Texas Diplomacy Project

The next time a Texan walks into the White House, he or she should not have to depend on the services of staff whose loyalty lies elsewhere. Staff of questionable loyalty and competence is what you get when you don't know your staff, what you get when you accept the staff of a previous President.

The next Texan in the White House should not depend upon minions of the New York City oligarchy for advice. The New York City bankers have ruined the American economy, heck, they've damaged the world economy. The Council on Foreign Relations, which is run by the New York bankers, has done nothing to stem the decline in American prestige. The next Texan to enter the Oval Office should not depend upon the Council on Foreign Relations for staff or advice. The next Texan in the White House should not have to depend on Harvard economists on the Council of Economic Advisers, he or she should have competent economists educated in Texas. It is Harvard educated economists who helped ruin the world economy.

We need a Texas Diplomacy Project to provide the next Texan entering the White House with trustworthy and competent advisers in foreign affairs. In all human endeavors there is a strategic facet and a tactical facet. Underlying strategy is intent. I say our intent should be greatness.

Consider England. Queen Elizabeth I reigned from 1533 to 1603. At Elizabeth’s death in 1603 the population of England would reach 5 million. The DFW metroplex has a population of 6.1 million, making us the number 4 metroplex in America. England was a nation, playing on the international stage, defending itself against the Spanish Armada. Shakespeare wrote during Elizabeth's reign. DFW has a population equaling all of England during Elizabeth's time, but we actually have more resources today than they had back then. DFW alone could be another England.

Now consider Queen Victoria who reigned from 1798 to 1901. In 1851 the population of England was 21 million, but Queen Victoria as head of the British Empire ruled over 410 million people, one quarter of the world's population. The population of Texas today is estimated at 24 million, more than England under Queen Victoria.

Dallas-Fort Worth can and should be a player on the world stage for the sake of America's prosperity. Texas can and should be a player on the international stage for the sake of America's liberty. But we should not do it all by ourselves. We need to ally ourselves with all the states in the American heartland. Texas and DFW need to practice diplomacy at the regional, national, and international levels.

Our intent will be greatness for the good of all Americans. Our strategy should be to practice diplomacy to the legal limits of our state government. Our strategy should include developing think tanks on Economics and Foreign Affairs. Our strategy should be to develop relations with people, institutions, city, state and national governments throughout the heartland of America and around the world. This will be the Texas Diplomacy Project.

Texans will not bow to the will of the money lords of the East Coast. Texans will stand tall and bow to no one.

Robert Canright

Remember TLR = the Texas Leadership Revolution

TBAR: The Texas Banking and Finance Project

I mentioned in an earlier post, "Texas, a New Financial Center," that Texas needs to become a world center for banking and finance. An article in the Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Wall Street Journal, "Two Cities Lose 'Hometown Banks' Today," by Dan Fitzpatrick, describes how towns lose major banks when those banks are purchased by another bank and the headquarters are moved.

Two important lessons from this article:

(1) If we are going to develop a world class bank in Texas, then we need to structure the ownership carefully so our bank is not hijacked by another bank through a hostile takeover.

(2) There is not a city in Texas on the top 10 list. Clearly, this is unacceptable. DFW is the number 5 metroplex in America and we do not have banks to rival Birmingham, Alabama.

Here are the top ten cities for banking in America:
1. New York
2. Charlotte, N.C.
3. San Fransisco
4. Pittsburgh
5. Boston
6. Minneapolis
7. Atlanta
8. McLean, Va.
9. Birmingham, Ala.
10. Winston-Salem, N.C.

We are obviously on the wrong track when it comes to banking. The Texas Banking and Finance Project will make Texas a powerhouse in banking and bring prosperity to Texas.

Robert Canright

Here are other articles that are part of the Texas Banking and Finance Project
Texas, a New Financial Center Saturday, December 6, 2008
Texas, China, and a New Currency, Part 1 Sunday, April 12, 2009
Texas, China, & a New Currency, Part 2 Sunday, April 19, 2009
Texas, China, & a New Currency, Part 3 Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Amherst Holdings and the Texas Banking Project Saturday, July 25, 2009
A Philosophy of Banking Friday, December 23, 2011
Financial Thinking and Bitcoin Valuation September 4, 2017

TLR: Integrity and Competence, the Cornerstone and Keystone

Integrity and competence will the the cornerstone and keystone of the Texas Leadership Revolution (TLR). I mentioned this concept back on December 6th and on October 5th.

