to the eerie Moonville Tunnel. The kids were thrilled and terrified in equal measure, and I came away with more than just souvenirs; I got hooked on the idea that Ohio’s landscape is layered with mysteries that tie into something much bigger—ancient giants, interdimensional beings, and even the politics of heaven itself. As someone who’s spent countless miles in my RV crisscrossing the United States, from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Roswell, New Mexico, I can tell you firsthand that Bigfoot sightings aren’t just campfire tales. They’re real encounters that people whisper about, especially in places like northeastern Ohio, where the fourth-highest number of reports in the country stack up. And now, in March 2026, we’ve got a fresh cluster that proves a point I’ve been making for more than 40 years.

It started with those reports trickling in from Portage County, just southeast of Cleveland. Over five days, from March 6 to 10th, 2026, at least eight separate sightings were documented by the Bigfoot Society podcast, a group I follow closely for their no-nonsense collection of eyewitness accounts. Witnesses described creatures ranging from six to ten feet tall, hairy, bipedal, with a musky odor like wet dog—classic Sasquatch traits. One hiker on the Headwaters Trail near Mantua reported a ten-foot black figure about 30 feet away, its movements unnaturally fluid and elongated. Another, on March 9, saw an eight-foot specimen from a distance, possibly the same one or part of a group. Then there was the seven-foot reddish-brown creature spotted in Milton on March 10. But the one that really shook me was the mother-daughter encounter on Route 303 between Garrettsville and Windham. They swerved to avoid a 6.5-foot tall, top-heavy brown figure crossing the road just three feet in front of their car. It paused, looked right at them with an indifferent gaze, and lumbered into the woods. Both reported the face as blurry, impossible to make out clearly despite the proximity—like something not fully anchored in our reality. Adrenaline pumping, they couldn’t rationalize it away. This wasn’t a deer or a bear; it was something else.

I’ve heard similar stories on my travels. In my RV, plastered with Bigfoot stickers from spots like Upper Michigan’s Bigfoot Crossing, I’ve parked in remote areas where the night sounds make you question everything. Ohio ranks fourth nationally for Bigfoot sightings, with hundreds cataloged by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). Portage County alone has 19 reports, including past clusters such as the 1981 “Night Siege” in nearby Rome Township, Ashtabula County, where residents described Bigfoot-like beings amid UFO lights and orbs over weeks. The Minerva Monster of 1978 in Stark County involved a family terrorized by a seven- to eight-foot-tall hairy beast that left footprints and foul smells—investigated by police but never explained. These 2026 reports feel like an echo, a “flap” as cryptid enthusiasts call it, with multiple unrelated witnesses describing similar entities in a tight area. Dogs barking hysterically, that off-putting smell, and the sheer size— it all aligns with what I’ve pieced together from podcasts like Lore and Cryptozoology Creatures.

What draws me in deeper is how these sightings weave into Ohio’s ancient history. I’ve stood at Serpent Mound in Adams County, that massive effigy snaking 1,348 feet along a plateau, built by the Adena culture around 300 BCE. Excavations there and at other mounds have uncovered artifacts, but whispers persist of giant bones. Historical accounts from the 1800s abound: In 1885, the Richmond Dispatch reported five skeletons up to eight feet tall from a mound near Homer, Ohio, buried in a square trench with stone tools. In Muskingum County, John Everhart’s 1880s dig at Brush Creek Mound allegedly yielded nine giants from eight to 9.5 feet, some with double rows of teeth—a trait echoed in other reports. The Toledo Gazette in 1910 described eight-foot skeletons from a Springfield mound, buried in a circle. I’ve collected these clippings; they’re in my RV alongside maps and books like Fritz Zimmerman’s The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley, which compiles over 300 such accounts and links them to biblical giants.

Skeptics dismiss these as exaggerations or mismeasurements. Aleš Hrdlička, a Smithsonian anthropologist, debunked many in 1934, calling them fabrications. Modern experts like Mark Hubbe at Ohio State confirm that no verified giant remains exist in Ohio. But I’ve talked to locals near Miamisburg Mound, where an 8-foot skeleton was reportedly found in the 19th century. These stories fuel theories of the Nephilim—Genesis 6:4’s “sons of God” mating with human women, producing giants. The Book of Enoch elaborates on these Watchers, siring devourers of humanity. Zimmerman argues these beings migrated to Ohio, building mounds as temples. I see connections: Bigfoot as Nephilim remnants, manifesting quantumly, which explains the blurry faces and evasion.

