Tag: values

A Change in Strategy: Making wins great again, and more often

It is truly encouraging to witness President Donald Trump returning to the campaign trail with renewed vigor, particularly as he emphasizes the critical issue of affordability for everyday Americans. His recent appearance in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, marked a strong start to what promises to be an aggressive push leading into the 2026 midterms. In that rally on December 9, 2025, at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Trump delivered a message centered on economic relief, highlighting how his policies are already beginning to address the lingering burdens placed on families by years of misguided governance. While he critiqued the notion of an “affordability crisis” as overstated by opponents, he underscored tangible progress, such as falling gas prices and efforts to deregulate burdensome rules that drive up costs for essentials like appliances and vehicles. This approach resonates deeply because it acknowledges the real struggles Americans face while pointing to proactive solutions.

Timing could not have been more poignant, coming just days before the Federal Reserve’s decision on December 10, 2025, under Chairman Jerome Powell, to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points, bringing the benchmark range to 3.50%-3.75%. This modest reduction, the third in a series that year, was met with division within the Fed, reflecting broader uncertainties in the economy. Trump has rightly pointed out that such moves, while welcome, come far too late for many households battered by prolonged high borrowing costs. The damage inflicted by inflationary policies during the Biden administration, compounded by the Fed’s earlier hesitance, has created a deep hole from which recovery will demand time and deliberate action. Mortgages, car loans, and credit card debt remain elevated for millions, eroding purchasing power even as some indicators improve. It will take sustained effort to restore true economic confidence, and piecemeal rate adjustments alone cannot undo the entrenched effects overnight. [1]

The root causes trace back further, to policies initiated under the Obama era and radically amplified under Biden. From expansive spending programs that fueled demand without matching supply increases, to regulatory overreach that stifled energy production and manufacturing, these approaches disrupted the robust growth trajectory established during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2020. In those years, deregulation, tax reforms, and pro-energy policies drove unemployment to historic lows, wage growth for middle- and lower-income workers, and a manufacturing renaissance. Many initiatives launched then—such as opportunity zones and criminal justice reform—laid foundations for broader prosperity. Yet, the abrupt shift under Biden reversed much of that momentum, prioritizing ideologically driven agendas over practical economics. The result was supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic, energy dependence that empowered adversaries, and inflation that peaked at levels not seen in decades. [2]

Even now, in late 2025, the lingering shadows of those policies manifest in persistent affordability challenges. Groceries, housing, and energy costs remain elevated compared to pre-2021 levels, squeezing family budgets despite cooling inflation rates. Americans are understandably impatient; they want relief in their pockets today, not promises deferred. Trump’s return to the trail signals a commitment to accelerating that relief through bold measures, including tariff strategies designed to protect domestic industries and encourage reshoring of jobs.

Tariffs, often misunderstood, are a vital tool in this equation. Ongoing disputes and legal challenges surrounding their implementation highlight the complexities, but they also underscore their potential to rebuild American leverage in global trade. By addressing unfair practices from trading partners, tariffs aim to level the playing field, fostering investment here at home and ultimately contributing to lower long-term costs through stronger domestic production. Uncertainties remain as courts review certain authorities, but the principle stands: protecting American workers and consumers requires resolve against imbalances that have eroded manufacturing bases for decades. [3][4]

This context sets the stage for the 2026 midterms, where Republicans must demonstrate aggression and unity to retain control of Congress and advance an agenda of renewal. Keeping the House majority is paramount, given its narrow margins and the historical tendency for the president’s party to face headwinds in off-year elections. With key races across battlegrounds, the party needs to articulate a clear vision: continuing deregulation, securing borders to curb illicit flows impacting communities, and prioritizing policies that put money back in citizens’ pockets. [5]

On a personal note, as someone who has long engaged in sharing insights through daily blog postings and videos, I have observed how information dissemination plays a pivotal role in shaping outcomes. Over time, my content has evolved to reach a targeted audience—movers and shakers at various levels of society, particularly those in influential positions across industries and politics. These individuals are the ones driving change, seeking substantive arguments to deploy in boardrooms, legislatures, and conversations that matter. My aim has never been to cater to the broadest crowd but to equip those in power with ammunition: well-reasoned points, backed by facts, that can influence decisions.

