Tag: George Lang

Lessons From George Lang’s Primary Win in Butler County: Political terrorism isn’t the way to win people over

It was not surprising to me that George Lang won in the primary for the 4th District Senate seat.  He was the best person for the job and is an integral part of the MAGA movement in Ohio politics.  And I like the guy quite a lot.  However, some things happened in this primary that need to be discussed, particularly concerning Candice Keller, who ran against him.  I thought it was a huge mistake when I first heard that she would.  I personally like Candice, her husband, and her supporters.  However, my relationship with George was founded on years of built-up trust, so everyone should know where my support would go.  But I did get some nasty campaign utterances against George, which I could care less about.  But I heard from people who questioned me because they wanted to say that George Lang was a RINO just because they lacked the extra gear he has in politics.  I think there are all kinds of people needed in political efforts; there are people who throw rocks.  And some people make deals, and all sorts of people in between.  Just because a politician like George has skills that other people don’t have, it doesn’t make him a RINO.  As I said on election day, George Lang never ran away from Trump, where many people in Ohio did; he even put a picture of himself next to Trump on the slate card in Butler County.  I have known George for a long time, and his support of Trump goes back as long as mine does, well before many of the modern tag-alongs saw the light.  I’ve been involved in many scenarios with George Lang where I know better than most what kind of person he is, so my endorsement of him came with that knowledge, which should have been the end of the story.

Always stand by your people, and never let the mob impact your opinions

Yet, right before the election, another friend of mine, Jennifer Gross, a representative from the 45th District, had called George to let him know that she couldn’t publicly endorse him because all the Candice Keller people were giving her a rough time.  In general, some kid running against her got ahold of the recording and published it to embarrass her.  Jennifer is of the rock thrower variety in Columbus and tends to have much of the same support as Candice Keller.  By talking in a friendly way to George and not being antagonistic toward him, she somehow betrayed Candice.  By default, if you wanted to prove you weren’t a RINO, you had to support Candice Keller.  Jennifer should have been able to help George Lang with an endorsement and to do so without fear.  But that she did fear the Candice Keller people says a lot about what’s wrong in politics.  If one politician has a better platform than another, then that is a free market appeal toward politics.  But forcing people to vote for someone else is the same kind of garbage that the radical left communists do.  That came from the Candice Keller people, mainly as it was applied to Jennifer Gross.  This is precisely why Candice Keller lost her previous seat where she was in the State House.  It takes guts to get into the arena but more skills than that to stay in it.  She got into trouble and didn’t work to build the right alliances, and she soon found herself on the out.  Which is her fault, and hers alone. 

George Lang never turned away from Trump, while many others have

I like the kind of trouble Candice Keller gets herself into as a rock thrower.  She was the one who caught Cindy Carpenter campaigning for Democrats in Middletown, so her brand of politics has its place, which keeps everyone healthy.  Regarding George Lang, she doesn’t know him like I do.  And it was her choice to run against him, and if she wanted to be in the arena of politics, there were other positions she could have picked.  Instead, she tends to want to run against George Lang and see how much power she has within the evangelical community to pull votes away from one of the top Republicans in Southern Ohio.  That’s a choice she made that isn’t rooted in good tactics.  It might be interesting.  But the effort isn’t serious beyond rock throwing, with all things considered.  If we didn’t have George Lang to pick from, I would happily vote for Candice.  But when there is a George Lang in a race, George is better in many categories and would get the vote and public support.  Jennifer Gross should have felt she could publicly support anyone without harassment.  But she was harassed, which led to that phone call to George, and was recorded by political rivals trying to make a name for themselves.  When it comes to party politics, everyone either wants to win, or they want to make noise.  In this case, support for President Trump should be the establishing criteria.  Everyone should be able to agree on that as a baseline in politics and work from there. 

Just because someone is successful or has more skills in a field than other people doesn’t mean they are wrong.  George Lang, in my experience with him, is far from a RINO.  He might be able to work with RINOs and Chamber people.  But he’s always the same guy at the end of the day, and I know his politics.  Making deals and getting along with people is only bad if you compromise who you are, and George doesn’t.  There is a lot of evil in the world, and just taking a hard line about a progressive topic such as transgenderism might make sense from a biblical perspective, but in general politics, not everyone is driven by such motivations.  And at that point, politics is not an evangelical enterprise.  If the goal is to use politics to enforce scripture, then you will lose support from the public, not gain it.  Whereas, if you are accommodating people’s viewpoints, even if they are evil, you might end up with a few more people in the pews on Sunday looking for leadership in their otherwise rudderless lives.  Trying to intimidate people into submission isn’t going to do the work for God.  God sells himself.  Doing an excellent job for people who need it, politically, is the way to go, and we should always pick the best people to perform those tasks.  And not try to intimidate people into support through fear of peer pressure.  There were a lot of primary positions that didn’t have challenges, such as Sheriff Jones’ seat, which I think he’s very vulnerable.  It was a choice to go after George Lang, so there will always be costs in the aftermath.  However, people should be able to express their opinions for or against candidates in a free market way.  Otherwise, the tactics are the same as the terrorists from the Karl Marx left.  And we should all be able to agree on how we feel about them.  Yet the harassment of Jennifer Gross shows a deeper problem that, until fixed, will continue to keep us from winning the way we need to, where the evil truly resides, in collectivism that both sides utilize to cover a lack of political skill whenever they are at wit’s end. 

Rich Hoffman

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

George Lang’s Business Ratio: The New Bass Pro in West Chester, Ohio

Over the last several weeks, it has been interesting to hear from so many people upset that I support George Lang, the current State Senator in the 4th District in Ohio, and will continue to do so.  They think he is a RINO and that somehow I can’t tell the difference between a rhino and an elephant.  And the concern continues because I know many politicians, and I like many of them, and I’ve been very open about it.  People new to politics or who don’t have an excellent understanding of what the government is supposed to do for all of us get wrapped up in the horse race criteria that the media creates for them, so supporting candidates for various positions becomes a kind of football game where some people in Ohio support the Cincinnati Bengals because they happen to live south of Columbus while people in the north support the Cleveland Browns.  Those in Columbus fight over which is the better, depending on the record.  But in the end, it’s all rigged, and they are all the same guys and corporate products designed to sell advertising to people.  Politics is much the same kind of thing, and what we usually end up with are people who don’t do a very good job once in office.  They talk the talk but never walk the walk.  And the people I tend to support do so on merit-based standards.  I judge them more on what they actually do than what they say, and when it comes to George Lang, who doesn’t say much about himself too often, he does a lot in the background that is very successful.  And one of these, there was undoubtedly a topic of conversation ahead of the March primary; I had the good fortune to attend the opening of Bass Pro for a unique sneak peek ahead of the crowds with George.  And we geeked out by what we saw.  But as we enjoyed a private tour and I did a scouting report on some of my hard-to-find .500 magnum ammunition and acquire much-needed 209 shotgun primers, I was reminded of why I like George so much.  Not that it’s a struggle, but when I say he’s a great politician and has done all of us such a great job, I look at Bass Pro moving to West Chester as part of the great free enterprise initiatives that George Lang has built over the years, things that operate in the background, and the case for George Lang makes itself quite clear. 

