The next Texan in the White House Needs Great Speeches
When I mentioned the importance of good speech writing in our next effort to put at Texan in the White House, I mentioned that our universities could support this effort by promoting promoting presidential rhetoric and oratory.
Besides normal scholarly work, we could look at the example of Jeffrey Hart at Dartmouth University. Besides teaching English Literature, he worked as a speech writer on Ronald Reagan's 1968 run for the Republican nomination. He worked as a White House speech writer for Nixon. Then he returned to Dartmouth.
Jeffrey Hart worked as a book reviewer for Buckley's National Review. Hart helped start the Dartmouth Review.
A great leader needs great speeches to showcase great ideas and affirm great values. We need to develop great speech writers in Texas to help make Texas Ascendant!
Robert Canright
Related posts
TLR and the Speech Writing Project, December 3, 2008
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Heartland Union
We Need Help
If Texas is going to be the engine that pulls America back on track, we cannot do it alone. When I first proposed the Democracy Project I suggested we ally ourselves with the states in the American heartland. We need a good name for this alliance and I now propose the Heartland Union for the name.
If the middle-class is going to survive, then middle-America must organize for self preservation. At some point we will need to win the Presidency. We need to think outside the box and put aside the conventional concept of political parties because neither of the two parties at the national level represents the welfare of the middle-class. I cannot predict whether there will be a new third party or a revolt within an existing party, but we need a change.
Whatever the vehicle to power, we need to borrow some of the thinking the parties use for Presidential elections. It so happens that most of the American heartland corresponds to the red states in an electoral map, as you might find at PoliticalMaps.org.
Possible list of States in the Heartland Union
What will the Heartland Union look like? It has to look like a winner, which means 270 electoral votes!
Let's construct a map of the Heartland Union based on electoral votes. The following states have voted in similar fashion in Presidential elections. Below are the state initials and the number of electoral college votes.
ID 4
UT 5
AZ 10
MT 3
WY 3
ND 3
SD 3
NE 5
KS 6
OK 7
TX 34
MO 11
AR 6
LA 9
IN 11
KY 8
TN 11
MS 6
AL 9
WV 5
VA 13
NC 15
SC 8
GA 15
AK 3
The subtotal is 213 in 25 states, but we need 270 electoral votes so we are 57 short.
FL 27
OH 21
Which add up to 48, need 9 more.
Colorado has 9:
CO 9
At this point we have 28 of 50 states.
If we do not get Colorado, then we need 2 of these 3:
NM 5
NV 5
NH 4
If we got all of these states, they add up to 31 states.
I believe if we controlled 34 state legislatures we could force a new Constitutional Convention. This would be leverage. We would need 3 more states to join the Heartland Union, even if they are not contiguous with the rest of the states in this political alliance.
Small states might be easier to work with, so we need to develop good relations with the following small states, all of which have 3 or 4 electoral votes, to develop enough influence to threaten holding a constitutional convention:
DE, VT, RI, HI and ME
Smaller Set of States in the Heartland Union
A dozen contiguous states would be a good core for the Heartland Union: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wyoming, and Montana.
Strategies
My thought has been to form a Heartland Union based on shared values. It's also possible to create alliances with states having different values if there are mutual interests. I'll explore this approach later.
Key Concepts
We must recognize that Ohio, Florida, and Colorado are import to include in the Heartland Union, but they flip-flop between red and blue. New Mexico goes blue more often than you might expect. It may be that these states recognize the failings of the Republican Party at the national level and reject that leadership. Texas needs to be the alternative to the RNC (Republican National Committee). Texas needs to represent the interests of middle-America because no one else does.
Robert Canright
See also
The Heartland Union, Part 2 January 3, 2010
The Democracy Project, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
TBAR: Dallas Morning News and Texas Publishing
What would the Dallas metroplex be like without the Dallas Morning News?
The DMN was founded in 1885 by Alfred Belo. The Dallas Morning News has been around for a long time and it would be sad to see it go. But it could shut down. 105 newspapers have closed in 2009. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed after 146 years in print. We cannot take for granted the survival of the DMN.
The Dallas Morning News ran an article on Sunday October 11, 2009: Morning News Tries Premium Value Strategy by Brendan Case. The DMN said it will fight for readership by increasing its news coverage: they are betting on providing quality to maintain readership. A significant number of people from the DMN attended a home owners meeting in Plano to explain their commitment to its readers.