This requires independence. I deliberately steer clear of entanglements in fields dominated by self-serving structures, such as much of the legal profession. Having navigated legal battles in recent years, I have grown profoundly disenchanted with a system that often prioritizes complexity and billing over justice and efficiency. Lawyers, with rare exceptions, overcharge for routine tasks, perpetuating a judicial framework so convoluted that ordinary citizens cannot navigate it without “experts.” This setup discourages principled individuals from entering politics, as many politicians emerge from law backgrounds laden with legalistic mindsets ill-suited to real-world problem-solving. Conservatives in these roles may hold decent values, but their training often hampers innovative thinking. By remaining outside such ecosystems, I can offer objective, unfiltered opinions that resonate precisely because they cut through the noise.

People cling to these perspectives because they are articulated coherently, stringing ideas into comprehensive narratives. In a landscape flooded with superficial commentary, originality stands out. High-level attorneys and political consultants, constrained by their professions’ lack of creativity, frequently seek external inspiration. My role is to provide that—freely, without the exorbitant fees that characterize traditional consulting. Charging thousands per hour for insights that should be shared as civic contribution strikes me as exploitative. True proficiency yields abundance without needing to monetize every interaction; giving information away elevates society as a whole. [7]

Recently, I have adapted my blog postings to enhance their utility. Where once I offered straightforward opinions for consumption and action, I now incorporate detailed footnotes, akin to academic sourcing. This shift allows readers to delve deeper, verifying claims and building upon them. On affordability, for instance, statistics abound—housing starts, wage growth relative to inflation, energy independence metrics—that bolster arguments when properly cited. Influential readers can then integrate these into strategies, legislation, or campaigns with confidence.

This adaptation aligns with technological evolution, particularly the rise of AI tools that scan vast information streams. In an era where traditional reading habits wane and content is often consumed via audio or summaries, making material AI-friendly accelerates its impact. Footnotes provide structured entry points for algorithms to extract supplemental data, enabling users to rapidly develop informed positions on legislation, legal analyses, or political tactics.

Looking ahead to 2026, these efforts support broader goals: retaining Republican control of the House, electing strong candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy to the Ohio governorship—where recent polls show a tight race against Democrat Amy Acton, with affordability central to both platforms—and ensuring Trump’s agenda succeeds. Ohio exemplifies states where principled leadership can address major challenges, from economic revitalization to public health and education reforms. Nationwide, down-ballot races will determine whether progress continues or stalls. [8]

Trump’s unique strength lies in his ability to distill complex issues into messages that captivate mass audiences at rallies. His communication style energizes supporters and clarifies stakes in ways few can match. Yet, sustained success demands more: pervasive, enduring content that outlasts news cycles. By enhancing accessibility—opinions paired with verifiable sources—individuals can adapt ideas, add personal spins, and act swiftly. [6]

Information access is half the battle. Equipping decision-makers with tools to research further empowers them to craft platforms efficiently. My high-volume output risks fading in daily overload, but strategic adjustments ensure longevity. As AI perpetuates and amplifies quality content, it becomes an ally in disseminating strategies.

Ultimately, my contribution is clarifying paths to tactical victories. Trump rallies inspire and mobilize, but translating enthusiasm into electoral wins requires groundwork: candidate recruitment, message refinement, voter turnout. In this exciting juncture, with 2026 poised for Republican gains and extensions to 2028, collective roles interlock. Providing clear, actionable insights helps successors pick up the baton—new governors, senators, representatives—and run effectively.

We stand at a pivotal moment. Economic direction is shifting rightward, but vigilance is essential. Sharing substantiated views, subscribing to aligned channels, and engaging actively can make tomorrow better. The business of renewal thrives on informed participation; and  lasting prosperity.


References:

[1] Associated Press, NBC News coverage of Trump rally in Pennsylvania, December 9, 2025.

[2] Federal Reserve Board, FOMC Statement, December 10, 2025; CNBC report on rate cut.

[3] Bureau of Labor Statistics, Real Earnings Report, September 2025.

[4] Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, State of the Nation’s Housing 2025.

[5] Congressional Research Service, Report R48549 on tariff actions and trade policy.

[6] The Hill and Ohio Capital Journal coverage of Ohio governor race polling, late 2025.

[7] Thomson Reuters, State of the US Legal Market 2025; JDJournal billing rate analysis.

