1-28-25
Monologue:
Age Of The Strong Men
Triple Dipper:
1. Govt Work
2. Home Fries
3. DOGE This
Guests
3pm: Sen Tommy Tuberville
Resources
1. Govt Work
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/rubio-afghanistan-taliban/2025/01/26/id/1196541/
https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/27/trumps-ice-bags-two-suspected-terrorists-in-first-week-of-sprawling-deportation-op/
2. Home Fries
https://www.beacontn.org/the-gift-of-new-educational-opportunities/
https://1819news.com/news/item/ag-marshall-calls-on-costco-to-end-dei-discrimination
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14327865/amp/costco-al-sharpton-dei-stunt-slammed.html
3. DOGE This
https://x.com/DOGE/status/1879421927733002562?t=LJ4v3OVkMM6xZkniGUnRLw&s=19
https://x.com/DOGE/status/1884015256957296917?t=tM1YfoPeoz3TukloZDANGg&s=19
https://x.com/DOGE/status/1883631632110014810?t=Y8Zs1bZffEovwi2MtrP12w&s=19
Rightside Way Monologue
There’s been a lot of talk….rightfully so….about the amount of change coming out
of DC….it’s been remarkable…..and there is no sign of it slowing down anytime
soon…..but I think it is less about the actual change and more about the
leadership involved in making it happen…..yesterday, I told you about the
situation with the President of Colombia bowing up against deportation flights of
his own illegal alien criminals……Trump was apparently playing golf when he got
the word and issued a statement that laid down the law…..before he finished 9
holes the entire international incident had largely blown over…..in the previous
administration it would have resulted in hand wringing, study groups, press
releases, state department communique’s, and a year of delays while the Biden
team fretted about whether to apology money to Colombia to help assuage the
guilt of being America…..Trump, not so much…..he put out a quick statement on
his social media while he stood at the tee box on hole 3 and then proceeded to
get on with his game…..problem solved…..how refreshing is that?
It reminded me of someone who called into the show a few years ago…..so I went
back through my show notes and sure enough I found it back in mid-2022……As
usual the audience was fully engaged that day….the phones kept ringing and one
of those calls stuck with me…..A guy named Justin, who said he was 19, called in
and asked me a question…..he asked, “if hard times create strong men, where are
the strong men to lead us out of these hard times?”…..wow, what a question!..... I
believe he was alluding to a quote from a book by author G. Michael Hopf called
Those Who Remain……the full quote would be “Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men
create hard times.”…..the essence of that quote is that we often see a cycle in
culture, and in history….a circular turn of events in which those hard times,
whether war, famine, cultural decline, tyranny, or some natural disaster, mount
up against the people of a given society and by necessity it causes harder stronger
leadership to rise up out of those ashes, if you will…..but mankind ….being fickle
and prone to reinvent the wheel ….allows the good times that come about
because of that strong leadership to make them fat, happy and generally
weak…..but that weakness, that flaccid and often craven lack of strength allows
for the onset of difficulties that bring about the next round of hard times…..and so
the circular motion of events starts over…..Justin, I don’t know if you’re still out
there listening: but it was a great question!.....my hope is that we are seeing the
cycle come back around…..that the leadership that just took office is part of the
the strong men creating good times cycle…..but the conversation spawned by
Justin’s question didn’t stop there……
my adult son had been listening that day…..he’s in the Army and the fact that he
was able to hear the show was great timing……my son called to talk about Justin’s
question…..my son is 35 now….I’m telling you Charlene and I have remarked
several times that we raised kids that are better than we are……that night was my
son’s turn to impress and he did not fail…..he brought up the question from our
caller Justin and the quote from Hopf and what he said next was so good I asked
him if he wouldn’t mind sending me his thoughts in an email so I could mull over
it….. He pointed out that the second half of the 20 th century, especially after the
fall of the Soviet Union, had seen an unprecedented level of peace and prosperity
across the world. He pointed out that he did not use the word “unprecedented”
lightly……that in my son’s words, the world has literally never seen so little actual
war and such a generally high standard of living…..he made note that European
