AMERICA'S GREATNESS UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN

America's greatness and exceptionalism are under attack. This Blog provides a forum of published views that discuss solutions to our Country’s problems – solutions ignored by our government leaders and rarely addressed by the media. Its focus is on the travesties of 1) government debt and corporate welfare; 2) unwarranted disdain for America’s producers; 3) our failing public school system – a poverty trap; 4) our declining world leadership position; 5) disrespect for our military.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Wealth Creates Good

Continuing Dad's Legacy- June 2, 2026

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE,FOR THE PEOPLE -- ECONOMIC FREEDOM BASED ON FREE MARKET INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURISM -- WEALTH CREATION AS A SOURCE OF GREAT GOOD FOR THE DISADVANTAGED -- IMMIGRANTS PROVIDING UNPARALELLED ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS, RACIAL DIVERSITY -- OUR MILITARY PROVIDING AND PROTECTING WORLDWIDE INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM.

Our father, Charles Scureman Strauch, died peacefully in his home on May 10, 2026 just short of his 91st birthday. This blog was his creation and provided a small but significant window into his mind, his convictions, and his deep love for this country. He and our mother, Nan, were magnificent parents. It is impossible to put into words the extraordinary legacy they created.

In some ways, this blog was Dad's way of having a conversation with the world beyond his family. He used it to remind us all of what is most precious about our nation and its people. He wanted to ensure that future generations would never take our freedoms for granted.

Through this blog, he reflected upon the things that threaten America's greatness and exceptionalism, as written so eloquently in the "About This Blog" sidebar accompanying his blog. Through his commentary and his sharing of various writings, he sought to push back against the ingratitude and smallness of mind that too often lead people to forget the blessings of freedom and the abundant opportunities this magnificent nation makes possible.

Above all else, Dad was a man with uncommon common sense who had a profound appreciation for the ordinary man. It was one of the most extraodinary things about him.

We would like to continue his expression and his legacy through this blog. You may see posts from me, Wendi, his eldest daughter, or from his other four children from time to time. My hope is that this blog will be continued through time with generations to come, carrying forward the ideas, principles, and love of country that meant so much to him. One thing is undeniably true, this world was a much better place with our father and mother in it. Now it is our privilege and responsibility to continue the spectacular legacy they left behind.

Please find below the obituary I wrote on behalf of my four siblings Laura, Charley, Amy, and Kate below. It seeks to capture our father's life, but it will never replace the things we saw, heard, knew, and loved about him. He and Mom truly broke the mold, and they will be sorely missed.

Charles Scureman Strauch

May 21, 1935 - May 10, 2026

Hilton Head Island

Charles Scureman Strauch, a visionary leader, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and devoted family man, passed away peacefully just short of his 91st birthday on May 10, 2026, in his home on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Born into the generation that helped shape modern America, Charles built an extraordinary career marked by leadership, innovation, and perseverance. A 1957 graduate of Lehigh University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, he spent much of his professional life leading and revitalizing technology companies. His career included service as Chairman and founder of GAServices, Chairman and CEO of PairGain Technologies, President and CEO of MSI Data, Chairman and CEO of Magnusson Computer Systems, President of Memorex, and Executive Vice President of Gould Inc. For the last 30 years of his life, he dedicated himself to providing lines of credit to small businesses, continuing his lifelong commitment to small business entrepreneurship and economic opportunity.

Beyond his education and career, Charles was a passionate advocate for education and school choice, supporting initiatives aimed at providing opportunity for disadvantaged communities, often with little fanfare or desire for public recognition. He was a founding Trustee, major benefactor, and Chairman Emeritus of Landmark College, the internationally recognized institution dedicated to the education of young adults with learning differences.

His life was guided by a deep love of country and an abiding faith in the character, resilience, and potential of everyday Americans. He had an uncommon respect for the ordinary man; the workers, teachers, parents, veterans, and community leaders who steadfastly build and sustain our great nation. Throughout his life he expressed profound gratitude for his wife of 60 years, his family, and the abundant opportunities this country provided to him and other individuals willing to work hard, take risks, and persevere through adversity.

To his children and grandchildren, he credited his success to the fortune of having been born, not to privilege or circumstance, but to the values instilled by his parents, the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, and God’s abiding, watchful eye. He frequently shared his guiding philosophy: “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

His vibrant and beloved wife, Nan, predeceased him in 2018. Charles is survived by their five children, 16 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren who will carry forward his legacy of determination, resilience, optimism, and service.

Wendi Strauch Mahoney

Nashville, TN

June 1, 2026

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About This Blog

The Blog provides a forum for dialog re: the extraordinary greatness of our Country that has made it, by any measure, the most prolific contributor of 'goodness' in the history of mankind.