[8] McKinsey Global Survey on AI Adoption, 2025; Ahrefs State of AI in Content Marketing report.

Rich Hoffman

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

The Corruption of our Legal System: Without a belief in the Bible, its prone to evil, malice, and political detriment

Whether its Letitia James, the George Soros-sponsored Attorney General of New York on a personal vendetta to destroy Donald Trump using the law as a weapon of politics, or the local sheriff who is skimming money from everywhere and distributing it to various people to acquire power and they seek to destroy their local auditor because they don’t want an open book policy to the public, many people are now disillusioned about our legal system. What many have forgotten over time in America is that our legal system as a whole is founded on Christian values. We have a society that no longer believes in Biblical values. In that case, there can’t possibly be any respect for law and order, and our entire civilization will fall victim to the biggest bully on the block, which is what we see happening. In any society, the fear of force always keeps everyone aligned. Without some shared philosophical value, everything will fall into chaos, which the enemies of America are pleased to see happening. That is undoubtedly the motive behind Letitia James of New York and her billionaire supporters, who ultimately want to see the downfall of America. In such a society, the rules are not made to protect the good from the bad but to give cover to the bad from the judgment of the good, and that is precisely where we find ourselves today. 

We could all tell stories of our own version of the local sheriff who will say to a friend or a political ally, “hey, if you broke the law, we’ll fix it up. Don’t worry about it. Let’s go get some chicken wings and talk about that Monday night football game.” But if a law comes into question regarding a political rival, that sheriff will throw the book of laws for all their worth behind the effort to destroy that person. And that is what we call an injustice. Where the legal system is used as a weapon against enemies instead of as a stabilizing force for society in general, and of course, no society can function in such a way for long. Without law and order, there is no society. Again, the enemies of America are happy either way. They would love to see America plunge into a lawless society. And they love to see corrupt political officials abusing the law at every opportunity because they know eventually, the people of that society will abandon the law and turn to the government to be the broker for fairness, which only gives the government more power and fewer rights. So this notion of losing a Biblical law and order society is quite a strategy that exacerbates the whims of corruption among such weak-minded people and unleashes their wrath on the innocent without protection. Because at that point, only violence could be left to defend the good from the bad. The bad has been empowered because of their propensity for corruption to exploit the good; from there, we have sheer lawlessness and fear from the world’s bullies. 

When people contemplate that President Trump doesn’t have the right temperament to be president because we are supposed to be a Christian society that turns the other cheek to our enemies and forgives our foes, we are being exploited by evil for our tendency to play by the rules. We need Trump in America because he refused to give ground to the malicious. And he is willing to use his vast sums of money to fight in court the premise of law and order and turn the tables on them against their own desires for power. Few people in the world can fight these political systems as they are rigged. Because nobody can trust that the hand on a Bible is enough to provide good testimony, this has only empowered lawyers of bottom-feeder characters to thrive in a rigged language that only money can buy. Trump can play that game because, like Soros, he is a fellow billionaire and can put his money against the aims of American antagonists. But unless people have that kind of money, they will always be victims to those who do, and the legal system is designed for corruption, those who can pay for its services. It doesn’t exist on its own merit to provide justice blindly. Instead, justice is wide awake and looking for those who can write the biggest checks. Our legal system may have been designed to weigh a feather against a heart heavy with guilt. But what we have ended up with is a definition of justice that goes to those with the most money, to buy the most expensive lawyers, who have the best relationships with the best judges, leaving average people cleaving in the darkness for fairness, knowing that they are all victims to a system deep in corruption from the inside out. 

