Jobs numbers
Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs. Thousands of jobs are being terminated on a monthly basis. The jobs numbers for the past 2 years are casting a shadow of uncertainty over the nation.
We were warned about this. Last year, before the election, the leader of the Teamsters (even a broken clock may be correct twice a day) said there are millions of open jobs that no one will take. He then explained that he predicted in the next few years, millions of jobs will be terminated and that we need to retrain people to transition before they are laid off. Mike Rowe addressed this problem in a series earlier this year. A multitude of employers are trying to entice people to make a career change and join up, but no one responds. As predicted, the open position number has hovered around 7.5M for over a year now and shows no signs of changing. Looks like the new jobs are staying while the old jobs are going.
When Trump was elected and folks were busy celebrating, I was busy trying to get folks to develop reasonable skills for the future. I knew MAGA had to step up to fill the void if we were to make America successful during this Presidency. Few have answered the call. We are supposed to be conservatives: We are supposed to represent individual freedom, merit, and responsibility. Instead, there is a lot of othering and collectivist blaming. If you are going to go down that road, you might as well identify yourself as a Leftist.
People are stuck in their ways and refuse to make changes when it is good for them. As conservatives, we need to stand on individual responsibility and get the work done - irrespective of the past. Changing is hard. But as the saying goes: "life is change and death it's alternative." Adapt or die.
Lazy
I have been lazy; contented; involuntarily compliant. This is unacceptable. Last week, We, the People, took a tremendous loss. Charlie Kirk was an inspiration, and for that, we shall remain eternally grateful. He was never lazy; never contented; never involuntarily compliant. He lived his faith each and every day. More of us need to do so; for, our time might be short.
I am pledging an oath here and now to stay engaged, involved, and working for my children’s future and their children’s thereafter. My discipline shall be turned toward the work. Last night, I was welcomed to the YGOP of Ellis County. The energy in the room was palpable. We were thick with faith and constitution. They allowed me a few minutes of their time to speak.
Many folks have asked me privately what I think about the assassination. The upshot is that I do not want to leave a world for our posterity where folks take lives when a microphone is available for discussion instead. That world sounds treacherous; it sounds like hell.
Why does this one feel different?
Mr. Kirk’s death hits different from the others. I have heard this many times from independent people. I think this is simple. He was not President. He was not a Legislator. He was not a Judge. He was not a billionaire CEO, the director of a Super PAC, or some other position of power. He was just a person with a microphone. If he was a target, so are you. If you speak, if you write, if you podcast, you are a target.
This is no longer a battle of flesh; this is a battle of spirit. No longer is death the punishment for a physical violation. Now, to our enemies, death is punishment for thought and faith. This is why this one feels different. It is different - fundamentally, radically, and spiritually different.
How did we get here?
I have no idea how we got here - I can surmise, I can speculate, I can hypothesize - I can only offer a limited view of our socio-political ills. Worship and Sacrament have declined, and so with them have morality, values, comfort, and stability.
Atheists consistently give credence to Judeo-Chrstian values. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Kurt Vonnnegut (all self-proclaimed atheists) have expressed admiration for the value and belief system presented by the Judeo-Christian line of faiths. The latter even stating, “If what Jesus said was good, and so much of it was beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not? If Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being. I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.”
The only people who find no use in the faiths of our founders are those who want a life of kingship, dominion, and powerlust. If one has nothing to worship, one begins to worship oneself. Humans will eventually have a crisis of morality, and if one worships oneself and makes the wrong choice, one will surely make a subsequent wrong choice. Down the line of wrong moral choices lies a demon. Without a solid moral foundation outside oneself, in adulthood, one becomes the very demon every child fears.
Without Worship and Sacrament, we are a nation without an absolute morality. We come a nation of self-worshippers - a nation of demons.
What can be done?
We speak. We carry the message. We inspire the next person. Even atheists understand the moral and societal supremacy of the Judeo-Christian line of faiths when followed. Jesus walked the land, met people where they were, and taught them. He was not a preacher, but a teacher. We need to teach; we need to provide adequate support and opportunities for the lessons of our forebearers to permeate the culture and restore this nation and its citizenry to moral clarity. There is no time like the present, and there is no people like our people. It is incumbent upon us to get to WORK.
Career & Technical Ed
I am a member of the expert elite class. I hold degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Women’s Studies. These degrees have served me well mainly because I am STEM-based and the world compensates STEM. Although I would not trade my degrees, this way, I understand, is not the only way.
Career and Technical Education has taken a back seat in recent memory. When I was in High School, CTE was extremely important. In fact, I was well-studied in computer network engineering in anticipation of going the CTE route after High School. This option was concrete, reachable, understandable, and approachable for a young high school student. Further, a CTE certification commands high compensation. Many of those who take CTE seriously can earn $60K or more without going $200,000 in debt to a university.
This is one (among many) reason I made my way to Ellis County, TX. CTE is well respected and well-supported in this area. When I was young, I had the option of CTE and I would not have done as well as I have in life absent that option. I want the same for my children.
The choice to get the training necessary to complete a certification and enter adulthood with a title is a great choice. The people I know who have certifications did far better than those without in the COVID lockdowns. When your set of skills builds and maintains the infrastructure relied upon by today’s society, you tend to weather storms well.
Here in Wacahachie, high school students have the express option of taking up a technical education path. They can leave high school certified and ready to work. The main differences between CTE and college are
CTE starts you the day after high school graduation if you are successful in your certifications
CTE incurs significantly less debt
CTE is more hands-on and focused on the vocation whereas college is more general
Both CTE and college can be foregone in early life and taken up later if one would like making both a good option after a life event or for a change of pace.
The generality of college can give some pause to families. Not all colleges are created equal. Some colleges have been referred to as “indoctrination camps”. The breadth of agency a college is given in the shaping of our youth is a factor these institutions have been tuning for quite some time. Some colleges are more liberal and provide just about everything imaginable as a focus area, minor, or major so the student can choose the education they seek to receive. Other colleges have a more classical interpretation of their place in society and have tailored curricula that has been curated mercilessly to provide the precise education they seek to provide.
All of this fluff is left to an individual’s own reading and curiosity when taking the CTE route. As far as I can tell there are no gender studies or critical race theory CTE programs offered. CTEs provide a focused program to the very pursuit for which it has been written.
This is all to say there is a choice students can make. College is not the end all be all. For some careers (like software, data, and AI) college makes a great deal of sense. For other things, it may not make sense. I know a lot of people paying off student loans for programs they don’t use in jobs they could have gotten without the debt; I don’t know anyone certified in electrical or pipefitting who is in that same position.