Tag: Rich Hoffman

The Busing Strike at Lakota Schools: Hiding the real problems behind drivers who don’t deserve it

I love the new busing strike at Lakota schools. Nothing infuriates me more than slow-moving vehicles clogging up the roadways, and since school has started back for the fall, all the buses hauling kids around to a communist government school in my district that eats money insatiably has been a sore subject for me. I’ve dealt with this busing issue for years; I remember when Lakota cut busing as an extortion method to push parents to pass a tax increase back when we had to fight those levies every few months. And I certainly remember how it was during Covid. Parents learned not to have busing, and as far as I’m concerned, parents can take their kids to school. They’ve done it before; they can do it again. They already get a free babysitting service in the school paid for by the taxpayers, so the least they can do is drive their kids to school. But my favorite school board member, the only one who has been really good on busing issues to make things better for parents, Darbi Boddy, is supportive of busing services and has wanted to expand coverage. See, we don’t agree on everything, just most things. Darbi ultimately is not a professional politician, but she’s in politics the way it’s supposed to be. She’s a mom, and she thinks like a parent. So, she is undoubtedly sympathetic toward school bus drivers as they voted to strike just before Labor Day 2023. And what’s unusual about this strike isn’t about money or benefits. The busing services are contracted out to a company called Petermann, which handles the needs of the drivers, who are well compensated. Instead, the problem is over surveillance, a similar tech issue as is at the core of the Hollywood strike of actors and writers. Technology has turned into a tyrant, and the drivers aren’t happy about it, so they have walked off the job.

Of course, there is more to the story, which is why this is a compelling analysis. Lakota schools want to micromanage the bus drivers in ways they would never dare do with their employees, and because of Petermann handling the union responsibilities, it has given Lakota schools a chance to try and fix their social perception problem with parents during an election year, without having to take responsibility for anything and making members of their radical leftist union upset. Lakota has been very soft on pedophilia over the last several years, following some genuinely detrimental behavior with several past employees that have damaged the public school brand. Followed by some very disappointing report cards from the state and a financial situation where the lawyers are essentially running the school, the current school board, except for Darbi Boddy, has been a complete disaster. So they need a public relations push, and this school bus driver issue has been, for them, a golden opportunity. Suddenly, they want to use technology to monitor if the bus drivers are putting both hands on the steering wheel while turning and if they are staying within the speed limit. The same policy is not present to ensure that Lakota teachers behave themselves. If a kid shoots a spitball at the back of a bus driver’s head, and the driver yells at the kid. The act will be caught on video. But if it happens in a classroom, nobody will ever know. So based on that premise, Lakota management, starting at the school board, is talking out of both sides of its mouth, which is a standard from them, not an exception.

Without question, there are school bus drivers who are cheating slugs. They don’t fill their logbooks out correctly; monitoring will help correct that problem. But the number is likely under 25%. There is no precise justification for abusing the other 75% with overmanagement while the rest of the school culture gets away with horrendous acts of defilement and social degradation. Sure, bus drivers park in places they shouldn’t be to associate with other drivers who shouldn’t be there between pickup tasks. There are many reasons to justify the increased monitoring of the bus-driving staff. But the question is, “Should they do it?” Given the government school culture, the least of the problems are the bus drivers, yet the school board and superintendent want to be harsh with them in just another phony plea to convince parents that management cares about the kids. Parents interact with school bus drivers as representatives of the school more than they do the school itself, as the bus usually comes to their homes personally, where the school is someplace the kids disappear to. This has allowed the school board to appear tough on discipline over employees they don’t even have responsibility for while Lakota’s teacher’s union members get away with everything. If Lakota wanted to be tough on employees, it would have reacted much differently to the many abuses of kids that get reported but are slowly dealt with at the school board to protect the school’s image rather than to make kids a priority. But if a school bus driver goes over the speed limit by driving 40 MPH on a road that’s only 35, even though the rest of the traffic is going 45 MPH, then the push will be to write that driver up for a safety violation. Technology has allowed for this kind of oppressive micromanagement, which is not good.

It’s hard enough to get drivers for a school bus; it’s a part-time job at best that you have to spend your whole day doing, first early in the morning, to pick the kids up. Then, mid-day pre-rush hour traffic takes them home. It’s an idea I don’t think society should have ever started. It should be the responsibility of the parents to take their kids to get an education, wherever it is. Bussing has made it way too easy for parents. In this case, it has been an all too easy target for a school board that has mismanaged its affairs to appear more diligent than they are because the introduction of expanded technology has allowed tyrants to have power over others they should never have. Mainly when the utilization is not applied evenly to all parties involved. The bus drivers are being punished for disciplines that the school board would never apply to the teachers and administrators under their management. The third-party Petermann drivers are an easy target with expendable employees. And if nobody goes to school, the teachers get a more leisurely day, which we saw they were too willing to exploit during COVID-19. Technology isn’t used to improve everything, only to control it for power over innocent people while the real trouble persists elsewhere. The hope is that parents will think Lakota is doing an excellent job with the safety of their children by monitoring speed limits and hand placement during driving while the teachers are trying to convince boys that they are girls and that everyone can use whatever bathroom they want. Meanwhile, the lawyers are using taxpayer money to settle every legal challenge that comes their way, and they are trying to do to Darbi Boddy what the school board is trying to do to the bus drivers: blame them for all the lousy mismanagement of the district, when the real trouble is in their back yard, which many parents will never otherwise see.

Rich Hoffman

The Ring of King Solomon: Asmodeos and the keys to a demonic past

This is a bit of a footnote on some projects I have going, which involve King Solomon, his ring of power and the influence of jinn and kami in various world cultures.  King Solomon’s Ring is a fabled object of immense power and wisdom that has captivated the human imagination for thousands of years. Many legends and stories have been passed down about its incredible abilities, but its true existence remains a mystery. Nonetheless, the tale of King Solomon’s Ring continues to inspire and intrigue people even to this day.

According to the ancient stories, King Solomon was given the ring by an angel, and it became a symbol of his great power and wealth. The ring was said to have the power to control demons and spirits and to grant its wearer immense knowledge and wisdom. It was also believed to have the power to heal the sick and to protect its wearer from harm.

Despite the many legends that surround King Solomon’s Ring, its true existence remains a mystery. Some scholars believe that the ring was a metaphor for the wisdom and power that King Solomon possessed, while others believe that it was a real object that has been lost to the ages.

One thing is certain, however – the story of King Solomon’s Ring has had a profound impact on human culture and history. It has inspired countless works of art, literature, and music, and it has been the subject of intense study and speculation by scholars and historians for centuries.

In the end, the true nature of King Solomon’s Ring may never be known. But its legacy lives on, inspiring us to seek out wisdom and knowledge, and reminding us of the power of legend and myth to capture the human imagination.