I remember when George and I were friends as he was a trustee in West Chester 15 years ago, and he struggled to fight to keep the trend of the area toward small government and generate much economic wealth, as a township instead of a city.  I have a rule I talk about all the time, which I discuss in great detail in my book, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, which people worldwide have been enjoying because the balance of government is the key to a country’s success.  Just as it was set up to do in America, the government needs to be big enough to support the needs of a country or a community but not too big to become authority figures, which is tricky business among anybody in the human race, anywhere in the world.  But few places have done it better than West Chester, Ohio.  I have been a part of it since the beginning, starting when we used to call it Union Township, and it was mostly farmland and open fields.  It was strange to stand in the new Bass Pro parking lot with my wife a few days later during the grand opening when she remembered me racing cars against other rival people in that area.  Things have changed quite a lot.  However, the form of government formed around the growth of West Chester Township is a success story that traces back to George Lang.  To have such a community run by three trustees is unusual in the world, where so much wealth is generated among so many people, and to have such a high standard of living is almost unheard of.  But George established much of that in those early days, and the trustees there now have continued those policies and resisted the temptation to turn West Chester into a city with a mayor and city councils running everything.  The success in West Chester is that George Lang and future trustees have embraced the capitalist concept of free enterprise and kept government as small as possible to allow businesses to grow, and as a result, West Chester has been, and continues to be, one of the best places in the world, not just the country.  I’ve been all over the world several times.  And I’ve been all over the United States and seen a lot of very nice communities.  There are few places as good as West Chester, Ohio.  I would argue that no place is better.  The reasoning is that the government ratio has been figured out and maintained in West Chester mainly because of George Lang’s precedent.

The Bass Pro story is a good one.  We have been fortunate to have a Bass Pro in Forest Park and a Cabela’s in West Chester by Liberty Center.  Since Bass Pro bought Cabela’s over the last decade, I have mixed feelings about them combining resources to make this new Bass Pro in West Chester, which opened on February 21st, 2024.  I liked both previous stores and hated to see them go.  But the property for the new one was established over a decade ago, and once they were planning to move to the new location, Forest Park made them an excellent deal on their lease, so they stuck around while the market settled down and the agreement with Cabela’s matured.  The giant outdoor store market has found its balancing act, as Field and Stream have discovered.  How big can you be and still be small enough to survive?    I tend to judge all Bass Pro stores based on my favorite, the one in Springfield, Missouri, the headquarters of a vast store, as I have discussed before.  As George and I stepped into the new Bass Pro, it was more Cabela’s in its presentation than Bass Pro, but it’s a fantastic size and filled with everything anybody could ever hope to have regarding outdoor life.  My family spends a lot of time exploring and traveling, so a store like this is a wonderful addition to our life.  The new West Chester store is enormous.  It is noticeably different from the one in Forest Park, but it is right-sized to fill the needs of the current outdoor market.  Having the ground on the Streets of West Chester is far better for them than in any of the other two previous locations. 

And that’s the trick: why did Bass Pro select that location in West Chester instead of other regional places?   The Forest Park site was failing because the community failed, as has Fairfield, Springdale, and Sharonville around the area.  All those places have moved in the city direction and have added government in the form of mayors and city councils that slowed down the growth rate because they started looting off their businesses to support the government.  West Chester is very business-friendly, and the tax structure is not penalizing.  If you keep your government small, they don’t have the ability to loot off the community.  And additionally, we have kept the government school of Lakota under check for well over a decade now, so they haven’t been able to suck the life out of West Chester and Liberty Township the way the schools do in other parts of the world.  The result is that investments like those that take a Bass Pro Shop to build and develop can happen, where different communities would choke off the opportunity at the development phase.  Working in the background as one of Ohio’s most powerful senators, George Lang is bringing those same sensibilities to the entire state of Ohio.  And he’s doing a great job.  Whenever I go to Columbus to talk politics, the word about George is that he stays focused on his Business First Caucus and doesn’t get wrapped up in much else.  He is applying the West Chester model, which he helped to build from the start to Ohio in general.  The Ohio Senate listens to him, as does the House, and he has the ear of the governor in a healthy way.  You don’t see George running for every microphone to broadcast everything he does.  When I took a few pictures of him at the opening of the new Bass Pro, he was a little shy about taking credit.  But I know the details behind the scenes, and he deserves much credit.  And that’s also why I’m so supportive of him over these many years and continue to be.  George understands how to support just enough government to make it functional.  And takes away the flash of temptation for it to grow into a monster.  And everywhere George has been, his fight has been to keep government small and manageable.  Bass Pro is just a recent but obvious example.  And it was great to see it happen.

Rich Hoffman

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

I Support George Lang Emphatically for Senate in the 4th District of Ohio: Staying strong under intense fire in 2024

With George Lang’s term as an Ohio senator coming up this year, he’s up for re-election in 2024, I happily endorse him for another term.  George Lang has done a great job in the 4th District of Ohio, and I wish every politician were like him.  If they were, we’d be a lot better off as a country.  Yet, many people, especially my readers, have developed a healthy distrust of politicians of all kinds, and I know many wonder why I like George Lang so much, even though he is considered a mainstream politician.  After all, Candace Keller had filed to run against George, which she had done before when it was for a representative seat, and the campaign took a turn for the worse in the mudslinging.  I personally like Candice, her husband, and her family.  I tend to get along best in the world with people like her.  On most things, our politics are very much aligned.  But because she has filed and intends to run against George, I must talk about a few things as to why I am such a supporter of the very powerful senator for the 4th District and explain why he’s not a RINO as is so common a designation for a mainstream politician.  While I am certainly no fan of RINOs, I must set the record straight going into this election year as to why I have always supported George, which sometimes mystifies people.  But from my perspective, it’s an easy decision, because George Lang is a very good person from the ground up and I have known that side of him for a very long time now, around 15 years.  And he’s very much the same person now that I have known all that time, which brings to mind three examples that would put some rationality behind the decision-making process.