Dallas cannot become a world-class city without a world-class newspaper, so I definitely would like to see a newspaper in Dallas. If the DMN closes, would another newspaper take its place? This is a difficult time for newspapers across America. There is a thought that has plagued me for over a month. I could not figure out how to express this thought, but then a friend put it into words for me.
I was telling a friend that one year ago people protested in front of every Federal Reserve Bank in America, the End the Fed movement, but there was no news coverage in Dallas at all. The Dallas Morning News and TV news were all silent. My friend said, "You know how worried people are about the newspapers closing? Maybe they deserve to close."
What a shocking thought! Then I remembered how terrible the news coverage was during the last presidential election. The reporting was so bad I had to read London newspapers and a German magazine to learn what was going on in America. Maybe newspapers are failing as businesses because they have been failing as newspapers.
If the DMN fails, it will leave void. But we already have a major void in Texas publishing.
Are Newspapers All We Need?
We need more than good newspapers. For Texas to rise to greatness, we need great ideas. I never cared for William F. Buckley or the National Review, but they did make a difference. The New Criterion had some influence as did First Things, Chronicles, and The Public Interest. The Cornell Review and the Dartmouth Review were started by students and have had some influence.
The book of James says the tongue is like a tiny rudder that turns a large ship. Ideas are like tiny rudders that turn society. We cannot have great leaders without great ideas, and we cannot raise Texas to greatness without great leaders. So great ideas can contribute to making Texas a great state.
There are universities in Texas that aspire to become Tier One universities. It really does take more than a research budget to get respect, it takes intellectual firepower. Texas needs magazines with intellectual content, and Texas universities are pools of talent that that can nurture influential magazines. My neighborhood bookstore sells the Yale Economic Review, a student journal. Why can't we have a Texas Economic Review put out by our university students? We have not set that kind of goal for ourselves, but it is time we did.
How can we contribute to the birth of great magazines of thoughtful discourse? We can look forward to them, read them when they are available, and discuss their ideas. An infrastructure of power that lacks ideas is a weak infrastructure.
Robert Canright
Related posts:
The Texas Journalism Project November 27, 2008
The Texas Publishing Project December 14, 2008
Publishing Business Novels February 12, 2009
Texas Tier One University Project, September 19, 2009
The DMN was founded in 1885 by Alfred Belo. The Dallas Morning News has been around for a long time and it would be sad to see it go. But it could shut down. 105 newspapers have closed in 2009. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed after 146 years in print. We cannot take for granted the survival of the DMN.
The Dallas Morning News ran an article on Sunday October 11, 2009: Morning News Tries Premium Value Strategy by Brendan Case. The DMN said it will fight for readership by increasing its news coverage: they are betting on providing quality to maintain readership. A significant number of people from the DMN attended a home owners meeting in Plano to explain their commitment to its readers.
Dallas cannot become a world-class city without a world-class newspaper, so I definitely would like to see a newspaper in Dallas. If the DMN closes, would another newspaper take its place? This is a difficult time for newspapers across America. There is a thought that has plagued me for over a month. I could not figure out how to express this thought, but then a friend put it into words for me.
I was telling a friend that one year ago people protested in front of every Federal Reserve Bank in America, the End the Fed movement, but there was no news coverage in Dallas at all. The Dallas Morning News and TV news were all silent. My friend said, "You know how worried people are about the newspapers closing? Maybe they deserve to close."
What a shocking thought! Then I remembered how terrible the news coverage was during the last presidential election. The reporting was so bad I had to read London newspapers and a German magazine to learn what was going on in America. Maybe newspapers are failing as businesses because they have been failing as newspapers.
If the DMN fails, it will leave void. But we already have a major void in Texas publishing.
Are Newspapers All We Need?
We need more than good newspapers. For Texas to rise to greatness, we need great ideas. I never cared for William F. Buckley or the National Review, but they did make a difference. The New Criterion had some influence as did First Things, Chronicles, and The Public Interest. The Cornell Review and the Dartmouth Review were started by students and have had some influence.
The book of James says the tongue is like a tiny rudder that turns a large ship. Ideas are like tiny rudders that turn society. We cannot have great leaders without great ideas, and we cannot raise Texas to greatness without great leaders. So great ideas can contribute to making Texas a great state.