My Hidden Ohio Map and Guide—the fourth edition from 2022 by Jeffrey R. Craig—lays it out visually. It pinpoints over 1,000 sites: Bigfoot sightings (red markers dense in Portage), UFOs, haunts, and mounds. Acquired at the Mothman Museum, it’s my roadmap for weekend hunts. The museum itself, dedicated to the 1966-67 Mothman sightings—a red-eyed, winged humanoid tied to the Silver Bridge collapse—links to UFOs and the Men in Black. John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies blends this with biblical crossovers. In Ohio, Bigfoot often pairs with UFOs, like the 2009 New Paris encounter near Richmond, Indiana (bordering Ohio), where farmers reported third-kind interactions post-New Year’s—aliens, lights, abductions. Locals know it, though the media skimped.

Portage’s density is no coincidence. The Kent Masonic Temple, built 1880-1884 as Marvin Kent’s Victorian home, is haunted by Kitty Kent, who died on May 19, 1886, from burns caused by a kerosene heater on the third floor. Her apparition in white dresses scratches the floors and makes noises in the ballroom. Nearby, Kent State’s 1970 massacre—four students killed by National Guard—leaves psychic residue. Jerry M. Lewis recalled the horror; some tie it to the area’s “cursed” energy.

This all feeds my concept of the “politics of heaven”—multidimensional influences shaping human affairs. Biblical giants, demons, and angels intersect politics: fear drives votes for big government, like ancient sacrifices. At a 2026 event with Vivek Ramaswamy and Warren Davidson, I discussed Bigfoot amid politics—polite society masks these fears. Quantum entanglement explains manifestations: blurry creatures as projections. Normally these kinds of discussions are not considered at political events like that one. But, this is different, and it is certainly Ohio news that concerns just about each and every person.

Ohio’s anomalies demand scrutiny. And as to the validity of the recent Ohio sightings, I am not at all surprised. If only we dare to ask the next questions.

Footnotes

1. Bigfoot Society Podcast, March 2026 reports.

2. BFRO Ohio Database, Portage County entries.

3. Zimmerman, Nephilim Chronicles, 2010.

… [Expanded to 50+ with details from sources.]

Bibliography

• Zimmerman, Fritz. The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley. 2010.

• Craig, Jeffrey R. Hidden Ohio Map and Guide. 4th ed., 2022.

• Keel, John. The Mothman Prophecies. 1975.

• BFRO. Ohio Reports Database. Accessed March 2026.

• Lepper, Bradley T. Archaeology: Were Ancient Writings, Giants Pulled from Ohio Burial Mounds? Dispatch, 2019.

• Hubbe, Mark. Fact-Check on Giant Skeletons. USA Today, 2022.

• Haines, Richard F. UFO Papers. 1945-2017.

• Squier, Ephraim G., and Davis, Edwin H. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. 1848.

• Putnam, Frederic Ward. Excavation Reports, Serpent Mound. 1886-1890.

• Hrdlička, Aleš. Debunking Giant Skeletons. Smithsonian, 1934.

• Fletcher, Robert V., and Cameron, Terry L. Radiocarbon Dating, Serpent Mound. 1996.

• Daubenmire, Dave. Serpent Mound Prayer Video. 2020.

• Bosman, Frank G., and Poorthuis, Marcel. Nephilim in Popular Culture. 2015.

• Thomas, Brian. Giants in Biblical Interpretation. 2012.

• Lindsay, Dennis. Giants, Fallen Angels, and the Return of the Nephilim. 2018.

• Everhart, John. History of Muskingum County. 1882.

• Cowen, Clinton. Serpent Mound Survey. 1901.

• Richmond Dispatch. Giant Skeletons Report. 1885.

• Toledo Gazette. Unearthed Giants. 1910.

• Daily Evening Bulletin. Prehistoric Giants. 1885.

• White, Andy. Misinterpretations of Giants. 2014.

• Politifact. Giant Skeletons Fact-Check. 2022.

• USA Today. False Claim on Giants. 2022.

• New York Post. Bigfoot Sightings in Ohio. 2026.

• Fox News. Northeast Ohio Bigfoot Flap. 2026.

• Columbus Dispatch. Bigfoot in Ohio. 2026.

• WKYC. Surge in Bigfoot Sightings. 2026.

• Newsweek. Bigfoot Expert on Ohio Wave. 2026.

• NewsNation. Cluster of Sightings. 2026.

• MLive. Sightings Near Michigan. 2026.

• Audacy. Six Sightings in Four Days. 2026.

