The Ascendant Project

This episode of The Ascendant Project consists of Julius and Brian discussing what Memorial Day means to them and discussing Veterans Affairs.

Podcast Comments Corrections, Addendums, and References:

2:49

The Marriage scene in The Princess Bride (1987)

2:59

The Marriage scene in Space Balls (1987)

3:05

Holy Spigot marriage scene in Four Weddings and A Funeral (1994)

6:20

At the time of recording Brian had been under the impression that Blackwater had started the Battle of Fallujah. In fact, they came under file and were ambushed. Four contractors died, with their corpses hanging over the Euphrates. The 1st Battle of Fallujah started soon after.

9:29

Brian’s Pop-Pop’s Canteen

10:52

A wiki page on Raven Rock

17:46

A wiki page on the Afghanistan War

28:29

An NPR article on Paid Patriotism (the DoD paying for those honor the vet moments at sports games).

29:37

It wasn’t an episode, John Oliver did a segment on paid patriotism back in 2015.

32:05

Wounded Warrior Project is back up to 4/4 stars on Charity Navigator. The wiki page documents a time as evidenced by the New York Times article when overhead spending was lavish. After a 2016 shakeup, now about 70% of donations go to vets. Executive salaries remain high, but that ratio is about what to expect from a charity while allowing workers to make a living.

32:20

Fisher House

35:13

Here is an example of Hegseth briefing the public with religious rhetoric during an Iran War Briefing

41:05

Pew Research came up with the stat of 6% being veteranshttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/08/the-changing-face-of-americas-veteran-population/

43:04

I’m not sure Julius really addressed the question. Gold Star families are families who lost a family member to the service, whether it be killed in action, or accident or whatnot.

48:44

July 30th 2016 Mr Trump stated in an ABC interview reacting to Khizr Khan’s speech at the DNC insulted the family by saying his wife might not have been allowed to speak (implying because they are a Muslim family). Mr Trump also stated he has sacrificed for the country by creating jobs.

In 2018, Mr Trump called those American service members buried in Aisne-Marne American Cemetery “suckers”, and those service members who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “losers”. This was first reported by The Atlantic and later confirmed by the Associated Press.

49:13

John Kerry while serving as Secretary of State under Obama extended an invitation to a Gold Star Family to meet with Pope Francis.

I could not find an article about gold star families reacting to swift boat allegations against Kerry. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there, i just didn’t find them.

50:03

Skull and Bones. The infamous secret society of Yale.

51:53

Carroll County Maryland was formed out of Frederick and Baltimore Counties in 1837.

53:08

Project Management Triangle.

©2026 Monocacy Audio

theascendantproject.com

The post Memorial Day appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

Before I jump into substance of this essay, I will apologize for the jarring juxtaposition of the example I will discuss. This essay is about Love, specifically Love of Country. I hope the reader will recognize the similarities how I experience Love with my family and friends and how I experience it for my country. I further hope that the reader will recognize the similarities between me and them. Additionally, I will apologize to the country music fans who came to read an in-depth treatise of the genre or its artists. This is not that, but as we sometimes say, “Come for the politics, stay for the discussion”.

I’ve known my wife- first as an acquaintance in elementary school, then as a friend in high school, then as my girlfriend through college, and then as my wife- for 38 years. We’ve been through almost every stage of life- experiencing every twist and turn, up and down, race forward and step backward- together. More than anyone else, she is the one I want to see every day. And more than anyone else, she is the one I know and understand the best (me included). She gave birth to our three children, supported me through college, and helped me start my business. We’ve grieved through the loss of loved ones, experienced poverty, and struggled through some pretty serious mental and physical health concerns. Our life together has formed a bond between us that no possible future could destroy.

Having lived in Westminster now for about 15 years, I can honestly say I love this place. The politics of the general community here don’t match mine much, although it’s fair to say we also have much more in common than we admit most of the time. Not long after moving here, I witnessed this small community stage protest of Monsanto right in the center of town. The issue at the time, Bowman v. Monsanto Co., was working its way through the court system. As one might imagine, the implications of the decision matter a lot to the small semi-rural community, regardless of political persuasion. As time went on, I have witnessed additional protests- one against abortion, but also the more recent No Kings protests. 

Beyond the headlines, there is also a strong business community. The County invested heavily in infrastructure projects in the mid-2000s, connecting broadband access to and between the many disparate communities of Carroll County, a project that still motivates businesses to come to, stay, or grow in Carroll County. There are also many meetings every month hosted by one organization or another to bring business owners together.

Through the spring, summer, and fall there are events and fairs in and around Westminster. It’s probably one of the few places you can attend both a Pride Festival and a Demolition Derby within a month of each other. This dynamic and diverse community, while not quite one where everyone knows everyone else, is incredibly tightly bound, despite all the differences.

I have two younger brothers. We are all grown now, leading separate lives, although we still meet or, at least, talk to each other almost every month. Considering our childhood together, however, our present relationship was not always guaranteed. We struggled, sometimes violently. As the older brother, I can look back and say definitively and with deep regret that I was also the bully occasionally. We were competitive, mostly with ourselves, always aspiring for better grades, another win, or the next life achievement.  But as stressful as that was, we also supported each other. We attended every little league baseball game as a family. We did Tae Kwon Do together. When an out-of-town relative needed help, we traveled as a family. And if there was work to do- shoveling snow, laying mulch, finishing the basement- it was always known, without having to ask, that my brothers would be by my side.

…it’s not because they are brave…

…It’s because they know the other people running into danger will need help

In my time working for the Department of Defense, I have been privileged to witness the brotherhood and kinship that exists between members of the military. Sure, they joke and tease each other- anyone who has witnessed the gentle ribbing between a retired Airmen and retired Seaman can attest- but when times get tough, they know they have each other’s back. When the shit really hits the fan, they know they’ll all be running the same way, straight towards it. In my time, working amongst them, I can say definitively, it’s not because they are brave (they certainly are brave people, but they don’t run towards danger because they are brave). It’s because they know the other people running into danger will need help, someone to stand shoulder to shoulder with them or cover their six.

I think some of the most telling stories I have heard from people in the military, weren’t from those who stood on the front lines, it was the story from the Marine whose foot had become so water-logged (for lack of a better term) during a training mission through the mud that the sole of their foot nearly came off in their boot. I also recall the story from a former Army man who spent a week in a dog cage, attempting to join a Special Forces unit. Some of the Stories I’ve heard from retired Military who served during the Cold War are truly crazy. The point being that the people who serve in the Military aren’t simply because it’s their job or because they were told to show up, but because they understand the mission and know they need to keep each other safe, without being asked and, most of the time, without any recognition for the effort.

Over the years, I have met a handful of people who I am privileged to still call “friends”. Every year our friendship continues, I’m more impressed by the longevity, surprised by my own ability to maintain the relationship, and bewildered by their choice to stay. I can sincerely say that I am a better person for having known them. But times have not always been easy and at many times, our friendship felt more fragile than I thought could be sustained. I have been especially vulnerable and open with each of them at different stages of my life. With each of their help, I have managed to navigate some pretty grueling, anxiety-inducing, or painful events. And I hope that I can someday repay the kindness each of them has shown me.

I recall the days and weeks immediately following 9/11 the pervasive sense that we were all Americans. “We will never forget” and images of the Twin Towers were everywhere; you couldn’t watch the evening news without seeing the recovery and then clean-up efforts in New York. It’s a feeling I remember clearly but probably couldn’t describe accurately to anyone who didn’t live through it. Almost everyone had either lost someone, knew someone who lost someone, or knew someone that knew someone who lost someone. And we didn’t know if there was going to be more. The attack wasn’t simply on people, but also on a system that no one thought would be weaponized that way. There was a palatable and pervasive sense of grief and anxiety everywhere you went and in everyone you met. But there was also a sense of hope and a profound sense of gratitude and patriotism. We had all lived through something. It was hard times and predictions for the future were dire, but we knew we could overcome it as one people and one nation. In the moments that mattered, it was the people on the ground that made the difference more than the person who sat in the oval office or who we had elected to Congress. For a time, we would wallow in our grief, anxious about what the next day would bring, while also hopeful for our future as a country and thankful that our fellow Americans were there with us. Patriotism, Love of Country, had won the day, regardless of what state you resided or what political party you favored.

