Tag: Ted Strickland

Mara Jade in Disney’s ‘Rebels’: Advice for Ted Stevenot

Yes John Kasich will be challenged for the Ohio governor seat, yes Obamacare will face many challenges in 2014, yes the Senate is up for grabs, yes there are major rifts in the Republican Party, and yes public education is guilty of training the mass of society into collectivism. However those are things that were set in motion many years ago—and were covered here at Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom pointing to this grand fortissimo of cultural events—but these are just the beginning notes of that movement and the next portion of that symphony will not come from politics but art.  Politics does not drive culture it reacts to it.  Art however does drive culture and when I cover artistic efforts with superior footing to political ones, this is the reason why.  Personally it is for this reason that I am so excited about the new Disney program coming up in the fall on their XD channel called Star Wars: Rebels.  Listen to the executive producer Simeon Kinsberg discuss his motivations for the show intended for children—but extremely relevant to adults.

As stated previously, mythology in the rock, paper, scissors game of world culture beats politics or popular fashion because it is the foundation of those beliefs.  In not just America, but throughout the world are an entire generation of disgruntled young people who have watched previous generations of adults rob them of their future with massive debt, wrecked health care, educational opportunities that have not manifested into profit, and a lifestyle less vigorous than that of their parents.  For them, and their children, the new Star Wars dynasty beginning with Rebels will permeate deep into their consciousness and my point of bringing it up is so that the kind of people who read here regularly can take note and act upon it.

There are two better than rumored female characters in the upcoming Rebels which will resound powerfully through the myths of our society which will carry well beyond common cartoon shows.  Ahsoka Tano will be back after her departure from the Clone Wars and perform her duties as a Rebel Pilot in the fledgling young Rebellion.  And more notable will be Mara Jade who will be a young girl serving as the Emperor’s Hand as the Empire rises to power. 

Mara in the future of the Star Wars saga was the wife of Luke Skywalker, was killed by Han and Leia Solo’s son Jacen, and gave birth to a son named Ben who will reportedly be in the new films by Disney in 2015.  It was also Mara who trained Jaina Solo to be a Jedi Knight who and will be the star of the new film series as the Sword of the Jedi.  Mara plays a significant roll in the overall mythology and will be present in the upcoming Rebels which will cover her origin story.

Lucasfilm is not a political company.  Most of their employees probably voted for Obama over Romney—but they are deeply philosophical.  They have at their disposal at Skywalker Ranch a treasure trove of books from around the world to expand the Star Wars mythology which centers on the struggle of individuals over statist control from dictators.  That premise to a story makes Star Wars important in that the story helps people see how those tyrannical forces come into their lives in various forms.  I have no doubt that Rebels will do this for millions of young people and millions of people who are over 30—and will grudgingly admit that they will be watching the new television show.  Once human beings learn to identify where troubles begin in their lives through mythology they will desire to take actions against those troubles.  For many, my friend Doc Thompson at The Blaze will offer an alternative to the statist offerings they currently have in the media.  I often refer to The Blaze as “Rebel” radio.  Glenn Beck is preaching in the real world much what Mon Mothma and Bail Organa will preach in the upcoming Disney show, Rebels.  The producer has said that one of his primary inspirations is the American Revolution and this will take minds to that real life rebellion as they learn to see the same signs.  Rebels as a work of art and fiction will provide a palette of context to the real life struggles we are all dealing with from all political fronts.

As I look through the history of such endeavors I can think of no time in entertainment history where this kind of high-profile television show offered this kind of content.  What comes to mind are the old Disney shows like Johnny Tremain and Davy Crockett.  But those were shows dealing with the past, Star Wars is both the past and the future and has more power because of it.  Star Wars has the power to communicate values to several generations as very high quality family entertainment that will get discussions started.  If our present society is lacking value because the art we live by has focused on exposed female breasts, silly adolescent jokes, and other forms of didactic pornography, our culture mirrors those aspects presently.  Lucasfilm owned by Disney is about to present a show to the world through a simple cartoon which will be beaming with value—value that people will gobble up like parched desert travelers deprived three days of water.