There are universities in Texas that aspire to become Tier One universities. It really does take more than a research budget to get respect, it takes intellectual firepower. Texas needs magazines with intellectual content, and Texas universities are pools of talent that that can nurture influential magazines. My neighborhood bookstore sells the Yale Economic Review, a student journal. Why can't we have a Texas Economic Review put out by our university students? We have not set that kind of goal for ourselves, but it is time we did.
How can we contribute to the birth of great magazines of thoughtful discourse? We can look forward to them, read them when they are available, and discuss their ideas. An infrastructure of power that lacks ideas is a weak infrastructure.
Robert Canright
Related posts:
The Texas Journalism Project November 27, 2008
The Texas Publishing Project December 14, 2008
Publishing Business Novels February 12, 2009
Texas Tier One University Project, September 19, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Texas Tier One University Project
Texas needs more Tier One universities. We do not compare well against New York and California.
Texas is one of the most populous states in the Union. Here are the top three, compared by Electoral College votes.
California: 55 Electoral votes
Texas: 34 Electoral votes
New York: 31 Electoral votes
New York and California each have more Tier One Universities than Texas. Below is the count, from a report by David Daniel to the Texas State Senate.
California: 9 Tier One universities
Texas: 3 Tier One universities
New York: 7 Tier One universities
Using the electoral votes as a representation of population, I set up and solved these problems with my son: Based on the ratio of electoral votes, and comparing Texas to the number of Tier One universities in California and New York, how many Tier One universities should Texas have?
Compared to California: x/9 = 34/55, which is solved for 5.5 Tier One universities.
Compared to New York: x/7 = 34/31, which is solved for 7.7 Tier One universities.
Texas has 3 Tier One Universities, but we should have between 5 and 8. The DFW area definitely needs a Tier One university for economic and political development. When visiting campuses, I was very impressed with Texas Tech University and was surprised it was not a Tier One university. The State of Texas has recognized a need for more Tier One universities and has a plan to provide more money. There is an excellent article by Holly Hacker in the Dallas Morning News, Friday April 24, 2009: "7 Texas universities hoping to join 'tier one' face long battle." Here is another good article from Lubbock Online: "Tech's tier-one bill not killed by chubbing" by Enrique Rangel, Thursday, May 28, 2009.
But what is a Tier One university? The article by Holly Hacker discusses this, and here is a link to WikiAnswers on "What is a tier one university?" Money is part of the answer, but prestige and influence are the major factors. We should want more Tier One universities in order to generate more wealth and influence for the State of Texas.
I have been parochial in the past, focusing mostly on the need for a Tier One university in the DFW metroplex, but I recognize the importance of adding more than one Tier One school to the existing three. Texas needs to add between 2 and 5 more Tier One schools to lift the total to the range of 5 to 8. This defines a Texas Tier One University Project.
I am happy and encouraged to see the Texas State Legislature has already recognized the importance of having more Tier One Universities in Texas (a link to the legislation is provided in the references). We all need to be supportive of this effort.
From Holly Hacker's article, here is the list of 7 schools considered candidates for Tier One:
Robert Canright
References
Related posts:
Texas, New York, and Universities Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Texas Needs More Tier 1 Universities Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Why UT Dallas Should Be Tier One Saturday, January 17, 2009
Here is a link to HR 51, session 81(R). The bill was written by RepresentativeDan Branch of Dallas, et al, and sponsored by State Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo).
Texas is one of the most populous states in the Union. Here are the top three, compared by Electoral College votes.
California: 55 Electoral votes
Texas: 34 Electoral votes
New York: 31 Electoral votes
New York and California each have more Tier One Universities than Texas. Below is the count, from a report by David Daniel to the Texas State Senate.
California: 9 Tier One universities
Texas: 3 Tier One universities
New York: 7 Tier One universities
Using the electoral votes as a representation of population, I set up and solved these problems with my son: Based on the ratio of electoral votes, and comparing Texas to the number of Tier One universities in California and New York, how many Tier One universities should Texas have?
Compared to California: x/9 = 34/55, which is solved for 5.5 Tier One universities.
Compared to New York: x/7 = 34/31, which is solved for 7.7 Tier One universities.