King Solomon’s Temple is one of the most iconic and enduring structures in human history. Built in ancient times by King Solomon himself, it is a testament to the great wealth and power of the Israelite kingdom. But who exactly built this magnificent temple? Many historians and scholars have debated this question for centuries, and the answer remains elusive to this day.

Some believe that King Solomon himself oversaw the construction of the temple, using his immense wealth and resources to bring his vision to life. Others argue that he employed skilled artisans and craftsmen from across the kingdom to complete the work, drawing on their expertise and experience to create something truly remarkable.

Still, others suggest that King Solomon may have enlisted the help of supernatural forces to build the temple, calling upon angels or other divine beings to assist him in the construction process. While this theory may seem far-fetched, it is not entirely without merit, given the many stories and legends that have been passed down throughout history about King Solomon’s incredible powers and abilities.

Regardless of who built the temple, there is no denying its remarkable beauty and grandeur. From its soaring columns and intricate carvings to its shimmering gold and precious stone decorations, the temple is a testament to the skill and artistry of its creators. Even today, thousands of years after its construction, the temple remains a symbol of the Israelite kingdom’s power and influence, and a reminder of the incredible achievements that can be accomplished by those who dare to dream big and work hard to make their dreams a reality.

In conclusion, the question of who built King Solomon’s Temple remains a mystery to this day. While there are many theories and legends surrounding its construction, the truth may never be known for certain. Nonetheless, the temple remains a remarkable achievement of human ingenuity and creativity,

Hiram Abiff is a prominent figure in the world of Masonic symbolism and ritual. He is a central character in the legend of the building of King Solomon’s Temple, which is a foundational story in Masonic lore. According to legend, Hiram Abiff was the chief architect and master craftsman of the Temple, and his death at the hands of three jealous apprentices is a tragic and important event in Masonic history.

The legend of Hiram Abiff is a complex and multi-layered story that has been interpreted and re-interpreted by Masonic scholars and practitioners for centuries. At its core, however, the story is a morality tale about the importance of truth, fidelity, and honor in the Masonic brotherhood.

According to the legend, Hiram Abiff was a skilled craftsman who was entrusted with the task of building King Solomon’s Temple. He was known for his uncompromising commitment to excellence and his unwavering dedication to the craft of building. However, his great skill and success also made him a target of envy and jealousy among some of his fellow craftsmen.

Three of Hiram Abiff’s apprentices, known as the “ruffians,” conspired to steal the secrets of his craft by force. They demanded that Hiram reveal the “Master Mason’s Word,” which was believed to be a powerful and sacred secret that only the most skilled and worthy Masons knew. Hiram refused to divulge the secret, even under threat of death.

The ruffians then attacked Hiram, first striking him with a mallet and then stabbing him with a chisel. Hiram died, but not before uttering a powerful and cryptic message that has become central to Masonic symbolism: “Ma-ha-bone.”

The death of Hiram Abiff is a tragic event in Masonic history, but it is also a powerful symbol of the importance of fidelity and honor in the Masonic brotherhood. Hiram’s refusal to reveal the Master Mason’s Word, even under threat of death, is seen as a powerful example of the importance of keeping one’s commitments and upholding one’s obligations in the face of adversity.

Today, Hiram Abiff remains a powerful symbol in the world of Masonic symbolism and ritual. His story is told and retold in Masonic lodges around the world, and his death is commemorated in elaborate ceremonies that are meant to inspire and instruct Masonic initiates.

In conclusion, Hiram Abiff is a central character in the legend of the building of King Solomon’s Temple, and his tragic death at the hands of three jealous apprentices is a powerful symbol of the importance of fidelity and honor in the Masonic brotherhood. His story continues to inspire and instruct Masonic practitioners around the world, and his legacy remains an important part of Masonic lore and tradition. and a testament to the enduring legacy of King Solomon and the Israelite kingdom.

Asmodeus is a fascinating figure in the world of biblical lore. According to the legends, Asmodeus was a powerful demon who helped King Solomon build his temple. But who was Asmodeus, and what drove him to assist the king in such a monumental task?

To answer these questions, we must first delve into the origins of Asmodeus. According to the Book of Tobit, Asmodeus was originally an angel who fell from grace and became a demon. He was said to be one of the seven princes of hell, ruling over the sin of lust. He was also known as the “destroyer,” due to his penchant for causing chaos and destruction.

Despite his demonic nature, Asmodeus was said to have a fascination with humans. He was known to possess humans and engage in sexual acts with them, often resulting in the birth of monstrous offspring. This behavior earned him a reputation as a powerful and dangerous demon, one who was feared by many.

So why would Asmodeus help Solomon build his temple? Some believe that Asmodeus was motivated by a desire to gain access to the holy site. Others speculate that he was seeking redemption for his sins and saw assisting the king as a way to achieve it.

Regardless of his motivations, it is clear that Asmodeus played a critical role in the construction of the temple. According to the legends, he used his powers to help Solomon locate and mine the precious stones and metals needed for the temple’s construction. He also provided Solomon with the knowledge and expertise needed to design and build the temple’s intricate architecture.

But Asmodeus’s assistance came at a cost. In exchange for his help, Solomon was said to have given Asmodeus the power to tempt and corrupt humans. This power allowed Asmodeus to continue his wicked ways, and he became even more feared and reviled by those who knew of his involvement in the temple’s construction.

Despite the controversy surrounding Asmodeus’s role in the construction of the temple, there is no denying that his contributions were critical to its success. Without his help, Solomon may never have been able to complete the project, and the temple may never have become the revered holy site that it is today.

In conclusion, Asmodeus is a complex and fascinating figure in biblical lore. His role in the construction of Solomon’s temple has been the subject of much debate and speculation, but there is no denying that his contributions were critical to its success. While his demonic nature may be troubling to some, it is clear that Asmodeus played a critical role in the history of the Jewish faith.

Rich Hoffman

Future Debates are Over: Trump is redefining the expectations of politics for the better

It’s an exciting trend, not a surprising one, but certainly telling, and that is debates no longer matter in presidential politics, and as a byproduct of that, money is much less of a factor.  One thing that was grossly obvious in the last Fox News debate was how much things have changed in just a very short period, and if you watched it, or at least some of it as I did, you can see a desperation from the cable news networks to assert a power that they used to have over the process, which they are desperate to hang on to.  Among those under 10% types, there was a consistency to bend allegiance to the media moguls who wanted to set the presidential agenda around consultants and Beltway priorities to keep a globalist narrative on track.  And Trump wisely stepped beyond those controls, leaving essentially the old-world Republicans to battle it out for the bottom in an utterly meaningless debate.  While the discussion was occurring, Trump, of course, did his now famous Tucker Carlson interview, which very quickly gathered up a quarter of a billion views, so the differences in future state politics and the past that have been primarily controlled by consulting firms and media tycoons couldn’t be more obvious.  It’s all about the horse race and the coverage leading up to it for all the parasites who have injected themselves into the process and, over time, taken complete control of the narrative.  But that’s changing now, as it should have long ago.  All presidential politics should be about managing the republic and nothing else.  However, just like in sports, we have turned a game into it, and many people have figured out how to make a living off the coverage of that game. Some have even toyed with the idea that they can run the country if only they force the candidates to stay within the debate framework established by the media. 