history has often seen Europeans killing each other every few years but that until
recently Europe has been largely free of open warfare for nearly 8 decades……this
was before the war kicked off in Ukraine……to be sure, the middle east and
Southwest Asia has been a on-again off-again hodgepodge of hotspots…..but
western society….pretty solid….generally pretty peaceful….but my son is a
student of modern warfare and military doctrine, and he knows what he
sees……he said that largely speaking much of modern society has never faced real
crisis, or real problems…..this makes so many of society’s members weak and
these weaklings….in the absence of real problems….must therefore invent their
problems….things like Critical Race Theory, microagressions, preferred pronouns,
and mean tweets are the result of people who have grown so comfortable that
they must invent problems in order to have something to solve……So let me just
stop summarizing his comments and read you a direct quote from my son as he
wrapped up his email. He said, and I quote:
“Now we face the hard times these weak men have created. Mass inflation,
energy crises, supply chain shortages, potential food shortages, and the highest
chance of World War Three since the Cuban missile crisis are all happening as the
left screams that men can have periods too. So back to Jason's question: where
are the strong men? I look around and see...not many options. DeSantis readily
comes to mind. The list after him is desperately short. The good news is that the
1970's were a hard decade for the USA. But it only took one Reagan to turn the
1980's into arguably the best decade in our country's history. DeSantis may or
may not be our next Reagan. But rest assured that hard times do indeed create
strong men.
My son went on to say this: “Until our strong leaders emerge, everyone can be
a strong man or woman in their own sphere of influence. No matter how large or
small that may be, it makes a difference. Working hard, treating others as you
want to be treated, standing up for what is right in the face of overwhelming
pressure, being a source of positivity and hope, refusing to crumble if someone
calls you the wrong pronoun and teaching younger generations how to also do
those things make ALL the difference. So go be a local strong man and hold out
hope until the national level strong men arrive on the scene.”
First of all, on a personal note – yes, I am a proud Dad….always have been but it
never hurts to have one more reason…..secondly, I hope that ya’ll are taking note
that the basis for this discussion and much of its content came from a call from a
19 year old and an email from a 33 year old……there is truly hope for our
future…..but next, and to the point…..we have been through some weird, difficult
and often distressing times…..yet we as a nation have it good…..I was asked to
speak to a high school program not long ago and I pointed out to them that they
are among the first few years of citizens who are old enough to join the US
military that were not even alive yet when 9/11 occurred……our nation, our
culture, has grown soft and as a result it has been inventing its problems from
thin air only to find that while they stay distracted and chase unicorns and
absurdities that real issues are mounting up around them…..my son is right, and
Justin’s question was well timed…..we need the strong to get on their feet, raise
their voices, and say “follow me”…… when I look at President Biden I don’t
envision that he has ever had a callous on his hands in his whole life…..when I see
Governor Ivey at the helm of our state, right next door to Governor DeSantis, the
phrase that comes to mind is “go along to get along”…..I can count on one hand
the local and state leaders who inspire me and give me confidence…..but I know
that they are out there…..and we need them…..we need people who can say, like
it says in Isaiah 50:7 “therefore I have set my face like flint and I know that I will
not be put to shame.”
We’re getting an example right now from the White House….and example of what
it means to be decisive, to face challenges head on…..and hopefully, from the
national side of things that leadership in DC will take our broader nation to a
period of good times in the cycle of society…..but it can’t just be there….it has to
be here at home….at the local and state level, in business, in church, in
relationships…. So who’s in? who’s up for it?......to answer Justin’s question from
two years ago: Where are the strong men?.....they are all around us and just need
to know that they are needed…..and to recall a quote again from my own son: “So
go be a local strong man and hold out hope until the national level strong men
arrive on the scene”.
And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way…..