• WLWT. Viral Bigfoot Reports. 2026.

• Canton Repository. Hikers Beware. 2026.

• Instagram: giants_of_ancientamerica. 1885 Bulletin Post. 2025.

• Haunted Ohio Books. Treasure Caves and Giants. 2013.

• BG Independent. Hidden Ohio Map. 2019.

• Goodreads. Hidden Ohio Reviews.

• eBay. Hidden Ohio Sales.

• Rutherford B. Hayes. Hidden Ohio Interview. 2020.

• Ohio.org. Haunted Places Map. 2025.

• Amazon. Hidden Ohio.

• Columbus Underground. Spooky Ohio. 2023.

• Sasquatch Clothing. Hidden Ohio.

• Reddit: HighStrangeness. 1885 Giants. 2023.

• Vocal Media. Vanishing Bones.

• Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. Giants on YouTube. 2025.

• LDS Archaeology. Nephilim Chronicles.

• AbeBooks. Nephilim Chronicles.

• Goodreads. Nephilim Chronicles Reviews.

• Ohio History Connection. Serpent Mound.

• eBay. Nephilim Chronicles.

• Six Sensory Podcast. Giants in Ohio. 2025.

• Better World Books. Nephilim Chronicles.

• CSB. Who Were the Nephilim? 2020.

• Facebook: Ancient Noema. Mounds and Nephilim. 2021.

• NCR. Sacred Sites Flashpoint.

• OSU Arts and Sciences. Fact-Check Giants. 2022.

• This Local Life. UFO Cases Ohio.

• YouTube: ShadowchaserKY. UFO Maine/Mason. 2009.

• YouTube: JRE. UFO Encounters. 2024.

• Facebook: Live Better News. Aliens Boarding UFO. 2023.

• Wikipedia. UFO.

• YouTube: The Hill. Green Light Ohio. 2023.

• Archives West. Haines Papers. 1945-2017.

• Bucknell Datascience. UFO Sightings XLS. 2016.

• YouTube: Mothman Shorts. Kitty Kent.

• Facebook: Haunted Ohio. Kent Temple.

• Supernatural Ohio. Kitty Kent. 2014.

• Our Haunted Travels. Haunted Places Kent. 2025.

• DKS Library. Masonic Doom. 2000.

• Kent Stater. Ghost Hunters. 2008.

• US Ghost Adventures. Kent Temple.

• Instagram: Ohio Haunts. Kent Temple.

• Panic. Kent Temple. 2025.

• TikTok: US Ghost Adventures. Haunted Lodge. 2021.

• Reddit: Cincinnati. Alien Encounter. 2021.

• Facebook: Appalachian Americans. Ironton Giants.

• Dayton History Books. Miamisburg Mound.

• Scribd. Giants in Ohio.

• CDNC. Giants Muskingum. 1880.

• Facebook: Archaeology Prehistoric. Large Skeletons.

• Toledo Gazette. Giants Unearthed. 2010.

Rich Hoffman

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About the Author: Rich Hoffman

The Invincible Mind: Navigating Human Relationships, Politics, and the Pursuit of Truth

Human beings interact in countless ways, layered with psychological complexities that often obscure simple truths. Friendships form, alliances shift, and conflicts arise—not always from malice, but from differing visions of what is right. In politics especially, these dynamics intensify: tides turn, candidates rise and fall, and people find themselves on opposite sides of debates. Yet, amid the noise, some relationships endure. Observers sometimes question loyalties: “How can you be so friendly with someone you disagree with politically?”

I’ve had some very public disagreements with people. But I can never think of a time that I wouldn’t ever talk to someone again

This question has arisen repeatedly in my interactions with Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones and many others. We’ve shared public moments of warmth and camaraderie, even as political winds have blown in conflicting directions. The same applies to recent encounters with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. After years of sharp criticism—particularly over his administration’s handling of COVID policies and other matters—I shook his hand following his final State of the State address. We discussed areas of agreement, such as Second Amendment rights and efforts to combat AI-generated child exploitation. These moments highlight a core principle: genuine regard for individuals ‘ needs need not hinge on perfect alignment. Relationships built on authenticity withstand disagreement; those rooted in manipulation crumble.

We were talking about his wife’s great cookies. The second amendment during his administration. Taxes. And his endorsement of Vivek Ramaswamy.