One of the big arguments that were made toward Trump joining the Fox News debate was that if the President started a trend of not participating in discussions, then Joe Biden would likely skip doing any arguments in 2024.  Well, I have news for everyone: Joe Biden will never do any more debates.  His handlers will not put him on a stage to talk outside a controlled format.  It’s just not going to happen.  There will be no presidential debates in 2024, which, of course, all the people who make their living covering the horse race of politics find devastating.  But that’s a good thing because all those tag-alongs were useless anyway.  The debates in elections were meant to show people who the candidates were.  But they have evolved into setting the presidential agenda.  Everyone knows who Trump is; he’s the most famous person on Earth.  Nobody is going to learn anything new about Trump after a debate.  The only people who would benefit would be the people hosting the discussion and trying to sell airtime while covering the horse race of politics.  That is essentially all Fox News is and has been for a long time.  They cover the horse race but don’t care much for what horse wins.  They make their money off the event’s coverage, not the actual results in the aftermath.  This kind of culture has led to all the wrong priorities, leading blank-minded candidates to dance to the strings of media owners who then take the business of the republic and form fit it into their business needs. 

During his last term, Trump showed how easy it is to fix many of these issues that consultants have been getting in the way of for a long time, which has hidden itself behind the debate culture of the past.  That’s another reason the media hates Trump; he has exposed this game.  He doesn’t need the money that donors can give, and he doesn’t need the media to make him into a star.  He’s his own person, which infuriates the consultant class.  They can’t make him who he is; he doesn’t need them, which is one of the scariest realities they could have for a lot of people who are parasites in the world–not to be needed, and Trump doesn’t.  It also points out the political change where money is used to buy influence.  Money doesn’t have so much power these days because the game used to be that the media would make a star out of a candidate, and that star would then use that success to raise money, so the money could then be used to buy airtime on the media that created the star, to begin with.  Trump has stepped over that entire process altogether.  It’s all been a shell game that has benefited the wrong people.  The voters have been used to generate the money, but they never get what they want out of politics, leaving everyone perpetually hungry for the next horse race, which Fox News starts covering three years before an election.  It’s been a big scam that does nothing to help solve problems; it only makes money for those who cause all the trouble in the first place, and people are no longer interested.  That may be terrifying to the people who make money off politics, but it’s a changing business, and they’ll have to adapt. 

The Biden people ripped off the scab when they tried to put him in office with a campaign in his basement during Covid.  Trump and Biden had a debate that year, 2020, but they fell short of completing the traditional three that had preceded their terms.  Biden is a primarily handled media caricature kept in power by stolen elections, just as most communist countries stay in control.  Only in America people know better because we do have a free media culture.  And if traditional media doesn’t serve the people, then they will find alternatives, and they have.  And Trump’s campaign in 2024 will completely embrace that new media.  The old media isn’t doing anything useful anyway, so Trump doesn’t need them.  Biden has shown that he doesn’t need them either.  So, there won’t be any presidential debates in 2024.  Fox News hosting these debates is over; nobody cares.  And there will be no return to that type of shell game, rightfully, because money has essentially been taken out of politics.  Money can’t buy support the way it has been sold in the past.  People form opinions about political candidates much differently now, and consultants are finding themselves out of a job they never should have had in the first place.  The future of Trump is to move much faster than the Beltway consultants ever could, and the news will occur at a speed only fast-moving social media can cover.  Newsrooms with editors picking the top three stories of the day are a thing of the past.  The need to know, and quickly, is the wave of tomorrow, and people will form their opinions on their own, not to be shaped by the glitz of media machines and slick ad campaigns.  No, for a change, candidates will be judged by what they do, not what they say, and the future of politics is all about achievement, not manipulation, which is a needed change that we’ve needed for a long time. 

Rich Hoffman

I Don’t Like “Rich Men North of Richmond”: Crying about how unfair the world is won’t fix it

At first, I thought the Oliver Anthony song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” was interesting.  I watched people rally to him in private concerts with great enthusiasm and was impressed that the song communicated to them in ways that good art does.  Great!  But the looters have climbed on over the last few weeks, especially at Fox News, where they thought they had found that populist connection with their audience again when they played it at their 2nd Place Debate for the under 10% presidential candidates.  And Oliver Anthony was featured on Disney-owned Good Morning America, the Joe Rogan Podcast, and many other outlets.  The world is in shock over this song, which I could call the kind of song that might have been featured on The Dukes of Hazzard years ago.  I liked it, but what was all this shock, and what did I think about it?  I like the young man, Oliver Anthony; it was wise for him to turn down several record labels and do his best to keep his music small and private—authentic.  That is, after all, what people like about it, and the moment he loses that, it’s all over.  Authentic is better than financially successful, I would say in most cases.  But as I heard the song a few times, I felt more like Oliver Anthony was just another slack-jawed hippie singing about how unfair the world is, as is typical in any bar on a Friday night as people ten beers into the evening throw darts and shoot pool drowning in cigarette smoke and cheap cologne laced with sweat, complaining about how corrupt Washington D.C. politicians are.  Complaining about how unfair life is does not solve the problem, and Anthony Oliver has made no claims to being a conservative.  He’s much more of a liberal, so, interestingly, many are accusing him of being an icon of the political right.  I would say, far from it. 

I’m a big tent Republican Party kind of guy, and if people who like Anthony Oliver’s music want to join the fun of a President Trump Republican Party, that’s fine with me.  I might look at their politics while we’re all in that big tent and shake my head.  Very few people are alive on earth as conservative as I am, so I am usually disappointed with people’s politics.  There is nothing new there.  But I am also one of the most tolerant of other people’s opinions.  The key to a future Republican Party is that many people are coming to it.  After the Trump mug shot, many from the “hood” are now converting from Democrats to Republicans, and I’ll happily hold the door open for them as they walk by with marijuana smoke streaming from their mouths, which I find objectionable.  But this is about winning, not so much converting everyone to my version of conservative politics.  There are union members who love Trump, and suddenly, we are all rooting for the same political figure, which is weird.  But it comes with a big tent.  If everyone wants to go camping and talk over the weekend, likely at the end of it, I will convert people over to my way of thinking, so I’m not worried about values.  But first, the right people must be elected to have the debate.  The Republic must survive as something we can all agree on.  So, I welcome all the drunks from the Friday night beer binge as they play Oliver Anthony turned up on their car stereos while driving around with the windows down. 

I’m not with Glenn on this. Don’t be weak in the first place. Life works much better.

