Basic lesson in the U.S. Constitution: there’s three branches of government, not four. When you can’t reform that fourth branch, there’s only one choice left: shut it down.
The CFPB is NOT funded by Congress but by the Federal Reserve, an intentional gambit by Democrats that allows CFPB to evade Congressional oversight. But that’s a double-edged sword: if it isn’t funded by Congress, that means a President doesn’t need Congress to defund it either.
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH:
Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.
A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.
A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers.
(Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates).
More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”
Most normal American parents look skeptically at “those kinds of parents.” More normal American kids view such “those kinds of kids” with scorn. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.
Now close your eyes & visualize which families you knew in the 90s (or even now) who raise their kids according to one model versus the other. Be brutally honest.
“Normalcy” doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.
This can be our Sputnik moment. We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again. Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness.
That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
These midnight-hour maneuvers by the Biden administration are illegitimate & will be scrutinized. All new proclamations made by executive fiat can be reversed by executive fiat.
Federal agencies have cute 3-letter acronyms, but turns out they also have mascots. National Weather Service (“Owlie Skywarn”). Natural Resources Conservation Service (“Sammy Soil”). Food & Nutrition Services (“Power Panther”). They give away drink koozies, keychains, etc. In 2016, federal agencies spent ~$1.5 *billion* on advertising, public relations campaigns, & public affairs staff. DOGE doesn’t have a mascot, but if we did, it’d be a chainsaw - for cutting costs.
I challenged John Bolton to define what success looks like in the Ukraine war. His answer: the return of all pre-war territories to Ukraine.
I asked if that includes Crimea. His answer: yes.
And then he went on to say that my vision for peace was “unrealistic.”
Kamala’s interview last night was a reminder that we’re not running against a candidate. We’re running against a *system*. They require a candidate they can control, which means having original ideas is a disqualification. That’s exactly why we get Biden, then Kamala, and so on.