Love is complicated, both in practice and in theory. And before this essay becomes a love letter to my wife, family, and friends, (and before my parents, children, and everyone else I love starts to feel left out) it is that concept and specifically how that concept applies to the love of one’s country that I wish to discuss. Developing a mature understanding of love is something that has been a lifelong endeavor. The thing I thought of as love when I was an 18-year-old getting (re)acquainted with my future wife, is a lot different from the feeling that I have come to know. And in learning that feeling, I am now able to see it in so many other aspects of my life. It’s not that gushy flirtation that I think we associate with the term as children. It’s much more. As Hugh Grant’s character says in the movie of the same name “Love, actually, is all around”.

I consider that movie, “Love Actually”, to be the most prescient film on the subject. Although it’s considered a Christmas movie, the themes are relevant across cultures and at any time of the year. All of that to say, if you haven’t seen it, put it on the bucket list. I promise- man or woman, parent or child, native or foreigner- you will not be disappointed. Without giving any spoilers, the movie opens with Hugh Grant voicing over a scene of families, friends, and loved ones reuniting at an airport. The movie was released in 2003, and presumably this scene takes place at the same time, just a few short years after 9/11. Hugh Grant’s soliloquy narrates the scene and captures the feeling perfectly. As shot after shot shows hugs and kisses, Hugh Grant says “When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love, actually, is all around.”

To understand this, let’s first discuss what love is not. Love is not simple affection. It’s not “an intense like” as some might describe. Likes and preferences, even strongly held ones, can and often do change over time. They should. People should learn, grow, and mature throughout their lives. Affection can become more intense or even disappear as that happens. It’s not bad or wrong; it’s a recognition that interests, good or bad, can be fickle.

Love is… a kind of intellectual,
 emotional, or situational 
intimacy shared between people.

Similarly, love is not passion or lust, or anything that could disappear with “post-nut clarity”. I would also argue that love is not loyalty. It’s not the weight of history that binds two people together. Certainly, shared experiences are important for developing strong relationships, but love demands more than just being in the same place at the same time. The people we see on a regular and frequent basis likely do care for the same things, but that doesn’t necessarily extend to each other. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, love is not exclusive. By this I mean, love is not giving yourself over fully, to the exclusion of everyone else, to one person. It’s also not the expectation that another person will give themselves over to you, as though some kind of “Exclusivity Agreement” is what binds you together. People should always be free to choose who and how they love without any expectation or prohibition of those choices.

With that in mind, let’s now discuss what love is (at least in my experience). Love is intimacy. I’m not referring to sexual intimacy here, but a kind of intellectual, emotional, or situational intimacy shared between people. Intimacy is difficult, it takes work. It requires that we be brave enough to share ourselves but also demands that we let others share with us without judgement. 

Love is also a kind of faith. Here again, I’m not referring to spiritual faith or a faith in God or even faithfulness, but a faith in your fellow person. Love requires one to have faith that the people they love will not betray them, that those people will be considerate of them, while also knowing that those people will make mistakes and may sometimes be callous with our feelings.

Lastly, love is generosity. It is that feeling of fulfillment that comes from sharing, even when we have given so much of ourselves. It’s more than simply money or time devoted to a person; it’s thoughtful giving. Those three things- intimacy, faith, and generosity- that is what I call love. It may seem to some to be a very mechanical definition or that it leaves a lot out. Truth be told, it does; there’s a lot more to it. This definition doesn’t say anything about “love” of a subject or activity. But I propose that in nearly all cases where a person says that they “love” another person or that they “love” their country, this is a reasonable and nearly universal definition.

What is Love of Country? I have an idea, but the truth is, I don’t know. I do know what it’s not.

Far too often, I hear the phrase “Democrats / Liberals / Conservatives/ Republicans hate America. If they loved America, they would love all of America or all Americans.” No, love is not exclusive. We cannot expect our countrymen to choose the country we prefer; we must trust that they will, eventually, do what’s best for all of us. Love of country, for me, means accepting our disagreements. I won’t pretend that I’m always tolerant of those disagreements- I’m only human and hypocrisy is the great American pastime- but my love for my country demands that I have faith in my countrymen.

….let’s not forget to have hope for the future and gratitude that our fellow countrymen are here, today, with us

Similarly, I often hear, “This Country used to be better; America is so much worse now”.  Again, no. Love is not naive passion or unbridled lust for the past. A love that leaves once the consequences of the past have come to the present is no love at all. As a child of the 80s and 90s, I can say definitively that there was a lot to of that time to look back on with regret and I’m happy that times have changed. We learned, grew, and matured as a people and as a country. “Smear the queer” and allowing people to say the N-word with impunity was at best disrespectful and at worst outright racism or homophobic.

Lastly, I sometimes hear “The news only shows the bad parts of our country; they should show more of the good or be less biased; I can’t/won’t deal with it.” Surely, times are difficult and there doesn’t seem to be an end coming soon.  And of course, it’s easy to be triggered, to be stunned into silence, to be frozen into inaction, or just to feel hopeless. Those feelings are legitimate and understandable. But Love of Country must win the day. Let’s grieve and feel that anxiety together. We may have different reasons to grieve or to feel anxious, but let’s recognize that we are all sharing this experience and the feelings that go with it together. And let’s not forget to have hope for the future and gratitude that our fellow countrymen are here, today, with us. We’ll figure this out, together, eventually. Love of Country is everywhere, if you look for it. And just in case it wasn’t clear or if you’re an American and you feel like you’ve lost that Love of Country, know that I’m still here and I will carry my Love of Country for you.

Biography

This episode Brian was recovering from a nasty sinus infection so that is why the voice is a little deeper.

22:26

Actually, there were plenty of signs leading up to 9/11. Most notably a report titled “Bin Laden determined to strike in US” that was in Bush’s Presidential Daily Briefing on the 8th of August 2001.

Bin Laden’s organization had also struck the World Trade Center in New York before in 1993, killing 6 and wounding 1,000.

In 1996, Al Qaeda struck the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia killed 19 USAF personnel and wounded 498 people of various nationalities.

In 1998, Al Qaeda struck 2 US embassies at that same time, one in Tanzania and the other in Kenya. This would be a trade mark for his organization to hit multiple targets at the same time.

22:45

Officially, the Kyle Sucks Cartman’s Balls trilogy is titled the Imaginanationland Trilogy. The basic premise is that terrorists attacked our imagination so the US military has to enter our imagination as well to fight terrorists. These episodes aired 6 years after 9/11, during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. There was a Color Code terrorist alert system in use and the United States never fell below yellow. Available on Paramount+.

27:31

Wiki page on Afghanistan War

27:46

Wiki page on Iraq War

29:20

I did not find the study Julius mentioned, but I did find a wiki article on Dunbar’s number. Dunbar’s number is 150 social connections that a person can maintain.

35:13

What is Love by Haddaway

35:23

Night at the Roxbury

37:16

“The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
4 U.S. Code § 8 – Respect for flag

38:26

Afroman won a defamation lawsuit recently.

39:27

A CNN Article about cringe moments in Love Actually.

42:07

1 Corinthians 13 Required reading at every wedding in the Christian Tradition. If you have attended a wedding, you have most likely heard this passage.

45:43

1 Corinthians in the movie Hackers (1995)

48:11

“Even Gwen Stefani is a Hellebuyck Girl.”

A play on her song ” Hollaback Girl” where the song starts out “I ain’t no Hollaback Girl! I ain’t no Hollaback Girl”.

Conner Hellebuyck backstopped Team USA to Olympic Gold in Ice Hockey in a game where the Canadians outshot Team USA 42-28. Hellebuyck made 41 saves.

57:33

The other F-word (Ted Lasso)

59:37

Money For Nothing by Dire Straits off the album Brothers in Arms. The Radio Edit cut out the verse about the f—-t with the earring and the make up. The album version has the whole song. It needs to be said that the verse is about what Mark Knopfler over heard some blue collar workers say about musicians in music videos on MTV.