The problem with Democrats, or people heading in that direction, is that they are typically victims in life, and victimization is dripping off that “Rich Men North of Richmond” song.  Republicans are can-doers, typically, Democrats are can’t be dones, so they seek the power of government to do what they can’t do for themselves.  So, from the outset, the two sides aren’t even functioning from the same planet, and if we want peace, everyone must at least want to achieve the same things.  And what’s going on with the Oliver Anthony song and the people drawn to it is that it correctly identifies why people feel like victims.  But I would say they don’t need to be victims because they have everything in their power not to be.  The American Constitution limits government power so people don’t have to be victims.  The Rich Men North of Richmond became that way because there were too many people at the bar on Friday drinking too much when they should have been paying attention to what was happening in the world.  The rich, powerful men in Washington became that way, not because they were the best or brightest.  But because, they were the most unethical and willing to take advantage of people who were too lazy to manage their own lives.  So, singing about it or drinking about it doesn’t solve a thing.  And the sad thing about that song is that so many people can identify with it.  They can relate because the music does speak to them.  But in a healthy society, it shouldn’t.  The song’s existence as a work of art is great because it gives us some measure of culture.  But the reality of that culture is pretty pathetic and passive.  It’s not the kind of stuff that inspires greatness. 

I’ve expressed my comments about this song to several people who have instantly taken offense to my opinions, something about me not having compassion for the “down and out,” whatever that means.  For people who have known me for a long time, they know what I’ve been through in life.  It was never an easy road, and I have lost everything many times over.  But there has never been one day where I have not woken up to make that day better than the day before.  I know pain, deep pain.  It’s much worse pain than Oliver Anthony is singing about—life-crushing pain.  But I’ve never felt the way about it as he does, to cry about how unfair it is.  I’ve always been a turn-lemons-to-lemonade person, a positive thinker who can turn even the fires of hell into drinkable ice water.  I’d love more songs like that.  If there were, then we could say those are the ballads of the Republican Party.  But this “Rich Man North of Richmond” is just more people complaining about how unfair the world is without having the courage to do anything about it themselves.  And that’s what makes a great nation.  Not a bunch of crybabies.  But people who can deal with the pain and make something good happen.  I can’t identify with what Oliver Anthony is singing about because I’ve never felt that way.  Not because it’s been an easy life but because I’m not wired that way.  And rather than yield to those emotions, I would say not to cry, don’t drink your problems away on a Friday night listening to that song.  Instead of being sad, read a book, do something constructive, and continually work to improve yourself and the world around you.  And I think the result will be impressive and something you can feel good about.  Complaining does not help.  And Oliver Anthony’s song is all about complaining when everyone should be getting to work to make the world a better place, starting with themselves. 

Rich Hoffman

The Communism of LinkedIn: It’s a dating app for job seekers who desire the destruction of corporate America

I was never a big fan of LinkedIn, even before they banned my account over my book The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, which they thought was disparaging to their excellent relationship with China.  So, to answer the question I get at least 50 times a week, no, I am not on LinkedIn.  I was, for a while, out of some obligation I thought was part of the modern world.  But I had little value for it, so at the first dispute, we parted ways happily, which has provided me with just enough emotional distance to have an objective opinion about it.  LinkedIn has a very menacing presence in all actuality and is laced with communism in ways that an entire generation has not considered, and I find it despicable.  I view people with a job with a good company yet still maintain a LinkedIn profile as adulterous married people who always look at their dating apps with an eye on something better.  It is impossible to be in a committed relationship with a spouse while always looking out to see if there is someone better.  A job, like a good marriage, requires a commitment, and dating apps are a clear sign that one or both spouses are not committed to the relationship.  That is essentially what LinkedIn does; it is a dating app for job seekers.  And if someone has a good job and a good employer, well, they should be committed to that relationship, and they shouldn’t always be looking for a better job.  Some people out there, just like people who get divorced a lot, are always looking for the next best thing, and by jumping from job to job, they might find opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.  But that is my position on LinkedIn. It’s a dating app that shows a lack of commitment to an employer and that people who are on it all the time are one-foot-in, one-foot-out types of people who are not very valuable to an organization. 

Yet, there is something far worse with LinkedIn that indicates its Chinese roots, which it is well known for supporting.  The hidden message of LinkedIn is that people don’t matter and that leadership is embodied in the collective, not the individual.  LinkedIn goes against the gunfighter metaphor that I use often, the comparison of the lone gunfighter who steps into a saloon out of a heavy rain and orders whiskey at the bar with their back turned to the room.  The gunfighter knows that nobody will make a move because the room is full of parasites who want to use anybody they can meet to further their life in some way.  So the gunfighter doesn’t worry about some assassin that might try to shoot them in the back.  Such thoughts are Hollywood fantasy.  In real life, people are much more malicious and lazy.  They’ll use them before trying to kill someone for all they are worth.  Therefore, people of worth are precious in the world because most people fall well short.  Instead, most people reside in the crowd, happy to follow others, which is why the gunfighter knows they can order a whisky at the bar and enjoy it without concern for potential assassins.  Nothing in the world is more valuable than leadership, and leadership is not formed through networks and relationships.  It’s in understanding the motivations of other human beings and what they are willing to do to obtain value, then directing them toward some state of usefulness.  LinkedIn is an audience of people in the saloon looking at the gunfighter, measuring to see if something can be gained from a relationship.  When discussing networking, we are talking about building relationships in this fashion. 

Yet China, as a collectivist, communist society, does not strive to empower its individuals into greatness.  They look for compliance as their primary objective, so they have much trouble building their economy.  Without the outside influence of globalists from the World Economic Forum mentality, China would still be a poor country.  All their wealth has been stolen; it wasn’t generated through individual achievement, as in Western capitalist countries.  In many ways, the designers of Linkedin are well aware of this.  The hidden message of LinkedIn is that individuals do not matter, nor do other companies.  By filtering down individual achievement, the people on LinkedIn are not looking for the next Jack Welsh or President Trump in the world, who ran a very successful show on television about the values of business in The Apprentice.  They want a society of bootlickers who are not committed to corporate leadership and are ultimately easy to control from the centralized state.  By always being willing to jump from one job to another, nobody has deep roots of commitment to their employers, making them weak toward centralized control.  The LinkedIn audience is looking for compliant, noncommitted people to populate the workplaces of the world, and the effect is noticeable.  Professionally, there are a lot of non-committed people out there who show fragile leadership toward their organizations.  And that is by design.  LinkedIn tells the professional world that people don’t matter; they can all be traded like baseball cards and easily replaced.  So, puff yourself up to potential employers looking for just such a poison and destroy the concept of capitalism by destroying the notion of authentic leadership among the corporate community. 