Integrity is the cornerstone of a good life, a good person, a good society. A cornerstone is a reference point for the rest of the building and sometimes conveys symbolism for the intent of the building. If you misplace the cornerstone, the entire structure is misaligned. If you do not build an organization upon a foundation of integrity, that organization will never be right and cannot do any good. This is why so many Wall Street organizations today are failing, because they lack integrity.

Competence is the keystone of a good life, a good person, a good society. A keystone is considered a crucial element of a structure, whose removal would cause the structure to collapse. Certainly a keystone is the apex of an arch. If we remove competence from a society, that society descends into chaos and despair. On December 20, 2008, CNN reports some residents of New Hampshire have been without power for 8 days in freezing weather. The people have become desperate, pounding at the doors of the power company, running power company trucks off the road in order to try and force workers to restore power to their homes. This is the kind of staggering incompetence we used to see only behind the Iron Curtain, in South America, and in Africa. This means parts of America are slipping into the 3rd world, where government cannot provide the basic necessities of life.

We need to restore America to greatness and prosperity. We need to start here in Texas, we need to start now, and we need to start upon a foundation of integrity. Then we need to rise to the apex of competence, accumulating wealth, power and influence along the way.

As the lights go out in the Northeast, we need to be a shining light of hope for the rest of the country. We need to restore prosperity to America, and the sooner we start the sooner we can stop this slide into the 3rd world and restore America as a great country.

Robert Canright

TBAR: The Texas Publishing Project

The publishing industry shapes public opinion. If Texas is going to provide a counterweight to power of New York City, then publishing has to be a part of the Texas Ascendancy Project. It fits within the Texas Business and Arts Renaissance (TBAR).

It is important to all the people of America, it is important to all the people of the world that America has some force that can counteract the inept bundling of the power brokers of New York City and the Northeast. Their bungling has rocked banks around the world and badly damaged the American economy.

As I have mentioned earlier in talking about Timberwolf Press, it is important that Texans support Texas publishers. That has not been happening.

Now is a good time to focus on publishing. The publishing industry is reeling from the new economy and wondering how to survive, as described in the following three (3) paragraphs.

(1) In the Sunday July 30, 2008 Dallas Morning News, in the Points section, a pertinent article appeared: "Age of the Disposable Book" by Jonathan Karp. The same article appears in the online edition of the DMN as "The Problem with the Publishing Industry" with a Tuesday July 22 date. He likens meeting sales goals to a game of blackjack. He says industry sales projections are fundamentally based on blind hope.

(2) In the Sunday November 30, 2008 New York Times, James Gleick's Op-Ed piece, "How to Publish Without Perishing," discusses the pressure writers and publishers feel from electronic publishing.

(3) The Sunday December 14, 2008 New York Times Book Review printed "Bail Out the Writers," an essay by Paul Greenberg where he expressed despair at the increased competition in getting published.

The New York publishing industry is feeling its power slipping away. We need to make a grab for it. Everything that is driving New York publishers nuts, we need to embrace. They are trying to figure out how to survive and flourish as technology changes the publishing industry. That means it is up for grabs.

Both James Gleick and Jonathan Karp believe quality writing will be a part of winning plan. I am a believer in quality products, so I think Texas needs to embrace quality writing. We can support a Texas publishing industry by buying quality products and spending time reading.

Teaching good writing needs to be a priority in the education of our children. We need to care about our children's writing skills. We parents put a lot of effort and tutoring time into math, but not, I think, into writing. Furthermore, good scores on TAKS and SAT writing tests are not a convincing indication of good writing skills. Frankly, most adults have poor writing skills, so it is difficult for most parents to help their children improve their writing. I believe Texas needs a cottage industry for tutoring writing skills, and adults should partake of opportunities to improve their writing skills.

The internet can be an important part of the Texas Publishing Project. Internet publishing can minimize publishing costs. It can permit small online magazines to flourish, but they cannot flourish if they are not read. A couple of examples here in Texas are the Emerson Institute for Freedom and Culture and the blogs for Interdisciplinary World and the Emerson Institute. If you know of other good websites and blogs done by Texas, let share them in a comment.

