More than one contributor to The Edgefield Advertiser has written in the past about the conflict of worldviews between the Judeo-Christian Founding principles of our republic and other worldviews which stand in stark contrast to us.  On more than one occasion, I have personally written about Islam’s conflict with Western Civilization.

I am so proud of our Commander in Chief, Donald Trump, who went to the cradle of Islam, Saudi Arabia, to deliver an exceptional speech this past Sunday then traveled on to the cradle of the Jewish and Christian Faith, Israel – and then later to the Vatican.

May all people of faith be in prayer for him and our U.S. delegation, and this new generation of world of leadership as it continues to unfold.  We truly are living in historic times, where important paradigm shifts are taking place.  Regardless of your faith, or where you stand politically, these paradigm shifts will impact all of us, in what I believe is the conflict of the 21^st century, much like the Cold War became the primary conflict of much of the last century.

If you did not watch President Trump’s Speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, I highly encourage you to do so – http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/21/politics/trump-saudi-speech-transcript/.

Not only will this week’s events sharpen our republics foreign policy for the coming years, it is forcing more and more Americans to seriously study the differences between these world faiths, which in my opinion, this is a good thing.

In closing, I applaud Saudi Arabia for hosting this past weekend’s summit.  The effort to reform those who seek death and destruction, or as President Trump worded it, “Drive them out,” must primarily take place within the Islamic faith itself.

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I watched three programs this weekend which I greatly appreciated, because I learned things I didn’t know which are worth appreciating. One was Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Michelle Obama.  One was the Fox News program Donald Trump: Objectified.  One was Breit Baier’s interview with Charles Krauthammer.  Each program highlighted these individuals for an hour.

Both Obama and Trump have raised accomplished children, who grew up with the tremendous pressure of living in the spotlight in a way 99.9 % of other individuals will never have to navigate. The poise and resilience their children demonstrate is indeed impressive and says a tremendous amount about their parents, which is positive.

Krauthammer is a man whose fierce determination as a very young man enabled him to complete Harvard Medical School while lying on his back in a hospital bed following a freak diving accident resulting in a broken neck.  A feat never accomplished by anyone before.  Krauthammer is a man who has worked for individuals at the highest level of political office on both sides of the ideological spectrum.

As a very young man Trump spent five years leading in many, many categories at the New York Military Academy, graduating in 1964 at the top of his class. Interesting.  Perhaps that is where he garnered so much respect for the military.

Obama has a legitimate concern of our food supply and its connection to healthcare, and attempted to speak out about it in a way not previously done.  Personally, I find it interesting her effort didn’t convey into the healthcare debate more than it did, and I hope it does in the future.

I could list more about these individuals; however, the main thing solidified for me this weekend is that our systems – media, political and educational systems specifically – foster environments where we don’t listen to others very well.  These systems spend more time demeaning and deconstructing people than trying to legitimately listen and understand them.

Also this weekend I thought quite a bit about Christmas 1986, 30 years ago.  That vacation at our family farm 30 years ago was spent reflecting on a year where I had eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner for close to 180 days with students from around the globe.  Literally all my meals at school were eaten at a table of 12 where I was the only American.  For example, the morning of the bombing of Libya on April 15, 1986, following the terrorist attack in Berlin, I was eating breakfast between my two Libyan schoolmates, both of whom had parents in Tripoli, who were unreachable.  I could invest over 500 words on that one breakfast alone! I elaborated on it in April. (linked).

The bottom line for me is we have some serious ideological worldview issues which are struggling for the dominance of our American culture. This struggle ultimately streams into education, media and politics; however we need citizens who can engage in the process thoughtfully, articulately and truthfully without degrading to name calling, which is so prevalent in today’s reality based culture.

As we think this week about “Peace on Earth,” I pray each of us, on both sides of the political aisle, will contemplate how we might get outside of our own echo-chambers and try to understand the human that is on the other side of our ideological divide.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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I have the privilege of sitting on a porch my great-grandfather sat on as our republic prepared for WWI. The same porch my grandfather sat on as he lived through the depression and our republic prepared for WWII.  The same porch my father sat on as he worked through the issues of the Cold War.

Today, I sit on that same porch as my generation, and the generation of my sons try to figure out a way to pay off the existing debt and unfunded liabilities our elected leaders have created for us since WWII.

With the crumbling infrastructure we face at the same time as the out of control and mis-prioritized spending – combined with the global insecurity we face, the road ahead can seem daunting.