Yet I would say to fear not. The way it is presented is not how it was designed. Our legal system became corrupt because we trusted bad people to do the right thing. In hindsight, that was dumb, but as honorable people, we had to give them a chance. However, now that we know better, we are not confined to such obligations going forward. We are fortunate to have someone like Trump fighting on our side, a fellow billionaire from that elite class who wants to rule the world from the shadows and undermine us at every opportunity. Those who flow money into local communities and count on the crooked sheriff, the compromised judge, and the low-life lawyers who put more effort into their golf game than the justice of their clients, are easy to turn the tables on. It took a long time for the kind of corruption we see today to manifest. But it started when people stopped putting their hand on the Bible and meaning it when they swore an oath. No society can survive if it does not clearly understand right and wrong, and the villains who corrupted our legal system knew this even as they talked out of both sides of their mouths for years. The debate raged most viciously when such characters disputed the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, then said it violated free speech. Such contemplations are equivalent to stating that we want to live as human beings without the flow of blood through our bodies. You can’t have one without the other. And you can’t have civilization without justice. And you can’t have justice without a clear understanding of what it is. But what we have now is not justice, it’s corruption where the law is utilized for political benefit for political reasons, and it is far from blind. If you are a political enemy, they will throw the book at you and lobby to put you in jail, bankrupt and without a reputation, destroyed for life if they can do it. But if you are a friend or benefit them somehow, they will turn the other way and invite the criminal out for chicken wings and a nice cold beer. Perhaps even a morning golf game on a Sunday with the rising sun warming their faces and laughing about how they were able to scam the public for all its worth and get away with it. Fret not. The bad guys only win because of what they did they did in the shadows. But with the light of day flashed upon their actions, there will undoubtedly be a different result, and the sun is shining these days brightly.

Rich Hoffman

Click to buy The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business

What ‘Bob’s Burgers’ says about American Society: What people will do to have a good family

At face value, it would be one of those strange mysteries. But when you dig into the issue a bit, it makes a lot of sense and says a lot about what kind of society we really are as Americans. I’ll admit, I was perplexed as to why any studio would produce a Bob’s Burgers theatrical release. With so many streaming services that are out there these days, why would anybody make a movie of the somewhat popular cartoon on Fox called Bob’s Burgers, which is a version of the typical animated formula that they have made so popular over the years with other offerings like The Simpsons, and Family Guy? I’m not too fond of Bob on Bob’s Burgers; I think of him as a loser. He’s not very ambitious; as a dad, he’s perpetually broke. He runs a little New England burger place in a resort town, and he can barely rub two pennies together.

Most of the episodes are about the problems they have as a family because they never have enough money to do things. And of course, my famous saying to people complaining about not having enough money is just to work and make more. Especially in America, if you want money, you can have it. You may not make all the money you want in 8 hours of work. Forty hours a week may not be enough; you might have to work 80. When I was raising a family, I have told the stories of only having one car, and I rode a bicycle 25 miles a day, so my wife could have the car for the kids and worked two full-time jobs to make the money we needed as a family. So, I can’t relate to Bob in Bob’s Burgers, and I find it odd that young people like the show so much. But, apparently, they do. Enough so that they made a theatrical movie release this year as something they thought was justifiable. 

I also had a unique experience while attending various comic cons with my daughter, an outstanding illustrator who does exhibitions of her work at those types of events. As I have said, it’s interesting to watch people cosplay at comic cons, the kind of outfits they want to dress up in, and invest so much of their time to bring characters they enjoy to life in some way. I can understand the various Star Wars characters and those from the Marvel movies. Those are action movies that make you feel good when leaving the movie theater in some way, so it makes sense that people would want to dress up as those characters during Halloween and at comic cons. Bringing fantasy to life is a specific function of the human imagination, a conceptual vehicle that expresses inner values that manifest in mythological impressions during social exchanges. Dressing up as a favorite character is a way to vote for the kind of values that you see in pop culture. Imitation is the ultimate compliment. But while I was at these events, I was just a little shocked to see young people dressing up as characters from Bob’s Burgers, which is hard because they are all cartoons. It’s not easy to bring a cartoon character to life, yet people did, and some were really good costumes. Why? I’ve watched many episodes of Bob’s Burgers, and I just don’t enjoy the show that much. For me, it’s often filler in the background while I’m doing five or six other things. I occasionally watch it because I like the colors of cartoons. But I can’t relate to the characters much at all. 

Oddly enough, my wife likes Bob’s Burgers a lot. I’d say it’s her favorite show, so this problem has been something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Yet, in working to understand the current political sentiment of our mass society, I felt something was going on with Bob’s Burgers that was worth noticing, significantly if film executives believed that a theatrical release of a subpar cartoon series on Fox justified its own movie. So the one thing that really jumps out about Bob’s Burgers that is likable is that all the family members like each other. Bob, his wife, and his three children all live in a little dump of an apartment, yet they don’t act like a bunch of losers who are waiting in line with a bottle of booze to buy lottery tickets. They work hard for the money they make and love each other as a family while running the family burger business. Bob is always a few cents short of whatever the family needs, but his wife never talks about leaving him for a better life with a more ambitious lover. The kids are just happy to have mom and dad together in the house. The brothers and sisters aren’t out to kill each other; they go on many neighborhood adventures and solve problems like rational people. They are a very “traditional” family. 