Let us all keep alert to opportunities to support good writing in Texas and the growth of a Texas Publishing industry.

Robert Canright

If you have not read an earlier post, TBAR and the Texas Journalism Project, check it out!

Response to Comment by Dr. Troy Camplin:
Dr. Camplin, I think the Emerson Institute for Freedom and Culture looks like a good fit for a literary journal in which citizens could enter into free public discussion in the manner discussed by the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas in his work, "Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Investigation of a Category of Bourgeois Society." Corporate mass media has destroyed rational discourse in America. Non-profits will have to bring back public discourse so we can resume the great dialog that is democracy.

TLR: More on the Texas Democracy Project

The Texas Democracy Project can organize voters at the grass roots level to discuss issues, meet like-minded people, and to get out and vote. We have political parties, but we have small voter turn-out when we are not voting for President.

Independent political clubs, focused on voter education instead of voter manipulation, and focused on getting as much voter participation as possible, will strengthen our democracy.

American newspapers are misrepresenting political events in America. Only by blogging, emailing, and making personal contact can voters learn what is really happening in America. Our American newspapers and TV news are like the Communist's Pravda. The Russian people found ways to communicate news amongst themselves, and so can we.

Independent political clubs can become important hubs for sharing information. Some of the Ron Paul groups are like this in their sharing of information. If we are going to continue as a free people, we need to organize for our self-preservation. It is great that some people participate in Republican clubs or Democratic clubs, but independent voters do not organize and they should.

Everybody in America needs to care about our Republic, or our Republic and our liberties will disappear.

Robert Canright

TLR = the Texas Leadership Revolution

TBAR: What Can I Do?

I've been asked by email what we can do with the Texas Ascendancy Project. Let's think long term. Let's start with the Texas Banking and Finance Project. You and I are not billionaires or millionaires, so it will have to be our children who make this happen. The keys are education and expectation. Our children need to expect to accomplish great things and we need to educate them towards this end.

Here's an example of how I work with my son. After I blogged about the Texas Banking and Finance Project, I showed my 5th grade boy some info about the Rothschild banking family. I pointed out that the founder of the banking empire was born in a ghetto, became a successful banker, and reared his boys to become successful bankers, teaching them a formula for long term success for their banks. I pointed out to my son that for hundreds of years, Canrights have been teachers, preachers, missionaries, doctors, scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, but some were businessmen and at least one was a banker. Now he understands families have long lasting traditions. Next, I showed him that the author Mary Higgins Clark has brought her daughter Carol Higgins Clark into the writing business. We can start a business and teach it to our children.

Next, I talked to my son about "back of the envelope" calculations.

The Saturday December 6, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal had, on the first page of section B, Personal Finance, a photo of an envelope with simple calculations. Here's what the back-of-the-envelope calculations showed:

Citigroup , June 5, 2008
price per share = $20.60
tangible book value per share = $9.36
ratio of price/tangible book value = 2.20
on December 5, 2008
price per share = $7.71
tangible book value per share = $8.05
ratio of price/tangible book value = 0.96

Then I explained to him that the ratio being less than one meant the entire bank was priced at less than value of its pieces, so you could buy the bank, split it into pieces, sell all the pieces, and make a profit. Or keep it and know the bank can be fixed to make it worth ten times its purchase price.

I explained to my son that he has many options in life, that I will do the best I can to educate him to take advantage of his options. His choices are his to make, but he should not be afraid to aim high.

We have to educate our children, so let's educate them for greatness. We can use the Texas Ascendancy Project as an aid, a road map, in educating our children and explaining their options.

I can hear someone already saying, "Why bother, nothing you do makes a difference." Well, you and I might not make a big difference now, but even a small change in direction now can make a big difference further down the road.

There is a great line spoken by Gandolf in "The Two Towers." When Merry and Pippin show up with the Ents, Gandolf says, "The coming of Merry and Pippin is like the dropping of small stones that start an avalanche." Be patient and take heart. The steady application of a good plan will make a difference over time.

Robert Canright

The WSJ article mentioned was, "Heebner the Contrarian" by Diya Guillapalli.