Yes, George Lang associates with compelling people and has for many years; John Boehner comes to mind as he was marching toward the Speaker of the House role in Congress.  Along the way, George and I formed a friendship as fellow Tea Party members who were very upset by the direction Barack Obama was taking our country, which goes all the way back to 2009.  Well, all this was before President Trump came along, but in 2012, I had a significant negative news story designed to push everyone away from me.  I was okay with it, but there were a lot of Judas types who were perfectly willing to kiss my cheek in public to be thrown to the wolves, to say it nicely.  We had an event in the back room of a local LaRosa’s restaurant to rally support for me in the wake of intense fire.  Guess who stood with me under the fierce fire in public.  There is a picture of us all at this event, but guess who took the picture?  George Lang came, probably on the same afternoon he was having lunch with John Boehner, Speaker of the House at the time.  My name was all over the media, on all the primary sources so he had a lot to lose.  But he came anyway and was even willing to be in the picture.  It was my suggestion that he take the picture and that we keep him out of it.  So we took the picture, and I learned a lot about George Lang that day, which has lasted for over a decade.  He’s the real deal and he will stand with you under intense fire.  He had much to lose being associated with me, especially by the donors.  But as I have seen many more times than once, George is strongly inclined to do the right things, especially under great fire.

I can also say that I have seen George work with Governor DeWine with the door closed and the pressure very hot.  My thoughts on any management, especially politics, is that you get much more done with the door shut than with dueling press conferences.  And George has been highly influential in these kinds of meetings. A lot goes on in the senate in Columbus, Ohio, that has George Lang’s name all over it, but he never seeks the credit.  And I’ve witnessed it several times personally with Governor DeWine, where just a few people were in the room, and George had to make his point.  These are no powder puff conversations; George is stern when he needs to be and knows what to say and when.  And as professionals should be, George and the Governor were able to shake hands and get things done at the end of the conversation.  I would point to the recent flip-flop by DeWine on the transgender surgery ban for kids as one such example.  DeWine does listen to people when he steps in it.  And George has been one who can shut the door and talk to him without compromising who he is politically.  This is a skill that many people never develop in their lives.  It comes easily to George.  Many people in his position get washed away by the giant waves when you spend time with some of these prominent personalities; it’s easy to happen.  But George can play at a very high level and never lose himself in becoming a RINO.

George has such an excellent personal foundation and can do the things I am talking about because he sincerely loves his wife.  I have known that side of them, and I can say that one of the reasons George and I have maintained a friendship all this time is because he has a great relationship with his wife, which I respect.  I don’t know many people who love their wives and kids like George Lang.  And it has been my observation that this is the key to George’s success.  When you can love a spouse the way George does of his wife Debbie and your kids the way he does, then you can love your country, your political party, your Constitution, your commitment to business, everything with that strong foundation.  And that’s ultimately why I like George so much.  I know a lot of politicians, but I don’t know of many who have such strong foundations as George Lang does.  If you can love a wife the way he does her, and she does him, then you are doing something fundamentally right at the start.  And that can then translate into many good things you do in life.  So, when it comes to other politicians, it may not be their fault that they aren’t as skilled as George Lang is.  And people frustrated that they don’t have those skills might assume that he possesses some voodoo magic in his associations with the very powerful.  But I know him very personally and know that his secret sauce is the love of his family, which allows him to play big ball without losing himself along the way.  Because at the end of the day, no matter what happens, he has his family, which is really all George wants in life.  And that makes him very good as a senator and someone we are lucky to have in the 4th District in Ohio.  I wish we could have him forever, but for now, at least one more term.

Rich Hoffman

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

Senator George Lang and SB 132: Ohio is open for business, and the marketplace will reflect value

I have been getting a lot of questions about Senator George Lang’s support of a bill moving around in Columbus, SB 132, which involves all the gender neutrality talk that is so prevalent in politics these days, and why I still support him because of it. While I have strong ideas about social responsibility and behavior, I have known George Lang for a long time and know his mind and family. And I know his politics. I reached out to talk to George about this controversial bill and understand where he’s at on it, which I can sympathize with. Because when you deal with a lot of people and are functioning from a broad base, you go into it knowing that there are lots of people from lots of different backgrounds and beliefs that you are going to work with, and you must be secure enough in your integrity not to become corrupted by the exchange. And to understand George Lang, and this is kind of a running joke in Columbus in a good way, George is all about business first. His second concern is business first. His third concern is business first, etc. I certainly understand that George Lang is primarily concerned about bringing more business opportunities to Ohio. Having an excellent economy allows us to have deeper conversations about political discourse. And to attract businesses, you must address all their concerns, which presently are formulated by BlackRock and many other progressive influences. And when you are dealing with businesspeople, you are dealing with Chamber of Commerce types.

Chamber of Commerce people are different than other people, and when you are working to bring business into Ohio, you will deal with them.  Most members of the Chamber are not the kind of people writing philosophy books; they have room in their lives for how they make a living and maybe two other things: raising their families and a hobby, like golf.  They do not have the time, mental capacity, or even a remote desire to deal with political philosophy.  They want employees, they want to be in legal compliance, and they are interested in checking all their BlackRock boxes.  That is George Lang’s interest in SB 132, to stay consistent with his Business First Caucus and address the concerns of the Chamber types.  The SB 132 Ohio Fairness Act aims to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes under Ohio’s anti-discrimination laws, which employers are concerned about.  If Ohio has restrictions along these lines, investing the money it takes to bring business into Ohio is not attractive since people who run companies come from all kinds of political backgrounds. 

This move has been met with mixed reactions from both sides of the political spectrum. Supporters argue that this is a necessary step towards equality and fairness for all Ohioans, while opponents claim that it infringes religious freedom and could lead to legal battles.  The Ohio Fairness Act would provide legal protections for these individuals in areas such as employment, housing, and public accommodations.

The bill has also been endorsed by several prominent organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Human Rights Campaign. These organizations argue that protecting LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination is a matter of fundamental human rights and dignity.

On the other hand, opponents of the bill have raised concerns about the potential impact on religious organizations and small businesses. They argue that these groups could be forced to violate their beliefs or face legal action.

However, the Ohio Fairness Act includes provisions that protect religious organizations and small businesses from being forced to violate their beliefs. The bill also has exemptions for religious schools and organizations, allowing them to continue operating according to their ideas.

I think the marketplace will determine the value of a product or service, such as Chick-fil-A, which maintains Christian values in its business model, such as not being open on Sunday.  People value those types of positions, and they tend to support businesses that reflect their values.  But it is up to the company to figure out its way; it is the government’s job, in this case, to remove the barriers so that the discussion can occur.  I’m certainly the type who would want the government to regulate sexually oriented businesses and businesses that embrace drug abuse.  I’d even support bans on alcohol because I see very little good that comes from a culture that seeks intoxication.  But some people like that, so I respect what people want to do within reason, so long as they don’t drag me into it.  Which is the balancing act on SB 132.  George is certainly a conservative, but as a legislator, he tells the world that Ohio is open for business.  And we may not like the kind of businesses wanting to come to Ohio.  Yet, we are opening the door to investment and the variety of projects people want to invest in while trusting that the marketplace will sort out the good from the bad.  I don’t want government to get into the business of deciding morality.  I like the government to remove barriers, even if walls might be desirable to my philosophy. 