I am, however encouraged. My son and his entrepreneurial spirit encourages me. His friends who are also entrepreneurs encourage me. His friends, and other young family members who are serving or have served in the armed services, in addition to the countless others who are serving in the armed services, also encourage me. Technology and the ability / opportunity to self-educate also encourages me. The young man I met this past Saturday in Columbia, SC who will be a junior in high school this year, who is organizing conservative groups in high schools all through-out our state encourages me.

I believe the next greatest generation is being assembled – and with the right mentorship from the middle-aged, of which I consider myself a part, and older generation, my father’s generation – I have great hope for our republic.

I also was with some folks this past weekend who were saying, “God is coming back soon,” almost as if we should take our hands off the steering wheel He charged us to steward. To those folks I say – “Let us live as if He is returning tomorrow, but work as if He isn’t returning for a thousand years!”

This is the first part of a four-part series surrounding the issue of fatherhood, which I believe is one of the most pressing issues of our day, and appropriate since this month we celebrate Fatherhood on June 19^th.

I do find it interesting I wrote this on Saturday night, the night before the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida.  In this editorial, I referenced both my grandfather and my great-grandfather sitting on the porch thinking through the issues surrounding the World Wars they lived through.  There are some who believe World War III has already begun, we simply have not had our Pearl Harbor moment, yet.

I hope you have a blessed week.

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P.S.  As we reflect on this inter-generational baton race we are in, you may be interested in the article I wrote last week, as we remember the Allied invasion of Normandy.  Click Here to read that!  If you find it interesting, please leave a comment!

It is hard to believe it has been 30 years since my father was lobbying me to become a Clemson Tiger.  I was his last hope, after both my sisters chose to become Virginia Tech Gobblers.  Well sadly, I let him down when I chose to become a Taylor Trojan, and attended Taylor University in Indiana!

The good news is, now that I live in South Carolina, I have had multiple opportunities to be on the campus of Clemson University – and one opportunity is next weekend, Saturday April 18th at The Palmetto Panel.  The Palmetto Panel is a citizen led one day conference on state level solutions to many of the key issues we are facing – from healthcare, energy, national security, school choice, tax policy, political corruption, and many, many others.

High Frontier, the organization I am working with, will be there speaking on the critical issue of securing our nations electric grid and the role South Carolina could and should play in leading the nation.  Specifically, we believe we should harden the cooling systems of South Carolina’s four Nuclear Power Plants ASAP, which would enable South Carolina to lead the nation in getting the electric grid back up, if God forbid we don’t solve the entire problem on time.

I am well aware that you may not live in South Carolina.  If you do, I hope you will join us next Saturday!  If you do not, I encourage you to share this information with your sphere of influence WHO DO live in South Carolina.  Please click here to R.S.V.P. or to see event details.

To follow, in alphabetical order, are all the presenters – and the subjects they will be discussing:

Talbert Black – Mr. Black is the founder of Palmetto Liberty PAC and will provide an overview of issues at the State Level

State Senator Lee Bright – Senator Bright will be discussing three key issues:  American Laws for American Courts legislation, Registration by Party legislation and the Conflict of Interest that exists when the State Senate appoints South Carolina Judges.

State Senator Kevin Bryant – Senator Bryant will be discussing School Choice Legislation and The Healthcare Freedom Act.

Ambassador Henry Cooper – Ambassador Cooper is the Chairman of High Frontier and will be discussing solutions to Securing our Electric Grid and how South Carolina can and should lead the nation.

SC U.S. Congressman Jeff Duncan – Congressman Duncan will be discussing the importance of Off Shore Drilling, and what that would do for the economy of South Carolina.

Sheri Few – Ms. Few is the President and CEO of SC Parents Involved in Education. She will be discussing two issues: Common Core and the Refugee Resettlement Program taking place in South Carolina.

SC Representative Jonathon Hill – Representative Hill is a freshman representative and he will be discussing what life is like for the freshman legislator and what it is like running for office.

Ashley Landess – Ms. Landess is the President of the South Carolina Policy Council.  She will be discussing 8 points necessary to make South Carolina the freest state in the country.

Emery McClendon – Mr. McClendon is a board member of Project 21, and a nationally known Conservative activist.  He will be discussing the importance of strengthening citizen engagement at the state level.

Kurt Potter – Mr. Potter is a Founding Member of the Center for Self Governance.  He will be discussing the work the Center for Self Governance is doing and the training of citizen activists they offer.

