Monday • October 13 • 2025
Vol.XVII • No.XLII
Manchester, N.H.
This is both funny and, well, funny – if you are not one of these people, trapped between the contradictions of the progressive narrative mill and a hard place.
A comedic performance of what it might be like to be an actor who has to pick a side to save his career becasue he has to post something on social media, but there’s so damn much to consider. And here he is considering it.
Watch as he explores all the factors, seeks advice, and …
Actor Not Sure if He’s Supposed to Support Israel or Palestine pic.twitter.com/X3UDB8HWPI
— Ryan Long (@ryanlongcomedy) October 12, 2023
The post “Actor” Needs Help – Not Sure if He’s Supposed to Support Israel or ‘Palestine’ appeared first on Granite Grok.
There was a discussion about an outside agency coming in to “train” students of all grades in “Social and Emotional Learning” at a particular NH-based School District. What concerned folks was its progressive word-salad mission statement (shared below).
And (also of concern) that our Federal and State Government Executive Branches often exceed their statutory authority as written by our elected representatives (and SCOTUS has started a determined effort to rebuff and constrain bureaucracies back into the legal limits set by duly written and passed laws), this is appropriate:
“Acceptance and inclusion” means you must tolerate boys competing in girls’ sports and accept the loss of your parental rights. I voted no on adding SEL to our Definition of Student Success when I was on the School Board. I was the only 1 of 7 to vote No. Divine Right of Bureaucrats is NOT an acceptable substitute for Divine Right of Kings. Free people reject both.
We should reject it all, but we are living in a neo-aristocracy that is often best shown when we bump up against “Left captured” agencies and subdivisions-of-the-State. Many people take Government at face value and accept, pretty much, what it says. This is counter to our Founding when Americans, highly skeptical of government, knew it would develop its own special interests and move away from serving citizens to serving itself.
Doubt me?
WHY, then, has it been so easy for me to publish story after story coming out of the Public (Government) School system where staff members are doing exactly what I just said?
SEL -> Social and Emotional Learning. Time spent on that is NOT time spent on base academics. There can be no objective measures for SEL lessons – and this shows, to me, at least, that they no longer care about standardized testing that allows parents to determine how well their employees are fulfilling their jobs.
And remember, the Left has redefined “Inclusion” to be “we’ll include anyone into our clique as long as you agree with us. Otherwise, our definition of “inclusion” means we can exclude anyone that doesn’t. Like all of their other re-definitions, this tremendously skews any discussion and argument to their premises.
“Acceptance” means “You WILL accept what you are told to believe and told how to behave. Otherwise, there will be repercussions that you won’t like” which will be a cross between the old style of shunning and Mao’s Red Guard’s “struggle session” in which you will learn to love Big Brother. “1984” was meant to be a warning, not a How-To manual.
Here is that Mission Statement:
The Browne Center works with a variety of youth and student populations to promote learning and personal growth in participants.
Our programs consist of a customized sequence of experiential activities that foster individual and team growth. In an environment that is fun, safe, and respectful, our programs also provide opportunities for participants to make positive choices, gain self-confidence, and learn skills that are critical to their development.
With a long history of working with schools, The Browne Center has developed a year-long in-school Social and Emotional Learning curriculum.
Whether a year-long implementation or a “peak day” at The Browne Center challenge course, our programs enhance skills in:
Youth & Student Programs Overview [PDF]
Common outcomes for our youth participants include:
It all sounds “nice”, doesn’t it? As opposed to doing pre-calculus, Physics II, Chemistry, Civics, and American History….
Does any of this speak to our Founding Principles beneath the flowing, smooth verbiage?
The post We Did Not Swap One for Another – We Have Fought for Our Freedom! appeared first on Granite Grok.
Recent data from the Pew Research Center shows that from 1994 to 2022, Americans’ views of opposing political parties became increasingly negative. In 1994, only 21 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of Democrats held “very unfavorable” views of the other party. In 2022, that category rose to 62 percent for Republicans and 54 percent for Democrats. If we include those who hold “unfavorable” views, then over 80 percent of both Republicans and Democrats have negative views of the other party.
One of the many undesirable effects of this polarization is an environment in which anything can become a political lightning rod. Whether it involves Dr. Seuss books, Mr. Potato Head, or the Barbie movie, controversy seems to lurk around every societal corner. Nothing is safe, nothing is sacred, and anything can be weaponized by one political factor against another. The term often used to describe this perpetual conflict is “culture war”—a depressingly apt term. But through all the angry tweets, op-eds, and “cancel” campaigns, few ask about where these culture wars come from and whether we can end them.