Which is essentially what SB 132 does.  It will be the marketplace that determines the kind of culture we have.  If a potential business has employees or plans to hire employees from all sorts of diverse backgrounds, then that concern must be addressed at the point of investment, which is George’s interest in this bill.  Suppose a company is concerned about its ESG score, which those of us who are politically astute find objectionable and know that those ESG scores will not be in the future of American politics. In that case, most Chamber of Commerce people have already accepted that they will be a forever concern.  And if Ohio is not accommodating, they won’t get the opportunity to give a business ground to sink roots into.  And that’s the trick: how much compromise is appropriate in politics, a little, a lot?  And how do you not get lost in settlement to where you are just another political hack?  The George Lang I know stays out of those debates, even though people are concerned that he is losing his way, by staying focused on business first in Ohio and letting the morality of the marketplace determine success and failure, which I agree with.  We are free to debate the matter which will ultimately influence market share.  And to my eyes, and knowing enough about George to know his conservative feelings on these things in ways many people haven’t had the opportunity to, I can say that he hasn’t lost his way.  I would have much harder lines, but I also have the freedom to express my opinion more than he does, who needs to reach a broad base as a representative.  President Trump would have similar thoughts as George’s as a businessman.  You never want to create artificial limits for productive endeavors.  The philosophy and ethics will be worked out every time by the morality of the marketplace, which is where this discussion resides. 

Rich Hoffman

Why I Support S.B. 178: Education needs reform, and the Department of Education is in the way

To answer the reasons I support the Ohio Senate Bill 178, the logic of supporting bigger government to get to smaller government has to be understood. What S.B. 178 proposed by the Ohio Senate will do is essentially remove many of the current Ohio Department of Education Board’s existing powers and put them in the hands of a new director-level cabinet position appointed directly by the governor. The point of the matter is that the current Ohio Board of Education is a worthless body of government that spends most of its time debating diversity and transexual issues and does not have a track record in providing proper education to the future kids of Ohio. And there is no prospect of solving that problem soon, or ever. By design, the Board of Education is a flawed concept that should never have been implemented in 1953. In my view, all the Departments of Education, from the state to the federal level, should be eradicated. Education needs leadership to reflect performance, and the most obvious way to do that is to attach the responsibility directly to governors, who are then better controlled by state legislatures. I see this Bill as a step toward removing power from bureaucratic Boards of Education and replacing them with leadership opportunities. What the Senate in Ohio wants to do is a great thing. I know some of the people involved and understand their intent. Granted, the path to Hell is paved with good intentions, and to many critics, this S.B. 178 can look like just another path to get to Hell. But I would say that public education is already in Hell, and at this point, any path made can only take it out or fail altogether. But an attempt at reform is better than not trying at all. And suppose Ohio is prosperous in this endeavor. In that case, it could pave the way for real education reform and the complete removal of all Departments of Education and replace it with more leadership-directed accountability. 

As many are aware, I am weary of giving the governor of Ohio any more power. The Director position of Health run by Amy Acton directly for Governor DeWine was an unmitigated disaster during the Covid nonsense. So putting that same level of attention into the field of education might look insane. But the way these Department of Education Boards run is far worse. Even during Covid, if I needed to get a hold of someone in the governor’s office, I could. I made my voice known and knew what doors to knock on. And that’s what I’m looking for with this S.B. 178 Bill; I want accountability and a door that I can knock on and get results. I don’t expect the door knocks to be friendly, actually quite contentious. A dispute-free world is not what I think S.B. 178 will do. But with the current Department of Education in Ohio, we have zero accountability. If you talk to one person, they will blame someone else. And when you speak to someone else, they will blame the original person you were talking to. Dealing with the Ohio Department of Education is an insane level of progressive nonsense in which I see no value. It certainly doesn’t help children; it has taken education and made an advanced mess of it. And there are so many problems with education; with the way the teacher unions ultimately control the Departments of Education all over the country, there is no desire for reform from their point of view because they have things set up the way they want them. 

I see S.B. 178 as an opportunity to give a strong governor a chance to make significant reforms in education. I wouldn’t say that Mike DeWine is a strong governor, but the example provided by Ohio could give great governors like DeSantis in Florida, or Noem in South Dakota, and other strong states a blueprint that would eventually pave the way for a new way of dealing with education needs in each state, and provide a competitive atmosphere that is desperately needed. For anything to improve in education, competition and high expectations have to be a priority, as the ability to survive the radical labor elements which will be against anything, and everything must be part of the plan. I come from a business background and understand that good leadership does not come from group consensus building. It comes from solitary leadership that is accountable for success and failure. Otherwise, failure, such as what we have seen in my home district of Lakota, will be absorbed into a culture of complacency. I have tried to reform the group consensus model in my home district by helping to get conservatives elected to the school board there, but the results have been that no matter what is done, the system itself protects itself from any reform, and failure is guaranteed from the outset. Nothing can save Boards of Education anywhere because they are designed to fail by the premise of their existence. I have been saying for a long time that the concept of public education has to be scrapped completely. But many aren’t ready for that conversation. So scrapping the way that decisions are made for education would be an obvious next best step. Many of the names who have spoken out for S.B. 178, which I have put here for the convenience of understanding, I like and think are sincere in their efforts.   I also am very supportive of the several names who have sponsored the 2000-page Bill, which at this point, I have read. It took me a while, there is a lot there, but the gist of it is an opportunity to replace a Department of Education with a door I can knock on and get results. And I’m all for that.

So for the small government critic who says that this S.B. 178 is just another big government solution that takes away voting accountability from the Department of Education, I would say that for many people, the reality is that most people don’t just jump into a swimming pool. They will dip their toes in the water and get in ever so slowly, getting mad at those who do jump in and splash them with water. S.B. 178 is like a handrail that those types of people can hang on to while they ease themselves into the water, the water being education reform. I would like to jump in and pull the plug draining the whole thing at once. Then, fill the pool with fresh water in which everyone hasn’t used the restroom in. Because from my point of view, there is no way to clear that water now that years of corruption and progressive intention have dirtied it up to the point of no return. But to pull the plug, you have to get in the water, and S.B. 178 provides those who still believe in a government solution to education something to hang on to. In this case, leadership is directly attached to the state governor.  Ohio looks to have opportunities beyond the next four years of DeWine to have strong, conservative governors, so I think there are better opportunities for S.B. 178, knowing some of these legislators personally, to have success than in just continuing to do what we have now, which is just a liberal extension of the Biden administration and their further destruction of children’s minds. I think we need action faster than later and more profound and bold rather than timid and safe because the clock is ticking. And at this point, I am willing to give a bold option a chance, not for the adults who are thriving off a corrupt system, but for the kids who need real leadership and an opportunity for a better tomorrow. 