The emphasis is on topics that highlight the constant attack on our greatness and exceptionalism by elitists in the government and the right coast/left coast media who are out of touch with the priorities and needs of ordinary hard working Americans at all levels of the economic spectrum. Americans expect the government to serve their needs. They do not look to know-it-all Washington bureaucrats to impose tax payer funded programs that override their hard fought for personal freedom to choose for themselves - the magnet that has attracted immigrants to come to America from all over the world

The Blog posts already published pieces that express rational views counter to those promulgated by government leaders (the "leadership vacuum") and the mainstream media. For example, there are politically conservative views represented here by a growing segment of blacks who grew up in poverty but believe, based on their personal experience, that there are alternate paths for all minorities to economic freedom - quite different paths than those prescribed by all too many well financed government and-media backed minority leaders.

In summary, the Blog attempts to combat the high level of voter ignorance, promulgated by an out-of-touch-with-middle-American-values elitist media and federal government bureaucracy, that currently surrounds the important subject of American exceptionalism.

The author of this Blog has put his money where his mouth is - based on the belief that the key building block of greatness and exceptionalism is access to an affordable high quality education for all Americans regardless of where they live. He and his family are fervent donors to privately funded charitable enterprises that focus on improving America's education system: a) at the K-12 level by offering poor families, trapped in poverty by our failing urban public school systems, a high quality public school choice; b) at the college level by offering high quality undergraduate level STEM based and special education programs. The underlying purpose of a) and b) above is to provide an education that enables graduates to compete for high paying jobs in a global market.

See "More About The Blog" below to learn more.

More About The Blog

These are really scary times. The Federal bureaucracy is filled with civil servants who pursue a daily agenda that attacks or ignores the private sector while building up a staggering national debt. They have no clue as to the disastrous consequences will be for our children and grandchildren - saddled with debt and little chance to create wealth that, as always, will be continue to be used to advance America's exceptionalism around the world.

No serious thinker doubts the fact that we are at a tipping point in our history - torn between adopting the European model of global government, political correctness, a socialistic concern for the welfare of the general populace and its result in mediocrity vs. continuing the pursuit of the qualities that has made America great. America exceptionalism places a premium on: -- protecting individual freedoms (that has attracted immigrants from all over the world); capitalism as a force for good for all people; a strong military; ingenuity; and just plain hard work. There can be no doubt but that America's wealth creators and capitalism in general have done "good" for millions of disadvantaged!! There is no better example than the plethora of wealth creators' unbridled support of public school choice aimed at offering millions of black families a chance to free themselves from the urban poverty trap - to a large degree created by a failing K-12 public school system.

It is disconcerting that a good part of the developed world (whose current well-being has, to a large degree, been the result of the goodness and sacrifice of America's citizens) resents the strength of our leadership position in world affairs and is hoping that we will follow them into their state of mediocrity. But, our primary challenge is to deal with the attack from within. This 'attack' includes the misguided pursuit of a socialist ideology that has failed everywhere it has been tried (how about Venezuela and Cuba!!) by offering false hope to productive, responsible families trapped in poverty in the form of offering government welfare as opposed to promoting private sector jobs that promote pride in individual accomplishment. This is not to say that there shouldn't be a government funded safety net for the disabled and otherwise unemployable.

There is good reason for concern that a growing segment of our citizenry is buying into 'teaching moments' emanating from government and media elitists living in the DC bubble:
~The flaws of America's free market and private sector driven system are relentlessly exaggerated.
~The enormous generosity and sacrifice of Americans in making the world a better place for their children is ignored or denigrated.
~The utter irresponsibility of millions of our citizens who continue to make foolish choices - like borrowing beyond their means is encouraged.
~And, the dangerous role that the US Congress has played in all of this is ignored. They have made it easy for the less fortunate Americans to live outside of their means while passing laws that require the more fortunate Americans to bail them out.

The irony of all of this is that it will be the participants in the game of blaming everyone but themselves for the sins of the world who will wake up someday and wonder what caused America to sink into mediocrity like Japan, Germany and France where the government controls almost everything and individual freedom is sacrificed for the good of all.

If It Is To Be - It Is Up To Me

The blog is the work of a private citizen and his growing family - now numbering 29. The 16 adults ( including 4 adult grandchildren) in our group are scared about the current direction of our Country and who is in charge of our destiny. All of us are living the American dream. We started with nothing but excellent parentage coming from the 'greatest generation'; are inheritors of American exceptionalism; and are now enjoying the fruits of our hard work and unrelenless attention to solid family values.