Texas has 3 Tier One Universities, but we should have between 5 and 8. The DFW area definitely needs a Tier One university for economic and political development. When visiting campuses, I was very impressed with Texas Tech University and was surprised it was not a Tier One university. The State of Texas has recognized a need for more Tier One universities and has a plan to provide more money. There is an excellent article by Holly Hacker in the Dallas Morning News, Friday April 24, 2009: "7 Texas universities hoping to join 'tier one' face long battle." Here is another good article from Lubbock Online: "Tech's tier-one bill not killed by chubbing" by Enrique Rangel, Thursday, May 28, 2009.
But what is a Tier One university? The article by Holly Hacker discusses this, and here is a link to WikiAnswers on "What is a tier one university?" Money is part of the answer, but prestige and influence are the major factors. We should want more Tier One universities in order to generate more wealth and influence for the State of Texas.
I have been parochial in the past, focusing mostly on the need for a Tier One university in the DFW metroplex, but I recognize the importance of adding more than one Tier One school to the existing three. Texas needs to add between 2 and 5 more Tier One schools to lift the total to the range of 5 to 8. This defines a Texas Tier One University Project.
I am happy and encouraged to see the Texas State Legislature has already recognized the importance of having more Tier One Universities in Texas (a link to the legislation is provided in the references). We all need to be supportive of this effort.
From Holly Hacker's article, here is the list of 7 schools considered candidates for Tier One:
- The University of North Texas in Denton
- UT-Arlington
- UT-Dallas
- UT-El Paso
- UT-San Antonio
- The University of Houston
- Texas Tech in Lubbock
Robert Canright
References
Related posts:
Texas, New York, and Universities Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Texas Needs More Tier 1 Universities Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Why UT Dallas Should Be Tier One Saturday, January 17, 2009
Here is a link to HR 51, session 81(R). The bill was written by RepresentativeDan Branch of Dallas, et al, and sponsored by State Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo).
List of Projects
The Texas Ascendancy Campaign has three major divisions: the Texas Business and Arts Renaissance (TBAR), the Texas Leadership Revolution (TLR), and Education. You can view a high level diagram of the Texas Ascendant Campaign.
Below is a list of the projects comprising the Texas Ascendant Campaign. You can go to the top of the Blogger page, paste in the name of the project, click on the "Search Blog" button, and see all the posts on that project.
A project might contribute to more than one aspect of the Texas Ascendancy Campaign. The Cicero Project, for example, has both political and business interests. The Cicero Project can also be viewed as a part of the Education aspect of the Texas Ascendancy Campaign.
What is the difference between a project and an initiative? An initiative contains a number of related projects
List of Projects and Initiatives
Cicero Project
Economics Project
Industrialization Project
Billionaire Project
Trust Texas Project
Texas Journalism Project
Texas Diplomacy Project
Texas Democracy Project
Texas Entrepreneurship Project
Texas Publishing Project
Texas Software Initiative
The Texas Software Product Development Project
Texas Software Reliability Project
Special Methods Software Project
Speech Writing Project
DFW University Project
Texas Tier One University Project
Jefferson Project
Classics Project
Classics Animated Project
Below is a list of the projects comprising the Texas Ascendant Campaign. You can go to the top of the Blogger page, paste in the name of the project, click on the "Search Blog" button, and see all the posts on that project.
A project might contribute to more than one aspect of the Texas Ascendancy Campaign. The Cicero Project, for example, has both political and business interests. The Cicero Project can also be viewed as a part of the Education aspect of the Texas Ascendancy Campaign.
What is the difference between a project and an initiative? An initiative contains a number of related projects
List of Projects and Initiatives
Bank in a Box Project
Texas Banking and Finance Project
Leadership Project
The National Security Project
History ProjectTexas Banking and Finance Project
Leadership Project
The National Security Project
Cicero Project
Economics Project
Industrialization Project
Billionaire Project
Trust Texas Project
Texas Journalism Project
Texas Diplomacy Project
Texas Democracy Project
Texas Entrepreneurship Project
Texas Publishing Project
Texas Software Initiative
The Texas Software Product Development Project
Texas Software Reliability Project
Special Methods Software Project
Speech Writing Project
DFW University Project
Texas Tier One University Project
Jefferson Project
Classics Project
Classics Animated Project
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Industrialization in Texas: the Italian Model
I first discussed the Texas Industrialization Project back in July. Industrialization is important for Texas because industry provides jobs. Texas needs to plan for economic growth, and if the State of Texas will not do it, then it is up to the cities to do it.