Rich Hoffman

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What Makes George Lang So Good: Leadership and one of the reasons Butler County is Debt Free

George Lang, whenever he gives a public speech, especially in Butler County, Ohio, where he is the Senator of the 4th District, will quickly remind everyone that Butler County is the only county in Ohio operating debt-free. It is one of the best-run counties in the entire nation, fiscally speaking, and that is to the credit of Nancy Nix and many others who work as the treasurer and support staff. It’s also a credit to the Republican Party of Butler County, and you will always find George Lang somewhere near someone who has been successful behind many of the success stories. George Lang is the kind of person who builds people up wherever he goes, and his best work is often in the background. He’s not very ostentatious about letting everyone know about the good work he does, but given the trend of pointing out every flaw people in politics have that there are, I thought it was an excellent idea to let people know of one of the best examples of what a good politician is that I know, and point out some of the traits that make him that way. While it’s true, I consider George a friend, I’ve known him since the early Tea Party days, and I like his family quite a lot. But I’ll also say that we don’t always agree on everything or support the same kind of people in every situation. Yet, as I always say, there is only one correct answer, and I can say that in the context of our relationship, George is a tireless advocate for whatever that right answer is, and he pursues it aggressively. And if new information comes up along the way that might change his view on the right answer, he doesn’t let anything get in the way of modifying his thought process to accommodate it. And that might be his best trait and why he is so successful, not just in the things he does, but in how he builds people up around him toward the ultimate correct answer. 

I was at a few events recently and heard the same kind of stories, that George Lang is an establishment Republican and that he is part of the problem, not a solution. In the context of those sentiments, I can say that they are common among anybody who has had success and are not rooted in reality. One of the reasons I’ve been able to be friends with George Lang for so long is because he is a high-quality person who can handle the heat in the kitchen well. So, if he were anything less than great, I wouldn’t have maintained a friendship with him all this time. Usually, when we talk, it’s not about politics ironically, but the big things, like ancient civilizations and what lessons we could learn from them that could improve the legislative agenda of America as a republic. We never get hung up on the small stuff, the whims of political tides that come and go like an ocean current.   From my perspective in knowing how George is every day, I know the things some people say about him are because he’s been successful. All successful people get hen-pecked behind their backs. The critics are primarily built on jealousy or to hide their own ineffectiveness in the world and would rather blame a corrupt system that never listens to their own failures. George is the kind of person who can sit down with anyone under any type of contentious condition and work with them. And he stays honest during it all and can go home to his family with a clean mind because everything he does is done with good sentiment on his part. I’ve watched many people attempt this in life, and they usually get beaten down into an unrecognizable person within a few years. But George has managed to keep himself great for many years, working as a trustee, then a State Representative, until this most recent position as a State Senator.   George could do anything politically that he wanted, which would always draw criticism from the fans in the stands. Yet when it comes to wins, George is always nearby those victories even if he isn’t the one who takes the heroic shot in the end but was the person who set all the success up behind the scenes. 

This came to my mind because I have been getting asked many questions about what might happen in the fourth quarter, during the next election in America, if the Democrats try to use another version of Covid to implement shutdowns and change voting rules as they did in 2020. In Ohio, DeWine was terrible with Covid, and it cost the state a lot. Well, George all along worked behind the scenes to ensure that what happened in 2020 would never happen again in Ohio. George has a business-first political platform that understands that if there is no business in Ohio, then there aren’t jobs and things to do with a good economy. So George puts his political efforts into ensuring that the economy of Ohio is outstanding so that all other good things will follow. And over the last several years, George has passed legislation that greatly limited what a governor can do under emergency conditions. For instance, if there were another pandemic, a governor would be unable to shut down small businesses while keeping the large ones open. Everyone would have to follow the same safety protocols, but the government would not pick winners and losers as they did during Covid 2020. Also, the Senate led an effort with George among the leaders to drive the issue that would keep any governor from overreacting and taking authority control over the entire state. So those days are gone forever, and George Lang is the one to thank for it. 

A lot of the best legislation that gets done in Columbus isn’t very sexy. It doesn’t make great splashes on the nightly news. Few likely know about S.B. 246, which allows for small businesses to utilize similar tax advantages that large companies have access to, which might not sound like a big thing, but if you are a business of any size, tax burdens are one of the most significant concerns that there is. With George’s bill, it will attract investment to Ohio which is desperately needed. Ohio has been suffering from a depopulation crisis for a long time. It’s been so bad that it only has 15 congressional representatives due to that condition. As jobs have fled the state due to previous bad government policy, there wasn’t anywhere for the kids of previous generations to work, so they left for places that looked more attractive.   George is working to rebuild that business base of Ohio and is looking to turn that all around, and so far, he’s been very successful. Like the example George gives about the great Butler County treasurer Nancy Nix and how it is operating as the only county that is debt free, it takes a lot of leadership behind the scenes to manage everything correctly, and it also takes a willingness not always to be the point person where a single point failure can significantly limit what good leadership can do. But to build up others in ways that the public never sees. And if someone didn’t point out that good work every now and then, nobody would ever know. And that is why I value George Lang so much and think despite the negative news stories that we hear every day on the news, there are some great politicians out there doing outstanding work. And George Lang is one of them for sure. 

Rich Hoffman

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The Lofty Expectations of the Ohio Statehouse: Senator George Lang is a politician it can be proud of

It was a great treat for me to get a day to visit the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to see a good friend of mine, Senator George Lang. It was good for me to put things in perspective as some of the issues of the hour are intense and changing by the minute. The Ohio Statehouse is a grand vestige dedicated to a republic form of government, and it was built with love and ambition. I think all statehouses try to do the same thing. The Ohio Statehouse is a special place dedicated to intelligence, study, and the difficulties of a republic that spans thousands of years in the past. It’s a place of ambition and hope reflected in the Greek architecture, the various marble ornaments, and symbolic statues. Whenever I go there, I am reminded that much of the hard work that is done in politics, even when it often falls so short of expectations, is worth the effort. Even when people complain about the cesspool of politics and the corrosive elements of lobbyists, I see the work that goes on in places like the Ohio Statehouse as the best that there is in the world. I’ve been to the Parliament in London and other places where the work of politics is done, and I see the purity of the Ohio Statehouse as something special, unique. I am possessive that it exists to do the work all people in Ohio need done. Even if people disagree on what that work is, the place is there to make sure it has a chance to happen. 

Another friend of mine took a picture of me on the House floor, and that’s what I was thinking. I don’t usually get sentimental about those types of things, but I had just had a good meeting with Senator Lang with the door closed. I was very happy to hear what he was working on. But more than that, I saw the same eyes alive and well within him that I have known for many years as he was one of the original members of the West Chester Tea Party. George is still that same person who gives out copies of Atlas Shrugged at Christmas and believes in small government, fiscal responsibility, and a business-first political strategy which is the key to all wealth-building in any culture. George Lang is a good person, a very good person. And as I was thinking about the Ohio Statehouse and all its ambitions, most of the time, we resent politics because we give politicians all these great tools to work with, like the Ohio Statehouse.   Most of the time, the people we send to the congress and senate fall short of our expectations, leading to perpetual disappointment. But George Lang is one of those exceptions. He actually lives up to the lofty expectations. The building seems to have been built specifically for people like him.