Alex Saitta – Mr. Saitta is a member of the Pickens County School Board, and he will be discussing his journey of exposing the truth about the funding of our schools at the county level.

Thom Shea – Mr. Shea is a retired Navy Seal and is currently the CEO of Adamantine Alliance.  He will be providing an inspirational message “Never Give Up!”

Dan Tripp – Mr. Trip is the Founder of Ground Game Strategies.  He will be discussing the Healthcare Compact – which is a program encouraging states to contract together to move medical decisions back to the state level.

Ellen Weaver – Ms. Weaver is the President of Palmetto Policy Forum and she will be providing an overview of the issues effecting South Carolina.

I look forward to seeing many of my South Carolina friends at this timely and critical event next weekend.  Again, I would appreciate you forwarding this to your sphere of influence living inside South Carolina.

Blessings,

Scott Cooper

My thoughts on this fine Friday morning –

Many Americans are headed off to work, or whatever they have planned for the day, sad because their income is down, discouraged because as a result they can’t go out to eat or go see a movie this weekend. Perhaps there are couples discouraged because they don’t have the funds to send their kids to college, like they had hoped and planned.

Yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time with a dear friend of close to three decades who is losing his business, going bankrupt and has moved back into his parent’s home with his wife and child (in his mid-40’s) – and plans on being there for several years while rebuilding his life.

Well – all of that is happening in America. Even that last sentence is happening on a far larger scale than most recognize, especially those within the beltway region recognize.

In America, people start over financially all the time.

Both poverty and wealth are not respecters of persons. Their laws SHOULD apply to all people, regardless of race, creed or gender, EQUALLY. Individuals go up and down the ladder all the time – and while we are called to be productive – and our founders believed in the pursuit of property / happiness – THIS IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING – even though many have chosen to make it so. Before moving on to my most important concerns of the morning – I want to reflect for a minute on the difference between the leaders at our founding, and the leaders today as it relates to acquiring wealth.

The men who represented the 13 colonies at the time of The Declaration of Independence thought so highly of the importance of being productive, they referenced it in the very first sentence of the preamble of the Declaration. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The word Happiness was originally property. In other words – in the first sentence, they encouraged all individuals, to use their GOD GIVEN life and liberty, TO BE PRODUCTIVE and pursue property / happiness. Nowhere did they guarantee property / happiness – but they encouraged all individuals TO BE PRODUCTIVE in their pursuit of such things.

Today’s leaders are prolific with words, (referring to the productive) such as “you didn’t build that,” and we need to ensure those who have acquired the very thing our founders encouraged individuals to pursue, that they “pay their fair share,” to pay for things (birth control for example) which really shouldn’t be paid for out of federal funds. In other worlds – our current leaders are promoting a worldview that is in diametric opposition to the worldview of our founders.

There is so much I could write about this, but let me say this reversal – this breeding of covetousness – has become THE PRIMARY FOCUS of much of our elected leadership today. The focus is on class envy and strife vs. what is best for humanity – ensuring all principles/laws – including the principles/laws of poverty and wealth creation are executed equally among all individuals in the republic.

Because this is where the focus of our leadership is – breeding covetousness – we cannot as a country focus on the truly important thing – specifically the rise of evil in our world. THE RISE OF EVIL IN OUR WORLD, AND ITS IMPACT ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

And while the economics hits close to home for me, as it does all Americans at this moment in history – it is this rise of evil in our world that most grips my heart – and infuriates me about the lack of leadership we have – that while they are breeding class warfare, they should be educating Americans on the evil that is transpiring to our friends – and that is inevitably coming our way.

My thoughts this morning are with the Kurdish people, who have been our friends, are staring evil in the face, and are being slaughtered. Not just those who are Christians, but our Muslim friends there too – slaughtered by an evil ideology that is not based on the individual, but is based on the Political System, The Financial System, The Judicial System, The Military System AND THE FAITH System that is called Islam. It is a five part system, and the last, and honestly least ranked of the five that is being used against us here in our country and in the west to undermine our future security.

Whether it is the beheading we saw last month in Oklahoma, the shooting in Ottawa this week, the “workplace violence” we witnessed at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Hasan in 2009, the three American Girls who were en route to fight for Jihad in Syria that were stopped in Germany just this week, the prayer rugs and Quran’s that are being found on our Southern Border, or the dozens and dozens of other examples that could be listed – it should be extremely obvious to our leaders – “Houston, we have a problem!” Yet our leaders choose to refuse to act in a significant way to protect our friends, the Kurds, who are being slaughtered.