59:45

Yup, the Princess Bride Soundtrack was by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

theascendantproject.com

©2026 Monocacy Audio

The post For The Love of Country appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

No article this episode. Today’s podcast focuses on the No Kings Protests that occurred on March 28th 2026 with emphasis on the towns of Frederick and Westminster Maryland. Please listen through our website, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Pocketcasts.

Julius and Brian dive into what we observed, as well as our praise and criticisms of the movement.

Please enjoy the photos and videos we have taken and give us feedback on the podcast.

So Julius and I start this episode messing around and talking about Chernobyl and JFK until the 6 minute mark.

2:29

Jump the Line was redone by Harry Belefonte in 1961 where it sold 200K records in Britain.

4:50

Trailer for HBO’s Chernobyl

9:41

The Bird Joke was not captured. Sorry.

10:45

Frederick Bandshell

14:57

26:00

Here is some footage of Trump’s spiritual advisor Paula White-Cain comparing Donald Trump to Jesus Christ

31:07

Shoresy Ski Poles. (little vulgar)

32:31

One of Trump’s Cabinet meetings.

38:35

A wiki article on Citizens United vs FEC

37:25

An article on the proposed referendum in Montana to limit Corporations powers to donate money to political campaigns.

37:39

Sorry Julius, Robert Reich’s last name is pronounced RIESH. Here is a link to the video

40:22

The Right to Have Babies scene in Monte Python’s Life of Brian

41:58

Article I section 2 of the Constitution states “…The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative..” However, the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 set the number of Representatives in the House to 435. As a result, the ratio has been exacerbated to 1:750,000

43:05

Ready to form Voltron! Activate interlocks! Dynotherms connected! Infracells up! Megathrusters are go! Lets go Voltron Force!

51:37

A wiki page on Occupy Wall Street

52:01

The Fearless Girl was a statue that went up in front of the Wall Street Bull, facing it down. Here is a New York Times article with a photograph of the original placement in front of the Charging Bull. Here is the wiki article on The Fearless Girl.

53:00

Julius is right. The Fearless Girl was installed in 2017. Occupy Wall Street ended when the encampments were cleared in 2011.

54:28

I couldn’t find a direct video for that scene but it is towards the end of the Battlestar Galactica Miniseries.

1:00:51

Here is a nice Wiki article on the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1:02:35

“The power of the the people is so much stronger than the people in power” is the coda of U2’s American Obituary off of the Days of Ash EP.

© 2026 Monocacy Audio
www.theascendantproject.com

The post No Kings 3 Discussion appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

After I quit bartending and drinking I found a voice, opinions, hills I was willing to die on
that I hadn’t realized or explored prior. When I was a bartender my boss at the time
asked me to, essentially, keep my opinions to myself, so as not to alienate any
customers who may want to come in with differing opinions. This was during Donald
Trumps run for president back in 2015. So I did what any good bartender/manager
would do, and I kept my opinions off of social media and only discussed them with
people who held similar beliefs, rather than stirring any pots. I don’t hold this against
him and really do understand where he was coming from as the owner. I know plenty of
people who don’t ever “talk politics” because they don’t want to cause discord with
anyone in their lives, let alone affect their jobs, so again, I get it. I just really didn’t
realize what I was stifling just beneath the surface until I turned off the mute button and
stopped hiding my feelings in alcohol.

One of the first things I noticed about myself once I cut out alcohol and stopped
bartending was that I stopped allowing things to be excused that I’d previously accepted for normal. I went to my Costco Christmas party February of 2019 and a supervisor of mine lifted up my dress when I was hugging him goodnight. As someone who has worked in restaurants since the age of 16, harassment and inappropriate behavior became my normal at a very young age. At 37 it was like I could see past what I had been taught was okay and was finally able to say “no, that’s not okay.” I did report that supervisor and he was demoted and moved to a different building. That was the first time I stood up for myself when it came to harassment. I think experiences like this
have also done nothing but help fuel the things I stand for today.

On that note, the thing that matters to me most and fuels my voting, is women’s rights.
Not a shock since I am in fact a woman, but that’s my biggest hill I’m willing to die on.
Luckily, most other things I care about, which is basically all human rights motivated, fall
under the umbrella of women’s rights. It will never stop baffling me that women don’t
just have the right to do whatever they want to do with their bodies, not because they
need to fight for it or have an amendment for it, but rather because we are human
beings. It’s the same to me as feeling that an amendment saying that slavery is illegal
or its illegal to have sex with animals just seems silly. Do we really have to say that
anymore? But that answer is clearly yes as women are dying without proper healthcare
and getting arrested for miscarrying. Not to mention the legislators in Tennessee trying
to make abortion punishable with the death penalty for women and doctors. The way
that this world just insists on proving to women over and over again that despite the fact that we literally create the ENTIRETY of humanity we will never be seen as more than something to be owned and used is so disappointing.

I also hate the way society now works in absolutes. Two things can be true at one time
but for some reason society has turned into a place where if you don’t agree with
something in its entirety then you’re the enemy. This is especially true since the woke left and extreme right came about. If you don’t swallow their manifestos completely
then you get kicked off the party boat and can then be doxed or cancelled. There’s no
middle ground and as someone who knows that outside of if something is actually a
black or white situation that the world exists in gray, the lack of in between drives me
nuts.

I’m hoping at some point we get back to a society where the whole matters more than
the individual. In the 80s/90s society functioned more in a “don’t air your dirty laundry in public” policy and I genuinely miss that. Unless your neighbors were racist, drug
dealing, child beating pieces of shit, no one cared about what was happening in their
lives. I blame social media for the idea that the whole world needs to know about our
intimate lives, needs to care, and needs to accept all of it.

Entrepreneur
Host of It’s Loud In Here

Everything that Kirsten said in the interview was on point. No real corrections in this one. Just comments, allusions and addendums to color.

4:42

Egg on my face

8:27

Ideocracy

9:26

11:27

Egg on my face again. I knew the name, I just brain farted. I feel so bad.

Uber U2 mentality sneaks in and alters Kirsten’s podcast title in Brian’s head.

It Might Get Loud is a rockumentery where Edge, Jack White, and Jimmy Page meet each other and sit down for a jam session and teach each other lessons.

Its Loud in Here is Kirsten’s podcast

17:03

♫ oooh, oooh that smell. Can you smell that smell? ♫

19:21

Things you don’t talk about at bars. Race, Abortion, Politics, Economics.

26:16

The cost of Maryland Car Registration increased in July 2025 It also increased the cost of a state mandated emissions test from $14 to $30

28:25

What you don’t see is Kirsten motioning to distribute some free literature

24:44

Here is a wiki page on Eddie Izzard

30:25

Divine was the actor in the original Hairspray (1988) that Kirsten was trying to remember.

33:53

A D&C is a Dialation and Curettage It is used to remove tissue from inside the uterus. Texas doctors have hesitated in their treatment of miscarriages because of the fear of being charged in performing an abortion. The case of Nevaeh Crain is an example.

34:03

Kirsten is referencing a brain dead woman in Georgia who was kept alive on life support because she was pregnant. As soon as the baby was born, the plug was pulled.

44:22

48:14

According to this Wallethub.com article, South Carolina is the 5th worst state to be a woman.

48:54

The piggy in the spank bank would be glad to know that WV House did pass a bill banning bestiality.

50:22

Although Kirsten is wrong in a legal sense (De Jure), it is still a very common practice for a woman to need her husband’s permission to get her tubes tied. It is a case where the law is ahead of social norms so her point still stands (De Facto)

54:00

The Hill article on Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson challenging MAGA over Iran.

54:14

NPR article on Megyn Kelly’s comments on Epstein files and 15 year olds.

54:56

Mandy Patinkin’s classic scene in The Princess Bride

Mandy’s comments regarding Benjamin Netanyau and Israel’s endless wars endangering Jews all over the world.

55:43

At the time of editing, Israel has ordered evacuations in Lebanon up to 19 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanon border.

56:34

Ski poles?