I say all those nice things because I had an extended chance to watch him work with other members of the House and Senate. And to interact with Governor DeWine. George is friendly, engaging; he’s a great salesman. But while he is doing all those things, he’s also guarded and measured. He’s a hard nut to crack for a lobbyist because it’s hard to tell where to get a hook into him. What is the vice of George Lang? What makes him tick? Where is he vulnerable? It’s one thing to be sociable and even polite. George has been involved in Columbus politics for many years now. When our schedules match up, I speak to him quite a bit here and there, but he’s a busy guy. So, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect in his office with the door closed and talking about the business that needs to happen for the state. To talk about the upcoming primaries, his Business First Caucus, politics back home in Butler County, Ohio. But what I found was a person who loves doing a good job, that had not been swept away by any trace of corruption, and the same wide-eyed person I have known since he was a trustee in West Chester. And with all that has been going on, where the world presents us with disappointments at every juncture, especially in politics, that was refreshing. 

In that House chamber and its lofty contents, it was apparent that most of the members went to Columbus with big goals and that they were getting swept away by the ornate atmosphere. Just before that photograph, I had just heard from a politician who wanted me to know how smart he was and that he was reviewing the legal complications of a land purchase for a solar farm, filled with all kinds of rancid ESG requirements that he thought were great. He was a guy who had been chewed up and spit out of the meat grinder, and I could see that the chamber walls were almost ashamed of him. He did not live up to the expectations. But those big stone walls and finely carved woodwork would see many more like him over the years, as they had. But when George was in that room, the actual chamber seemed happy. There was a person worthy of the Statehouse. There was someone who would do the work and, when done, dash off to his wife and grown children at every opportunity. And I think that is the secret to George Lang working there. The Statehouse was built for people like him, who love their country, their state, and their communities, but more than anything, their families. When the rubber hits the road, that’s how he has managed to survive Columbus and live up to the lofty expectations that come with business there. 

It wasn’t just because I like George. Governor DeWine was walking around shaking hands and taking pictures. Most everyone he interacted with couldn’t wait to lick the shoes of DeWine and pander to him for the powerful seat he sat in. Those same people might badmouth DeWine the minute they were away from him, but when shaking hands and taking pictures, they were like little girls at a pop-rock concert backstage. Power was a seductive force, and they were undoubtedly under its influence when around the Governor. But not George Lang. While respectful, he stayed very true to himself and represented his district exceptionally well. And it wasn’t an act. I wasn’t always somewhere that George could see me. It was just how he was, and I was proud of him. It gave me hope that all the hard work in preserving our republic, first at the state level, then at the federal level, was worth it. That day at the Statehouse is how it’s supposed to be in politics. It’s an example of how to do it right. We build the temples to a republic that has taken us thousands of years to perfect. And our government in Ohio is supposed to be contentious. It’s not supposed to be a fraternity of consensus builders. The Statehouse was built to debate and flush out the best and brightest ideas from the weakest. And over the many decades that the Ohio Statehouse has been there, it has suffered many disappointments in the elected representatives who have gone there to do our work. But George Lang isn’t one of them. If the Statehouse could smile, it surely would when George walks into a room, for that is the reason the place exists.

Rich Hoffman

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The Best Thing I Received for Christmas: Todd Minniear in Liberty Township

I Got Todd Minniear for Christmas

Another question that comes up always after Christmas, mainly out of obligations of small talk, is what did you get for Christmas?  Was it all worth it?  Did you have a good Holiday?  Well, for me, this year, I did have a great Holiday.  But it wasn’t just family gift exchanges that I enjoyed.  Just a few days before Christmas, at the Liberty Township Building just down the road from my house, Todd Minniear was sworn in as my next trustee, one of three.  He is the product of a series of off-year elections where constitutional conservatives were targeted for election to either replace liberals or offer a more conservative candidate aside from the ones traditionally provided.  For me, it was quite a nice Christmas present to have Todd give me a call and invite me to his swearing-in, which I went to and was greeted there with a kind of class reunion from the various campaigns of 2021, and it was nice to see all that hard work come to some positive culmination.  I say it all the time, if you want a good government, then put good people in it. Don’t just sit on the couch and hope things work out alright.  Either run yourself for an office locally or support someone who wants to.  After the Trump presidency, that was certainly my story where obvious political shenanigans to remove him from office took place.   The audacious behavior of the national establishment is something I’ve seen plenty of times locally, over thirty years.  And the election of Todd Minniear, a constitutional and freedom-minded purist, was a significant achievement in my community and was a sign of things to come nationally. 

Another thing I say all the time to just about everyone I speak with is, “don’t be a victim.” Never allow yourself to be a victim in the story of your own life.  Those people we put into elected positions in our republic are never supposed to be our “betters” or some useless member of an aristocracy.  They are there to represent us.  But that’s not the way the political class views that relationship.  Often, they get into public office for the attention of it and the power that follows by having their hands on the levers of rules and regulations that govern our lives.  In the case of a local trustee, the question is often, “can I build a new pole barn on my property to hold my classic car.” The politicians usually will reply, “but think about the lowered property values of the community.  They don’t need to be penalized because you want to protect some gas-guzzling old car that should be on the junk heap, according to the United Nations.” They don’t say that they often work to protect the interests of those who give them campaign donations to keep them in power instead of representing all the community’s people all the time. I’ve been involved in politics in some way or another all of my adult life, and I have seen all the kinds of corruption that can come out of it, all the ugly stuff.  And I understand entirely how that corruption comes about and how to fix it.  The solution is to follow the Constitution of the nation and our state.  If everyone did that, things would work pretty well.  When politicians get away from the constitutions and bring their personal desires or biases to an issue, that’s where corruption starts.  

I don’t think any politician gets into a public office with the idea of becoming corrupt.  They get that way because they lose their way while solving problems.  Corruption starts to eat away from them once they get off the constitutional script.  For instance, I have several very close personal friends who are politicians.  People like George Lang. I’ve known George for a long time since he was a trustee in West Chester, well over a decade ago.  We bonded over Tea Party ideas of small government and the novel by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.  George has a habit of giving that novel out as a Christmas present at Christmas time.  He believes in the ideas in every aspect of his life.  Even though now he is an establishment figure, he is still the same person.

Because he is a big-time senator within the state, many people assume that politics has made him corrupt.  But I know personally, it hasn’t changed him at all. He’s still the same Atlas Shrugged-giving guy.  We might remember when Paul Ryan was also an Atlas Shrugged fan, but when Mitt Romney wanted him to be his VP, all that Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand stuff was tossed away so that they could become the next power player in congress, eventually becoming Speaker of the House.  Some people can handle the pressure of public scrutiny, and some can’t.  George can; Paul Ryan couldn’t.  Power has a way of altering people into the most profound things in their hearts.  George, for instance, at this Todd Minniear event, was pressed about several projects that involved tax money distribution.  His answer was a classic George Lang line, and he didn’t just say it because I was there.  It’s what he says all the time to everyone, “don’t give the government or me any more tax money. We’ll just spend it.  Keep your money. Our job is to take the barriers out of your way to living a good life.” 

