After several deep breaths and a lot of prayer, I’m embarking on this venture feeling that I’ve been on this road a very long time. I love this country. I love God. I love my family and friends, and I know there are so many like me out there.
On a spiritual level, I dedicate the Scarlett Patriot Gazette to God who has endowed all of us with certain unalienable rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. On a human level, I dedicate this Gazette to four people:
My dad, who could not be here to see this, but who I am sure is smiling down upon me, more likely grinning knowingly, because he always believed I’d get to this point - what can I say, Dad, sometimes I’m a slow learner. He thought I would make a fantastic lawyer or journalist. I became a college English teacher for a while. Close enough. He gave me a strong work ethic on the farm where I grew up, a place I didn’t appreciate as much as I should have while there, but a place that still shaped me and for which I have a deep appreciation now. We were up early for all kinds of chores, but he religiously broke for lunch in time to hear Paul Harvey, and he was fond of throwing out topics of discussion at the dinner table. We couldn’t get out of it much as we wanted to back then. I miss those days. He had a great brain, and I would often marvel at the things he came up with. Even now, I recall many of them and lean on them for inspiration. Through him, more than any of my college classes, I gained my critical thinking skills.
My high school AP Journalism teacher, who taught us the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How to get down to the facts of a story and that you should always verify your facts through at least two sources. You know, old school journalism the way it was supposed to be - 1st Amendment to be a future topic. He wore tweed jackets and sneakers. He was always on the move and was dynamic in his teaching. I took AP English from him as well, and he made James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist completely understandable.
Rush Limbaugh, who with his “talent on loan from God” unknowingly took over from my dad after he passed, to impart his wisdom and understanding, continuing those educational moments in one-sided discussions. Through him, I honed my critical thinking skills. Upon Rush’s passing just over a year ago, it felt like I lost another father, but they gave me so much that has inspired me to set forth on this path.
Steven K. Bannon, who as my most recent influence, unknowingly for the moment, serves as the final impetus for me to start on this journey. In his own way, to my ears, he has been like Shakespeare’s Henry V at Agincourt or the Spartans’ Leonidas, bolstering spirits, encouraging the fight for truth and for this country as we go again and again into the breach with “Action, action, action.” Taking it on the chin almost daily to save this Republic. He has inspired me to find my way to be a force multiplier - hence, as a hat-tip to him and encouragement for me to persevere on my path, my email address is spforcexer@gmail.com.
And so I begin with my own talent on loan from God. To answer why I am doing this goes back to 2010 and the Tea Party Movement. I was watching our country erode, and listening to talk radio where a grandmother called in asking where to turn. She had been on the hunt for books that explained our country’s founding documents because she was appalled at not only what was being taught to her grandchildren in their school, but also appalled by what was not being taught - or glossed over at best. She was concerned that the younger generations would not know the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, really know it. At the time, my daughter was ten years old, and I had been discussing these things with her so that she would know them.
In one of my college English Composition classes I taught years before, I assigned the Declaration of Independence and discussed it with my students because I was not one to drone on in solid lecture. Taking a page from my dad’s dinner time discussions, I preferred vigorous audience participation from my students. With ground rules, they learned quickly that one could have different opinions and voice them without fear of criticism. They learned to hear an opposing viewpoint, think about it, debate lively but respectfully. All of it was a learning experience, for them but also for me, and one of the things I miss about the classroom. My students balked at the “archaic” language, but I helped them work through understanding it, putting it in words that made sense and citing examples as well as getting them to provide their own examples. Watching them gain an understanding and even an appreciation of just this document was one of the most gratifying moments of my short teaching career, but it was also one of the saddest because they told me that they had never learned this in school. They had no idea. They felt kind of cheated. And that was ten years before the grandmother’s lament. Add that together, and you have almost a full generation.
My 10th grade social studies teacher had a saying painted above the door of his classroom: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” - George Santayana (The Life of Reason, 1905). Every day, I found myself looking at those words, and some 40 years later, it is a quote that has never left me. We are seeing how true it is today. The erosion of history, no, the obliteration of it, all because it might hurt someone’s feelings (after first stirring up those feelings - damn pesky feelings!) is causing greater harm than good. Not only is history repeating itself - just ask any immigrant who has come to this country to escape the tyranny of communism, socialism, fascism, despotism, etc., in theirs, and they will tell you they are exceedingly uneasy. They recognize all the hallmarks immediately. The sacrifices they made to reach American soil to legitimately give themselves and their children a better, freer life feels like it’s all for naught because where else do they turn when that “shining beacon on a hill” (Ronald Reagan) goes out? Forgetting our nation’s history (the good, the bad, and the ugly - all of it) makes slaves of us all to a very few in power who would seek to change everything to their way of thinking. They keep pushing the envelope to see how far they can go, how far we will let them take it. They’ve come a long way. I used to laugh at movies and cartoons with characters that would maniacally (but laughably at the time) declare, “I want to take over the world!!” (or some variation) rubbing their evil little hands together and smiling slyly.
You know the ones.
I’m not laughing anymore.
All this being said, I had the germ of an idea. To set about translating these documents to give people (parents, grandparents, anyone) something they could go to and use to gain knowledge for themselves, but to also be able to pass it on, discuss it, apply it. Maybe have their own dinner time discussions. This germ of an idea has expanded into numerous topical areas that will culminate, hopefully, into this Gazette. Some articles will be a series on key documents. Others will be on history and heritage, including clarifying common misconceptions. Analysis will give food for thought. As much as I can, I will cite from primary sources, backing with secondary resources that can be searched.
Finally, it is not all about my thoughts as a parent, as an American. I welcome topics you’re curious about, areas that you want to know more about but maybe don’t have the time to research. Just email me or leave a comment below, and if you like where I’m heading and what I’m doing as the articles begin to “stack” up, please share, share, share. I’d like to see the Scarlett Patriot Gazette become a leading resource to reinvigorate our being, our faith, our country, our families, and our communities. I may not agree with you, but I will defend your right to have your view (loosely from Voltaire’s quote). One humorous note: I do know how to spell “scarlet” but in coming up with my GETTR name (@ScarlettPatriot), it was already taken, so I added a “t” and truth be told, I kind of like the way it looks, so that’s Scarlett - with 2 “T”s (lol).
I enjoyed your personal history and am looking forward to your thoughts on America's history!