Final Installment in the Countdown - Reagan

Dear Friends,

I sent an email that I turned into a blog post on September 12, 2025, "Week 1 - A New Birth of Freedom, (https://texasascendant.blogspot.com/2025/09/week-1-new-birth-of-freedom.html).  The idea was to send 52 emails to count down to July 4, 2026.  I did ten posts and then politics crowded out my plans.  There were primary elections, runoffs, municipal elections, and the Republican State Convention.  I did make ten posts that enriched my love for America.  I hope that you enjoyed them.

In this final post on July 4, 2026 I recommend watching the film, "Reagan," starring Dennis Quaid.

I purchased a streaming copy on Amazon Prime and I have watched it many times.  Not only was Ronald Reagan a great patriot, but also a common man.  He was not born into wealth.  He did not go to Harvard or Yale, but he had common sense and an inquiring mind.  At one point in the movie his wife tells him to stop reading Whittaker Chambers and go to bed.  If you have not read "Witness" by Whittaker Chambers, I recommend it.  Ronald Reagan could tell that Communism was a threat and he dedicated his life to defeating it.

He decided to stop the Soviet Union and he succeeded.  His career as an actor tanked, but he did not give up.  This is what you want to take away from the movie:  that in America we can achieve great things.  This is an exceptional country that allows people to seek their dreams.

Sometimes others reap the fruits of your labors.  JFK said we should put a man on the moon and Nixon was president when we walked on the moon.  In 1987 Reagan asked Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall  It was in 1989 when George H.W. Bush was president that the Berlin Wall came down.  One man sows and another reaps.

In Reagan's 1967 Inauguration Speech as Governor of California he made this famous statement:  "Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.  And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again."  (https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/january-5-1967-inaugural-address-public-ceremony)

Lincoln at Gettysburg called for us to have "a new birth of freedom."  The preamble to our Constitution calls us to have "a more perfect union."  As we celebrate 250 years of our Declaration of Independence, we have to remember that we are still perfecting our nation, and that we must preserve our union.

Reagan lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford.  No one remembers Ford, but we remember Reagan as the man who defeated the Soviet Union.  Watch the Reagan movie and marvel at how ordinary people can accomplish great things in this great country because of the freedoms we have.  Let's look forward to renewed greatness in America and in Texas.

Robert

A few comments on the movie.  The Jon Voight character is fictional.  The character "Dana" who was a speech writer is fictional.  Peggy Noonan, a Reagan speech writer, in her book, "What I Saw at the Revolution, A Political Life in the Reagan Era," describes how the State Department would try to interfere with Reagan's speeches.

Whittaker Chambers was a fascinating man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers).  He really was a spy and the infiltration of our government by Communists was amazing.

Week 10 Countdown - How much more than 250 years?

Friends,

Remember that I have a series of articles called "Countdown" that are intended to rejuvenate our sense of American exceptionalism.  The first article is on the web here:

Week 1 - A New Birth of Freedom
Friday, September 12, 2025
https://texasascendant.blogspot.com/2025/09/week-1-new-birth-of-freedom.html

This week we examine our roots.  How did our civilization develop to give us our Constitution?.  Why does our nation have more freedoms than many Western nations?  How much longer can we survive after we make it to the 250 year anniversary of the 4th of July, 1776?  There is a documentary series by Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, that is very insightful.

I recommend you watch 3 episodes of the 10 episode series.  You can buy the entire series.  I purchased all 10 episodes on Amazon Prime and have watched all ten.  For your next assignment I recommend you watch three specific episodes.   On Amazon Prime you can purchase individual episodes for $2 each.  You can also purchase a DVD of the entire series.  I purchased the entire series and watched all 10 episodes.  The three episodes I recommend I have watch twice and taken notes.

Here is the Amazon Prime link:  https://www.amazon.com/How-Should-We-Then-Live/dp/B002JIIFYY/

I recommend you watch 3 episodes out of the 10 available and take some notes as you watch them.  The episodes are 30 minutes each.  The reason I am recommending them is so you can appreciate our culture, our English heritage of freedom.  The English used to have the most freedom of the European countries.  The 3 episodes I recommend explain why our American Revolution was so much more successful than the French Revolution.

I recommend you first watch Episode 5, The Revolutionary Age.  Here Dr. Schaeffer points out that in England in 1644 Samuel Rutherford wrote "Lex, Rex, the Law and the Prince."  Rutherford said that the Bible is the basis of the law.  The Protestant Reformation from 1517 was 259 years before our 4th of July.  "Lex,Rex" was written 32 years before our American Revolution.

From Episode 5, The Revolutionary Age, we learn that the Protestant Revolution led to the English Bloodless Revolution of 1688, also known as the Glorious Revolution.   The French Revolution pushed Christianity out.  The French Revolution was based on the atheistic Enlightenment, while the Bloodless Revolution of 1688 and the American Revolution of 1776 are based on the Protestant Reformation.  By being based on God's laws, the American Revolution was far more successful than the French Revolution.

This means we must cling to Christianity to maintain our government.

From Episode 5 we learn that the Bible gave us a foundation for our laws.  We  learn that Christianity gave us freedom without chaos.  Humanism, which drove the French Revolution, had no absolute values, which led to arbitrary power.

Next I recommend watching Episode 6, The Scientific Age.  The Christian basis of Science was that God created an orderly universe so scientists could discover the order created by God.  Then scientists began to lose faith in God.  Without Christianity elites tend towards an authoritarian state.  Today we do not have in America a despotic authoritarian state like Hitler or Stalin  had.  We have a manipulative authoritarian state.  We are controlled by manipulation and propaganda.  People are conditioned to accept being treated like a machine.  We are trained to accept manipulation.  These are insights from Episode 6.