59:39

Season 7 Episode 2 was the episode where Christopher Reeve sucks stem cells from fetuses (feti? lol)

1:03:32

NBC News article detailing food and energy crisis in Cuba

Final F-bomb count: 50 (Kirsten 46 Brian 3 Julius 1)
Total swear jar: 64 in a 63 minute interview, lol.

www.theascendantproject.com

©2026 Monocacy Audio LLC

The post From Silence to Strength appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

National and World events have been moving at a very fast clip, seemingly accelerating every day.  As a result, Stories that 10 years ago would have garnered large print headlines have become buried by war and threats of war. This essay is an attempt to take a step outside of my experience and my view as a citizen the United States and look at how the world might see us from the outside. Ironically though, if you want to be outside, you have to be inside first. So I will start with some background of how my world view formed.

I have never been one for nostalgia.  I have never been a “back in my day” guy.  However, at the risk of being Bart Simpson’s grandfather shaking his fist at a cloud, I have to go back to a time when the world was more stable.  That time was after World War II.

“I was born into this world. It was a world where unaligned countries would be used as pawns.  The West looked to the United States for leadership.”

World War II had been so devastating to Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa that it was decided that institutions should be put in place to prevent massive war at all costs.  Depleted economic and military power had caused Europe to give up its colonies.  As a result, African colonies and protectorates would become nations in their own right with borders left over from the European empires.  All the world powers and economic powerhouses were in shambles in 1945 and a new world order was born.  America was the sole standing undamaged economic and military superpower in the world.

The United Nations was created, with the permanent members of the Security Council would be the winners of World War II.  United States, Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China.  Other nations would take their term on the Security Council as a means of giving smaller nations a voice in world affairs.  The United States would help the United Nations craft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is considered a foundational document of the United Nations.

As the Soviet Union was recovering from their 27 million casualties, their troops remained deployed in the nations they had occupied fighting Nazi Germany.  These nations would form the Eastern Bloc as they feared the West– with good reason too.  During World War I, Russia had dropped out because of the Russian Revolution.  Only 25 years earlier, The United States and Britain had sent troops, invading Russia on the side of the White Russian Movement.  The Bolsheviks won, and Soviet Russia was set up.  The Soviets never forgot, although most Americans were never taught this.

This distrust between the West and the USSR would lead to a stable, albeit very tense, world order.  NATO would protect the West.  The Warsaw Pact would protect the USSR’s interests.  

I was born into this world. It was a world where unaligned countries would be used as pawns.  The West looked to the United States for leadership.  Boomers and Xer’s grew up knowing that any international incident on the Korean Border, or on the Berlin Wall could very easily spiral into nuclear war.  Both the USSR and the United States of America had policies of Mutually Assured Destruction which meant that it was in nobody’s interest to fight each other.  It remains an underlying thread of the conflicts of today.  As a result, these alliances were sacred, even when they were flawed.

During the Cold War, The United States foreign policy was not without its flaws. The Cold War influenced every decision, sometimes at the expense of ideology. The CIA overthrew regimes. After Iran nationalized the oil industry, the CIA overthrew its democracy and installed the Shaw as its head of state. This Iranian government had an oppressive secret police and ruled with an Iron Hand. When the Iranian Revolution occurred in 1979, the new government remembered this oppression (even instituting their own oppressive system) and never trusted the West.

The CIA also overthrew socialist democracies in Guatemala in 1954, and Chile in 1973. Whether or not a nation was a democratic republic or not was second to whether or not they bought arms and were influenced by the United States or the Soviet Union. In all these actions by the CIA the United States acted alone and fostered distrust that would last generations. The writer read a report this morning (3/4/26) that the CIA is currently arming Kurds to take over Iran.

In the case of Apartheid in South Africa, Ronald Regan backed the white minority government while calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist and a communist. Reagan also labeled the African National Congress a terrorist organization. Although Reagan would eventually call for Mandela’s release, South Africa is positioned in a strategically important spot on the globe, and as a result the United States wanted its government on its side.

The NATO Alliance has a requirement that all nations use 2% of their GDP for national defense.  This 2% is not a “fee” as Trump would call it, but rather a target for their own military production.  The reason was so the United States would eventually not be the sole defender of their territory.   Rather as these nations recovered from the devastation of World War II, they would become stronger and the collective defense of NATO nations would be strong enough to repel and counter any Soviet attack.  For a while they did meet these targets, but especially once the Cold War ended in 1989, the nations of Europe would consistently not meet the NATO requirement.  This in combination of NATO expanding after the fall of the Berlin Wall to the point of open talk of Ukraine joining the treaty organization led to multiple presidents speaking to NATO nations about their commitments to mutual defense in the form of defense spending as a percent of GDP.

Despite defense spending goals not being fully met, NATO became a very effective fighting force. The first offensive operations by NATO was during the Bosnian war, first by enforcing a no fly zone, and then by airstrikes. NATO would bomb Serbia during the Kosovo War. When America was attacked on 9/11, NATO answered their article V obligations. NATO nations sent troops to Afghanistan and fought the Taliban. Europe and the United States had benefited from NATO.

When the nation of Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United States went to the United Nations. It leveraged diplomatic power and passed Resolutions that authorized the Persian Gulf War. Forty-Three countries participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait from Saddam’s Republican Guard.

The United States leadership in the world wasn’t just in the form of NATO or United Nations Resolutions. It projected leadership in the form of soft power. John F Kennedy formed the Peace Corp to help develop nations and promote good will. The Agency for International Development was created by the State Department. It would be rebranded as USAID and spun off as an independent agency by the time of Bill Clinton. It is estimated that between 2001 and 2021 somewhere between 4.1 million and 4.7 million lives were saved by USAID programs per year.

Ronald Reagan in his farewell address spoke of “A City on a Hill”. It was his vision of how he saw America. Here is a paragraph from that speech:

I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.

Reagan’s vision was one of peace, one of welcoming borders and welcoming people. The metaphor has roots in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:14-16). In Jesus’s teachings it was about living what you believe and influencing the world with your life. A cynic may call Reagan’s “City on a Hill” propaganda. A skeptic might call it hypocrisy. An optimist may call it a vision to aspire to. A realist may say it is all of the above.

Trump campaigned in 2016, 2020, and 2024 on the premise that America was screwed over this whole time by the NATO alliance and almost every other international agreement and organization.  He campaigned against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  His administrations pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Iranian Nuclear Deal that Obama negotiated.  The Trump administration also pulled out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate change, the World Health Organization, the 1951 Refugee Convention, Global Counterterrorism Forum, and the UN Human Rights Council.

The Trump Administration has widespread vacancies in its diplomatic corp. Over 80 countries do not have a US ambassador, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Ecuador, Iraq, and Kuwait. Many of these nations are being attacked today by Iran.

Trump is actively working to replace the United Nations with a Board of Peace. Donald Trump has been named chairman for life. The United Nations has tasked the Board of Peace with rebuilding Gaza and instituting the Gaza Peace Plan. Currently 22 Nations have joined it, 6 nations have expressed an intent to join. The European Union and 10 other nations are observing. 14 Nations have declined, and Trump rescinded the invitation to Canada. All these actions represent a withdrawl by the United States from world diplomacy and influence.

Three days into Trump’s second term, he cut 83% of USAID’s contracts. A little over two months later he dissolved USAID and its remaining work was absorbed by the State Department. America’s soft power had evaporated. Trump would replace it with hard kinetic power.

At the time of this writing (3/3/26), the United States has attacked Iran killing its head of state, kidnapped the Venezuelan President, and threatened to invade Greenland just within in the last 3 months.  Greenland is a self ruled territory of Denmark, a NATO country.  This resulted in the NATO nations of France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands sending troops to Greenland to defend the world’s largest island from a potential United States invasion.

Although NATO still exists, the trust and leadership provided to it by the United States is gone. Ironically enough, it has motivated NATO nations to meet their 2% obligations with some nations setting goals of 5% of GDP on defense spending as Europe feels caught in a vice between multiple world powers looking to expand their respective spheres of influence by military might.

“Remember the Government argued in court – and won – that the President could order the assassination of a political rival and could not be charged unless impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.”