I’ve watched several good politicians like George Lang get elected into more and more positions over the years.  And at that Todd Minniear swearing-in, several of our Lakota school board members newly elected were there as well, more parts of a future solution.  Locally, I’ve always looked to West Chester to ensure more small-government ideas found their way to the trustees.  My friend Mark Welch and others there have done a great job of keeping the government’s small and business engagement very high.  It is the model of what should be happening all over Ohio.  And if we can primary Mike DeWine as governor of Ohio and replace him with Jim Renacci, we’ll be able to do great things in Ohio.  But Liberty Township is where I live, and the trustees there have always been Republican, but more of the Paul Ryan type, and not so much that of George Lang.  At the start of the election in 2021, I didn’t think a freedom candidate like Todd Minniear could find his way on a Republican Party that was still much more like the Republican Party nationally of 2012 and not so much like the Trump Republican Party of 2020.  But Todd won with a solid majority, and he had a tremendous amount of people show up to support him, which is unusual at these kinds of events.  And as I stood there watching Jennifer Gross, our member of the Ohio House, swear in Todd, I could see where our country was headed.  And it made me very happy to see.  All the hard work that goes into these kinds of things was certainly worth it.  For those wondering about it, I would say that doing such things is some of the best Christmas presents you could give yourself.  Often there isn’t much personal satisfaction in politics but putting the right people in the correct positions at the right time through a vote is one of the most rewarding things anybody can do in a healthy republic.  And in Liberty Township for Christmas of 2021, I can say that seeing Todd Minniear sworn in for public office was the highlight of my Holiday season. 

Rich Hoffman

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Thank Goodness for Jennifer Gross’ H.B. 248: Fighting Joe Biden’s Vaccine Mandates

It’s the question everyone who has a job or employs people are asking.  What are they supposed to do about the Biden executive order that makes government workers, contractors, or any business with more than 100 people mandating that everyone get vaccinations?  Worse even than that, it is how Biden’s plan pawns off all the work onto human resource departments to do their dirty work by using OHSA as an enforcement agency.  So now, several days after the initial executive order notification, most of the political commentary has reacted to how audacious the order was, how un-constitutional, how incredibly tyrannical it was.  But few have broken down the path to solving the problem which businesses and people want to know.  There are quite a few people indifferent to the vaccination, they don’t like hearing the government ordering people around, but they have the vaccination and are indifferent to the order.  Many people, a high percentage of most workforces, 10% to 20%, aren’t going to get the vaccination and would go to war with the government if any attempt at coercion is attempted.  It’s one thing for an out-of-touch communist-driven Biden administration to write some order on a piece of paper and give a little speech about it.  Doing it is quite something else, and it appears that Biden and his handlers want to provoke violence from that demographic.  They are almost asking for it.  So, what are any of us to do about it?  Here I offer some thoughts and direction that will help, especially relevant to the state I live in, Ohio.

As I said in the video above, I had a chance to talk to many people from the time I wrote this to when Biden made his announcement on Thursday, September 9th.  In that video, I mentioned the Ohio Attorney General David Yost was joining several other states in a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the executive order. Still, I was thinking of a talk I had in the presence of the Secretary of State Frank LaRose and was surprised how unified the state Republicans were against Biden.  Even DeWine was not supportive, which given the political situation, he doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room anyway.  But what was encouraging was that several direct actions were already hot in the statehouse to protect the people of Ohio from a mandatory vaccination and businesses from being imposed to do the work that the federal government couldn’t with forced compliance.  Hanging OSHA out to dry the way that Biden had, it was evident by the people I spoke to that the legal hurdles were ominous against the executive order, especially with the flow down of official procedures that OHSA would have to use to measure any compliance.  For instance, companies who deal with routine ISO audits understand how complex these things can be, and for OSHA, Biden had just signed them up for a nightmare that likely would never get settled between the White House and the agency itself. 

Aside from months and months of red tape in defining what OSHA would be doing as a compliance officer of forced vaccinations, Jennifer Gross, the House rep from my district, already had House Bill 248 cooking on the stove.  That bill is a total ban on forced vaccinations in Ohio.  There are some amendments that are needed, and the House has some idea how to get them applied to make everyone somewhat happy.  Thank goodness Jennifer had that process already started so that passage can be accelerated to match the language of this recent executive order.  That is the first path to providing exemptions that will further complicate what Biden’s people want to do with forced compliance.  From my understanding of the amendments, it will essentially give the people who presently don’t want to get the jab a means to preserve that right.  The trick is in getting businesses off the hook in doing the dirty work of government compliance.  There is also a Vaccine Nullification bill moving through the Senate that will go even deeper, especially now that the executive order’s language is known.  George Lang has been working on this one. It will further provide protections for businesses in Ohio to separate them from the burden of forced work demanded by the federal government onto businesses who don’t have such work as part of their business model, such as the obligatory testing requirement.  Who does that and keeps up with it, an already taxed human resource department?  Things like that will emerge as the legalisms get applied that the Biden administration either didn’t think of, or they hoped that businesses would jump offsides off a hard count.  I think they knew this executive order wasn’t going to fly, but they tried to spook Americans into jumping anyway. 

All those mechanisms will be working in the background for the next several months, but I offer a more direct path to push back on.  I thought of the idea while speaking with Josh Mandel at a GOP event.  We were both in line to get some food, and they had run out of green beans, so we had a moment to chat about this topic. He’s running for the Rob Portman Senate seat, so I was surprised how much he was willing to make the election fraud that went against President Trump a campaign issue.  I was impressed with his ability to speak about it clearly and with conviction.  It’s something that more and more establishment GOP types have been willing to discuss openly.  Mandel might take that establishment tag personally, but he has been in some respectable GOP seats. He is running for the Senate, so it’s like I say, eventually, when you throw rocks, you win and find yourself in the establishment.  And that is precisely what’s happening with the admission of election fraud in the 2020 election.  Fox News might be afraid of lawsuits from Dominion for even discussing the possibility of election fraud.  Mitch McConnell may not want to shake up the system that has enriched him so much to take a moral stand against fraud even though it’s obvious and in front of our face.  But the trend among current officeholders now that they’ve seen the information coming out of Maricopa County in Arizona and Fulton County, Georgia, was that there was enough fraud to overturn the election, so the effort is picking up steam, politically.  Much more so now than there was eight or nine months ago.  And in another year, election fraud will be the talk of everyone. That’s where all this is headed, and the smart money knows it.