You have to watch these tech firms and understand their overall philosophy for getting into business, to begin with.  Facebook was a dating app that tapped into the human need to be wanted and then exploited that desire with a sense of community or communism.  That same approach was introduced to Western cultures by attacking the concept of marriage with easy divorce.  If you were unhappy with your spouse, get a new one.  Don’t fight out the problems; go somewhere else, which has destroyed the concept of the American family or even a European family.  And in so doing, that gives the state more power over the individuals involved.  Rather than the family or the corporate culture having the strength and ability to resist such temptations.  The way to attack the concept of family was to make divorce more socially acceptable and too tempting whenever things got tough in a marriage.  LinkedIn has sought to do the same in corporate structure, making it easy for talent to leave at the first sign of trouble and keeping CEOs always turning toward the state for approval rather than providing leadership through the frequent storms of life.  In many ways, we see the essential conflict of our times: Do you follow the leadership of Yahweh, or do you seek the many gods of Canaan and sacrifice your firstborn children to appease them?  LinkedIn says to appease the gods, make whatever sacrifices you need to make, and surrender leadership to the state.  I say, be the gunfighter, follow after the individual Yahweh and the rebellion against collectivism that he represented, which formulated the foundations of all Western culture.  Be the leader, not a follower.  And don’t seek the arms of always some new opportunity. Instead, continuously make the best of what you have and fight for a better day.  And stay away from the communist desires of LinkedIn. 

Rich Hoffman

Decoupling from China: Global communism was always only a drug-induced teenage fantasy

It wasn’t that long ago that I told the story about my LinkedIn account, which I no longer have because of an interview about decoupling from China once I released my book, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business.  LinkedIn is a bunch of communist China-supporting advocates on the wrong side of history, so I don’t miss them at all, and that’s a topic all its own.  However, the fear of China taking over America is on many people’s minds, and I have assured people that such a possibility is unrealistic.  Even as much as the set-up goes back for many decades by domestic enemies in America who propped up China to become that device for a one-world government run by communism.  Now that people realize that was always the strategy, there is a lot of talk about decoupling the American economy from China.  And now that the cat is out of the bag, there are a lot of lost globalists out there who have no idea what to do next because their entire lives have been planned around this China model taking over the world and collapsing the American market.  People like Larry Fink and Ray Dalio have been moving a lot of money in that direction, and Wall Street has been betting on it for decades, significantly impacting people’s private 401K plans.  But I cover in my book how easy it is for America to defeat any enemy, or any individual can defeat global thugs like gunfighters defeated lots of nasty bad guys in a dusty street for personal preservation and the perpetuation of law and order for a thriving civilization to flourish.  As we speak, the China model is dying, propped up by phony economic numbers and corporations terrified the public will figure out what a lousy bet China has been for them.  So far, the media culture has prevented that knowledge from getting out, but reality is spectacularly showing itself. 

It all goes back to that dumb John Lenin song, “Imagine,” and the high school days of many of the characters causing so much communist trouble today.  It’s not hard to reflect on the young antics of Larry Fink way before BlackRock was created for him by the Federal Reserve looking to dump a bunch of phony money in the market to start a chain reaction toward a collapse and to prop up the China model of global communism.  These current billionaires, like Ray Dalio, smoke dope in the backseat of a car and listen to classic rock and roll songs in favor of communism and how dead America was, such as America Pie.  “They drove their Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry.”  Once they got out of college, many drunken binges later, they were ready to cheerlead America’s destruction while at the same time calling it “smart investments.”  But their minds were never right and always filled with ill intent from their ideological teenage days where their lifelong philosophies of destruction and American hating sentiment solidified as they learned to take off the bra of the next pimple-faced girl in their back seats masked by marijuana smoke.  I could even go back even further as to how those songs, teenage customs of rebellion, and what those young people learned in school were given to them directly by the KGB as their parents watched old westerns on television at home and couldn’t see the bad guys riding into town.  They were looking for people on a black horse in a black hat.  Not a bunch of communists hidden behind popular culture dressed like the Beatles. 

None of this happened quickly, but it is coming apart very fast.  Now that the globalists are in prime time and have been caught on COVID-19 and many other horrendous enterprises, the world economy has been turning away from tyranny for several years, and that decoupling effort is well underway.  And I would offer that trust in China as a global partner is never coming back.  All the corporations that have invested in this merger with globalism are left at the altar as the timid Chinese are losing power by the day.  Their entire strategy depended on secrecy and intimidation, and that has not been the American public’s reaction, suddenly all too aware of the threat.  President Trump certainly wasn’t the cause; he was the effect of this awareness.  And after his previous term, the mask of China has been ripped off, and all those previous business efforts are failing.  Doing business with China has a stigma that was never there previously, and they will never be able to repair that impression now that people have it.  China and the global communists who have infiltrated American politics never had a plan B.  And as scary as it is to hear that China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil are all moving away from a dollar-controlled currency, the sentiment in America, where most of the world’s productivity is centered, is to pull back and internalize, not to partner with hostile communist countries leaving them very vulnerable as a result.  That is why decoupling from China is something most Americans now want to do, meaning all those investments toward China becoming the next dominating centralized government are disintegrating in front of their faces.  So many American billionaires have spent money in that direction, yet the scam is coming apart rapidly.

It won’t happen overnight, but the trend will be anti-China for many future decades until the communist government there, and in other places, is defeated.  Not just cosmetically but economically.  China has difficulty concealing that information from the world, and their state-controlled media has helped them.  But the writing is literally on the wall, so all these corporate alliances where globalism controlled by China was utilized are already considered busted investments.   And if you lose a lot of money because of it, don’t say you weren’t warned.  I warned everyone for several decades now, and just because the Chinese-loving LinkedIn people have essentially employed a strategy of “keep away,” the reality was eventually going to catch up to them.  The teenage fantasies that many of these modern-day losers have been trying to fulfill were never originally ideas built on the hopes and dreams of human ambition but on the backs of the compromised, drunken fools and overly sexed counter-culture druggies who bought the KGB message hook line and sinker only to find themselves dinner of the globalist communist effort.  And they have been slow cooking for several decades now, thinking they were the ones doing the cooking.  But actually, they were the ones being cooked, and now it’s time to eat.  And Americans, those who haven’t become domestic enemies in support of global communism, are the ones at the table with hungry stomachs.   And corporate America, which has fallen for this scam, is on the wrong side of history.  None of what happens next is what anybody thought would happen.  Of course, I’ve been saying it, and those who listened will prosper greatly.  But most didn’t, and the tough times will be their own.  They were warned but didn’t listen because they thought all that rebellious music and drug use they did as teenagers was the wave of the future, instead of the communist propaganda that it was all along. 