I speak to people at all levels in the gaming community, and I speak to people at all levels of politics—and I’m declaring that the former is more powerful than the later.  There is a pent-up energy looking for release.  Companies like Disney can take that pent-up energy and convert it to dollars through merchandise sales—which helps expand the overall mythology.  But what is more interesting is why the merchandise sells—why there is an excitement for the new Star Wars: Rebels action figures that will be sold at Target and Wal-Mart.  The reason why grown adults are already saving their money to add these little trinkets to their already vast Star Wars collection is because the overall story speaks to them about things that are otherwise beyond their control.  These people typically don’t vote, or might otherwise call themselves political independents.  But they can be motivated to do so if the message taps in to their already curious minds.

Rand Paul………….are you listening?  Ted Stevenot, President of the Ohio Liberty Coalition and challenger to John Kasich, are you seeing the wave that I’m pointing at?  There is a wave deep at sea that nobody sees coming ashore yet, but when it arrives a skilled surfer can ride that wave with careful timing.  I’m pointing to that timing.  Culture drives that timing—entertainment drives culture.  Lucasfilm is providing a valuable entertainment that will not only provide values to a new generation—politically neutral values—but resolutely values against statism.  With those values voters will be looking for someone in politics who beholds similar values.  Take note, and act upon them—and good things will happen.  It doesn’t mean that candidates need to start quoting Star Wars lines on the campaign trail, but that they need to take note of why Star Wars is so popular, why people want to spend so much money on it, and to utilize those methods in reality as politicians.  They should strive to be politicians like Mon Mothma and Bail Organa and not like Governor Tarkin, and Emperor Palpatine.  The reason Star Wars is so popular is because such characters do not exist in real life—and people wish they did.

A failure to be heroic, bold, or project the values of a political rebel will lead to more of the kind of dysfunction that we’ve had—and nobody wants that.  Don’t look at what politicians have been doing for centuries—look at what entertainment is doing and tap into the same reasons that people a year in advance are willing to plop down $10 bucks on a new Rebels Star Wars action figure.  Once those two things are aligned, our society will benefit greatly in a new direction that will be a lot different from our current system.

Meanwhile, I am very much looking forward to watching the back story of Mara Jade in the new Star Wars: Rebels television program on Disney XD.  And I’m even more looking forward to Ted Stevenot challenging Governor Kasich in the upcoming primary for Ohio governor.  Both are rebels, one is fictional, one is from the actual world, but both speak to the heart of an ideal that is deep in the human consciousness—bold changes are necessary when tyranny is afoot—and when those times occur, it is time for “rebels” to throw off the old and make way for the new.

Rich Hoffman

 www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com  


The Lakota School Levy and the Infamy of Bad Decisions.

I have said a lot about education, and the danger of institutional behavior.  But this is not intended to further analyze that issue.  This is to cover the Lakota School Levy which is on its second attempt in 6 months and promises to be a particularly bloody fight this time around. 

So let me set the stage:

The teachers have just agreed to a pay freeze under a union contract that took months to arrive at.  The districts developers are looking at a tanked economy where many, many properties are left without tenants to support the tax requirements.  The public in general are also feeling the heat of the recession, which after the smoke clears in historical context, is probably a legitimate depression, and many are barely hanging on to their homes as they are victims of the housing bubble.  Lakota has been around a while, so there are a large number of senior citizens in the district that are on fixed incomes and without children in the district, and their charity is strained to a breaking point.  There is a governor in Strickland that is a big government guy, who is tight with labor unions as his base support, and is very close to the president of the United States, who shares much in common with Ohio’s governor.  To both men, Ohio is a battle ground state where much is at stake politically and the nation is watching closely.  And in that context, Lakota is the 7th largest school system in the state.  It is Ohio’s largest “Excellent” district nine years running with distinction two years in a row. 

I contemplated this heavily while practicing in my back yard.

And it really is that simple if you take the emotion away.

