My grandfather was a captain of a B17 in World War II.  They called him "Old Man" because he was couple years older than most of the kids he served with...I want you to think about that: he was born in 1922 and by the time he was bombing Germany, he was 'old man' at 21 years old in 1943.

I only know these things because before he died, I spent many hours with him asking him direct questions.  With almost ALL veterans, they don't talk openly about the experiences they had (except for false posers like Democrat, Richard Blumenthal who LIED to people making them think he served in Vietnam...).  This is especially true when talking to military veterans who actually served in an active combat zone (which Blumenthal did not).

For the record, Richard Blumenthal is a whore. The democrat mafia protects whores like Richard and somehow Richard still has authority in Congress under the protection of the DNC. You just can't make this up.  In a normal world, EVERYONE on Planet Earth would banish this pile of human trash to the third ring of Jupiter, but it is TOTALLY OK with the democrat party.  As always, monstrosities are a protected class by the Left.  

But I digress.

My grandfather signed up because he felt like he had a duty to America.  He told me what America means to him: America is the place where dreams come true.  America is the place where ANYTHING is possible.  MY GRANDFATHER'S EXACT WORDS: "Nothing can stop you from reaching the top here in America."  

I was 14 years old. 

I was his first grandchild in a difficult situation.  His daughter (my mom) got pregnant just out of high school and out of wedlock.  That was 'shocking' in 1969, but I was his first grandchild and he loved me dearly.  He took me under his wing and showed me how to prosper in life.  He is the man that taught me HOW to think, not WHAT to think.  To this day, I stand that "Pop" saved my life by teaching me critical thinking skills.  I have worked really hard to each my three kids the same things.  

For most of my life, I've been labeled as a 'conspiracy theorist.'  In the past, this label was only used to describe the crazy people that wear tinfoil hats and yell at the sky while looking for the black helicopters with the 'silencers' in the rotor blades.  

But over the past 5 years, more and more people have acknowledged the possibility that when I speak about a given topic, I'm NOT that tinfoil hat wearing 'lunatic,' - they see truth in what I am saying.  

And what he taught me is how to spot bullshit.  

He taught me to not only understand history, but to zoom OUT and look at the bigger picture.  

He taught me to identify patterns and trends.  

He taught me to be an avid reader and a student of history.  This last massive lesson has served me well.  In reality, people tend to make the same mistakes over and over again.  After suffering the brutal consequences of bad decisions, we apply 'revisionist history' to our past and start to believe that if we only made some adjustments in our choices, we could have steered that result in a different direction.  I will share more about this shortly.  

Before you start yelling at me about how I grew up in an elite, privileged world, I will also share with you that my grandfather did not graduate the 8th grade.  He was born in 1922 and he had to go work to help the family survive in the Great Depression.  In 1964, he started a small business that now employs about 100 people.  Pop is the embodiment of the 'American Dream.'

Working hard to build a life for him and his family was his focus and I thank him for that because I am, in large part, the man I am because of his influence.  

Late in his life, he had a stroke that left him paralyzed in half his body.  Face drooping, not able to walk again on his own, he retreated and slowly declined.  He was always a strong man, but he resigned to his fate.  Communication was difficult and he curtailed his communication as a result.  I'll always love him and the impact he had on my life was immense.  

I often wonder what he would think about the state of the nation today.  He loved America deeply.  

As we rush into the radical Leftist, communist agenda at full tilt, I believe he would be horrified by our national trajectory.  As he defended America against Nazi totalitarianism, he would be horrified to see our school systems teaching Critical Race Theory, the 'joys' of collectivism and the evil concept of 'equity.'  I think he would be shocked to hear that almost 50% of college students think socialism is a good idea because things would be more 'fair.'  

While I know the media has always been for sale to their socialist masters, I think he would be shocked at how overtly manipulative and biased our 'news' sources are.  

The good news is that there is still hope for our nation.  

There is a saying that "Hard Times Creates Strong Men.  Good Times Creates Weak Men."  

Never has that been truer.  

We are victim of having too much good in our lives.  When things are too easy, we tend to get lazy in our prosperity and then look for a mountain to climb or enemy to attack.  Sitting idle provides time for us to invent an enemy when one doesn't physically exist, and our grandfathers conquered the ultimate enemy in winning World War II.  Incredible prosperity came in the late 1940s and beyond.  Yes, there was the Cold War with the Communist Soviet Union and the rise of China, but Americans got fat and happy.  And in that prosperity, we birthed the next generation of soft men that faced almost no real challenges.  We became weak and docile.  

Men have been under attack for 50 years and the result is stunning.  Schools program our children to explain away gender.  Boys are discouraged from 'being boys' who play in the mud, play Cowboys and Indians, wrestle and develop.  Our boys are discouraged from hearing that they are oppressors and sexists.  No wonder why we see so many men today that run around with 'Woke' bracelets around their wrists wearing fedoras while sporting tattoo sleeves.  

The elixir for this that we need to develop strong men again.  Chivalry is not dead, but it has been shamed into oblivion.  We need strong men to regain our foothold and lead the nation away from the abyss of socialism/communism that the Democrats have cast us into.  We MUST not just win the battle...we must win the minds and hearts of others.  We need better messaging and a more attractive alternative to what Democrats promise (but rarely deliver).  

My grandfather has been gone for a decade now, but I think of him often.  As I have raised my two boys and daughter, I passed down the lessons he gave me in the hope that they will stand up to the oppressive Left.  My 21 year old has picked up the gauntlet that I've throw down to him and I am so proud of the young man he has become.  He and his friends give me hope that we can stop the insanity and return to the top.  

I'll end this post with that good news.