Rich Hoffman

The Vivek Ramaswamy I Know: He’s a good guy who wants to help save America for all the right reasons

It’s tough to be a front-runner, which is where Vivek Ramaswamy finds himself among the second-place contenders for President of the United States. As much as I like Vivek, I’m a Trump guy, and from the beginning, it has always been for me Trump, Trump, and more Trump when it comes to the White House. It’s Trump, or something much harsher, that does not consider civility. Trump was treated wrong during his first four years and has been treated wrong since he left office. And to set things right in America, Trump must be back in the White House. So, I have not covered Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign because he has been running against Trump. However, now that the smoke is starting to clear, and Vivek has shown that he’s never betrayed Trump and has adopted a very MAGA platform in the running for president, there are some things that we can talk about that have come up regarding his character. Now that the world has come to know Vivek Ramaswamy, there are concerns that he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the picked insurgent from Wall Street. After all, he is worth nearly a billion dollars, so he doesn’t exactly fit the profile of “one of us.” But then again, Trump is a billionaire, and as I’ve said many times, the Trump of the 80s and 90s is not the kind of person I would have voted for President. And Vivek is still a very young person, not yet 40. But now that he has overcome DeSantis in most polling, and everyone else, all the presidential candidates likely running to be vice president, Vivek is getting more negative media attention, which requires some clarity.

Before there was a book there was a bright young man who wanted to do something good.

I don’t think Vivek Ramaswamy is anything but sincere in his efforts to run for president and have a political future to continue something good that Trump has started. I know Vivek to a degree and have met him several times. He’s from my area of Cincinnati, so our paths have crossed a lot. I remember very well when he launched his political career at the Middletown Republican Party headquarters, talking about a book he was about to release called Woke Inc, which has gone on to bring great awareness to the dangers of corporate Marxism run by people like Larry Fink from the World Economic Forum. Vivek is a person of magnificent intelligence, and I would look to him as the next great economic advisor in the Trump administration. Vivek Ramaswamy has started Strive Management as an offering to take on the prominent money managers in BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, operating out of Columbus, Ohio, instead of Wall Street, New York. Strive Management, I think, is the solution to the monster that the Federal Reserve has created. So, Vivek Ramaswamy isn’t just some dreamy Republican looking for attention. His heart is undoubtedly in the right place, and I can say that because of my interactions with him. Vivek came to an event that I was a part of organizing, and as he explained to me, it was there at that point in his life that he began to see the other side of things, and it inspired him to step away from being a CEO of biotech companies and instead do his part to save America. So, just because people are wealthy and successful, it doesn’t mean they have sold their souls away and are useless for the rest of their lives. People are always on a journey; they seldom stay the same throughout their lives. They evolve as they learn, and Vivek is still a young man and learning who he is.

I like Vivek quite a lot

Vivek Ramaswamy is a great talent, and I am not surprised he’s getting much serious attention as a presidential candidate.  I hope he is in that kind of position for many years.  As much as I support President Trump, it is time to start thinking about 2028 and beyond.  And I believe Vivek Ramaswamy is there to continue a MAGA platform that can help correct America’s severe problem with international finance, where America’s real problems start.  It’s not some faraway country that is the next military threat to American interests; it’s the local bank and the money manager of our 401K plans, and few people in the world understand that better than Vivek Ramaswamy.  And that will be just as much of a problem four years from now as it is currently.  So, I am very supportive of Vivek Ramaswamy, and I want him to succeed in this presidential venture so that he continues to offer his talents to politics to carry a MAGA platform well into the future.  And I have enough personal information about him by knowing him and talking to him to give my opinion on his motives in all this.  I think he’s a young person who has had great success and realized it wasn’t enough.  He has a gift for communication and wants to use it to save a country he loves.  I know the event that he told me about helped shape that moment for him in stepping away from being a wealthy CEO and becoming a political figure that could extend the Trump platform for the Republican Party well into the future.  With a wink and a nod, I would say to everyone, that’s why we have events like the one I’m alluding to.  Because you never know how many Vivek Ramaswamys are out there asking questions about their lives and looking for something meaningful to do next. 

I think Kari Lake is the leading vice-presidential candidate. But for many reasons, I believe Vivek Ramaswamy would be better. The more he talks, the better things get, and as a political party of Republicans, we want Vivek to speak as much as possible. I would love to have four years of Vivek as a vice president, getting on-the-job training for eight solid years as a president. The Vivek I know is a guy who made it big, and it wasn’t enough. Like Trump, he has independent wealth and wants to use his skills to help his country. His political activity has nothing to do with a desire to be near corruption and be recognized as necessary. He already is. But due to his financial independence, like Trump, he is turning to politics to give something back that few people in the world ever get. So, I think Vivek is running for president, not as a controlled asset of Wall Street. But as a person who has stepped over from the dark side of finance and can help fix a very broken problem with his unique skills. I don’t think Vivek ever meant to be on the dark side; he left college and stepped into the world to be successful for all the right reasons, the way society measures it. But these days, he’s more than that; he has grown. And that is why he’s running for office, and he should be a positive contributor to positive political efforts for many years. There are good guys out there, even in the world of politics. Trump came to this good guy desire late in life. And when it comes to Vivek Ramaswamy, it has come early, and perhaps just in time to help save the world.

Warriors and sell-outs, they are not the same.

Rich Hoffman

The Company of Tomorrow: Political trends are shifting away from the World Economic Forum values, and that’s a great thing

Everyone is always looking for the next great business tip for a competitive advantage, so here it is.  You can tell because of trends like what is going on with the Washington Redskins NFL team and the Cleveland Indians.  The fans of those teams are getting petitions signed to restore their names to what they were pre-woke.  The momentum of wokeness has shifted, and we see the political pendulum swinging the other way.  The Marxists had their chance, which didn’t have a positive impact that society could see for themselves.  The Beatles song “Imagine” didn’t come out very well when the World Economic Forum was starting mass viruses for their Great Reset and turning the responsibility of enforcement over to your local human resource office to do through businesses what nobody would ever be able to do through government regulation.  The Marxists of the world figured out that by design, our political systems in America were established to go slow to keep the government from interrupting the machine of capitalism.  So, they turned their attention to businesses to attack them there, and what we have seen happening in business climates over the last several decades has been Marxism, and people didn’t notice until recently.  Because most people have an adversarial relationship with their employers, it wasn’t something people saw coming in the front door.  But now that it’s here, they want it gone.  And that is the future state of business.  I’ve seen this communist, Marxist approach in the industry for a long time, growing year by year, and finally, after Trump was removed from office after a government-organized coup, no different from the many communist revolutions around the world, people finally have had enough of it, and that trend began to go the other way after the last Covid vaccine mandates. 