I do not picture Plano, Texas, becoming thick with heavy industry, but it could become part of a web of small scale industries that spans the communities of Frisco, McKinney, Richardson, and Lewisville.
Francis Fukuyama, in Chapter 10 of his book, Trust, describes how central Italy in the 1970's and 1980's exploded economically "with the emergence of networks of small businesses making everything textiles and designer clothes to machine tools and industrial robots." He goes on to say, "Some enthusiasts of small-scale industrialization have argued that the Italian model represents and entirely new paradigm of industrial production, one that can be exported to other countries."
If the Italians can do this, then we can do the same if we have the will-power to do so.
He says, "Italy is the world's third-largest producer of industrial robots, and yet a third of that industry's output is produced by enterprises with fewer than fifty employees." Smaller companies are easier to capitalize, meaning smaller start-up costs.
Smaller costs means the cities and counties could do this kind of industrial planning without waiting for leadership at the state level.
These small companies in Italy could compete internationally because they could respond to changes quickly. They could compete against the giants of world industry because, "they specialized in machine tools, ceramics, apparel, design, and other activities that do not reward large scale."
We have enough talent in North Texas that we can compete internationally. We need to think for ourselves and work for our prosperity if our children are to have a future.
We need an Industrialization Plan and the Italian model could be a part of it.
Robert Canright
Reference:
Trust, The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, by Francis Fukuyama, New York: The Free Press, 1995
I do not picture Plano, Texas, becoming thick with heavy industry, but it could become part of a web of small scale industries that spans the communities of Frisco, McKinney, Richardson, and Lewisville.
Francis Fukuyama, in Chapter 10 of his book, Trust, describes how central Italy in the 1970's and 1980's exploded economically "with the emergence of networks of small businesses making everything textiles and designer clothes to machine tools and industrial robots." He goes on to say, "Some enthusiasts of small-scale industrialization have argued that the Italian model represents and entirely new paradigm of industrial production, one that can be exported to other countries."
If the Italians can do this, then we can do the same if we have the will-power to do so.
He says, "Italy is the world's third-largest producer of industrial robots, and yet a third of that industry's output is produced by enterprises with fewer than fifty employees." Smaller companies are easier to capitalize, meaning smaller start-up costs.
Smaller costs means the cities and counties could do this kind of industrial planning without waiting for leadership at the state level.
These small companies in Italy could compete internationally because they could respond to changes quickly. They could compete against the giants of world industry because, "they specialized in machine tools, ceramics, apparel, design, and other activities that do not reward large scale."
We have enough talent in North Texas that we can compete internationally. We need to think for ourselves and work for our prosperity if our children are to have a future.
We need an Industrialization Plan and the Italian model could be a part of it.
Robert Canright
Reference:
Trust, The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, by Francis Fukuyama, New York: The Free Press, 1995
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Trust Texas: Taking a Stand Against Corruption
Establishing a reputation for honesty would improve business opportunities in Texas. I mentioned this in an earlier post in this blog: the Trust Texas Project. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal brings corruption back to the headlines: New Jersey Corruption Bust Had Deep Roots by SUZANNE SATALINE (Aug. 28, 2009). What an embarrassment for New Jersey this event must be. I was happy the scandal was taking place outside of Texas.
Maintaining honesty in politicians has always been a problem. Plato said we would not be free of political corruption unless we were ruled by philosophers, unless we were ruled by people who loved wisdom instead of money. That is a difficult order to meet!
I have suggested in the past that we have our children recite daily the Pledge to Justice in our elementary schools:
Our children's future depends upon a political and economic environment permeated by honesty. We all need to work towards this end for the sake of our children.
Robert Canright
Maintaining honesty in politicians has always been a problem. Plato said we would not be free of political corruption unless we were ruled by philosophers, unless we were ruled by people who loved wisdom instead of money. That is a difficult order to meet!
I have suggested in the past that we have our children recite daily the Pledge to Justice in our elementary schools:
The Pledge to Justice
We do not steal, we do not cheat, and we do not hurt other people.
We are people of integrity, competence, and compassion.
We do not steal, we do not cheat, and we do not hurt other people.
We are people of integrity, competence, and compassion.
Our children's future depends upon a political and economic environment permeated by honesty. We all need to work towards this end for the sake of our children.
Robert Canright
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