A Stoplight Decade

There are many people I consider to be geniuses because of the unique way they do something.  Martin Luther posts 95 Theses expressing concern about the Roman Catholic Church, which launches the entire Protestant Reformation movement.

There's also Thomas Edison, who has over a 1000 patents, many of which are for inventions that transformed society and are an integral part of our 21st-Century lifestyle.

Pope St. John XXIII is certainly a genius for deciding to convene a council that institute many significant reforms in the Roman Catholic Church that made it more accessible to lay people.

And then there’s the person who one decade ago, on May 23, 2007, added a whole new clever dimension to political commentary when he first uttered the words, “I’m Stuart Shepard. This is Stoplight.”

A former TV meteorologist, which he mentions in some of his Stoplight videos, Stuart came to work for the political action arm of Focus on the Family, then known as CitizenLink, now known as Family Policy Alliance.  In the decade since, the Stoplight videos have offered witty, profound, and thought-provoking sociopolitical commentary on the current state of issues in government and society in the United States.  Personally, I feel that because of these videos, Stuart Shepard is a true genius.

I first became aware of Stoplight in its first few months.  The insights Stuart shares in the videos resonated with me then because I felt like a loner with my sociopolitical views against the prevailing consensus in Oak Park, especially among my friends and classmates at school.  It was so refreshing to hear someone express opinions that closely aligned with my own, and gave voice to them, in a similar way that going to ValpU was an opportunity to have an expanded circle of like-minded friends.  Plus, the videos were really witty, and that grabbed my attention.  

The insights in the videos still resonate with me 10 years later.  Throughout the past decade, there have been many Stoplight videos I enjoy, and I certainly could create a laundry list showcasing my favorites.  To celebrate Stoplight's 10 years, I here present a list of 10 notable aspects of these Stoplight videos, with videos included, both embedded in the blog, as well as links to their YouTube versions, whichever you prefer to view.

1. From time to time, Stuart opens up this dictionary to define what Democratic-minded individuals, especially the liberal mainstream media, really mean when they use certain phrases as a way of probing what is going through their minds, like "Makin' Stuff Up".

2. He does a fine job is his commentary on the state of sexual education in this country.  In “The Right Question”, in which Congresswoman Virginia Foxx poses a question at a hearing about sexual education that exposes the true agenda of those who promote comprehensive contraceptive-based sexual education over abstinence-based sexual education.  

I’ve come to really like that phrase “The Right Question”, as a way to refer to someone who asks the question that pierces into the heart of the matter--just like many of his videos masterfully pierce into the heart of the matter at hand that he discusses.  Furthermore, the very first Stoplight video, "Defending Abstinence" on May 23, 2007, addressed the lunacy of some who oppose abstinence-based sexual education.

3. Stuart takes a strong stand in defense of Christmas as a holiday to recognize the birth of Jesus Christ, and is critical of those who want to water it down and secularize it.  He took such a stand so brilliantly with the Merry Tossmas videos in 2007 (first video below) and 2008 (second video below).

I was so inspired by them that during my senior year of high school, I did an act at a December event for my youth group based on them.  It was an act that apparently really resonated with others there.  There’s also the “Searching for Christmas” video, that so wonderfully speaks to the meaning of the Nativity occasion in the midst of efforts to secularize it.

4. There’s so much alarmism surrounding anthropogenically-driven climate change.  It’s so refreshing to someone like Stuart offer some critical commentary on the rhetoric of alarmists, as a means to help us focus on what's really at stake and do what’s right for the planet and its people.  A good example is the video "Global Questioning".

5. Stuart very insightfully critiques government and the economy.  One of the early examples was "Pay(attention to the)Check", commenting on the Economic Stimulus Act, which gave money from taxes back to taxpayers as a way to help improve the economy.  

Then, in the early days of the Obama adminstration came the videos "Spending Wisely" (see first video below) and “Too Intellectual” (see second video below), when President Obama insisted on having a budget focused on the most important priorities and broad economic growth while pushing for major government spending to stimulate the economy.  

And then there’s the video "Lemonade Stands", which delightfully illustrates, using lemonade stands, how government intervention stifles innovation, which stifles the economy.

6. With great wit, Stuart critiques the liberal mainstream media, like in the video showing how the mainstream media “jumped the shark” at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

7. Stuart is so witty and clever in his analogies.  Take, for example, the video "Wedges and Hedges" critiquing comments Barack Obama made.

In "Show Me the Donuts", he uses donuts as a way to critique how the mainstream media talks about candidates, but not about their stances on issues.

8. Some of his videos are a way to engage political involvement.  For example, in "Dear Mr. Trump", he discusses an open letter to Donald Trump, shortly after Mr. Trump had secured enough primary votes to be the 2016 Republican nominee for president.  The letter asks Mr. Trump to explain his stance on various issues important to confessional Christian voters.

9. He also addresses issues related to family and the sanctity of life.  In "H2&O2&H2O", he uses an analogy of water and its chemical components to address the issue of redefining marriage.

In "48,000,000", he offers a sobering commentary on abortion, based on a number that is now even higher.

10. In some of the best, and most profound videos, Stuart helps us remember our American values.  He talks about the activism of the Pilgrims in "Before They Were Pilgrims".  

In "O Canada", he discusses the words of the fourth verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, in light of the French version of the Canadian national anthem.  

And then there’s “O Beautiful”, a video that, from the inspiring backdrop of Pike’s Peak, encourages us to stand up for these values.

Stuart expounds on all these ideas and more in a plethora of other great videos.  With the above sampling I've presented, I offer a toast to Stoplight on its 10 years, and look forward to more wonderful videos to come to add to the conversation on today’s sociopolitical issues with an eye toward upholding life, faith, and freedom.