Write Winger: Solutions
for the Politically Oblique
By Phillip J. Hubbell
e-book/paperback, 332pgs. $9.95/$16.95
Conservative solutions for an oblique world
By Jeremy Reynalds
web
posted November 26, 2001
Until
a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Philip J. Hubbell. And in fact,
there's a good chance that you still haven't heard of him, and if that's
the case, you're missing out. I guess one way to describe him would be
as a uniquely ordinary sort of guy.
Look how his early childhood experience is described in the back of his book, Write Winger: Solutions for the Politically Oblique. He "was accidentally educated when the town's school system proved too backward to switch over to the new math ... (etc.) ... in time to protect this child from a competent learning experience. Forced to learn to read at an early age, young Philip's self-esteem was allowed to flounder while he was exposed to such societal horrors as honest work for honest pay, competition, pursuit of excellence and the innate superiority of Western Civilization. By the time phonics had been purged from the classroom and history replaced by social studies it was too late. Phillip was smart."
Hubbell has moral character and a sense of responsibility that you don't see much these days. After his elderly father had a stroke some years ago, he dropped out of college and moved home to help his mother take care of him.
Then came marriage to Susan in 1986. The Hubbells have three children, Randy, Jennifer and Hunter, four cats named Lolly, Rover, Frito and Twinkle and a Black Lab named Gracie. As Hubbell points out in his book, the old fashioned education he experienced during his formative years "completely ruined his chances to obtain a modern college education and left him so emotionally torn he couldn't relate to females as sexless, human units. He ... ended up happily married to one woman. Later he raised his children in a two parent home and took them to church. Authorities are wary."
Logging about 80,000 air miles annually for his job as a consultant, Hubbell has lots of down time in hotels and planes. He puts it to good use by writing columns and articles and his book Write Winger is a compilation of those columns.
Hubbell isn't shy about sharing his opinions and as you might guess from the title of the book his thinking is oriented toward the "right" point of view. I wondered what he thought about the recent terrorist attack. In a recent e mail, he told me.
Hubbell wrote, "Like everyone I was shocked and angered by the events (but) ... I am of the opinion that Americans, while angry, aren't prepared to make many sacrifices ... I believe that as time passes, the politics of envy from the left will overtake their current patriotism and things in Washington will get back to the usual infighting."
I wondered if Hubbell thought that some of the counter-terrorism measures being implemented or in the works are perhaps an over reaction to 9-11. In other words, have the terrorists succeeded in their goal by making us lose some of our freedoms? Hubbell wrote, " I don't have a problem with losing some freedoms on a temporary basis in order to protect our nation. I have never considered the Constitution a suicide pact. I think that the issuing of student visas from countries in the region should end. All and all I think the President is doing a good job of handling the situation."
Spending eight years at a state university means that I heard the word "tolerance" used ad nauseam. (And being a conservative Christian it wasn't a word that was typically used in the student newspaper to describe me!). To a liberal, tolerance means that you tolerate any one and any form of behavior with the exception of conservatives and evangelical Christians. Then tolerance goes right out of the window. I wondered what Hubbell thought about the so-called new tolerance. I didn't have far to look. It was right there in Write Winger. He wrote, "Tolerance, as an unqualified noun, is not necessarily a positive virtue. We are told that if we 'care,' or want to bring about needed 'change,' we must embrace a relative view of the world and tolerate anything presented to us, no matter how unwelcome or repulsive. To be other than totally accepting of the popular culture is to be a hater. To not view the left as mainstream and the right as extreme is to be intolerant of the good. Hogwash!"
And what does Hubbell have to say about religion? Nice things. Here's a sampling. The "framers of the Bill of Rights understood the dynamics of religious belief. In the Creation of the First Amendment to the Constitution they created wording that would protect the people of the United States from the establishment of a state religion. Never in their wildest dreams did they think that the free exercise of religion by citizens employed by the government would be construed as establishing a state religion."
I recommend Write Winger. Some books I read (and believe me, being mid way through my Ph.D. I read a lot of books), you sleep through, others you plow through and others captivate you. This was one such book. Currently, you can only buy it through amazon.com or booklocker.com. It's available to bookstores through Ingram Books.
If you'd like more information about Hubbell, you can go to www.hlefty.com,
a family web site. And who wouldn't want to know more? After all, according
to his book, look what Hubbell does when he's not traveling or writing
columns. "Philip Hubbell and his one and only wife keep a low profile
in a North Dallas suburb. They live a 'Leave it to Beaver' existence with
Sue staying home and taking care of the kids. On the advice of his daughter's
school counselor the Hubbell's keep all books, newspapers and magazines
hidden whenever her friends come over. The Hubbell's own pets as well."
Hmmm. Buy the book. Just go on. Do it. It's almost Christmas and if no
one will buy it for you, buy it for yourself. 
Order Write Winger: Solutions for the Politically Oblique
at http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/phillipjhubbell01.html
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is pursuing his PhD in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work can be viewed here and weekly at www.americasvoices.org. He may be contacted by e-mail at reynalds@joyjunction.org.
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