While a complex social event is never the product of just one factor, culture wars generally emerge from one group of people using some form of power to pressure another group into changing its beliefs or behavior. The pressured group may fight back and cause the pressuring group to redouble its efforts. This cycle, if it continues, can broaden into a full-blown culture war.
What does this dynamic look like in practice? Imagine a country where a group of ice cream fanatics decide to make every citizen eat more ice cream. They might try to pass legislation that favors eating ice cream, attack and shame ice cream skeptics, and encourage eating ice cream as a social norm. They would probably win converts, but they would also make enemies (especially the lactose intolerant!). Those who do not wish to eat ice cream would react negatively and maybe try to push an anti–ice cream agenda. Soon, an ice cream culture war could break out, each side pressuring the other to conform to its beliefs.
The catalyst of a culture war is the pressure exerted by one group on another to adopt its ways of thinking and acting. But why do groups elect to use force on others to spread their viewpoints? Prima facie, there is no strong incentive to resort to aggressive evangelism. Societies are built through cooperation, even between those who disagree. The baker sells his bread to members of his political party as well as the opposing party. If he sold bread only to customers who adopted his political beliefs, the market would turn on him. The same incentive to cooperate exists for groups motivated by ideology. While it is certainly in their interest to add to their ranks, doing so in an aggressive and forceful manner is likely to work against them.
The state does not obey the same social norms as its citizens; its injunctions are not optional but coercive in nature. More importantly, such coercion (e.g., taxation, legislation, and law enforcement) does not exist in a vacuum but aims to achieve various ends. Interest groups looking to spread their beliefs can redirect state power to their own purposes. This may involve anything from getting a subsidy for an ideologically friendly company to using state-enforced censorship against ideological enemies.
As the power and reach of a state grows, so too do the opportunities to direct that power. In terms of total spending, the federal government of the United States is the largest in history. It is no coincidence that now, when the power of the state is greater than ever, culture wars are raging all around us. These conflicts are occurring not because people are deciding to fight with one another but because they are compelled to. If there were only free and voluntary associations, then alternative beliefs could coexist. There would be no need to promote, for example, one lifestyle over another, because everyone could live how they see fit.
But state power removes all choice and variety. As the state increases its control over domains like public school curricula and corporate subsidies, fewer ideas and directions are given a chance to succeed. Culture wars fester within such narrowing policy confines because values and beliefs are either represented or excluded.
Conflicts instigated through state power always spill into other areas of society. When the political representation or exclusion of one’s beliefs is at stake, a culture war can become an environment in which any means of defense seems fair game. Social institutions, corporations, and popular media can all be weaponized and wielded against one’s enemies. The result is as familiar as it is exhausting: unending conflict and controversy, with every institution, organization, and event in society politicized and nowhere to hide from the unceasing cross fire.
Culture wars are not created solely by the state, but a state with too much power makes them inevitable. High-minded sentiments about “having conversations” and “understanding the beliefs of others” might sound like appealing options for cooling the tensions of a culture war, but they gravely underestimate the scope of the problem. No amount of civil discussion will remove the divisions created by state power. Until that power is destroyed—or, at the very least, greatly diminished—the culture wars will continue.
J.W. Rich is an economics student and writer in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can find his other writings on his blog at thejwrich.medium.com.
JW Rich | Mises Wire
Mises Wire We heartily encourage reprints and shares of Mises Wire articles. If you wish to reproduce an article in your blog, magazine, radio show, newspaper column, classroom material, textbook, discussion group, website, or any other venue, please do so. The original publication source must be included in an appropriate place.The post Government Is the Hidden Hand Directing the Culture Wars appeared first on Granite Grok.
Perhaps Ron DeSantis’ campaign would NOT have nosedived IF he had answered questions about UKRAINE and J6 like this. Instead, we have gotten platitudes on these two defining issues.
Pledges to “end the weaponization of government” CANNOT be taken seriously if you are NOT willing to say that what has happened …and is continuing to happen … to nonviolent J6 protesters is un-American and evil AND that you are going to do something about it.
I will pardon *all* Americans who were targets of politicized federal prosecutions & those who were denied due process – this includes all nonviolent Jan 6 protesters like @BrandonStraka & those who were denied their constitutional due process rights. It is un-American for the… pic.twitter.com/TqyVUPAvar
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) October 14, 2023
The post Vivek Hits It Out Of the Park At NHGOP’s FITN-Summit appeared first on Granite Grok.