So rather than attacking Biden’s unconstitutionality with the forced vaccine mandates, and other terrors he has been a part of in such a short period, the best way to hit Biden, where he and the Democrats are weakest, is with election fraud.  They can’t defend election fraud, and many of them are guilty of being a part of it, even if they only have third-person knowledge and didn’t ask questions about the matter, hoping to benefit from the chaos.  By all accounts, we will find out that Biden should never have been president.  We will question everything he ever did while in the White House.  Yes, it will be a legal mess, but mixed in with this forced vaccination issue.  If you want to beat Biden on his audacity with the forced vaccine mandates, then the way to hit him and the Democrats, in general, is not to take the eye of the ball of election fraud.  I think they are trying to hide anyway because there is lots of evidence of election fraud.  The media is still making fun of the premise that Arizona and other states are exploring the idea of decertifying their elections.  For many in the establishment, this is an incomprehensible idea.  Yet, it is gaining steam.  The report that will come out of Arizona soon will make the case, and several states are talking about following them.  This won’t be laughable when Josh Mandel and the other senate candidates have their election.  It will be everyday talk.  So, we might as well start that process now and hit the Biden people where it hurts most.  Not so much in what latest unconstitutional imposition they throw at us, but in what they are trying desperately to hide.  Because that is where they are most vulnerable.

Rich Hoffman

The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business
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Matt Huffman Understands Good Government: Conflict is critical to a properly run republic

People like the Title to my New Book, for good reason

First, I have to say that I appreciate all the kind words I’ve received over the title of my new book, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business.  As I said in the video above, they have been whispering to me their enjoyment, almost as if they were afraid to say it in public because the word “gun” is in it.  Yet, that is entirely on purpose.  A lot in The Gunfighter’s Guide will challenge previous assumptions, the most of which is the nature of conflict in business and why we as a culture need to embrace that conflict more as we have in years past.  For a long time now, where we have been going has led to so much corruption because the value systems have not been on success, but in getting along.  Strangely enough, I was at an event with Matt Huffman, the President of the Ohio Senate, and he gave an excellent speech that displayed his understanding of this very need for conflict in any civil exchange.  Politics is a blood sport and was always intended as such.  They fight so that we don’t have to in general society.  But this is also the expectation in business as well.  If there isn’t conflict in a discussion, then why have the conversation.  All the consensus-building efforts that we have seen coming out of our academia are out of step with the American way of doing things.  It’s like telling us that American football shouldn’t be about putting on pads and hitting the other guy as hard as you can to stop them from scoring a touchdown, but that we should all play flag football, and that scoring isn’t all that important.  The title of my book evokes a truth that many people understand, and I appreciate that this early in the process, people already understand the need for a philosophic presentation of this very American concept.

Matt Huffman has done great in Ohio as President of the Senate

I had wanted to tell Senator Huffman how proud I was of him and the Ohio Senate in general for passage of Senate Bill 22, which took away Governor DeWine’s health directives over Covid-19 and future overreaches with legislative control.  If Huffman, George Lang, Terry Johnston, and much of the senate body had not moved to pass S.B. 22, Ohio would have been impeded by the recent Biden push for mass closures and mask mandates over the recent Delta Variant.  I thought it was a big deal when the Senate did what they did, and the House followed quickly.  DeWine had cut the entire legislature out of any covid protocols allowing the Governor to become a ruthless dictator over rights of health decisions which put white coat bureaucrats entirely in charge of all our lives.  And it went on for way too long, essentially because nobody wanted to have a conflict with the Governor.  Yet nightly at the Ohio capital, on other things, there were riots and vandalism over social causes that nobody wanted to deal with, and times were looking very bleak.  Trump was being pushed out of office by a group of radicals who were not afraid of conflict. Conservatives were not being met in the same fashion, allowing activists to roll over logic and goodness without fear of reprisal.   You might remember around Christmas of 2020 going into 2021 when I mentioned that Matt Huffman might be the next president of the Senate and that Governor DeWine’s powers would finally be quelled after a year of behaving like a complete tyrant off the rails and out of control. That’s what happened, Huffman was sworn in during the early months of 2021, and he went right to work doing what the legislature had been hoping to do for a long time, stand up to DeWine and return Ohio to civility with a proper government. 

Huffman told his story a bit of how contentious it was standing up to Governor DeWine, who did not want a fellow Republican senate to override his veto of S.B. 22.  DeWine tried to use the necessity of a single point of action to manage emergencies, which was always part of the poison pill of Covid-19.  It was presented as beyond legislative control where the Dr. Fauci types would manage our lives instead of our elected government because of an emergency health crisis.  But our constitutions do not indicate that liberty and freedom are only temporary factors of our daily life.  Even during an emergency such as tornado impacts, hurricanes, or health crises, all people still have their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  And sometimes, we have to fight to maintain those rights.  This is what Huffman, Lang, and the rest of the Senate did when they told Mike DeWine to pound sand and suck it up.  They were going to override the Governor’s veto and take away his health directives.  DeWine had abused his power, and he needed a slap down.  It was an example of how proper government should look. It was the suitable alternative to open warfare with people storming the capital to retake their rights over the Covid restrictions.  In every state, the House and Senate must fight like that on our behalf, and in Ohio, it happened.  Fighting is not a bad thing.  When fighting turns to permanent damage, that’s another story, but people who enter the bloodsport of politics should understand that’s the nature of the game.

That is, after all, the theme of my book and why people are saying under their breath that they like the title so much.  It alludes to the American understanding that conflict is at the heart of our “republic.” When the law wasn’t present in times past of western expansion, the gunfighter’s brought some form of order to those far-flung regions.  Many people were killed in cold blood and drunken violence, but the presence of conflict was the first foundation for law and order.  If someone did something to someone, the threat of a gunfight was a genuine menace, and people thought twice about it.  And if they were caught killing in cold blood, the community often hung people right there on the spot, killing them.  Many times, innocent people were hung.  But people did think twice before engaging in destructive behavior because people were not afraid of conflict as they are today.  In so many ways, you have to look at our academic approach to conflict during the last century and question whether or not we have all been poisoned with the pill of globalism so that our republic would fall under those same conditions.  So it is certainly my goal with The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business to resurrect the sentiment that conflict is good and healthy for maintaining a proper republic.  Not necessarily with violence, but in how Matt Huffman, George Lang, and others did with S.B. 22 in 2021, which has saved Ohio from a tyrannical Biden administration looking for ground cover for their many scandals.  Without the conflict with DeWine, Ohio would still be imprisoned by the white coats of bureaucracy.  It seems rare these days to see such conflict and courage, but it does happen; there are Matt Huffman’s out there who understand good government and utilize it to the proper effect.  And people understand that in my title, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, something important has been missing in our business and political cultures that need to be dusted off and resurrected to full effect.  And then, and only then, is when America is back and will sustain itself for the world well into the future.   

Rich Hoffman

The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business
Click to buy The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business