The opponents of the levy have joined together, with myself being in that category.  We’re against it for all different reasons.  Mine are that I see the school system displaying the same types of problems we have in government, where accountability is hard to come by, and everything is fixed by spending more money.  And the school government is so big; it’s folding over its own weight financially.         

The Pro Levy people are typically residents that have children in the school system, and many of them moved to the district because of the schools.  And they are threatening to move if the levy fails to a district that supports levies.  The rest of the supporters are employees of the school system in some way and of course they are concerned about the passage of the levy for their own financial stability. 

I listen to the values of the school system and the things they are proud of, like a 90% college attendance rate, a graduation rate of 94.7%.  A student attendance rate of 96.5%.  During 2009-2010 there were 11 National Merit Semi-Finalists.  There was 1 Presidential Scholar in 2008.  They operate at a spending rate per pupil of $9,503 while the State average is $10,253, so on paper, everything sounds profitable. 

But to my thinking, all those statistics are a smoke screen.  All the attendance stats are to the credit of the parents, who obviously care enough about their children to buy a home in a great school district, so naturally, those kids will go to college, attendance will be great, and there will be national honors in a group that has parents that takes education seriously.  And while it is commendable that the school district does operate under the average, it does not question whether or not $9,000 per child actually translates to true excellence.  It doesn’t take much to poke holes in the aspects of their public service that they take pride in; because most of the merit is simply items they are taking credit for.  In fact, I think it is cowardly, to ride on the back of exceptional students, and caring parents, in order to secure funding for an institutional giant that serves as a catalyst for a powerful union. 

That is the beginning of the problem.  Over the years, the Lakota Education Association has grown in power and influence, and this of course leads to the overall problem of political backing of the National Teachers Union which is an organization that I don’t wish to endorse, because the money given to this organization often goes to political agenda’s that I do not support.  Judy Buschle, who just recently announced she was stepping down as the LEA President, has served as the Ohio Education Association board of directors and the National Education Association Resolutions Committee and is a particularly powerful influence locally, and has successfully negotiated many contracts with a bewildered Lakota board of education committee and lap dog superintendants obviously intimidated by the power of the LEA.  In fact, Buschle has been so successful, that the average wage for a teacher at Lakota is $59,000 without any further benefits considered.  And I make that assessment by attending a school board meeting.   I did so after the last levy failure to see if my opinion of the whole situation had been wrong.  I left that June meeting utterly disgusted.  The board was completely outmatched by the union presence.  Don’t believe me, watch the tape.  They film it and have it available for you to judge.  The union people including Mrs. Buschle sat right behind me and were absolutely disrespectful during the meeting.  It was so bad that a parent took the podium and shouted down the union people, blaming them for the anger from the community as to why the levy failed in May.  I left that meeting realizing that everyone in the administration was over their head with the size of the problems they were trying to solve, and the union controlled everything.  So there wasn’t anything they could tell me that would earn my vote until they made serious changes to their leadership structure and outside influence.   

If you’re like me, a person that loves traditional American values, small government, and is suspicious of institutional influence, it is not an option to indirectly supply money to an organization that will then support a governor like Ted Strickland, or a President like Obama.  Even if I did want to give money to the school, because I don’t want my money indirectly converted to union support for a politician that will then in turn come after the way of life that I personally value.  The presence of the powerful union creates a barrier between a person like me, and the school system that I value because I disagree with the philosophy of that union and the politics they represent.  They certainly have a right to exist, but not from the funding of my tax dollars.    

The indirect nature of course comes from the union dues of the teachers, which are paid with our tax dollars.  And because their contracts make them very secure, and keep the highest paid workers the longest, letting go of the teachers with less tenure when they must, those union dues are then funneled to political activity.  Not the kids.  Nothing against Mrs. Buschle, but my political affiliation is much different than her’s, and I don’t wish to support her activity with my money.  So for me, that is the number one reason for not voting for the levy.  No matter how many presentations they present to plead to the public, they still have a costly union that stands between the school system and the public.  As long as that exists, it prevents my full support in a school system.

