The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

On August 6, 2021, the “racist rock” on Oberservatory Hill on the UW-Madison campus in Wisconsin was removed. It weighed 42 tons. I used to walk by this rock as a UW student and had no idea it was racist. To me it just looked like a big rock.

But little did I know that in 1925, the rock appeared in a newspaper article that contained an offensive racial slur. How dare the rock pose for such a photo!

The rock was named Chamberlain Rock in 1926, after famous geologist Thomas Chamberlain. 

But woke leftists discovered the racist 1925 news article in 2020 and blamed it on the rock, which led to its removal. 

Let us hope Niagara Falls or Pikes Peak aren’t determined to have been featured in a racist news article. Just imagine trying to remove Niagara Falls from the Canada-New York State border!

New John Birch Society chapter opens in Dane County 

Author’s note: The views below do not represent the official views of the Republican Party of Dane County or the John Birch Society

On Monday, August 3, I attended the first meeting of a new John Birch Society (JBS) chapter in Sun Prairie. The group is led by Ben Topp, resident of Sun Prairie, and represents all of Dane County. I was graciously chosen to sing the National Anthem. 

John Birch (1918-1945) was a famous military officer for the US in World War II. He was an Air Force military intelligence captain stationed in China. In 1942, Birch helped the survivors of the fabled Doolittle air raid to safety. The Doolittle raid had bombed Japan and then bailed out over China, which at the time was partially occupied by the Japanese. 

The Chinese resistance to the Japanese was backed by the United States and consisted of two main factions:  the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists led by Mao Zedong. As the war progessed, Birch became increasingly more anti-Communist.

Birch was killed on August 25, 1945, in a confrontation with the Communists, about ten days after WWII ended. He is considered the first martyr of the Cold War. John Birch was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal after his death.

The John Birch Society was formed in 1958. It is technically non-partisan but very conservative. To summarize their beliefs, I would say they are strident supporters of originalist Constitutional interpretation, very anti-Marxist, and willing to take up some ideas considered “conspiracy theories” by the mainstream media. I would say I that agree with most, but not all of their ideas.

During the rise of television in the 1960s and 70s, the JBS developed a bad reputation in the liberal media world. With the decline of the power of television, I would say the ideas of JBS are becoming more popular.

I enjoyed going to the JBS meeting and may attend again.

Rolf Lindgren is the Pints & Politics Director of the Republican Party of Dane County. He is also a singer known as Wisco Rolf and his website is WiscoRolf.com – The Badger State’s Musical Maverick & Liberty’s Voice