And that’s what it is with Bob’s Burgers; like many of the other Fox primetime cartoons, they all have in common a mom and a dad in the home who love each other. That is certainly the case with Family Guy, a very progressive show that features a family that stays together. There aren’t step-parents and step-children in these cartoons. They are all very traditional. Other animated shows have tried to make it with more progressive storylines, but they always fail. The ones that stick around over the years are the cartoons that feature traditional family settings. The Simpsons have been on for decades now, a very long time. And yet, with many hundreds of storylines, Homer and his wife Marge still love each other and work through marital problems together in a way that never ends in divorce or a family breakup.   And that was the key to this Bob’s Burgers mystery. Here was a family on an animated show with many problems, and they seemed limited in their ability to solve those problems. But, they enjoy each other as a family. You don’t see Bob running around on the town to cheat on his wife. Or running away from the attention that the kids obviously want from him. He’s a good dad, even if he’s unambitious socially. And his family loves him for it. Obviously, the audiences who can’t say the same about their own families have found a reliable father figure in Bob’s Burgers. In Bob’s Burgers, they see the family they always wanted and never had in the fictional settings. And it has such an impact on them that they even dress up as the characters in cosplay. It says a lot about the true state of our society when those types of fictional stories indicate what people really feel inside. Their vote for the type of entertainment they wish to enjoy says what all people really crave outside of political theater. Most people would give up a lot to have a family like Bob’s Burgers, where at least mom and dad loved each other, and their siblings worked together to help make the family a family. In a world full of disappointments, at least Bob and his animated television family were willing to fight through disappointments for the key ingredient to all happy societies, a good family that might not have a lot of money, but at least they had what all humans crave, a genuine love for each other. And that is worth noting and something that should give us all hope for the future. 

Rich Hoffman

Click to buy The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business

I Still Believe in Santa Claus: Why the magic of childhood is more important than the dissapointments of reality

It seems to be happening all across the country, particularly among substitute teachers but one at the Cedar Hill School in Montville, New Jersey was particularly disturbing since it was targeting 5 to 6-year-old kids, and that is the trend of telling them that there is no Santa and therefore, no hope in the world for them to look forward to. I haven’t yet read or heard any commentary on this topic that really dug into the root of the issue as it is so horrendous that normal people just can’t get their mind around why an adult of any kind would do such a thing. To understand the big picture of what is going on we have to understand why we have the mythologies of Santa and Easter Bunnies, and Tooth Fairies to begin with. We also must understand why teachers in public schools are against children’s expansion of knowledge for which all imaginative endeavors are designed to evoke. The quest to destroy Santa in the lives of young children is the progressive fulfillment of a much larger desire, the destruction of individual needs and the shared experience of collective endeavor. The notion of a Santa Claus fulfilling the wishes of individual children is a repulsive idea to most progressives, so they use the beat down over caffeinated employees of public education to do their bidding.

My oldest daughter and I had an interesting debate on Santa Claus a few years ago as she was inclined to think that she didn’t want her child to accept falsehoods of hope and become dependent on a jolly old man dressed in red to bring him presents for being a good little boy, “good” being defined by parameters she may or may not agree with. Such as if good meant complete compliance to the state then she couldn’t support such a thing, but if good meant acting in accordance with his individual integrity, then perhaps so. Due to the lack of understanding of what “good” meant at Christmas time, then she was inclined to pass on the mythic experience all together. But my thing to her was that all kids as they built conceptual knowledge in their brains needed mythic elements to elevate their consciousness. So the basic foundations of goodness and hope for which the Christmas season is so emphatic were healthy for a growing mind until they could afford to function on their own. After all, a child has no means of interacting with the world and their conceptual knowledge is lacking due to their limited experiences in life, so we create stories to help them arrive at those important foundations as their brains develop.