Closer to home, the inheritance we desire to leave our children and grandchildren is at risk as the same enemies staring down the Kurds over there are gaining strength inside our borders, and they continue to be inside The Trojan Horse of the 21^st Century, Political Correctness.

Many of “We the People” see the Trojan Horse – and continue to beg our leaders to act – knowing that eventually those inside that Horse will be coming out with their 7^th Century worldview, the five “systems” of Islam and their machetes. Just like the beheading in Oklahoma last month – they will act, not with random solo exhibits like Oklahoma, but with well executed masterpieces, like we witnessed the 19 individuals execute on 9/11/01. Yes, in the event you forgot, 9/11 was executed by simply 19 Individuals.

Just do a study of one Mosque, the Boston Mosque, where the Boston Marathon bombers came out of, and you will see there are thousands of American’s (home grown) who are being radicalized, and yet, it only took 19 on 9/11.

Evil exists. It is not the lack of birth control. It is not the lack of healthcare. It is not the lack of opportunity. It is not the evils of slavery, which still exists in North Africa, as the U.S. fought a war and settled it in our country 150 years ago. It is the slaughter of Christians and Muslim’s in the Middle East who are infidels. It is the silent jihad that is being waged on the west – that is still masked by political correctness. It is a Spiritual war – and now more than ever, we should recognize – those on the side of evil do not subscribe to the “Co-Exist” bumper sticker worldview.

Last week I had the privilege to meet Jay Sekulow at The Crisis Pregnancy Center annual dinner in Augusta, Georgia. He is the author of a new book titled “The Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can’t Ignore.” He eloquently stated: “The same force involved with abortion is the same force involved with ISIS, a complete disregard for human life.” He went on to say, “We are looking at what could be a 30 year war…..we are in the battle of battles.”

I am praying for new leadership for our country. Leaders who will focus on the evil which truly exists. Leaders who will help lead “We The People” to overcome what is coming our way. Leaders who will stop focusing on covetousness in an effort to control the electorate – which itself is evil.

I am praying for new leadership. Will you join me?

My dog autumn got stuck under the bed this morning. Fortunately I had not left yet, and I could hear her…..

When I first heard her, she was scrambling trying to get herself out. 

After a few minutes of scrambling she started whining and exhibiting traits of more intense scrambling. 

That was followed by barking and even more intense scrambling. 

She grew tired, and then just put her head down. 

When I came in and asked her how she got in that predicament, she sheepishly wouldn’t even look me in the eye. I had to physically bend down and drag her out of the sad state of affairs she had put herself in. 

This is a great picture, in my opinion, of Political Correctness – what I believe to be the Trojan Horse of the 21st century – the tool our enemy – strict adherents to The Quran (and their current, but not permanent allies) are using very, very effectively. 

There are a few who are doing everything they can to wake society as a whole up to the reality that we are stuck in a very flawed state of political correctness (absence of proper worldview training – especially the Truth upon what made Western Civilization great).

The condition Autumn is in, in this picture, is exactly where our enemy wants us. So stuck in our sad state – that only our head and neck remains visible – so that the infidels head will be easily sliced off. 

It is my prayer that there is a generation of leaders currently enroute to positions of influence great enough that they will be able to bend down and drag us out of our stupor and into reality. 

We can’t pray for them by name yet – as their names are yet unknown – but will you join me in praying for them anyway?

Aiken, SC -A group of concerned citizens in Aiken are calling on Americans and the government to help thousands of Iraqi refugees who have been captured, forced out of their homes and killed by terrorists.  The militant group is called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS and efforts to save those fighting for their lives are reaching from the steps of the Aiken Courthouse to the White House.

Click here to read rest of article, and video from WJBF – News Channel 6, Augusta, GA

This event was also covered in The Aiken Standard.

Ryan Mauro of The Clarion Project shares top 5 National Security Threats of 2014

CLICK HERE

Shared by:  Scott Cooper

To follow is a presentation Henry Cooper, Chairman of High Frontier, and my father, gave on Electro Magnetic Pulse at the South Carolina Tea Party Patriots Convention in January 2013.

Much has taken place with the EMP Coalition since January 2013.  Please click here to get the latest updates from High Frontier!

Shared by: Scott Cooper

This morning on Fox and friends, author James C. Humes was interviewed about his new book “Churchill, The Prophetic Statesman.”  In the interview it is evident that Winston Churchill knew long before today that the west would be at war with Islamists.

Click here to watch the interview!