Just as professional sports teams were tricked into changing their names into woke acceptance, this is not what society wants.  They want cool names for their sports teams, not the Guardians, but the Indians in Cleveland.  I was just in Cleveland, and that name change a few years into it is still a joke, and it’s not getting better.  I have had some interactions with members of the family of that team, and their woke acceptance has not gone over well.  People are turning on them for allowing woke politics into their sacred sports franchise.  And that is certainly the case with the Washington Football team in D.C.  People want their Redskins back.  This anti-capitalist approach to life is not what people want in the world.  They have been patient with corporations that became politically active toward Marxism, some of America’s largest corporations.  When we talk about globalism, we are essentially talking about Marxism because that is how it is everywhere else.  Americans have taken the advantages of capitalism for granted because they didn’t know any better.  And they assumed that the companies they worked for had at least primary American values.  But that’s not how most corporations are these days; they have drifted into this Marxist compliance because if they had manufacturing plants in China, Vietnam, or Europe, they were dealing with some level of Marxism, whether it was outright communism or socialism.  It was not free market capitalism that was the driver of their economies.  It was the slow-moving and lazy administrative state, and it was slowing things down to levels that have been unacceptable in America.  I’m old enough to know what it was like before, and I have watched over several decades of being on the front line how Marxism has migrated into the human resource departments to influence how people live their everyday lives.  But the final straw happened during Covid and the slow realization that most people have from President Trump being in the White House, then Joe Biden.  Bidenomics has not been good for anybody but the global Marxists. 

I have often pointed out, over a long period, how the Lean Manufacturing trend was filled with cultural Marxism.  Many of the central foundations of business ethics these days attack the notion of the golf-playing CEO with a nice car, a trophy wife, and is oozing with success.  In Lean Manufacturing, they want the members of management to come from their offices out to where the work is done, not just to become more effective in understanding a problem.  That is how it sold to them.  But it’s really to minimize management in the eyes of the employees, to establish a level of sameness among everyone that displays nobody is in charge but the centralized employees.  Not even the marketplace.  Compliance with regulators as they get their talking points from the World Economic Forum has been their weapon of choice and has been a slow burn.  The CEOs and CFOs who have survived the most were those bootlicker types who appeased the bureaucratic regulators and were not focused on giving the public what they wanted—but imposing on the public Marxist restrictions not just in the employer but in the marketplace itself.  Rather than march people into Washington D.C. at gunpoint as Castro did in Cuba and kill political rivals off point blank, the Marxists took a much more passive-aggressive route.  They regulated capitalists out of existence.  But the marketplace is catching on and is pushing back.  Because of Trump’s successful administration, people tasted the good life again and want it back.  So, the political sentiment is swinging the other way. 

The World Economic Forum is failing; many of their 2030 plans, as scary as they are for their intent, are falling apart, much the way the name changes in sports are getting so much public pushback.  I do get to talk to people worldwide for perspective, and the sentiment is pretty much everywhere the same.  They are upset with Marxism and don’t want it in their products or the companies that make them.  And they certainly don’t want it in their sports teams.  People were willing to put up with it as long as they had the illusion of capitalism functioning in the background.  But now that they know differently, they want their capitalism back, so the future of business will go to those companies who most embrace capitalism for the majority of market share in the future.  Further woke trends from the human resource departments, such as paperless paychecks into bank accounts that centralized bankers can completely control, are not tomorrow’s trend.  But quite the opposite.  Ownership was diminished by the Marxists, including how pay was distributed or whether or not your employer could force you to get a vaccine of poison to keep your job.  The Marxists got caught talking out of both sides of their mouth; while they were saying work from home, fair pay for fair work, and make sure you get an excellent ESG score, the radical leftist Larry Fink and the Wall Street insurgents were saying, if you value your job, you’ll get the government medicine from the world’s largest drug dealer, the federal government.  People were willing to listen before and in the years leading up to these ridiculous sentiments of globalism on American corporations.  But now they aren’t, and success will be measured differently.  The less compliant with Marxist measures globally, the better companies will be.  And that is tomorrow’s trend for those who want to get a jump start.  Capitalism works not just because it makes money for those who utilize it.  But also, it’s a measure of morality that the public can influence, which was always at the heart of all economic activity and always will be.

Rich Hoffman

How to Make a Good Team in Sports and Politics: The point of everything is to give voters options

It will continue to be one of the universe’s great mysteries why people can look at sports teams and have opinions about what they should be doing, but they can’t apply those same methods to their lives.  This is a prominent issue every year in pre-season football with the mini camps as teams figure out which players they will cut and which will make their final roster.  Good teams figure out the right players and get them all pointed in the right direction for the success or failure of a season.  If the players are allowed to pick their fellow players, teams tend not to do so well.  It takes good leadership to figure it out and put people together who likely wouldn’t figure it out for themselves.  Good teams tend to have players playing together who wouldn’t otherwise be friends.  One of the mysterious qualities of leadership is to see things of value beyond the choice of friendships, and when it comes to sports, most people get it.  They understand what makes success and have many opinions about it.  But they can’t do it when it comes time to utilize those same skills in their lives.  That is certainly the situation in business.  And it is undoubtedly the case in politics.  The goal of all these endeavors is to figure out what success looks like, whether it be winning a Super Bowl, having a great business quarter, or providing a great political party to the voting public; once success is understood, then leadership needs to do what it must to give that result.  It’s not complicated.  Yet, it remains one of the least utilized factors in human interaction. 

There is only one correct measure to winning in politics; it is in a political party providing the voting public with good people they can vote for.  Any other action is missing the point.  If a political party is not focused on those attributes, then they aren’t trying to be a good political party.  I would say this is a problem all over America, in every aspect of county politics, no matter where we talk about it.  And that is certainly the case with the Butler County Republican Party in Ohio, where I live.  I can say that I know many people at that party, and I personally liked them all in some way or another.  If you sit down and talk to people, I can usually find something I like about just about anybody.  But the problem is, do they make an excellent political party just because you want them?  And in most cases, that is not the reality.  Politics should only aim to provide voters and taxpayers with good people to represent them best.  When political parties lose sight of that strategy, things go wrong.  And that is how RINOs in the Republican Party come to be.  Most people get into politics for ideological reasons.  However, the concessions they make to get along with other people become detrimental to their representation of the voter base, which is the value of the party brand.  If people have good representation in politics, then the brand of the party could be said to be good.  If voters don’t, they start to lose faith in the system, voter engagement lowers, and the direction of victory in politics changes dramatically.  When voters feel that the people they elect don’t represent them, we could say that politics has failed.

It’s just like the comparison with the sports team that desires to put a winning team on the field so people come to the games and feel good about the chances for a victory, so they buy beer and overpriced hot dogs at the concessions, which is really how the team makes their money, how they measure their value to the customer base.  If the team isn’t winning, there are fewer fans to buy hot dogs, to put it simply.  The same holds in politics.  I know many people who want to run for office within the Butler County Republican Party.  But, they do not feel they can remain people of integrity because of the restrictions of party politics.  So, we end up with the wrong people running for office while much better candidates that the public would love to have representing them are sitting on the sidelines.  This is a case where the players on the field pick people they like and are comfortable with, not the leadership of the voting public deciding how that team would shape out.  Too often, and this year of 2023 is undoubtedly a good example, many good people are not participating in the political process because they have learned that they aren’t in the cool kids club and will never be invited.  Because the party is picking the members, not the voters.  And instead of letting the voters shape the party, the players are forming the team; then they wonder why many fans are not supporting their losing effort.