That is after all why we do the things we do for children. When they are young their minds are hopeful and filled with boundless optimism, and that is needed because they must overcome so many things just to arrive at 5 to 6 years old. They have to learn to walk, talk, read, interact with lots of other people, and they do so with optimism because that is the foundation needed for learning. If a child fell on their first opportunity to walk and just stayed flat on their face waiting for someone to pick them up, they’d be ruined for life and would never learn anything. They must have that desire to keep getting up and trying things over and over again until they succeed. That is the basis of all learning. Parents who rush to pick their children up after every little boo boo are actually destroying their minds. They mean well, but the point of growing up is to gain experience and if experience is denied then great harm comes to the children effected. It is good to let kids fall and get cut. It is good for them to run in the rain and get a little sick, so that their immune systems develop into a healthy defense of their bodies as they get older. It is good for children to stumble and fall because they will have a great wealth of knowledge to live as productive adults later on. Sometimes being a great parent is to let kids get cut up and battered a bit when they are kids so they know how to avoid much more dangerous things when they are older. The world today is filled with neurotic adults who were too coddled as children who cry at every little smashed insect and hurt feeling.

And that is why we give kids the magic of a positive and fulfilling childhood so that when they do become adults they can have as many tools to work with intellectually as possible and they can then in turn give good childhoods to their children. I would say that the quality of a childhood largely determines the quality of the adult. If a kid has a bad childhood, they will become damaged adults, so the mythologies of childhood are infinitely important to the furtherance of the human race. As adults its our jobs to provide as much knowledge and optimism as possible because at a certain point in their lives they stop being kids and become adults. The destructive teenage years are certainly that shattering of reality where life becomes disillusioning. But the process of life often is, so as humans we have mitigated that disappointment by providing children with wonderful ideas so that once they become adults they have good memories to endure them through the many disappointments. That’s not to say that children should always stay that way, at a young age their brains are not yet ready for the rigors of adult life, so we create intellectual tools to assist them during this critical period of their lives until mature brain development occurs and a human being is ready for the world. In that context Santa Claus is a wonderful conceptual invention of mythology and culture and it teaches young people the best about what life has to offer.

Of course, if you want to destroy a person the best way to do it is by removing their conceptual aptitude, take away their hopes and dreams so that they resort to the basic function of a non-thinking animal. And this is just what progressive types are looking for in creating compliant people for tomorrow’s authoritarian regimes of political masters, a voting population that will keep them in power because they are stupid, and hopeless. And without question that substitute teacher had at some point in their life had their hopes removed and was frustrated with the enthusiasm of youth because guilt was likely the emotion they had about their own lives and how poorly they’ve managed it. That hatred of the pure and innocent comes usually from people who have had all hope removed from their own lives and it is the ultimate act of selfishness to rob children of their own opportunities by adults who have obviously given up. It’s simply not fair to the children to have adults attempt to take from them hopes and dreams of a bigger and better world. Even though such an idea is a conceptual fantasy ultimately kids grow up to become what they thought about most. And thinking about Santa Claus at that magical time of innocence is one of the best things adults can do for helpless children still growing intellectually. And it is terribly evil for anybody to seek to rob kids of that opportunity. Especially those employed by the state as public-school teachers who put progressive objectives ahead of intellectual development. It is for all those reasons that I still believe in Santa, and likely always will!

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

How the NRA and America are One in the Same: Understanding what defends values and why its important

There is a very philosophic reason for supporting the NRA if one wishes to protect the basic foundations that founded the United States of America. Of course, those who want to change the American idea into something else are against the NRA and things really do play out along those lines. People would like to believe that there is some waiver room there, room to have varying opinions, but basically if someone or a group of people are working against the 2nd Amendment, they are working against the political philosophy of America—and essentially against me and you personally. To that effect, I have never been prouder to be an NRA member. Over the last few weeks after the latest gun free zone shooting I have heard the NRA being bashed by just about everyone but the members themselves and that has only solidified my resolve on this matter. I am the NRA. You are the NRA. We are the people who make the NRA what it is—a lobby group representing our interests and when people talk about abolishing it, they are talking about abolishing us.

We are told that the two things we are not supposed to talk about are politics and religion—so to allow for the non-conflict type of discussion that should go on between people of different backgrounds and beliefs. The only problem with that are that both are part of the basic philosophy epistemology of our culture—and if those basic foundations aren’t agreed on, there really can’t be a society at all. Without a foundational philosophy, no society can hope to preserve themselves into the future. Essentially a country is just an organized group of people who have decided to live a certain way under constitutional foundations. Anyone who wants to change those basic foundations is looking to overthrow the nation as it was. And that is why it became popular to suggest that when speaking with other people that we don’t talk about politics or religion—because both provide the foundations for which nations are built.