This strained relationship can be seen in the current US-Israeli-Iran War with Britain and Spain refusing to let the United States use their bases to land fighters. Britain also refused to provide intelligence on Venezuela leading up to and during Operation Absolute Resolve.

But the World doesn’t just see the United States actions through the world stage.  It pays attention to our domestic politics as well.  It sees how the Trump Administration has handled the immigration issue.  The killings of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti by ICE are interpreted by the world as actions of an increasingly authoritarian government.  Remember the Government argued in court – and won – that the President could order the assassination of a political rival and could not be charged unless impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.

In contrast to Reagan’s “City on a Hill”, our borders are closed and the US Government no longer welcomes people. ICE now arrests people who have been in this country decades, even deporting some American citizens. Our moral leadership in the world no longer exists.

Finally, it also needs noted how the Epstein files are figuring into how the world sees us.  There has been accountability for a Prince in Britain but not for people in the Trump administration including the President himself despite evidence that warrants further investigation.  

I am reminded of a scene in the movie “A Bronx Tale” where a mob boss tells his protege that it is better to be feared than loved.   The breaking of treaties, alliances, withdrawing from organizations, diving approval ratings and his recent penchant for military action tells this writer that Trump wants America to be feared, not loved.  His Homeland Security Advisor Steven Miller’s theory of the Unitary Executive leaves little doubt for this conclusion. Our impulsive military actions and the questions of justice domestically very well could lead an outsider to fear America instead of aspire to emulate it. It is a question this superpower has wrestled with since dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sometimes it seems like America forgets the responsibility of knowing that today’s present is tomorrow’s history and that world never forgets.

Owner and Editor of the Ascendant Project

Article:

4:52

I could have talked about Vietnam in this section. The United States miscalculated what the Vietnam war was really about and as a result committed troops when it could have left Vietnam alone. Vietnam was a French colony fighting for their independence. However in Washington, the conflict was seen through a Cold War lens and France was a NATO ally. The United States believed in a Domino Theory where if one South East Asian Country would turn red, then the rest of South East Asia would follow. After the US faked the Tonkin Gulf Incident, United States involvement would become inevitable.

5:07

It should be noted that Iran had 2 important heads of state: 1) the King (The Shah) 2) the democratically elected Prime Minister. The 1953 Coup removed the Prime Minister and The Shah would be the sole governor.

9:18

Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Speech

Interview:

24:30

I had thought that the Reagan Campaign negotiating with the Ayatollah not to release hostages until he came into power was accepted fact. However, it is not. It is still just a theory level of truth despite several officials in both the US and Iran standing by it. It is known as the “October Surprise“

25:09

Here is an article about the make up of the Iranian Airforce.

26:46

The appearance of the law must be upheld, especially while it is being broken. Gangs of New York

27:55

The meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in then USSR, present day Ukraine, happened in 1986

28:53

What I was thinking of was Reagan’s Address to the Nation Regarding the Tower Commision Report on March 4th 1987. The specific part that I refer to starts at 3:20.

“A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.”

29:03

Buck Stops Here was actually Eisenhower. I don’t know how it came to be in my head that it was Reagan.

Really, if you have an hour or two, I highly recommend watching Reagan’s speeches regarding Iran-Contra. He did such a good job of “taking responsibility” and selling integrity while admitting to scandal in his administration. No President has been able to sell things in quite the same way since.

29:29

Nixon’s Checkers Speech. Not quite how it was told to me (which I retold). But the section you want is at 18:18. Nixon was a Senator at the time, not VP.

31:35

Central Intelligence (2016).

35:03

U2 Silver and Gold. Rattle and Hum. Island Records 1988. Am I bugging you? I don’t mean to bug ya. Okay Edge. Play the Blues.

38:45

Green Day American Idiot. Reprise 2004

44:22

A wiki article about Labor Day

44:34

Julius is referencing the Baltimore Railroad Strike of 1877

47:04

Brian is referencing Kelly Anne Conway’s “Alternative Facts“

51:02

Vermont’s maple syrup industry faces multiple threats. Low Carb diet trends and stiff competition from imported and cheaper Table Syrup is causing untapped Maple Trees to explode. Obviously a NPR April Fools Day story form 2005

54:24

“In regards to immigration, you can only be as welcoming to somebody who is not like you as you can be flexible in your own soul.”

57:07

A wiki article on the Melting Pot theory of Immigration.

What was taught to me as a Mixing Bowl is actually known as the Salad Bowl theory

58:49

Sorry Julius, Bass is only found in a few British pubs. So Sad.

1:02:13

What Brian is referring to is the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands. Japan and the USSR officially ceased aggression in 1956 with the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration. However, the issue of who has sovereignty over the islands is in dispute, with Russia occupying the islands and dug in militarily to this day.

Hirohito died in 1989. He was the Emperor of Japan during WWII until the day he died. Naruhito is the current Emperor. He assumed office in 2019

The Last Emperor (film 1987)

1:03:48

Here is an Axios article about Artificial Intelligence preferring using tactical nuclear weapons while war gaming.

1:05:44

Sorry Julius, you were not alive in 1964 when China detonated their first atomic bomb. The did keep testing bombs until 1996. Here is a wiki on all of China’s nuke tests.

India became a nuclear power in 1974. However, they did not have another test until May of 1998.

Pakistan detonated their first nuke test in 1998

1:06:35

Little Boy was an atomic bomb that had a blast of 13-16 Kilotons

Tsar Bomba was detonated by the USSR and had a blast of 50-58 Megatons.

1:09:52

The Vela Incident. Israel and South Africa detonated a Nuclear Bomb in the Indian Ocean, trying to get have a nuke test that nobody would see.

1:12:31

The India-Chinese border is unmarked in many places in the Himalayas. Because these two nations have fought 3 wars in the 20th century, they agreed in 1996 neither side would use firearms in border skirmishes. As a result fist fights and stick fights break out. This is a news report of footage from one of these melees.

1:16:00

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1:22:10

An NPR article on the Churchill quote that Julius references.

1:25:06

“I don’t know about you, coach. I hope that either all of us, or none of us are judged by the actions of our weakest moments. But rather by the strength we show when and if we are given a second chance.” Ted Lasso is such a great show about personal growth. The quote is found 55 seconds into this clip.

1:26:40

Democrats in Congress want a probe into religious rhetoric given by DefSec Hegseth and others to troops stating that Trump is divinely appointed and the Iran War is justified by religious prophecy. Snopes gives the story a “mostly true” grade.

1:28:47

“You can not play god and then wash your hands of the things that you have created. Sooner or later the day comes when you can not hide from the things that you have done anymore.” This quote comes at 2:22 of Adama’s Decomissioning Speech in the Battlestar Galactica Miniseries.

1:29:28

NPR: How much money President Trump and his family have made

1:30:32

The Yellow Wind by David Grossman

You are the future. History is not just a topic that you learn in school or in college. History is their logic, its their feelings, its what they carry with them into the present. And so you really need to be aware of history in order to deal with somebody honestly and where they are at. And when you don’t do that, you can sow seeds of distrust. Be educated. Be sincere. Be humble.

1:32:13

Michael Scott gives his opinion of being feared vs being loved.

©2026 Monocacy Audio LLC

www.theascendantproject.com

The post Feared or Loved (USA from the Outside) appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

It was an obsession. The pointless but worthwhile pursuit had taken a hold of my psyche. Appealing to my ego in a special way that many Mathematicians would recognize, but that few others could understand. At its core is the belief that every problem can be solved, given enough enthusiastic patience and arrogant humility. Of course, at the time, I thought I knew just enough, and was just gifted or lucky enough, to figure it out.

I don’t remember the exact year. It was probably somewhere between 2003 and 2004. The Clay Mathematics Institute had just released the Millennium Prize Problems, a collection of 7 unsolved problems, each with a $1 million bounty. I learned about the problems from Keith Devlin’s “popular” mathematics book, “The Millennium Problems: The Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles Of Our Time”, a bold and grandiose title designed to captivate the mathematically curious. I was one of those people, a Senior in the final year or so of a university mathematics program and looking to make a name for myself before entering the workforce. And I was going to solve The Riemann Hypothesis.