Last week, while eulogizing the collapse of another hurricane season – during a super hot summer narrative season – I hinted at the latest caterwauling by the climate cult. OMG, September was so darn hot; it’s a record. Hardly.
But, but September’s temperature anomaly, you say, yes, it looks like a hockey stick, and we know how much the Cult loves those when they feed the proper narratives.
That’s a thing, ain’t it? Despite the lack of satellite data prior to 1979, one might be willing to accept the super-hot-September narrative without question. Many have and will and do, but they’d be jumping to conclusions.
Locally, the US anomaly was pedestrian at best.
A different look here: this is the three-month anomaly for the contiguous US. Not only was this summer, not the hottest (last year was hotter), but the summer of 1936 had a greater anomaly than any other year in the record, and none of that excess CO2 we are told is going to mean our end. The only thing scary is how natural and cyclical this record looks absent the Climate Cult narrative bias.
And?
This is all NOAA’s data, and NOAA is run by NASA, which means it is NASA data, and this isn’t exactly friendly to anyone who is not a card-carrying member of the Climate Cult.
But, but Global temperatures, they’ll cry – when the data winks at them and shows a little leg. When things are going the other way, as they have been for over a decade, there’s nothing to see.
Put differently, the climate is a series of years, decades, and sometimes centuries of trending that can’t be captured in one month or even three. The data we have is not even a wink in the history of Earth’s climate, which the secularists of scientism will remind us is older than the Bible claims. True dat, but so is the climate record, and it is not favorable to the approved cult narrative.
The current trend continues to be hospitable to life on earth but is more likely to get colder, making it less so while the Progs and their Green Army of idiots are working double-time to make getting warm nearly impossible.
Note: Steve Milloy has a relevant Summer/ 2023 Climate Facts PDF with more details, including on September 2023, here, if you are interested.
The post Temperature Anomaly Voodoo and The Scorching Hot September Narrative appeared first on Granite Grok.
Every time Congress decides to “debate” whether or not to give themselves a raise, they try to do it in secret because it’s a very unpopular move, for obvious reasons.
Whenever I hear that, I think of an alternative deal. The critters make $174K a year, which is about three times the average wages of the people who pay their salary.
The problem is that whenever these critters get together, their antics cost the taxpayers even more.
So, I have a modest proposal. If the critters want to grant themselves a $10k raise, I say give them a $50k raise, but only on the condition that they stay home and not “govern” us.
The problem, for us, is that they can make much, much more than that by not staying home. Feinstein died with a net worth of over $100 million. Pelosi has more than $100 million. There are others, in all parties, that have figured out how to milk the system for far more than their meager salary.
Consider the recent funding of Ukraine—hundreds of billions sent there with no accountability. Certainly, much of that has come back to members of Congress and their enablers in the military-industrial complex.
What if, instead, we officially recognized the obvious corruption and paid each member of Congress $100 million to go away? “OK, guys, you won. Take your winnings and go home. And never come back again.”
Let’s look at the economics.
Four hundred thirty-five members of the House and 100 members of the Senate. None Supreme Court justices, the President and Vice President. Five hundred forty-six hungry, corrupt mouths to feed. $100 million each is only $54.6 billion.
That’s less than half of the $113 billion that has been sent just to Ukraine in the last two years. Add that to the billions (trillions?) given to big pharma, big agriculture, big tech, and a thousand others.
And you can bet that there will be billions more sent to Israel as that certainly will become the darling of the military-industrial complex in the coming weeks and months.
So, I think giving every elected critter in Washington $100 million would be quite a bargain as long as they take the money and go away.
But what about the rent-seeking lobbyists? I mean, they bought these Representatives and Senators with their hard-earned (cough!) money. What will they get from my plan?
Well, that’s going to be between the critters and their enablers. The windfall that the critters would have received will have to be shared with their lobbyist enablers.
Maybe, in the spirit of transparency that my proposal would require, all lobbyist donors would be mandated to submit invoices to their beneficiaries detailing their contributions and demanding restitution, which would include principal, plus interest, plus a return that they expected on their investment.
Everyone wins. No more sneaking around with code words like Pedo Pete and “The Big Guy.” No more pretending that “we’re making the world safe for democracy.” No more lies about “you can keep your doctor,” “Yellowcake,” or “They hate us for our freedoms.” Plus a thousand others.
We all know the system is corrupt. Instead of dancing around trying to pretend everything is on the up-and-up, let’s just admit the bastards beat us and pay them to go away.
We’ll all be better off in the long run.
The post “A Modest Proposal” appeared first on Granite Grok.