Politics is the study of the principles governing the proper organization of society, it is based on ethics, the study of the proper values to guide man’s choices and actions. Politics and ethics have been fundamental branches of philosophy from the beginning. Religion of course is typically associated with the type of ethics a society uses to flourish. With these things stripped away from society mankind has nothing to hold their values to, which is precisely why we can say that we live in a time where values are stripped from us and people are functioning from a rootless existence. The people of today with all their problems were made that way because the essential foundations of philosophy for which they would otherwise function have been removed from them and they are left empty and open to whatever tyrant of activism might come along to sweep them off their feet.

And we’ve seen the worst of these people in the days after Donald Trump was elected president. If there was anything that really was wonderful about his election it was that these types of people who have been seeking to reshape American foundational philosophy were rooted out. ANTIFA comes to mind with their violent protests in our city streets and the lunatic feminists who proposed very violent actions against our government yet do not expect to see the wrath of justice thrown back at them—because they understand that they are hiding behind the destruction of America’s basic foundational premise. This is also why the FBI expects to get away with serious crimes they committed against the Trump transition team and even in tampering in an American election—then trying to blame the Russians. These criminals know that a vast majority of the people within America these days have been stripped of their basic philosophies of goodness, righteousness, and valor—and that they are naked and afraid waiting for the gods of institutionalism to shape their opinions to the flavor of the day—rootless into history or any kind of sense.

Philosophy is the science that studies the fundamental aspects of the nature of existence. The task of philosophy is to provide people with a comprehensive view of life. When that comprehensive view is disrupted or even reshaped into something destructive—such as what we see from the ANTIFA members where they are exactly what they declare themselves not to be—anti-fascists fighting for the right to be fascists, then the forces behind that thought corruption can sell any contrary idea to the public and not expect to be questioned back. We live in an age where young people have been taught that nobody should judge their actions, and once they are adults they believe they can conduct their lives in this fashion. This is largely how Hillary Clinton’s campaign expected to hide her many crimes, and she succeeded largely by those who call themselves Democrats, because their foundational philosophies have been stripped away from them to the point where they can no longer make value judgments about anything. They can talk about their favorite music, what they are watching on Netflix, or what the latest fashions are at Hot Topic, but they can’t tell you what they think of Hillary Clinton other than they want to see the first woman president sitting in the White House. Since so many people have been taught not to judge others, it allows criminals like the Clintons to roam through our political stratosphere without consequence for their power play politics.

The political left has been in the practice of deforming human beings essentially since their political philosophy shaped largely by Immanuel Kant and the peripherals took to the global stage challenging the Aristotelian foundations of Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, and John Locke. To beat those philosophies which caused people to create their own country in North America away from the European failures, the political left had to introduce decades of philosophic deformity to the basic foundations of American ideas to nonviolently introduce the type of political suppression which would advance the political left and stunt the growth of the political right. Leftists did this essentially by taking over the education institutions and seeking quite openly to remold the American youth from their very foundations so that they could pull off the destruction of America without any military assault or mass protest in the streets—but home by home and over a long period of time.

But, those forces of insurrection ran into the membership of the NRA and nobody who has supported that Second Amendment group has budged at all for well over 100 years. The NRA was founded in 1871 and has maintained a firm grounding into the type of roots that founded our country and the members which have supported that cause have been very successful in preventing the type of deformation of our basic philosophy which the political left has been so aggressive in perpetuating. The secret to the success of the political left in how they essentially lobotomize people in what they know has been the threat of force to bring harm to people who think differently than they do. Yet the essence of the Second Amendment is to provide protections from that very threat. Free people armed to defend themselves do not have to fear having their basic philosophic foundations robbed from them by force—and that has really been all that’s kept America going all these years. Its been those 5 million NRA supporters and the 10 to 20 million others who support the NRA but haven’t yet sent a check to the organization to lobby on their behalf. We become members so that the NRA will work on our behalf to prevent violence. Because if there isn’t an NRA and the political left comes to attempt to remove reason from our minds—what are we supposed to do—just sit there and let them do it? Of course not.

Rich Hoffman
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.