(hold for gasps, applause, or laughter)

The Riemann Hypothesis is deceptively simple, at least as advanced mathematical theory goes. Many third- or fourth-year Mathematics undergraduate students would immediately recognize its symbols and be able to start picking apart some basic corollaries. I dug in… about 2 feet. I spent some time studying different approaches to the problem, eventually reproduced Willans’s Formula (although I didn’t learn that it had a name for another 15 years at least), and tattooed Euler’s relation on my left forearm to commemorate the experience. Eventually, I correctly arrived at the conclusion: this was beyond me.

Spoiler: I didn’t solve the Riemann Hypothesis. The slow and disappointing realization was barely tempered by the fact that this was basically beyond everyone. Bernhard Riemann proposed his Hypothesis about 167 years ago (at the time of writing). Dozens, possibly hundreds or thousands, of Mathematicians over the years have tried and failed to solve the Riemann Hypothesis. And there’s still the possibility that it’s not even possible to solve given our current mathematical framework.

“First, 
sometimes 
digging in is hard, but it’s never 
not 
worthwhile.”

I learned many lessons from this experience. Lessons I still carry to this day and will likely carry with me for the rest of my life. First, sometimes digging in is hard, but it’s never not worthwhile. I only made it 2 feet into this problem that could very well cut a hole through the Earth, but I learned a lot about what it means to be a Professional Mathematician, working endlessly on a complex problem, evaluating the potential risk and reward of every approach to the problem, while also navigating the constant distractions of everyday life. Andrew WIles, famous for his proof of the then 358-year-old Fermat’s Last Theorem, spent nearly ten years working in seclusion to successfully complete his mission. What chance would I have as an undergrad near the end of his university career, months away from marriage and adult life? The lesson was that work is easy, life is hard. But there was also this second lesson: you have to try, and you have to trust that others are trying at least as hard as you to solve the problems. To use a sports analogy: you carry the baton as long and as far as you can. If you’re lucky, you’ll carry it for a long time and pass it on to someone else. But even if you drop the baton, you have to trust that someone else will pick it up.

There were other lessons too, like the lesson that not every problem even has a solution. In my studies of the Riemann Hypothesis, I learned of Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem. Roughly stated “No matter how clearly you state the rules or how rigorously you define the ‘truth’, there will always be rules or statements that are beyond any logical reasoning from them”. As it relates to the Riemann Hypothesis, it may, in fact, be the case that this statement exists outside our current mathematical framework (and oddly enough, it may be possible to use our current mathematical framework to prove that this statement is not provable within our framework). And if it is the case that the Riemann Hypothesis exists outside of our current framework, then we may extend our current framework to include both cases: the first where we accept the Hypothesis as true, but also the second where we accept the Hypothesis as false. This gave me my final lesson: sometimes two contradictions can both be true, from a certain point of view, and that’s okay.

“…you have to try, and you have to trust that others are trying at least as hard as you to solve the problems.”

Now, some may ask, “So what? Why do I care? What does this have to do with the state of our politics today?” To that I would say “This is a period of uncertainty and widespread political turmoil. It’s not our first and won’t be our last, but we must try to understand and resolve the problem.” To be more clear, I’m not suggesting that this problem even has a solution, at least not some ego satisfying “This is right and this is wrong”; it may be the case that the solution to this uncertainty and this turmoil will be to accept that our current framework cannot adequately address the problem.

To put this more practically, let’s review the current tariff situation. At the time of writing, the Supreme Court has ruled that the “reciprocal” tariffs instituted by President Trump using the authority granted to him under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, more commonly called IEEPA, are unconstitutional. Briefly, it appeared that Americans would gain some financial relief and economic speculation soared. But just hours later, President Trump announced that he would instead pursue a global tariff under a different authority.

The issue raises many questions. What authority will President Trump use to institute that new global tariff? What will happen to the revenue previously collected? Will any financial relief reach the American people? Will I, as a business owner, receive any reimbursement for the tariffs I paid when I purchased equipment last year? Honestly, none of those questions are especially interesting to me. Important, but not interesting.

The larger question is much more interesting. The one that calls into question the very framework the Constitution established almost 250 years ago. Will Congress amend IEEPA or abdicate their own authority, granting “emergency” powers of the purse to the Executive? At first glance, the answer appears to be “no”. Only Congress has the power to levy taxes and tariffs. But the keen observer will recall that only Congress can wage war. However, Congress abdicated that authority also, granting the Executive “emergency” war powers. Under the War Powers Resolution, the Executive can “temporarily” deploy troops without congressional authorization. Congress may then authorize the use of force, allowing the Executive to continue armed conflict effectively indefinitely, one temporary authorization at a time. Perhaps a similar scheme could also allow Congress to abdicate the power of the purse to the Executive.

Whatever the case, it appears the baton has been passed to us. This, among many others, is our problem to solve and it’s important that we try. Every new approach to solving the problem, however small, becomes something we learn, and that’s worthwhile. Those things we learn then become the new ways we can build upon and improve our Constitutional Democratic Republic. We also have to trust that others are working towards the same goal, even if they adopt a different approach. And it may turn out that no one has the answer. We will have to return to our founding document and amend it, one way or another, for better or worse.

Owner and CEO of Dirgible Systems

16:15 It was not Revolving Staircases by Salvador Dali. There is no such thing. Relativity by M.C. Escher is what Brian was thinking of.

27:38 Trump’s Press Conference in reaction to the SCOTUS ruling on tarriffs instituted using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

28:20 Donald Trump is 79 and will turn 80 on June 14th 2026

29:48 Rebecca yells at Roy Kent. But this is the scene that Julius references (heavily censored).

38:10 Brian’s dinks were a reference to Dueling Banjos in the movie Deliverance.

40:15 Games Without Frontiers by Peter Gabriel

41:45 The Iraq War had its own Authorization for the Use of Military Force. It passed in 2003 and was repealed on December 18th 2025.

42:39 The Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against the Government of Syria never made it out of committee.

49:30 A pentagram inside an apple. Image is from Silent Owl on Blogger.

51:13 A nice wiki article about the Celts and how far they had spread pre-Roman times. Visigoths were a Germanic Tribe, not Celtic.

© 2026 Monocacy Audio LLC

http://www.theascendantproject.com

The post Politicking Mathematicians appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

In a time of political divisiveness and heated passions, as we are in now, it is important to remember those we disagree with love America as much as we do.    You may think they are misguided, as they probably think you are.  Often our echo chambers become so intense and our belief becomes so fervent, that it is easy for a zealotry to occur.  It is often easier to see that zeal in your opposition than it is to see in yourself.  Self righteousness can be the bane of moral stands.  Therefore, it is important to remember what Liberty is, that it is meant for all, and we can use the First Amendment and the Constitution as a touchstone to align our motives with the Principles of our country’s founding.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It is interesting to note that the First Amendment mentions religion before speech., speech before the written word, and the written word before action.   Freedom of religion is analogous to freedom of thought and philosophy.  The founders made it a point to ensure this freedom – first and foremost – allows us to think differently, independently, critically, any unaligned with any school of thought, political party, or established religion.   

Freedom of Religion means freedom of thought.  We can be a Christian.  We can be an atheist.  We can choose to be a Republican.  We can choose to be a Democrat.  We can choose to be independent.  We have the right to identify who we are in a moment, as our personal philosophies dictate and fluctuate.  We have the freedom to come up with new ideas – from political to scientific – without government intrusion.  

Once we have those thoughts, we have freedom of speech.  We can speak about those thoughts.  Share those thoughts with your friends. Talk about them on a stage.  Talk about them on a council or in a meeting.  You can say what you think.  It is protected.

Once we have refined our thoughts with others, we have freedom of the press.  It is protected to write those ideas down in your personal journal, or in a publication.  You can spread leaflets or brochures to spread your ideas.

Should those ideas catch fire, you have the Freedom to Assemble.  We have the right to bring people together peaceably to further those ideas into a movement.

Finally, we have the Right to Petition the government with those ideas to change policy. Most effective with the Freedom to Assemble.  