TBAR: Texas, a New Financial Center

In October 2008 America has gotten a taste of the financial damage New York financiers have inflicted upon other countries. America needs another financial center to rival New York city and provide a counter-balance to its reckless market manipulation.

The Medici family controlled Florence using the power of the Medici Bank. The Medici's were too corrupt and incompetent to maintain their power. For 200 years the Rothschild's have been successful bankers. I have not seen reports that the Rothschild bank has been burned with Credit Default Swaps or Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs). To the contrary, reports say the Rothschild banks are doing very well now. The founder of the family fortune, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, is famous for saying, "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." This could be interpreted a couple of different ways, but nevertheless shows bankers do think about lawmakers.

The incompetence of New York bankers has threatened the world economy. For the good of the nation and the world, Texas needs to develop a financial center to rival New York. But we need to be careful about misusing that power to meddle in politics like the Medicis. We need to study the Rothschilds and learn from them how to establish a lasting banking and financial empire.

This is a perfect time to start investment banks in Texas, now that the investment banks in New York are reeling from their failures. We will call the plan to turn Texas into a world center of banking and finance the "Texas Banking and Finance Project".

Integrity and competence need to be the watch-words of the Texas banking industry. Integrity is a key ingredient for lasting success.

Robert Canright

TBAR = the Texas Business and Arts Renaissance

TLR and the Speech Writing Project

The Presidency Project, Part of the Texas Leadership Revolution (TLR)

We need to prepare our children as though any one of them might become President of the USA. The challenges facing America are increasingly difficult. Texans have occupied the White House in the past and faced great challenges: Vietnam, the 1st Gulf War, then the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The next Texan in the White House might face unimaginably difficult problems, so this Texan should be a person of integrity and vision, a person well grounded in history, economics, and finance. The next Texan in the White House might make fateful decisions that will make or break America. We need to send our best to the White House.

We also need to prepare our children to support a Texan running for the White House. There are many components to that web of support. One component is speech writing.

The Speech Writing Project

Presidential candidates rely on a number of highly qualified speech writers. Every important aspect of a presidential campaign must be prepared and nurtured. The rhetoric and oration of a U.S. President are vital to shaping the public vision and will. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56 – 117 A.D.) was a Roman Senator, Consul, Governor, and historian. He wrote “A Dialogue Concerning Oratory,” emphasizing the importance of eloquent oratory to stir the public. Presidential oratory can be studied, as evidenced by the following books:

1. Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman by Robert Kraig
2. The Rhetorical Presidency by Jeffrey Tulis
3. On Deaf Ears by George C. Edwards III
4. The Sound of Leadership by Roderick P. Hart
5. The Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents by Colleen J. Shogan

The universities and the public schools can promote presidential rhetoric and oratory. The public schools could include study of presidential speeches in speech, debate, and English composition. English Language Arts in Texas public schools needs to move from TAKS tests to competent teaching of rhetoric. The books by Robert Kraig and Colleen Shogan listed above were published by Texas A&M Press and Roderick Hart is with the University of Texas, Austin. These are good examples of how our universities can support the Speech Writing Project.

America needs Texas to provide a counter-weight to the power and influence of Wall Street. America needs Texas to provide competent, honorable leadership to restore our prosperity and preserve our liberty. All Texans need to consider where in the Texas Ascendancy Campaign they can best contribute. There will be many projects; there will be many opportunities where Texans can contribute to the Ascendancy of Texas.

Robert Canright

TLR and the Texas Democracy Project

The Texas Leadership Revolution (TLR) needs to be grounded in democracy. For the state of Texas to advance on the world stage, we need broad participation in order to make the best use of all the talent in Texas.

Small towns in Texas, like Plano, are run by oligarchies and are functionally undemocratic because the vast amount of its citizens do not vote. When the citizens do not vote, they signal they do not care what happens. The State Legislature is butchering education in Texas because the citizens of Texas do not vote. The welfare of Texas depends upon the health of the democratic process in Texas.

The Texas Democracy Project, a part of the Texas Leadership Revolution, will seek greater voter turnout and promote better information for the electorate. The major media has shown itself to be manipulative and dishonest, which undermines the democratic process. Hence, there is a connection between the Texas Journalism Project and the Texas Democracy Project.

We need a grass roots movement to restore democracy to Texas.

Robert Canright