Christkindlmarkt, the Republican Party, and Conservatism

I left my job with the Bureau of Land Management in October 2018 after my position with Cadastral Survey was terminated. I held the job for almost three months and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for the job on August 1, 2018. Now, I found myself unemployed and on the job search again in October 2018, this time in Salt Lake. Shortly after I lost my job, we had the 2018 US midterm elections. 2018 did not end well for the Republican Party with the loss of the US House of Representatives and a net loss of seven Governorships.

Not only I found myself unemployed and back on the job search by November 2018. But, the Republican Party suffered a significant loss and found itself at a crossroads. Conservatism was on the precipice by 2019. My educational background and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science seemed to have been in vain. My political aspirations seemed to have been in vain. The way things were going, I seemed to have been looking at a typical traditional 9-to-5 job for the rest of my life.

Was the Republican Party on its way out?

Was conservatism on the path of extinction?

I temporarily took a break from politics for the Christmas season. I decided to take a break from the demands on my life and the job search for a while. Beginning with Black Friday, following Thanksgiving, the Christmas season is the time of year when people go on their shopping sprees on-line, at the mall, and in retail stores in preparation for Christmas. But, I was not in the mood for Christmas shopping. I did not even have any interest in it. I decided on a different destination located in Salt Lake.

I made the decision instead to go to Christkindlmarkt-SLC 2018. Saturday morning, December 1, 2018, I set out to walk to Christkindlmarkt. I walked through Downtown Salt Lake and down State Street along 800 South past Foothill Drive through the dense fog to “This Is The Place” Heritage Park. Much of the path before me was obscured by the fog as I walked to Christkindlmarkt.

Christkindlmarkt-SLC 2018 was just as they showed on-line. What I had seen online was only just a glimpse of what I experienced there. I left all of my troubles and problems behind for the couple of hours I was there for. Any differences and disagreements were set aside by all in attendance for the moment. I felt at peace even with the noise and crowds in the idyllic community environment. Time seemed to have stopped while I was there as I walked around the venue, spent some money, and watched the parade. The fog cleared from the Salt Lake Valley while I was there at Christkindlmarkt-SLC 2018. I then had the ability to see the mountains around me and much of the valley before me.

My walk to the Christkindlmarkt seemed to have been a drag for me. The walk took about an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half for me. I was tired and felt warned out by the time I arrived. I did not want to leave. But, I knew I would eventually need to leave. It was the last day of the Christkindlmarkt. I took the opportunity to go on the last day. I felt a new level of energy from being at the Christkindlmarkt. I felt an energy surge as I walked home in the afternoon. I walked home from Christkindlmarkt with a renewed determination and at a higher place when I left in the afternoon to return home.

I made the decision to get back into politics after Christkindlmarkt-SLC 2018. I found renewed purpose in my personal life and political career. I found purpose beyond myself and gained a greater vision of myself, society, and the world. I reconnected with my German ancestral background and German ethnic identity when I was at Christkindlmarkt. I started a new blog on December 31, 2018 I christened “Volksdeutsch Amerikaner Republikaner.”

The Christkindlmarkt dates back to the Late Middle Ages in German-speaking Europe. It occurred in parts of the former Holy Roman Empire that included Eastern sections of France. The most popular Christkindlmarkts are in Augsburg, Dresden, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Nuremburg, and Stuttgart in Germany. The German Christmas market is held every year in celebration of the Christ child. But, more than that, the Christkindlmarkt is celebration of a child-like Christmas spirit. The popular features of the Christkindlmarkt include St. Martin’s Parade and the Christkindl Angel.

The Christkindlmarkt is a popular destination for many around the world. The Christkindlmarkt is a favorite Christmas market for millions and many families. The Christkindlmarkt is idyllic, family-center, and community-oriented. It is the love and symbolizes the love we embody at the Christmas season. Christkindlmarkt is the embodiment of the compassion we see around the Christmas season. The saying of the Christkindlmarkt is putting “the ‘kind’ back into Christmas.”