The whole process of thought to action is covered under the First Amendment. It is a roadmap for sociopolitical change.  If you have an idea, then you talk to others about that idea, you write it down, publish it, start a movement, petition the government.   I believe the order of the words shows the founder’s intent in covering this.  It starts with thought, and it ends with action.  From your thoughts to your actions, you are valued as a citizen. Your ideas are welcome in the public discourse.  

There is a myth that the founding fathers were united as one.  Fact of the matter is, the Hamiltonian-Madisonian schism still affects us today. The conflict between Hamilton’s position of a strong federal government with a very strong executive or the Madisonian position of checks and balances and the concept of “justice for all” can be seen in the controversies of Immigration and ICE today, as well as foreign military action and Congressional oversight. 

The whole process of thought to action is covered under the First Amendment. It is a roadmap for sociopolitical change.

Our differences as a nation, have had a high level of vehemence at times.  Whether it be the Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s, , the Anti-War Movement of the 1960’s and 1970;s, or the Black Lives Matter protests calling for an end to Qualified Immunity, or the Anti-Ice protests of today., the US government has always treated those with whom it disagreed with as full citizens and not traitors.  When charges were brought, it was always brought for alleged crimes, but those crimes never included crimes of thought, publications, peaceably assembling., or petitioning the government.  

This is why the charge of conspiracy must be brought in connection to another crime. Planning a crime is still a crime.  Talking shit is not.

So the First Amendment means that you can call out government policy, you can call out political hypocrisy in the other party, you can be as annoying as you want, and you are still a citizen with a voice.You can be a leader in or a follower of a movement.  Alternatively, you can put your head in the sand and ignore the world if you want, you are still protected.

When Liberty is no longer for all, then it ceases to be Liberty.  It degrades into Privilege

So when movements like McCarthyism and the Red Scare’s of the 20th century come around, it is important to stand up for the Constitution and the First Amendment..

It is important to stand up for the Constitution and the First Amendment when the President of the United States calls a sitting member of Congress who is a member his own party a traitor because she disagreed with him.

It is important to  stand up for the Constitution and the First Amendment when US Citizens are detained by ICE for days without charges for protesting.

It is important to stand up for the Constitution and the First Amendment when the KKK holds a rally and does not commit violence.

It is important to stand up for the Constitution and the First Amendment when state and local governments ban books from libraries.

For Liberty is not Liberty unless it is Liberty for all.  When Liberty is no longer for all, then it ceases to be Liberty.  It degrades into Privilege, and Privilege is the enemy of equality. This country was founded on the self-evident truth that all men are created equal.

Owner and Editor of the Ascendant Project

© 2026 Monocacy Audio LLC

www.theascendantproject.com

The post Of The First Amendment and the Concept of Loyal Opposition appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

This episode is a discussion of the whole season: how we grew, what we learned and where we want this podcast to go. We also made some crass jokes about the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

During the break between recording the last episode and this one, we went camping. Enjoy this photo dump of our time at Assateague Island as we celebrate the graduating from season one. Horses came through our camp multiple times. Don’t worry, we moved the food into the cars in time.

We will be sending out a survey to our subscribers to evaluate this podcast and help us refine our mission and presentation.

Have a great holiday season and we should be back at the beginning of March.

Thank you for listening to Season 1 of The Ascendant Project.

Thank you to all who have contributed to this season by making themselves publicly vulnerable by exposing themselves through writing and interviewing to make this project happen.  This includes Julius Knapp, Susan Smyers and Nick Fischer.  Be sure to go to our website and under archives, you can browse essays and interviews by name.  

Thank you to Dirigible Systems for donating recording space and T-shirts,  as well as providing general advice and mentorship for everything that is back end.  This includes input for the website, growing the podcast, and the business end of this.  

Dirigible Systems.  Technology and Leadership to get your idea off the ground.

And once again, thank you to you, the listener for lending us your ears, letting us into your minds, and lending us time over this last year.  It is you that makes this project worth while.

See you next year!

©2025 The Ascendant Project

www.theascendantproject.com

The post Season 1 Conclusion appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

You turn on the news, whether it be the TV, website, or podcast, and you find yourself immediately becoming depressed. The news just keeps getting worse and worse, and there is more uncertainty from the top, whether it be from the government, your employer, or family members. Politically, this is a high stress time. When one considers all the assassination attempts over the years starting with Gabby Giffords in 2011, through Charlie Kirk’s assassination, it is clear we are in a sustained period of political violence that is only getting more intense with time. 

So why should anyone hope?  Why not give up and just let the violence continue?  Why not give in to the logic that anyone who expresses an opinion or puts themselves out there to try to lead deserves to die?  Obviously because that is insane logic.

We at the Ascendant Project choose to be a light in the darkness.  And every listener needs to make the same choice as well.  The purpose of this essay is to encourage everyone not to give up hope. It is also to provide the listener with a plan to make a difference in the world around them by first making a difference in themselves.

The first step in this process, known as The Change Within, is to remember that people in the end are people just like you.  Conservative and Liberals have much in common.  Both love this country, and both are willing to run to make a difference.  The Republican party has been the pro-business party and choose a path to make America better through helping businesses which allow more people to get employed, and therefore paid.  Democrats choose to help people directly and regulate businesses from abusing the people via environmental damage, defective products, discrimination, or hoarding of wealth (or at least they used to).  But businesses need people and people need businesses.  So both are going towards the same goal, one top down and the other bottom up.

The second step is the Walt Whitman quote, “Be curious, not judgemental”.  If you start off a political discussion in judgment, it will immediately alienate whomever you are talking to.  An example of this would be to say to a person on the left, “No Kings?  Don’t they know we haven’t had a king since 1776?”.  Obviously a lead off statement like that would insinuate that anyone who participated in that protest was stupid.  There is no curiosity, only judgment.   A better start to the conversation would be, “I do not understand why people are marching in No Kings?  What are their concerns?”  So instead of judgments, you are asking questions to better understand people.

A key component in the second step is start any political conversation with empathy.  When a person on the other side of the aisle is upset, listen.  No human is perfect, and no political party is holy.  They may have valid concerns that you are not aware of or may not be covered in your echo chamber.  Empathy goes a long way to building respect.

The Third step is to develop an attitude of gratefulness.  Be thankful for those around you.  Help them when they need it.  Understand that your friends are choosing to be in your life and it is a wonderful thing, no matter their political affiliation.  View your problems in social circles as an opportunity to grow as a human being.  Understand that a feeling of loss means you love them still, so be willing to apologize as a tool of diplomacy.  It isn’t always important to win or be right. If you are thankful for them, you will appreciate their point of view.

The Fourth step is Forgiveness. Forgiveness of yourself. Forgiveness of others. Forgiveness of the talking heads and politicians that drive you crazy.  You may still yearn for accountability, but to truly become powerful, you must forgive.  Free yourself from the hate that binds you. When you free yourself from the negativity, you become more effective and more powerful.

The last step in working on yourself is looking inside yourself and finding something unique and original that is good, and give it to the world.  Make a contribution, no matter how small.  It doesn’t matter if you succeed on a large scale or only affect your friends, but contribute.  You have influence, if not over the great things, then the small things in the lives of those around you.

Once you have worked on yourself enough, take a look at the world around you.  You will see through the hate and all you see will be need.  You will find that in the end, this political fighting is about resources and control.  Many of us have not evolved past fighting over the watering hole. You will want to get into the game and make a difference.  There will be truths that will be revealed that did not see as clearly before.  You will want to remind the world of these truths.

The first truth is that you are in charge of you. Not your social media feed.  Not talking heads on TV.  Not angry podcasters.  Not even your employer, because you sell your employer your time. Not an assassins bullet who killed someone you listen to.  Not the opposing political party.  You are the person in charge of your life.  Change your algorithm.  My wife reports every ad she sees, and it has done wonders to improve her feed.

Second, you are important.  Your voice is important.  Your vote is important.  You have more sway than you realize.  The last 3 presidential elections have come down to a few votes in a few states.  In 2000, it came down to just a few hundred votes in Miami-Dade County.  You matter.

