Fighting For Faith, Family & Freedom

Monday, October 10, 2022

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary Bauer

Happy Columbus Day! 

Today is Columbus Day – a day we celebrate a great explorer whose daring voyages across the Atlantic ignited the Age of Discovery. But the left hates this national holiday, and it has been attacking Christopher Columbus for many years now. It is sad and astonishing how we have deconstructed and denigrated Christopher Columbus. 

I remember the attacks on Columbus that occurred during the Reagan Administration. But the Gipper unapologetically defended Columbus, calling him, "a brilliant navigator, a fearless man of action, a visionary who opened the eyes of an older world to an entirely new one."

Reagan added that Columbus, "personifies a view of the world . . . not merely optimistic, but scornful of the very notion of despair."

In many cities and on many college campuses today, Columbus Day has been replaced with "Indigenous People's Day." Not surprisingly, President Biden took a cheap shot at Columbus in his official White House proclamation last year. 

Biden condemned the "painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities" and the "wave of devastation," including "the introduction and spread of disease." 

Interestingly, whenever conservatives express concerns about illegal aliens spreading diseases, the left immediately accuses them of "xenophobia."

But here's the real irony: The reason Columbus has been turned into a villain is that the left is judging him by today's progressive standards instead of the context of the age in which he lived. 

And it's even more pernicious than that. If one judged the "indigenous people" of the 1400 and 1500s by today's progressive standards, they wouldn't fare well at all. There was much about the indigenous cultures of that time that would be very offensive to modern sensibilities. 

The left is always talking about the myths of American history. Well, the idea of the noble indigenous people being peaceful, serene and in tune with nature is absurd. For example, on the island where Columbus landed, one tribe engaged in cannibalism. Another tribe engaged in slavery. 

So, the left is clearly applying a double standard to Columbus, but that's nothing new. If the left didn't have double standards it wouldn't have any standards at all!

But this is much more serious than just judging historical figures by today's standards. I can't say it enough, my friends: This is all about deconstructing the idea of America. 

The left wants your children to hate the country of their birth. To accomplish that, they have to make anyone associated with the beginning of America into an evil, white supremacist, slave-holding villain. 

So, please use this holiday as an opportunity to talk to your children and grandchildren about the real Christopher Columbus and the world he lived in.

Crime Hits Home

The Republican candidate for governor of New York got an extremely disturbing call yesterday. While he and his wife were on their way home from attending a Columbus Day parade, they got a frantic call from one of their daughters. There had been a shooting right outside their home.

According to police, the shooting appears to be gang related. Two teenagers were walking past the candidate’s home when an SUV pulled up and someone opened fire from inside the vehicle. The teenagers jumped into the candidate’s yard, dodging the bullets, one of which landed just yards away from where his daughters had been studying.

When the shooting began, the girls ran upstairs and locked themselves in a bathroom. One daughter called 911, while the other called her parents. The GOP candidate later told reporters that at one point the injured teenagers were hiding under his front porch and in the bushes in his yard.

There is tremendous irony that this happened at the candidate’s home because he has made combatting crime a major theme of his campaign. Sadly, this is what many New Yorkers are experiencing every day. 

During an interview over the weekend, former Democrat Governor David Paterson echoed the fears of many New Yorkers. He said:

“For the first time in my life, even in the late ’80s and ’90s when the crime rate was killing 2,000 people a year, I never felt as unsafe as I do now. . . You’re hearing about an assault on the subway almost every other day.”

And here’s the latest trend in our slide toward barbarism: People who are severely injured or killed in accidents are being robbed on the streets before first responders can arrive! 

For most of the year, the liberal incumbent governor has enjoyed a wide lead in the race. But the most recent poll suggests it’s now neck-and-neck. Frustrated New Yorkers who want to take their streets back and keep criminals behind bars have a clear choice this November. 

Vanderbilt Backs Down

We recently told you about how Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), one of the most prestigious hospital systems in the south, was outed by the real investigative journalism of Matt Walsh and the Daily Wire. 

They uncovered videos of Vanderbilt hospital executives saying how much money could be made by performing “gender transitioning surgeries” on children. They were bragging about mutilating children for profit. 

Other videos showed their disdain not just for normalcy, but also for the conscience rights of medical professionals who object to such procedures.   

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee demanded an investigation, and scores of state legislators publicly rebuked VUMC. There was also a huge backlash from Vanderbilt alumni and donors. 

Late Friday afternoon, the hospital announced that it was “pausing all gender affirmation surgeries for minors,” pending a review that could take months. The hospital also acknowledged that lawmakers were likely to address the issue in its upcoming legislative session, and it vowed to “comply with any new requirements.”

No doubt hospital administrators are hoping that this statement will quell the controversy, so they can get back to making big bucks at the expense of our kids as quickly as possible. 

But for the time being at least, these grotesque procedures have been stopped, and that’s good news indeed. It’s not every day that our movement can claim a victory, and this is a victory for common sense and parental rights.

To all our friends in Tennessee, please take a moment to contact your state legislators. Urge them to protect children from damaging and irreversible medical interventions.