This means that as free citizens we must be aware of manipulation and avoid being manipulated.

Finally, watch Episode 10, Final Choices.  We learn that without Christianity a single individual or group will step forward as an elite to give arbitrary absolutes to our society.  The wave of LGBQ nonsense that swept the nation under President Biden is an example of this.  Daniel Bell in "The Coming of the Post Industrial Society" said that government must be ruled by the Elites because society is too complex for regular people.  The elites will rule us by manipulation

Dr. Schaeffer warned us in this series, in 1977, that Genetic Engineering would get out of hand.  Today, wealthy people can have embryos tested by DNA for traits and they can select which embryos will live based on projected IQ levels. This is actually happening right now.

Dr. Schaeffer emphasizes that freedom without Christianity leads to chaos.

These three videos show us the influences that led to our successful form of government, and he warns us how our society can go astray.

For our nation to live free past our 250 year anniversary, it helps to know how we got here and what pressures and influences can damage our prospects for a long and prosperous future.

One thing Dr. Schaeffer says over and over is that God cares about us, that God has spoken to us, and that God listens to us.

I hope these 3 episodes help you see why the American Revolution was successful while the French Revolution was a violent blood bath.

For us to go forward successfully we must understand how we got here and what has made us successful.  I hope these episodes will help you see why America is an exceptional country.  

Robert Canright

Week 9 Countdown - Lincoln - an assignment

 Friends,

I forgot to include an assignment for you in the email for the Week 9 Countdown on Lincoln.

I suggest that you read and consider the Lyceum speech by Lincoln (http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm).  It took me 30 minutes to read it because the language is awkward in some spots.  But in other spots it is beautiful.   The sentences he mentions before "the Blue Ridge" are beautiful.

After he warns that our nation can commit suicide, he gives us a path to save our nation.  Here is his advice for saving America:  "The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others."

While a member of our party appears to be committing ballot fraud, many of his supporters do not care that the law is being violated.  The contempt that the dubious candidate for JP4 has for our laws, contempt shared by his supporters and endorsers, flies in the face of heartfelt advice from Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President.

How can anyone consider himself a conservative Republican while ignoring the heartfelt advice of Abraham Lincoln?

Thank you,

Robert Canright

Week 9 Countdown - Lincoln - Our Country - Our Party - Our Doom

 Dear Friends,

Week 8 of our countdown to July 4, 2026 was to memorize Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863. (https://texasascendant.blogspot.com/2025/11/week-8-countdown-gettysburg-address.html).  As I worked to memorize it I realized how well written it is, how insightful it is, and that it contains a warning.

Style

My favorite book on writing style is The Practical Stylist with Readings and Handbook by Sheridan Baker (https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Stylist-Readings-Handbook-8th/dp/0321011821/).  On pages 319 and 320 of the eighth edition, the professor examines the Gettysburg Address.  It is masterful writing and you notice his choice of words when you work to memorize it because it is not the way you would  have written it.  It is a treat to read and memorize.

Insight

Lincoln said in the beginning of the speech that the Civil War was testing whether a nation conceived in Liberty and dedicated to equality can endure.  Notice that means our nation could have died with the Civil War.  Then at the end of the speech he says we must  resolve that  government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  Again he warns us that our nation can perish!

In Lincoln's Lyceum Speech (http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm) in 1838 he famously said that when our nation perishes it will by by suicide:  "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."  We must be careful we do not destroy ourselves!

Self Destruction

John Adams stated that "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." Without morality, the Constitution would be inadequate to govern society.  This implies that as our country becomes increasingly immoral, our society is at risk of dissolving, of breaking down.  From a Christian perspective, lying and cheating are immoral.  Just because this might be done in politics does not excuse immoral behavior.

Case number 296-09883-2025 before the Collin County District Courts raises concerns about the eligibility of Mr. Stephen Kallas, a Republican candidate for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4 (JP4).  Mr. Kallas's ballot application includes this statement:  "I further swear that the foregoing statements included in my application are in all things true and correct.”  Now I ask you, if Mr. Kallas lives in JP1 but put down an address in JP4, is that true and correct?  Do we need to seek council from Pontius Pilate, who famously said, "What is truth?"

A candidate for Judge should be above reproach.  He should be a man of unquestioned integrity.  If a judge begins his legal career with false statements on his ballot application, what does that say about the underlying morality of that court?   And what about the morality of a political party that sees how Brent Hagenbuch broke residency requirements, got away with that, and then the party thinks that the residency requirements in our laws can be ignored?  Cheat if you can get away with it?  Is this the Republican way?

If immoral behavior within the Republican Party lowers the morality of our community, then the Republican Party is a moral hazard.  Many people within the Collin County Republican Party believe that following our election laws is naive.  I am told, "Cheating works, it happens, get over it."  No.  This is where the saying, "Bad company corrupts good morals," comes in. Just because immoral behavior happens within our party is no reason to accept immoral behavior. Rather, it is reason to ask our party to do better.

The future of our country depends on moral behavior, as John Adams has said.  Lincoln said that if our nation dies it will be like suicide, self-inflicted.  Morality is not some silly memory from childhood Vacation Bible School, it is important for the life of our county, for the good of our Republican Party, and for our personal spiritual lives.

Thank you for your time,

Robert