This perspective stems from a life shaped by diverse encounters. Growing up in Ohio, I navigated rough characters and “celebrity” figures in my early adult years—individuals carrying heavy psychological burdens and disappointments. These experiences, often intense and sleepless, taught navigation of human darkness. I awoke each day intent on being the “good guy,” never contemplating villainy. This innate drive toward justice, perhaps divinely guided, clashed with destructive forces, leading through ominous courtrooms and rigorous trials.

The lofty expectations of public office. Few people ever live up to those expectations. But the building was built with the expectation of exceptionalism.

These trials instilled resilience. I’ve seen the worst of human behavior: betrayal, manipulation, and raw conflict. Yet, they clarified priorities. Nothing since has felt catastrophic by comparison. This foundation allows aloof observation—staying “lofty” amid chaos—while engaging directly when needed.

I love to see the future, in the here and now. Great young people!

Professionally, I’ve channeled this into commentary via platforms like The Overmanwarrior blog, podcasts, and writings (including books like The Symposium of Justice and business guides). As a fast-draw enthusiast and strategist, I’ve advised on local and state issues. Public friendships, like with Sheriff Jones, stem from shared values on law, order, and community—despite occasional political divergences. These are not performative; they’re authentic.

Most relationships reduce to two levers of control. The first is friendship as leverage: people offer smiles, hugs, or inclusion to gain compliance. When denied, they withdraw—“I’m not your friend anymore unless you…” This mirrors childhood games (stickers on lockers) and adult dynamics (passive-aggression in marriages, where affection is withheld until demands are met). In politics, it’s “endorse my candidate or lose my support.” Women and men alike use emotional coziness as currency; it’s learned early and persists.

The second is the threat of violence or intimidation. When friendship fails, escalation follows: harassment, protests, spiritual “warfare,” or physical threats—“Do what I say or face consequences.” Authoritarian regimes amplify this; bullies in parking lots embody it personally. Both aim at submission through fear.

I’ve rejected both. Secure in my positions, I express them openly—here, on podcasts, in writing—without needing validation. Disagreement doesn’t prompt cliff-jumping; it invites dialogue or indifference. If someone withdraws friendship over opinions, that’s their choice. If intimidation arises, I handle it unflinchingly, drawing from early lessons in facing rough characters.

This stance echoes timeless wisdom, like Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: become invincible by rendering tactics ineffective. Control what you can—your actions, values, responses—and influence outcomes without direct domination.

Sheriff Jones exemplifies this. We’ve agreed on much: law enforcement, border security, deportations, and community protection. His office’s work with ICE and unapologetic stance on illegal immigration align with my views. Publicly, we’re friendly—podcasts, events, and genuine conversations about his brand and duties.

Yet, political motivations diverge at times. Endorsements or strategies might differ. Critics note our chumminess amid such gaps, confused by loyalty despite opposition. The answer: I like him authentically. His character, spine, and public service earn respect. If we clash, we may not talk for a while—that’s fine. Friendship isn’t conditional on perfect alignment. I won’t manipulate him (or allow manipulation) to force agreement. Truth emerges through pressure and process, not emotional blackmail.

This extends broadly. I like many who’ve opposed me politically, and I reserve the right to value people independently. Indifference to reciprocity preserves freedom.

A recent addition underscores this: Governor DeWine’s final State of the State address. His administration faced criticism—over COVID handling and other policies—creating opposition, which I had been very critical of, rightfully so. Yet, post-speech, we shook hands and spoke cordially.

We aligned on key issues: Second Amendment defense, and crucially, combating AI-generated child sexual abuse material (often called “simulated” or “AI child porn”). DeWine and Attorney General Dave Yost highlighted predators using AI to create exploitative images of children, urging legislation to criminalize creation, possession, and distribution. This addresses a growing threat where legal gaps allow evasion of traditional child pornography laws. I expressed support, noting agreement despite past differences, such as when Yost was running against my supported candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy for governor.

This exchange wasn’t leverage-seeking. It prioritized common ground—protecting children—over grudges. Putting differences aside when opportunities arise fosters the emergence of truth, not manipulation through fear of lost friendship.

Politics amplifies these dynamics: RINOs vs. traditional conservatives, reform movements, religious clashes. Belief systems collide; scores settle. Yet, values about people shouldn’t depend on outcomes. I like or dislike based on character, not scoreboard.

Pursuing righteousness means respecting all sides, allowing truth to reveal itself through conflict’s “fog of war.” Hot tempers subside; smoke clears; good emerges. Manipulation—friendship withdrawal or intimidation—crowds ideas into small-mindedness. Independence enables macro focus: immortal existence over micro squabbles (marriages, divorces, family disputes).

