America comes with both rights and responsibilities. You have, for example, the right to free speech, but you have the responsibility to not yell 'fire' in a crowded theater. If you don't live up to that responsibility, you face certain consequences. It's a simple but effective formula. Unfortunately, tenured professors are completely insulated from it. They can scream fire in their classrooms all they want - and then hide behind their tenure if anyone questions them on it.

But are we even capable of maintaining a Republic anymore? Are there enough citizens willing to do the hard work that self-rule requires, or have we become a people who would rather be cared for, fed, clothed, housed, and told what's best for us by a parentlike state? Unfortunately, the evidence suggests the latter.

I know the struggles that are ahead in my life and I know the struggles that are ahead in your life. It's not going to be pretty.

I come to the table from a conservative or libertarian point of view, and I admit that. I'm a commentator. I'm not a journalist or anything else.

Some may believe we're on the road to the Hitler youth.

We need to start listening to each other and getting out of our own little labeled bubbles.

I'm not interested in breaking news. I'm interested in telling the story of what's going on and then trying to figure it out.