Not everyone gets into politics for the same reasons.  I understand that some feel that getting into politics protects their business interests from a corrosive government and provides a barrier to their efforts to keep their businesses healthy.  These are not ideological people but practical ones who see government as dangerous to their interests in business, so they get involved in politics to protect their efforts.  And those people are trying to play nice in the sandbox with ideologically based people who enter politics for reasons of genuine philosophy.  And those kinds of people are scary to those looking for political stability.  I get it.  Just like a wide receiver on a football team being upset that a new tight end is playing the slot receiver role, the wide receiver might feel like the coaching staff is trampling on their turf.  But so what? Maybe that is the best way to become a winning team.  That doesn’t mean that the tight end should be run off the team to make the wide receiver feel like they have job security and aren’t threatened by challengers.  Challenges make the team better.  But then better for whom?  For the players or the fans?  That is what must be decided, and what I have seen from the GOP in general, especially since Trump has been out of office, is a party for the players, not for the voters.  It’s the players making the teams they want to play with.  They are not trying to give the voting public the best representatives they can get.  And if a political party isn’t doing that, they aren’t trying to be the best they can be for their communities.  While such a concept may not be complicated, it remains the biggest stumbling block to any successful venture within human endeavor.   And that is certainly the case in politics.  Some great people want to participate, but they have been told in so many words or less that politics is about maintaining friendships and that everyone needs to stay in their lane and behave.  But that is not what voters want, and until political parties listen, the public will continue to be let down by the result.

Rich Hoffman

The West Chester Tea Party Does Not Endorse Lynda O’Conner for the Lakota School Board: And neither do I

For clarity, the West Chester Tea Party has not, and will not endorse Lynda O’Conner for the Lakota School Board.  There has been some rattling around from several people that they would, but they have told me personally that those rumors were untrue and they do not support her.  And neither do I.  We all have long friendships with Lynda and other candidates who these days call themselves Republicans but have drifted way to the political left.  But friendships or past relationships don’t make a good candidate.  Whether or not they represent our values to earn a vote is the issue at hand.  Too often, endorsements are given out because of friendships, not actual performance.  Lynda O’Conner has been the school board president for a while now, and she has attended Tea Party meetings in West Chester for over a decade and has formed relationships with many of us over the years.  However, based on her performance and what she did to Darbi Boddy as she begged us all to give her a conservative school board, the moment she had it, she essentially turned into the progressive governor that Ohio had, John Kasich, and betrayed us openly, even recklessly.  I tend to move on when I experience people like that.  I’ll give them a chance once, and once they show who they are, I don’t get too kinked up about it.  It’s always worth a try to give someone a chance.  Then, once they show who they are, you make decisions and move on.  Knowing she has betrayed many people in the Liberty movement within the Lakota school district and is running again, she is seeking endorsements for the upcoming election.  I had some reason to believe the rumors that the West Chester Tea Party might endorse Lynda, but quickly, they set the record straight and wanted to make sure they screamed from the mountaintops that they would not support Lynda O’Connor for the Lakota School Board and based on what they have learned about her, they never would. 

I wouldn’t usually talk about something that happened that was confidential, but looking back on it as I have, those privileges are meant within the context of friendly trust.  Yet after what happened with the previous Lakota school superintendent and the behavior against free speech that Lynda led against the incoming school board member Darbi Boddy, it’s clear what was going on, and I’m still insulted that she thought so little of me to try it.  I mean, she should have known better.  I spent hours and hours with Lynda O’Conner on the phone, meeting her in person, trying to help her.  But from her side, all she was doing was consensus-building in the classic sense against someone she had targeted as a political rival in the community.  And that didn’t become clear until the days after a specific meeting in the basement of some of our mutual Tea Party friends in May of 2022.  I should know what she was up to because I have covered these modern versions of The Delphi Technique for years.  It’s one of the most corrosive tools used in all public schools.  After a contentious school board meeting where I spoke in favor of Darbi Boddy, it was clear Lynda was trying to run her off the school board over minor issues.  Lynda had recruited Darbi to give her a majority on the board, along with Isaac Adi, and I did what I could to smooth out the edges and give credibility from the freedom movement side of things.  If I were on board with the effort, it would help the conservative base. 

I didn’t see a need to be overly cautious with this relationship with Lynda.  She had just spent the previous decade trying to win my trust, so I figured getting a functional, conservative school board in charge of Lakota schools was worth a shot.  Even that day I met with her and several other people, it became pretty clear what she was doing; I still wanted to give the effort a chance at working.  But she was looking for compliance out of Darbi Boddy to some liberal view of authority that was shocking to many of us, especially the West Chester Tea Party.  We all found ourselves in the basement of one of the leading members, with Isaac Adi and some school board mentor of his from Monroe schools pushing a sheet of paper in front of me, asking me what I wanted out of Lakota schools, which made me angry because of the amateur effort.  It was an apparent consensus-building exercise, much like the Lakota community conversations had been trying to win over opposition to school policy for a while.  And Lynda sat across from me with a smile, thinking all this was acceptable.  She had surrounded me with people I had trusted, especially in the Tea Party, and she felt that the peer pressure might win me over and away from the continued support of Darbi Boddy.  After all the years and everything I had written over all the time we had known each other, she thought I was that stupid. 

The meeting didn’t go well.  My wife and I left that day, never to speak to any of them personally again, because, within a few months, we had all the drama over the school superintendent.  Everything got worse after much further erosion in the community led by Lynda’s tampering with everyone’s political sentiments and wanting to pull everyone to the left, and lawsuits became a significant issue.  I had to explain to the attorney for the superintendent that if he had just apologized to Darbi Boddy for his role in trying to do what Lynda wanted, which was to remove her from the school board after many of us had spent the previous year trying to get her elected, then a lot of the trouble he found himself in wouldn’t have been such an issue.  But now that people knew and learned how much Lynda knew about it all along, those were self-inflicted problems that ultimately cost a lot of money in the district.  Through it all, I hadn’t talked to any of them in that basement meeting, so when I heard that the West Chester Tea Party was thinking of endorsing Lynda, it wouldn’t have surprised me after all the other people who had fallen off the wagon over the last year.  But if there is anything good that did happen, as a result, they did let me know that they felt the same way about Lynda as I did and that they would not support her or any of the other candidates who have gone over to the dark side of politics.  That’s certainly the case with Ann Becker, who is running for another term as trustee in West Chester.  She used to be president of the Tea Party for both West Chester and Cincinnati, but she has moved well away from those good old days now, more toward the political left.  Watching that kind of thing is painful, but it always happens.  And when it does, you always must wonder what people believe.  But happily, it is good to see that the West Chester Tea Party has not waivered, as others have, and they will not be endorsing Lynda O’Conner for the Lakota School Board.  And neither will I.

Rich Hoffman