Many of you are familiar with the term, “Compassionate Conservatism.” George W Bush branded himself as a “Compassionate Conservative” in his 2000 US Presidential Campaign and as President of the United States. “Compassionate Conservatism” implies conservatives are not compassionate. “Compassionate Conservatism” implies conservatism is not compassionate. But, I could show and explain to you how these assumptions are wrong and how conservatism is compassion.

I will provide two contrasting anecdotes from my time with the Trent Staggs 2020 Campaign to illustrate this. Both contrasting anecdotes challenge the notions of liberalism being compassionate and conservatism not being compassionate. Both anecdotes contrast liberalism and conservatism. The first anecdote involved shortly after I joined the Campaign team as a Campaign Canvasser when I canvassed in Murray. The contrasting anecdote involved my time with the Trent Staggs 2020 Campaign both as a volunteer and as a paid staff member.

I went to canvass a neighborhood in Murray. I went up to a house and knocked on a door. My mask was not on all of the way as I stood close to the door. A man opened the door and confronted me. He told me to step back and stand further back. He went on to the Jenny Wilson Campaign Facebook page and went on about a Trent Staggs 2020 Campaign Canvasser, I, me myself, canvassing his neighborhood maskless and not practicing social distancing.

This is in stark contrast with the Trent Staggs 2020 Campaign. I joined the Trent Staggs 2020 Campaign as a volunteer in May 2020. Starting June 2020, I started spending time with the Trent Staggs 2020 Campaign as a volunteer at the Campaign Office, making calls out to voters. Wearing a mask was not required. Practicing social distancing was not required.

This was during the pandemic. We had the big COVID-19 scare in the 2020 Election cycle. We were expected to wear masks. We were expected to practice social distancing. Our social gatherings were generally restricted. Campaigning, canvassing, and being part of a political campaign during the pandemic was a different experience. Christkindlmarkt-SLC was postponed in 2020 because of the pandemic over health concerns.

The political Left reacts to every mass shooting and major incident of gun violence with calls for more gun control and background checks. The political Left reacts to every wildfire with calls for open fire bans and fireworks bans. The political Left reacts to every drought with calls for limits to water usage. Al Gore scared people into believing the world was heating up as the ozone layer gets depleted. So, the political Left makes calls for environmental restrictions. The political Left reacted to the January 6, 2021 storming of Capitol Hill with hysteria.

But, the political Left was on the side of rioters and violent protestors in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. They were on the side of the rioters and violent protestors in Baltimore, Maryland in 2015. They were on the side of Black Lives Matter and Antifa in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Salt Lake City, Utah; and other major cities around the United States. They are on the side of illegal immigrants who illegally cross the border. They are on the side of pro-choice activists who protest the overturn of Roe v Wade.

The pandemic specifically and clearly showed all who cared to see and observe the realities of US Politics and Government. The pandemic showed all who cared to see and observe the realities of what and who those on the political Left are actually. People would have hopefully observed maybe, conservatives are not actually as bad as the political Left and mainstream media make them out to be. The political Left talks of compassion and claims to be compassionate. They grow, expand, and extend government control and authority as they claim it is compassion.

Guns are not the cause of mass shootings, gun violence, riots, violent protests, and looting. Weapons and firearms are not the cause of mass shootings, gun violence, riots, violent protests, and looting. Violent video games and rated-R movies are not the cause of mass shootings, gun violence, riots, violent protests, and looting. We cannot specifically blame the police and law enforcement for racism and racial injustice. We cannot specifically blame Donald Trump for the January 6th storming of Capitol Hill.

The root causes of mass shootings and gun violence are hatred, hostility, and animosity. The root causes of riots, violent protests, and looting are hatred, hostility, and animosity. The root causes of racism, racial violence, and racial injustice are hatred, hostility, and animosity. The root causes of the January 6, 2021 storming of Capitol Hill were hatred, hostility, and animosity. US Politics have gotten polarized Blue v Red, liberal v conservative, Democrat v Republican to the point of being at each other’s throats.

