Comments by Charles Hickman | Eastern NC Now

This is not only an anthem. It is THE anthem of our time.

Commented: Sunday, August 13th, 2023 @ 7:15 pm By: Charles Hickman

When people are put in the position of scraping up their last dime to pay their property taxes, there is something wrong. When people have to borrow (or take) money from family or friends to pay property taxes, something is wrong. I have seen these situations.

The Jean Valjeans' of our times find little sympathy from too many in government.

Commented: Wednesday, June 21st, 2023 @ 8:24 pm By: Charles Hickman

Stan - We live in a time where corruption and perversion is not only accepted it is glorified.

Commented: Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 @ 9:19 am By: Charles Hickman

Take the divisions like NCGOPe, grassroots, patriots, insider, outsider et al out of it. What are we left with? A four-day convention including many speakers, events, dinners, and a little business.

What business did we accomplish? Saturday morning, we censored Senator Tillis for votes that were violations of our state and national Republican Party platforms. In the Saturday afternoon session, we were supposed to have elections for state party positions. For some reason (hum) electronic voting was reserved only for this portion of our business. The result was utter chaos. After a long time, we were told that Whatley (our pro Tillis chairman) had won, but there was no way to account for the legitimacy of the voting (like no paper trail). Because of the long-term confusion there was no time for the other state party elections. In short, a disaster.

Many of us, including me, only attended the business session of the convention in Greensboro on Saturday. The bright spot on all this was the good company of my travel companions. We left at 3am Saturday morning to attend. One of my companions was a first-time delegate and the other was a first-time visitor to our state convention. I have been to a good number of conventions over the years. We all sacrificed to go this year.

At this convention, I was ashamed to be a North Carolina Republican.

Commented: Sunday, June 11th, 2023 @ 3:35 pm By: Charles Hickman

Maybe the better question is what companies are not discriminating against conservatives.

Commented: Saturday, May 20th, 2023 @ 10:54 am By: Charles Hickman

Stan, You're right. A lot of the people we see now I'd never heard of then. But on the other hand, plenty of the folks are still around.

Commented: Saturday, April 1st, 2023 @ 8:17 am By: Charles Hickman

I appreciate the UNC BOGs putting a stop to the allegiance to woke politics statement requirements in our places of higher learning. It's mighty disturbing that we are experiencing things like this within the institutions of our constitutional republic. I'm just wondering where the UNC BOGs have been in the decade leading up to where we find ourselves today.

Commented: Saturday, March 4th, 2023 @ 10:23 am By: Charles Hickman

I appreciate the attendance, interest and participation of the members of the community at the February 21st Beaufort County School Board meeting.

Commented: Saturday, February 25th, 2023 @ 9:50 am By: Charles Hickman

Wokeness is incompatible with discernment and logic. As Critical Theory is increasingly applied to our society, we can expect more and more decline of IQ in our population. For the good our future, this is a problem that must be addressed.

Commented: Friday, February 10th, 2023 @ 7:02 am By: Charles Hickman

So much for diversity and inclusion. We've seen these kinds of things before. For example: 1. The Cultural Revolution launched by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasting until his death in 1976. During these ten years the Chinese Communists destroyed priceless historical materials going back to the beginnings of Chinese society. 2. From the 1960s until about 1979 Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did a Cambodian version of the Cultural Revolution as they sought to exterminate the "old society." 3. The demolition of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan during 2001 are another recent example of zealots having no respect for art, history, religion or the feelings of others. It's also worth mentioning the mass murders associated with these movements.

The phenomena occurring now in Richmond, and in fact all of the western world, are the same kinds of things.

Richmond was one of my favorite cities, because they embraced their history with their monuments and committed to building on that theme within their citywide community. Thanks to the "woke" movement, that has all been destroyed.

This disrespectful behavior has violated our families, our history, our art, and in effect all of our culture. This is how diversity transforms to conformity and inclusion transforms to exclusion, rapidly transporting us all toward totalitarianism. Count me out of this sick, mean, destructive movement. This is a huge threat to our civilization.

Commented: Friday, December 16th, 2022 @ 2:32 pm By: Charles Hickman

Steve, I agree on all points. While I appreciate the forum sponsors putting these things together, they really are limited in what can be accomplished.

You're right. The public is relegated to the sidelines entirely. Usually, the general public is not even there. In this one I saw a lot of family and friends of candidates. Some of my friends attended along with my sister and her husband. I think there was one person there that could actually vote in the district I'm running in.

I guess there wasn't much to cover concerning my two answers. The WDN article focused on some work I did over 35 years ago, and I'm pretty sure they didn't have much understanding of just what that job was.

It is way better to have a real debate. Since my opponent did not attend, it would have been good to at least be able to critique her statement that was read aloud by the moderator. For example, about those "growth" pronouncements: Isn't that a way of getting around the hard data of woefully bad proficiency scores? Looks like this format does little to illuminate a public servant's record or to force the candidate to make an effort to defend their record. That said, I did deal with those proficiency scores in one of my answers and in my concluding remarks.

