The American Journey

Why do we need the Forward Party? Because our country has backed away from its commitment to Democratic Capitalism, and the two major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, are the primary cause.

Democratic Capitalism is the free market moderated by democracy. A century ago, there was a global battle between the ideas of socialism, the complete government control of the economy, and unregulated, survival of the fittest capitalism. Our country took a middle path, a compromise between the two extremes. We stayed with capitalism, with the private ownership of the economy, but we used democracy to make capitalism work for everyone, to ensure every person benefitted, had a chance to participate and played by the same set of rules. We certainly didn’t achieve this for all of our citizens, but it was the beacon that guided our government. It was a fulfillment of the most basic purpose of our government, ensuring all Americans have equality of opportunity.

Senator Josh Hawley’s call for a national industrial policy highlights just how much President Donald Trump changed the Republican Party. It also highlights the delicate balancing act for Senator Hawley and other Republican presidential hopefuls.

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St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has promised more police downtown and stepped up enforcement of traffic and nuisance laws. Her supporters in the defund the police movement are not happy.

Continue reading on StlToday.com

At the recent Taste in Ferguson event organizers set up a table with 13 flowers a quiet memorial to the last American soldiers to die in Afghanistan. Their deaths were a bitter ending to a long, frustrating conflict, and Congress is rightly holding hearings on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that it wasn’t President Biden that lost the war in Afghanistan. It was President Bush, twenty years ago, by allowing Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to escape. We’ve been dealing with the consequences ever since.

Continue reading on Ferguson Observer – https://yourferguson.org/ashby-bush-afghanistan/

I heard it again: The coronavirus wasn’t as serious as it was made out to be. It was a campaign tool to get Joe Biden elected. What was concerning was that I heard this from one of the leaders of the church my wife and I attend.

Our church is moderate by most standards but still firmly non-denominational evangelical. The church leaders are studiously non-political, even while deeply engaging in the world. Personally I wasn’t a supporter of former President Donald Trump. However, I have lots of religious friends who did vote for him.

Continue reading the the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/columnists/blake-ashby-churches-must-not-become-purveyors-of-pandemic-misinformation/article_9cea2cf0-2bb9-5626-95e3-8643ed17c313.html

They are sometimes referred to, tongue in cheek, as “The Harrolds of North County”. There are a lot of them, and many are very successful in their chosen fields. In parts of North County, if you mention knowing one of the Harrolds the person you are talking with is almost guaranteed to say “Oh yeah, I know..” and then name a cousin or uncle or aunt.

Continue reading reading on The Ferguson Observer..

https://blake-ashby.medium.com/i-pray-every-day-746f98efb56f

https://blakeashby.podbean.com/e/i-pray-every-day/

A friend believes the presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump. Me? I doubt it. But according to polls, most Republicans believe President-elect Joe Biden only won the presidency because of significant voter fraud.

They believe this, of course, because Trump, the leader of our country and head of our democracy, insists that the 2020 election was “the greatest election fraud in U.S. history.”

Continue reading https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/columnists/blake-ashby-make-them-prove-it/article_a2861869-b64b-5d26-8630-e1a2ea4366ea.html

Published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 12.16.20