Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Texas, New York, and Universities

Compare the financial devastation Wall Street has visited upon America in September, 2008, and the entire world for that matter, to the financial damage Al-Qaeda visited upon America on 9/11/01. There is no comparison: New York has hurt America's finances far more than Al-Qaeda.

If Texas is to free America from the New York City oligarchy, we need a city in Texas that can compete with New York City. We do not have one, so we need to start working on this.

The DFW Metroplex is a good candidate to compete with New York City. Universities are an important part of a city's culture and intellectual infrastructure. New York City has Columbia University, the New School (formerly the New School for Social Research), City College of New York, Barnard College, Cooper Union, and others. There is also the Julliard School.

We have some good colleges in DFW, but even the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M fail to compare with Columbia University.

The University of Chicago (founded 1891) is higher ranked than UT Austin (founded 1883). DFW needs a university on par with Columbia University and the University of Chicago. UT is older than the University of Chicago, so we could have developed UT into a better university, but we failed to do so.

Texas needs to lift the standards for UT Austin, Texas A&M, and develop a first tier university in DFW. U.T. Dallas is probably the best candidate to become a DFW tier one university and the effort to uplift U.T. Dallas could be called the DFW University Project.

The oligarchy in New York City is out of control; it is a threat to the liberty and prosperity of all Americans. Texas must wrestle political and financial power away from the New York oligarchy for the good of the nation. Improving our universities is an important part of this effort, and developing a first tier university in DFW has to be a part of the plan.

Robert Canright

Saturday, October 25, 2008

TLR: History and Leadership, the History Project

The DVD set for the John Adams mini-series contained a story about the author, David McCullough: "Painting with Words."

At one point he said he has often been asked what event in history he wished he could have witnessed personally. McCullough said that when Ralph Waldo Emerson graduated from Harvard, he visited President John Adams in the last year of his life, 1825.

Emerson recorded President John Adams saying this:
"I would to God there were more ambition in the country. By that I mean ambition of the laudable kind, to excel."

I believe this describes the ambition expressed in the Texas Ascendancy Campaign, the ambition expressed when I urge Plano so send one of its own to the White House, the ambition to strive for greatness for the sake of America and the sake of all Americans.

The History Project

In his farewell address to the nation, Ronald Reagan said, "... freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection. So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important..."

The history of our American Revolution, the history of great nations and great men, and the history of freedom must warm the blood and light the way for the ambitious leadership that will carry us to prosperity in this next century.

We must do a better job of teaching history in our schools, history based not on what's in fashion, but what's important.

Robert Canright

Remember, TLR = the Texas Leadership Revolution

Sunday, October 5, 2008

America Needs Texas Ascendant

The government bailout of Wall Street on October 4, 2008, shows that Wall Street rules America. That Wall Street needed a bailout and numerous New York investment banks failed proves Wall Street is an incompetent master. (Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reorganized as bank holding companies.)

America needs Texas ascendant. For the good of the nation, Texas must take control of America away from Wall Street.

Since the founding of our American republic, when Alexander Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury and also the founder of the Bank of New York, New York bankers have had a dangerous amount of power. Alexander Hamilton also founded the New York Post newspaper, establishing the money men as the controllers of America's news from the first days of our republic.

New York money men have ruled, or tried to rule, America since its inception. Today they clearly run Washington even though a Texan sits in the Oval Office (this is October 2008).

It is time for a true Texan to be President. The next Texan to go to the White House cannot be a servant of New York money.

If money rules America, then we in Texas must replace New York as the financial center of America. Now that investment banks in New York are failing, it is an excellent time to start investment banks in Texas. There is a lot of unemployed expertise waiting to be picked up.

How can Texas do better in banking than New York? Honor, that is how. Cicero said that nothing dishonorable can be beneficial. The New York bankers spun a web of deception that has rocked the financial world. We in Texas must put honesty and honor first. We must lift high the standards of business in Texas so the entire world expects Texas businessmen to be the most trustworthy and reliable bankers on earth.

Competency and honor will lead to lasting success. Look at how dishonesty in New York destroyed very old financial firms. Lehman Brothers was over 100 years old when it went bankrupt. There is a natural law in politics that our founding fathers believed in. There is also a natural law in economics. Wall Street has proven that a day of retribution will eventually come to those who violate the natural laws of economics.

There are many good church people in Texas. There are many good people in Texas who are not Christians. But the good people of Texas must no longer accept Machiavellians like Lee Atwater because evil deeds always come back. Texas cannot have honest business and at the same time corrupt politics. If we want to set standards for honesty in business, we must also set standards for decency and honesty in our politics.

America needs Texas leadership, but America needs the best we have to offer. To be our best we must be honorable.

Robert Canright