To do this right it would have to be done one race at a time. There is just not enough time to squeeze in all the races and most of the candidates in one evening. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do it right. We should. Do we really have so much competing local news to make it impossible? Why not have a week of real debates? That would supply a lot of stories for newspapers and news blogs. Also, that would be very relevant local news.

Commented: Sunday, October 23rd, 2022 @ 12:38 am By: Charles Hickman

Secretary of the Army Secretary Wormuth's statement is kind of like saying, I'm not tired I'm just exhausted.

During my time of Army service, our leadership easily recognized Marxist terminology. It seems that many of the present-day Army leadership are advocates of Marxist terminology and practices.

Commented: Saturday, October 15th, 2022 @ 7:47 am By: Charles Hickman

Contrary to what some that do not know me may have heard, I am not a RINO or any kind of fill in the blank-ite. My views and positions are no mystery.

I have worked within the Republican Party in a variety of capacities at the precinct, county, district, and state levels over the years. Presently, I'm the Republican candidate for school board in the 2nd District in Beaufort County running as a conservative, Christian, concerned citizen. I welcome honest dialog with anyone.

Commented: Tuesday, September 6th, 2022 @ 8:18 am By: Charles Hickman

With public education there is always the danger of governmental overreach by the use of the powers inherent in government. I believe we are seeing that now because of the alliance between the public education establishment and the "progressive movement."

Public education depends on the powers of the government by use of funding, the ability to compel attendance, and the ability to minimalize competition. With a captivated audience the stage is set for the possibility of indoctrination and grooming. In our times this may take the form of divisive social theories and inappropriate notions about sexuality which causes even more division, alienation, and confusion. With all these forces in play, many of our public schools have shockingly low proficiency scores in core subjects.

It is a well-known historical fact that where division and ignorance are commonplace, control and dominion are much more likely. The divide and conquer phrase and strategy has been with us for a long, long time.

It is no wonder that people with the means often explore alternatives to public school. On the campaign trail, I speak with parents and grandparents daily who are exploring and implementing these options here in Beaufort County. Of course, all situations and all schools are not the same, but there are situations that are problematic. Unfortunately, many are not able to consider these options, economically or otherwise.

Local school boards and parents must come together to solve this public-school dilemma. We can't expect others to do it for us. We are in this together and can't let others divide us - that includes rich and poor. There can be no higher priority than the education of our children.

Commented: Monday, August 15th, 2022 @ 11:24 am By: Charles Hickman

This assault on our use of language and freedom of speech is creating chaos in our culture. We do not need to contribute to this phenomenon in our schools. Our schools should provide the kind of grounding inherent in scholastic excellence that would provide our population the ability to recognize this type of manipulation and reject it in favor of sane rational thought. Indoctrination is dangerous and clear rational thought processes are the best path to recognizing that dangerous weapon of control used by authoritarians.

We need to acknowledge the fact that there is presently a battle for the hearts and minds of our people so that they can be more easily controlled. Our young people are bearing the full brunt of this diabolic psychological hostility. Our best teachers cannot be left unsupported in this time. Parents and members of our community cannot afford to ignore all of this.

Commented: Monday, August 8th, 2022 @ 7:53 am By: Charles Hickman

Public schools have been delegated the task of educating our young people. I do not think the public option should be the only option parents have for their children. Families should not be forced toward a particular option, rather they should be able to choose the option that is best for their situation. When the government forces parents in a certain direction through economic or other forms of coercion, I believe that is wrong.

I have heard some people argue for more bureaucratic control of our children through the public school system as well as other governmental agencies. Their reasoning is based on the fact that so many families are damaged and even dysfunctional these days. I do not dispute the phenomena. At the same time, I do think governmental intervention should be a last response when there is nothing else left to do. Also, we must never lose sight of the fact that the state has played its own role in the demise of the once strong American family structure.

We must do everything we can to re-establish our strong family structure. Whenever school personnel or others do things behind the backs of parents; that is wrong. Whenever schools stray from education into the realm of indoctrination; that is wrong. Part of being educated is being able to differentiate between the two realms through the practice of reasoning. When educators fail to follow that path, they have abandoned the path of academic excellence and immersed themselves in the world of indoctrination.

Locally, parents and members of the community must step up in our roles as responsible parties, mentors and community leaders. We cannot leave primary tasks like the education of our children solely to the state and national governments or to teachers' unions or to corporate entities. If we do, nothing good will come from it.

Parents are heads of families, and communities should decide community values. When others seek to take over those roles, we on the home front must stop them.

Commented: Sunday, July 31st, 2022 @ 7:52 pm By: Charles Hickman

When I first heard "Brothers in Arms" in the '80s I was a soldier. For me it was powerful then - and it still is today. I think it's a masterpiece on several different levels.

Commented: Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 @ 8:16 am By: Charles Hickman