This isn’t new for me.  I’ve been against union activity for many, many years.  I worked for one once, and it was very contentious and filled with many stories that will be told around water coolers for years.  Many of those stories involve conflict.  I have no tolerance for thug like behavior that comes from pack mentality that often comes out in strikes and threatened union stewards.  I personally blame that type of organization for making America less competitive and responding slowly to changing economic conditions which have resulted in exporting jobs to China, and India.  And such an organization even locally migrates influence up the ladder to large global affiliations that conduct political movement that by-passes our ability to vote.  I can see a time when unions did some good, but as they’ve evolved, they just kept growing to where they became as bad as the companies they originally sought to protect people from.    

But many dissenters to the levy are voting strictly on cost.  They may have been generous in the past, but can no longer say yes because now they are hanging on in a tough economy.  And while many would love to pay the levy, they simply can’t because the taxes are just too high.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a business, or a residential property, the taxes have reached a place where too much is just too much. 

In response the school system is doing the predictable thing; they are making threats, by passing out on the first day of school literature for kids to send home to their parents lobbying for the levy.  Such literature professes that the school system will have to cut an additional $12 million to the $13 million that have been made already.  There will be increases in class size, cuts to two thirds of the athletic budget including elimination of junior high athletics, the termination of 130+ additional teachers and staff, and many other issues.  Superintendent Mike Taylor made the comment that people can’t expect to see the same good school system if all these cuts are made. 

The reality is that the State and Lakota are pointing to one another.  The state needs Lakota and its success.  And Lakota blames the state for unfunded mandates as a rationale for funding.  And they count on the naïveté of the public to not look closely at the shell game.  The confusion has essentially created a revenue stream that is very lucrative to those who work in education.  And because of the union contract, most of the district’s funding is locked up.  So they can only be minimally efficient. 

Stories like we’ve heard of Butler Country Auditor Roger Reynolds who just refunded $502,186 back to the community, won’t happen in Lakota.  In fact, Lakota is getting back $120,600 from Roger’s office.  Roger achieved this savings by reducing overhead and administrative costs by 35% or otherwise $2.1 million since he took office in 2008.  When Lakota cuts, they say we are losing services.  When Roger does it, he is giving money back to the community.  That’s the philosophic difference.  The cuts Mr. Reynolds did were true, efficient cuts and quite extraordinary taking into account that the size of the Auditor’s office doesn’t come close to the enormous size of the Lakota school system.  The cuts Lakota did are cosmetic cuts that should have been done all along. 

For my support, Lakota would have to separate itself from a teachers union.  There is nothing about that relationship that I feel good about.  I simply don’t want my hard earned money going to union support that will be used against me politically.  That would be foolish.  But I suspect that the rest of the community would require a business manager that could come into the school system and dramatically cut costs in a way that Jack Welsh did for GE, and similar personalities have done when costs migrate to unsustainable levels in large organizations.  The community just doesn’t have the money to support levies the way they have in the past, and now we’ve reached a diminishing return.  The growth was caused by aggressive development, and the school system grew because the people moving to the district came here for the schools.  The funding problem comes from the fact that wages migrated out of a zone that a community can fund, and the school system, and the rest of public education is guilty as well, did not stay within a reasonable budget, but allowed things to get out of control.  Dramatic restructuring of their funding practices and revenue stream will have to be implemented, and they’ll have to do it while still performing at a high level.  And the state of Ohio has to properly fund our schools, because we also pay taxes to the state and expect that money to be used where we need it.  And our schools need it.    

If the levy fails, and the pro levy people leave, like they threaten I know the district will survive.  I lived in the district back in the days when Lakota was rural.  Lakota was a good school then, and it will always be, because a school reflects the community, and the community has good people in it.  If the new comers move out, they’ll just overload another district the way they have Lakota, in search of quick and easy answers which never come.

It is naive to even consider that throwing money at Lakota’s problem will solve anything. The solution to the problem will be tough, but starts with understanding that the school system is not the community.  The community will always be good if the people in it are excellent.  It is only natural that kids that come from good people will make a school system good too. 
But the teachers and administrators don’t make good kids or good people.  Parents do that.  Don’t let them take credit for the things you’ve done as a parent.

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com