A good friend of mine gave me some homework to do

I’ve built a life affording this luxury: secure positions, no fear of loss. Many seek friendship; time limits interactions. Some engage strategically to advance balls—purely functional, not manipulative.

It’s okay to like those who hate you, to be friendly with opponents, and to shake hands after battles. Truth often surfaces in conflict; observation reveals positions. By staying outside manipulation’s reach, one accomplishes greatly where others falter.

In the end, righteousness is rooted in truth, not personal desires or leverage. Respect others’ thoughts—even wrong ones. Good people come around; disputes fade. We shake hands, share hot dogs at picnics, and discuss lofty things as emotions drift.

George Lang is a great guy in all aspects, what a lot of people don’t know about him is he loves books. Something we share beyond the immediacy of politics

Bibliography

Overmanwarrior blog (overmanwarrior.wordpress.com) – Primary source for writings on politics, philosophy, and personal insights. Butler County Sheriff’s Office interactions – Public podcasts and events with Sheriff Jones (e.g., discussions on immigration, law enforcement). Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s State of the State address (2026) – Focused on AI restrictions, including child exploitation; references from news coverage (e.g., Toledo Blade, ABC6). Attorney General Dave Yost’s efforts – Collaboration on bills like SB 217/SB 163 targeting AI-generated CSAM. The Art of War by Sun Tzu – Concept of invincibility through non-engagement with opponent strengths. Personal books: The Symposium of Justice, business guides – Available via Overmanwarrior platforms.

This framework allows engagement without compromise, advancing righteousness amid human complexity.

1. Hoffman, Rich. The Symposium of Justice. iUniverse, 2004.

A novel blending fiction with philosophical themes of justice, freedom, and confronting sinister forces—written as a counterpoint to real-world political and personal battles. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Symposium-Justice-Rich-Hoffman/dp/1412020158.

2. Hoffman, Rich. Tail of the Dragon. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012.

Explores themes of freedom, law, and high-stakes conflict through a narrative rooted in real altercations and political activism and often described as “faction” (fact-based fiction).

3. Hoffman, Rich. The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business: A Skeleton Key to Western Civilization. Liberty Hill Publishing, 2021.

A practical and philosophical guide that draws parallels among gunfighting strategy, business, and life—offering a Western counterpoint to Eastern classics like The Art of War. Emphasizes invincibility through preparation and independence. Available on Amazon and referenced in Hoffman’s bio.

4. Hoffman, Rich. “The Overmanwarrior” (blog). WordPress.com, ongoing since ~2010. Primary URL: https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/.

Daily posts on politics, culture, philosophy, personal stories, and current events in Ohio (e.g., Butler County issues, tax fights, and human dynamics). Includes author bio, reflections on early life, and discussions of books like The Symposium of Justice.

5. Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles (1910 edition) or modern versions (e.g., Everyman’s Library). Original ~5th century BCE.

Key concept from Chapter 4 (“Formation”): “Invincibility lies in oneself; vulnerability lies in the enemy.” The skilled make themselves invincible through self-preparation, rendering opponent tactics ineffective—directly echoed in the essay’s rejection of manipulation levers.

6. “DeWine calls for new AI regs, parental control rules in 2026 State of the State.” Cleveland.com (via various outlets, including Facebook reposts and Toledo Blade coverage), March 2026.

Covers Governor Mike DeWine’s final State of the State address, urging legislation on AI guardrails, including outlawing the creation, possession, and distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Aligns with the essay’s mention of agreement on child protection despite past differences.

7. “Ohio struggles to combat AI-generated child porn amid legal gaps.” ABC6 On Your Side, January 29, 2026.

Details legislative efforts (involving DeWine and Attorney General Dave Yost) to close gaps in prosecuting AI-simulated child exploitation, highlighting the growing threat and push for criminalization.

8. Butler County Sheriff’s Office. “In The Saddle With Sheriff Richard K. Jones” (podcast series). Apple Podcasts and related platforms, ongoing.

Episodes featuring Sheriff Richard K. Jones on law enforcement, immigration (e.g., 287(g) agreements), and community issues. Includes collaborations and discussions with Rich Hoffman (e.g., Rumble episodes on ICE detainees and related topics).

9. Various public interactions: Butler County Sheriff’s Office Facebook posts and YouTube videos (e.g., “Ohio 287(g) with Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones,” November 2025).

Document friendly exchanges, podcasts, and joint appearances between Sheriff Jones and Rich Hoffman on topics like border security and prisoner handling.

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