Third, because you matter, everyone is fighting for your attention.  Unplug.  Turn off the phone for a few hours once a week.  Go camping where there is no signal.  Reset.  Remember that your best friend needs to be you. Get introspective. Get meditative. Find your wisdom from within. Unleash what Quakers call “the inner christ” (small c).

Finally, understand that the present is tomorrow’s history.   Bad people make history leading us out of good times into darker ones. Good people make history leading us out of bad times into better ones. Make a difference.  Now is your time.  History isn’t written when things are easy.  Show the world what you are made of.  With empathy in your heart, your stance centered on the rock of your integrity, shape tomorrow.  Write that letter to your congressman.  Talk to your friend about a concern you have with their world view and listen.  Go to a protest held by someone across the aisle and ask questions.  Volunteer for a campaign.  Be an election judge.  Let your voice be known through your mouth, through your hands, and through your feet. Let your love be known through your ears.

When this podcast began, in the episode and article “Rising through Turmoil”, I drew a parallel to the current political environment and my medical issues going on with my eye. Here we are 20+ episodes later, and I stand by my analogy. Currently, the prognosis of my eye is getting darker and the probability I will have anything resembling normal vision is highly doubtful. I said then that it has allowed me to discover strength to overcome obstacles in life I didn’t think I had. I also mentioned, others had told me that I had become an inspiration of sorts to them. I am humbled by that and as a result I am reminded of a couple of things.

Our traumas only make us stronger if we learn to draw strength from how we face life after those traumas. But how we face life is a decision.

The first is William Barber II strength of moral authority and spirit is amplified by his limp as demonstrated the Democratic National Convention in 2016. In this speech, he argues with a thunderous voice that the best way to strengthen our democracy is to love one another, no matter the background of the person. For any Christians out there, I’ve heard it said that you only love God as much as the person you love the least.

The second thing that I am reminded of is a scene from the third season of Ted Lasso where house boat guy is talking to Rebecca and he said something along the lines of, “that’s when I realized my divorce didn’t happen to me, it happened for me.” I want my tribulations with my eye to make me a better, more effective person. I want this trauma to free me from things that hold me back in life. Likewise, I want the trials that this nation is currently going through to make us a better people. I disagree with the statement “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Our traumas only make us stronger if we learn to draw strength from how we face life after those traumas. But how we face life is a decision.

I will end with this quote from the movie “Kingdom of Heaven” spoken by the Leprous King.

When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. I felt in that moment I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty. None of us know our end, really, or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son, but that man can also move himself, and only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that howsoever you are played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say, “But I was told by others to do thus,” or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.

I implore the reader and the listener: center yourself and begin your own game. Why give up hope when you can change the world inside of you and then impact the world around you. You can be the light in the darkness. You just have to commit to do the work.

Owner and Editor of the Ascendant Project

Corrections, Clarifications, and Addendums:

Although I had thought about the subject matter of this article before this publication of this Axios article, Jim VandeHei had a very similar message in his A Message to College Students

The title is drawn from Jim’s comments about his article on Morning Joe.

23:59 According to Gallup, more people identify as Independents rather than Republicans or Democrats since 2006.

49:29 Stephen Colbert asked Keanu Reeves, “What do you think happens when we die, Keanu Reeves?”. Keanu answered, “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, May 10th 2019

Mostly personal philosophical perspective so not much to fact check this episode.

© 2025 The Ascendant Project

www.theascendantproject.com

The post The Crisis of Hope appeared first on The Ascendant Project.

This will not be a typical essay. The Ascendant Project, while political in nature, is really about empathy. It’s not about debate or judgment; it’s about connection and growth. By sharing our stories and listening to others, we learn to adopt new perspectives and better understand the American experience. But we also learn about ourselves. 

When Brian first approached me about this grand idea, I’ll admit it seemed a little self-serving. It was the early days of the pandemic and the last several of President Trump’s. Without getting into the specifics, there was a lot going on in America at the time. The public was bitterly divided, politics had torn families apart, and any attempt at concession or compromise was met with righteous indignation. I knew Brian’s politics and knew how strongly he felt. I thought it could only be arrogance or ignorance that could make him think that this “Project” would ever succeed. Still, I wanted to believe and hoped that the unaffiliated skeptic within me would help temper his passion. To my pleasure and surprise, either because of or despite me, it worked! 

But I also learned at least as much about myself as I did about Brian, Nick, or Susan. I am an agent of chaotic good, the agnostic contrarian, and the generous skeptic. I have written about my time as an Unaffiliated voter, my more than 20 years protest of the two-party system. I hoped that my protest would spread and that a critical mass of Unaffiliated voters would eventually force Maryland to at least hold open primaries. Again, to my pleasure and surprise, either because of or despite me, it worked! The End. Of course, I’m kidding. Maryland does not currently nor is it preparing to hold open primaries. 

A cursory examination of the history of American political parties reveals that the parties change, frequently. They are constantly posturing and positioning themselves to cover as much of the electorate as they can, political principles be damned.

Over the years, I’ve struggled to understand why. Why don’t more people recognize the utility of this strategy? Why don’t more people recognize the futility of the status quo? I’ve listened to so many people, on all sides, and in nearly every case I see the manufactured divisions and the imagined slights that keep us from being truly great. Had I just not found the right words to explain, to unite? 

It’s taken some time, but I think I have finally arrived at the answer. And once I had that answer, I realized I was just as guilty as everyone else. The simple realization is that nearly everyone believes they are either Democrat or Republican (or Independent, or Green, or Bread and Roses, or Unaffiliated). That is, their party is part of their identity. Before I continue, let me state unequivocally, your party is NOT part of your identity. You are you, you affiliate yourself with a party, but that party does not somehow make you the person you are. A cursory examination of the history of American political parties reveals that the parties change, frequently. They are constantly posturing and positioning themselves to cover as much of the electorate as they can, political principles be damned. Identity politics, the idea that one “is” a Republican or Democrat, and not just a member of that party, is what allows that posturing and positioning to perpetuate. And like it or not, even as a “proudly unaffiliated” voter, I too had adopted a sort of “political identity”. If I truly want to balance the system, I can’t stand in the middle. 

It’s for that reason that I can now say that I am a Republican. I registered several weeks ago, in fact. To be clear, this is not an attempt to subvert the Republican Party or weaken the Democratic Party. I have, will, and always vote according to my principles. As an unaffiliated voter, I realized early that I would have to implement some “rules” or “guiding principles” to remain as unaffiliated as possible. They are: 

These principles will continue to guide me as a Republican. And if the Republican Party leadership is listening, this is how I will grade the candidates you support. Not by their politics, not by their character, and not by their opposition, but by their integrity, humility, and accountability. 

Now, one might ask, why Republican? Don’t Democrats have problems exemplifying those qualities also? Well, yes, they do. I decided to register as a Republican because, in Maryland, the Republican Party does not provide significant financial support. And let’s face it, being a person of integrity, humility, and accountability is not a recipe for wealthy candidates who can self-fund their own campaign. Candidates of that caliber need the financial backing, campaign organization, and political connections of some Party, Republican or Democrat, to succeed (and I expect a person of integrity, humility, and accountability will resist the temptation to be corrupted by power). I hope that the Republican Party will invest more time, people, and resources into Maryland to support quality candidates. We all depend upon it. 

Now, proper skeptics will think, “One person cannot possibly cause this to happen on their own”. And the more cynical and spiteful will think, “This is clearly an attempt to liberalize the Republican Party. I’ll just register as a Democrat to cancel out the effort.” To these objections, I say “Try me. Maybe. And please do”. Again, your political party is not a part of your identity. As long as you stick to your principles, I trust you. We’re Americans and we’re in this together. And if one person can change this skeptic’s mind, maybe there’s a chance we can succeed. 

Entrepreneur

Corrections, Clarifications, and Addendums:

34:00 Reagan changed parties from Democrat to Republican in 1962 primarily due to opposition to Medicare and other social programs. Wikipedia

~37:20 Bread and Roses Party Website

© 2025 The Ascendant Project

For more content and information:

Please visit www.theascendantproject.com

The post Re-Affiliated appeared first on The Ascendant Project.