The solutions to these problems is simple. The solution is simple to the point it seems simplistic. It is at the heart of conservatism. It is at the heart of the Republican Party. The solution could quite simply be found in the New Testament and in Christianity. The solution to the problems and issues we have in this world is love, charity, and compassion.

Love, charity, and compassion are inversely the motivation behind everything good in this world and everything good people do. Love, charity, and compassion are the motivation behind conservatism. Love, charity, and compassion are the motivation behind the Republican Party. ?Love, charity, and compassion are the motivation behind the Christkindlmarkt. Everything centers round and comes back to love, charity, and compassion.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

“And though I have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

“And though I bestow all of my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

“Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not herself; is not puffed up,

“Doth not behave herself unseemly, seeketh not her own, and is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

“Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth;

“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Corinthians 13: 1-7).

The Republican Party and Conservative Movement have an opportunity as the current Presidential Administration squanders the United States. The Republican Party and Conservative Movement have an opportunity as the US National Debt, inflation, and cost of living continue skyrocketing. The current Presidential Administration left a US weaponry arsenal in the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The current Presidential Administration continues blundering on Ukraine. The Democrats and liberal mainstream media continue discrediting themselves with the people with their handling of COVID-19 subvariants and deference of health policy to the central bureaucracy at every level of government, outsourcing emergency powers to Dr. Fauci in a perceived health crisis.

The Republican Party and conservatism are inherently compassionate. The Republican Party and conservatism naturally embody compassion. Limited constitutional government and republican self-government are compassionate and embody compassion. Individuality is compassionate and embodies compassion. Traditionalism and Republicanism are compassionate and embody compassion. Principled politics is compassionate and embody compassion.

Ending inflation is compassionate and embodies compassion. Getting the United States out of debt and eliminating the US National Debt are compassionate and embody compassion. Reducing the cost of living and providing greater opportunities to the people are compassionate and embody compassion. Restoring prosperity to the United States and local communities is compassionate and embodies compassion. Focusing on the United States first before we go abroad in search for monsters to slay is compassionate and embodies compassion.

Many talk of compassion. They talk of compassion all day every day. They talk of compassion everywhere they are and everywhere they go. These people talk compassion with every opportunity they get. They talk compassion like the 24/7 news cycle. But, talking compassion is not compassionate. Talking compassion is not compassion.

Talk is cheap. Talking compassion does not mean anything. Compassion requires action. Compassion motivates action. It motivates compassionate action. People who talk and act are the ones who show compassion. Those who do and act in compassion and with compassion are the ones who show compassion and who are compassionate.?They make all of the difference in the world. Compassionate action is all of the difference.

“And of some having compassion, making a difference” (Jude 1: 22).

The Republican Party is inherently compassionate. Conservatism is inherently compassionate. Recent polling shows many US voters want neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump or President in 2024. The Democrats are highly likely, I would even predict the Democrats, to dump Joe Biden to save themselves. The Republican Party is very likely to win the 2022 US midterm elections. But, either way, the Republican Party will have the task before itself in 2024 to clean house. Conservatism will have the opportunity before itself in 2024 to clean house.

The Republican Party loses when it descends to the level of the Democrats and resorts to mud-slinging and dirty insults. Conservatism loses when it descends to the level of liberalism and resorts to mud-slinging and dirty insults. The Republican Party needs to dump “Compassionate Conservatism” for good. Conservatism needs to dump “Compassionate Conservatism” for good. The Republican Party and conservatism win with the Pennsylvania German Community and German-American Community. The Republican Party and conservatism win with the German ethnic culture. Victory and triumph for the Republican Party and conservatism is with compassion, community, and the Christkindlmarkt.

Compassion is prepartisan. Compassion is nonpartisan. Compassion is postpartisan. If the voters want prepartisanship, the Christkindlmarkt and the Volksdeutsch Amerikaner Republikaner are the solutions. If voters want nonpartisanship, the Christkindlmarkt and the Volksdeutsch Amerikaner Republikaner are the solutions. If voters want postpartisanship, the Christkindlmarkt and the Volksdeutsch Amerikaner Republikaner are the solutions.